Micah 6
Outline
I. \\#Mic 1:1-16\\ A Nation Destroyed
A. \\#Mic 1:1\\ An Introduction
B. \\#Mic 1:2-7\\ The Coming Judge
C. \\#Mic 1:8-9\\ Micah’s Reaction
D. \\#Mic 1:10-15\\ The Sin Belt
II. \\#Mic 2:1-13\\ Loss of the Land
A. \\#Mic 2:1-5\\ Sins and Consequences
B. \\#Mic 2:6-13\\ A Message to the People
III. \\#Mic 3:1-12\\ Judgment on the Leaders
A. \\#Mic 3:1-4\\ A Word to the Rulers
B. \\#Mic 3:5-7\\ A Word to the Prophets
C. \\#Mic 3:9-12\\ A Word of Truth
IV. \\#Mic 4:1-5:1\\ A Bright Future
A. \\#Mic 4:1-8\\ A Glorious Day
B. \\#Mic 4:9-12\\ A Present Dilemma
C. \\#Mic 4:13-5:1\\ A Future Victory
V. \\#Mic 5:2-15\\ A Glorious King
A. \\#Mic 5:2\\ His Birth
B. \\#Mic 5:3\\ A Separation
C. \\#Mic 5:4-5\\ A Mighty Kingdom
D. \\#Mic 5:5-6\\ An Intrusion
E. \\#Mic 5:7-15\\ A Mighty Campaign
VI. \\#Mic 6:1-16\\ God Contends With Israel
A. \\#Mic 6:1-5\\ A Cry to the Wicked
B. \\#Mic 6:6-8\\ A Cry to the Righteous
C. \\#Mic 6:9-16\\ A Cry of Judgment
I. \\#Mic 6:1-16\\ God Contends With Israel - While the last two
chapters have been mostly end time, this chapter takes us back
to the present.
A. \\#Mic 6:1-5\\ A Cry to the Wicked
1. \\#1\\ "Hear now" - As the last chapter was end time, we
are now brought back to the days of Micah.
2. "what the Lord saith" - There can be no doubt, God was
speaking to the nation.
3. "Arise, contend" - God tells the nation to come present
their case.
a. The image is that of a legal setting. Israel is being
tried for its sins-the penalty WHEN they are found
guilty is judgment from God.
b. "before the mountains …hills" - Since God will be
both Prosecutor and Judge, the mountains and hills
are left to be either the gallery of onlookers or
witnesses.
c. \\#2\\ "Hear ye, O mountains …for the Lord …will
plead" - In this case, they are both. The mountains
and hills bear witness to the great evil Israel had
committed against God but they will also bear record
of the many opportunities of mercy God gave them.
d. "controversy" - Reminiscent of the words God had
spoken to the northern kingdom\\#(Hosea 4:1; 12:2\\.
4. \\#3-5\\ God’s Testimony
a. \\#3\\ God’s Questions
(1) "what have I done unto thee?"
(2) "wherein have I wearied thee?"
(3) "testify against me" - God gives Israel the
opportunity to present any case they have
against Him first.
(a) Of course Israel had no case against God.
God had never done them any wrong.
(b) Notice that these are "leading questions."
Yet, they lead Israel to voice their
complaints against God not to shy away from
Him.
(c) It was not nor ever is God’s intent to put
on a show of being good. God is good. It
is His one and only nature. If any sinner
can show that God has dealt wrongly with
Him, God challenges them to do so.
b. \\#4-5\\ God’s Answers - Since Israel had no case, God
will answer His own question.
(1) \\#4\\ "I brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt" - God gave them the land they were
dwelling within.
(2) "and redeemed thee out of the house of servants"
(a) Even more, God delivered them from the cruel
oppression of the Egyptians.
(b) Notice the order in which God lists these
acts of benevolence. God first gave the
Jews their land (via the promises to
Abraham), then He freed them from the
Egyptians.
(3) "I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam"
And God gave leaders to guide the people, not
only in the physical direction that they should
walk but in their relationship with Him.
(a) Note that God did not send Moses alone but
He also sent Aaron and Miriam as well.
(b) Even though there is no record of God ever
giving Miriam an official position in which
to serve, there is little doubt that both
Aaron and Miriam helped and hindered on
occasion \\#Ex 32:21, Num 12:1-16\\.
(4) \\#5\\ "remember …what Balaam …answered"
(a) God used Balaam to bless the nation of Israel
when Balak wanted him to curse them.
(b) Balaam spoke four blesses for Israel to
Balak from three different places.
i. \\#Numbers 23:8-10\\ at Kirjath Huzoth
(near Mt. Pisgah)
ii. \\#Numbers 23:18-25\\ at Mt. Pisgah
iii. \\#Numbers 24:3-9\\ at Mr. Peor
iv. \\#Numbers 24:15-25\\
(c) These blesses give Israel an innumerable
host, a recognition that God was among them
and would empower them, of military strength
and blessings, and the promise of a Ruler
who will rule all nations.
(d) "from Shittim unto Gilgal" - None of the
locations that Balaam spoke from are within
these boundaries. Most likely, this was the
location where the children of Israel camped.
It is a wide expanse from the west to east
side of the Jordan River.
B. \\#Mic 6:6-8\\ A Cry to the Righteous - As God has condemned
many sins for many generations through many different
prophets, it stands to reason that some might wonder what it
would take to please God. That question is answered in these
verses, and it is amazingly simple.
1. \\#6-7\\ The section starts with several questions.
a. \\#6\\ "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?" Micah
asks how one could come into the Lord’s presence. It
should be well known to the people that God is holy.
How does a sinful person come into the presence of a
holy God?
b. "…with burnt offerings, with calves…?" Will
sacrifices and offerings carry one into God’s
presence? Some of that time and the present think
that the correct answer is "YES," but is it?
c. \\#7\\ "Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of
rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil?" If one
sacrifice is good, then would not ten thousand be even
better? Again, some would think so; yet the
prophet’s very question tells us that the sacrifices
and offerings are not sufficient by themselves.
d. "shall I give my firstborn for my transgression…?
(1) All of these questions are rhetorical.
Rhetorical questions have no answers because the
answer is considered obvious.
(2) In this case, the obvious answer is no.
(3) Micah’s last question indicates that no
sacrifice, no matter how precious, could remove
the sins of a soul!
2. \\#8\\ So what will please the Lord?
a. "He hath shewed thee, O man…" - The answer is not a
secret. God has told us what will please Him. We
find the answer throughout the Bible, including in
this passage.
b. It is threefold.
(1) "to do justly" - That is to do the things that
are just and right. While right works do not
save a lost soul, they are very important to
Him; hence, God used a great deal of space in
Bible writing about them.
(2) "to love mercy" - While justice speaks more to
outward actions, mercy speaks more to inward
attitudes. It pleases God when we treat others
with a forgiving, kind, and compassionate
posture. In fact, it is required if we are to
please God.
(3) "to walk humbly with thy God." While the first
two commands deal with works, the last one
centers on the spiritual and is by far the most
important.
(a) "thy God" - This command assumes a personal
relationship with God.
(b) "to walk humbly" - One walking humbly would
have to be walking in obedience and fear
before God.
(c) Even if the first two commands are kept, if
the last is not, a person would not be
pleasing to God.
C. \\#Mic 6:9-16\\ A Cry of Judgment
1. \\#9\\ God’s Voice Still Speaks
a. "The Lord’s voice" - God declares that He was still
speaking to Israel.
b. "the man" blessed with "wisdom shall see" - While the
wise man could hear and see what God was doing, The
lack of wisdom was one of Israel’s under lying sins
and it kept them in darkness.
c. "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it"
(1) "Hear" - God challenges the people to listen to
Him.
(2) The "rod" was of correction and the One who
"appointed it" was the Lord God.
(3) God was saying, "Look at what the judgments are
telling you. A wise man could figure it out."
2. \\#10-12\\ God Describes the People’s Condition
a. \\#10\\ "Are there yet treasures of wickedness…"
(1) The Lord asked if the wicked have profited from
their wickedness.
(2) Micah continues to ask rhetorical questions
meaning the answer is obvious—YES.
b. Are there "scant measures" that are "abominable?"
Again, the answer is YES.
c. \\#11\\ "Shall I count them pure with the wicked
balances?" Should God consider the wicked to be pure
with their deceitful balances? The answer is NO.
d. \\#12\\ This continues the thought of condemnation but
it does so with a statement not a question.
(1) "the rich …are full of violence" - That is, they
hurt and oppress others.
(2) "the inhabitants …have spoken lies"
(3) "their tongue is deceitful"
3. \\#13-15\\ God’s Corresponding Judgments Are Listed
a. \\#13\\ God will "make thee sick in smiting" - God
will afflict the people until they are sick of it.
b. He "make thee desolate."
c. \\#14\\ God will remove their "satisfaction," even
after eating. Contentment is a blessing from God.
d. "casting down" - The word means "emptiness." God will
cast them into nothingness while they still abide in
the land.
e. "take hold …not deliver" - Israel would not keep
what little it could lay its hands on.
f. "that which thou deliverest will I give …to the
sword" - And whatever they do keep, God will give
to their enemies.
g. Verse 15 illustrates how that is possible:
(1) They will sow but not reap.
(2) They will tread but not be allowed to anoint or
celebrate.
(3) They will make the juice but will not drink of
it.
4. \\#16\\ "For" - And why will Israel face this?
a. The "statues of Omri" and "the works …of Ahab" have
were obeyed in Judah. These were two of the most
wicked kings in the northern kingdom, but the people
walked in their "counsels."
b. Because of this, God would make Judah "desolate" and
a "reproach."
c. The people would "hiss" at themselves, an act to
illustrate a cursed and despised people.
d. Judah would bear this "reproach" for their sins.
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