Wednesday, July 9,
2025 ▫ Read Micah 3:1–4
Questions from the Scripture
text: Who are called to hear in v1b? And who, in v1c? What rhetorical question
does v1d ask? What is the implied answer? What does He say about their
character in v2a? What does He say about their conduct in v2b–3f? How does the
imagery convey the ruthlessness? How does it convey the self-interest? What
will these rulers do, when the judgment comes (v4a)? With what result (v4b–c)?
For what reason (v4d)?
Why wouldn’t the Lord listen to Israel’s
prayers? Micah 3:1–4 looks forward to the hearing of God’s
Word, publicly read, in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these four
verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord closed
His ears to Israel, because their magistrates had closed their ears to the
oppressed.
Back in 2:1–2,
we read about those who devised elaborate schemes to divest others of their
lands and homes, particularly women and children who had apparently lost the
help of a husband/father (cf. 2:9).
This brief
section goes after the civil magistrates (heads, v1b; rulers, v1c) who have
made such schemes possible.
The Lord
attacks their competence (v1d). Their job was to know justice, and they either
completely disregarded it or spectacularly failed at it. They have rejected a
calling that comes from God.
The Lord
attacks their character (v2a). Rather than loving good and hating evil, as God
does, they are exactly the opposite. They aren’t just assaulting His image in
others; they are defacing His image in themselves.
The Lord
attacks their conduct (v2b–3f). Those who have little regard for the Lord
Himself have ultimately little regard for those made in His image. Whatever
fellow-feeling they have that permits some measure of civility, or seeming
compassion, for others will ultimately evaporate against a pressure that is
high enough. For some, that pressure may be as little as their own desires for
power or property.
That was the
case with these magistrates. Their love of power is implied by the organization
and ruthlessness of the literal butchering that makes up the bulk of the
imagery in v2–3. Their love of property is implied by the time the imagery
makes to the pot and cauldron, where the food is cooked and ready to serve.
There is a
harmonious justice to the Lord’s response. Since the widows and orphans of Israel
find themselves with no one to cry out to in the courts of the magistrates,
these magistrates will find themselves with no one to cry out to in the courts
of the Lord. It will not be only that their requests are denied (“He will not hear
them,” v4b), but that their requests are not even heard (“He will even hide His
face from them at that time,” v4c).
Ultimately,
this little section confronts us with how offensive to God a lack of compassion
is. It exposes a disregard for the Lord Himself—doubly so, when we are in an
office of care for others; trebly so, when those who are disregarded are lowly
such as widows and orphans; quadruply so, when they are among His covenant people.
God refuses the prayers of a husband who does not live in an understanding way
with his wife (cf. 1Pet 3:7). He refuses the prayers of the professing believer
who is unforgiving toward other believers (cf. Mt 18:35). How important a thing,
dear reader, is a Christ-like compassion toward others!
Toward whom
have you had difficulty having compassion? Who, if any, are entrusted to your overseeing
and defending? For what are you covetous, and whom are you in danger of
disregarding in your covetousness? Whose plight is often invisible to you?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for when we participate in
the plots of the wicked because our desire for wealth and ease makes us
negligent. We confess that carelessness of others exposes a lack of love for
You and for Your image in men. By Your Spirit, make us sensitive to the cries
of those whom You have assigned to us, and grant that, for the Lord Jesus’s
sake, You would be sensitive to our own cries, AMEN!
Suggested Songs: ARP14 “Within His Heart the Fool
Speaks” or TPH400 “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me”