Micah 2:1-13. The first part of today’s reading is called a “woe oracle”. An oracle is a message from a god or God, in this case God. The word “woe” basically means “hey!” In this case it’s like saying “look out”. In this case the person or people who need to “look out” are those who planning to do something bad. The example given is of people planning to steal land from some one who is less powerful than they are. In ancient Israel God gave the land to the various tribe and it was divided between the families of that tribe. Land was so important that God set up a system that kept the land in each family’s possession basically forever. At the end of this “woe oracle” we see the mention of a measuring line. The idea is of a surveyor measuring land and defining boundaries. For the powerful thief there will be no one to measure out “land” for them in “assembly of the LORD”. That last phrase is talking about eternity. You might loosely say, “There will be no place in Heaven” for those people.
In verses 6-7 Micah is quoting false prophets and the evil people mentioned above, they are telling Micah to “shut up”. They don’t like his warning. In verse 7 he confronts their attitude that God is not mad at them. His response is “you bet he is”. The end of verse 7 is pretty cool though because it give hope. Sure they were getting in trouble for their evil ways but Micah’s words would be good for people who would obey God.
Stealing land was no the only thing these people were doing, in fact it was probably used as an example to make a contrast between wealth on earth and true wealth in Heaven. In verses 8-9 Micah tells them that God is not mad for no reason and he gives them a couple of more examples of the things they are doing wrong they evict widows and leave their children hopeless and they steal clothes from people passing by on the street. The reason that they did not want to listen to Micah was because they wanted to stay focused on God’s promises of a forever kingdom for Israel. “Hey we are God’s chosen people” was what they kept saying. Micah’s response was, “Think again, for you there is no place of rest.” And he tells them why, because they have been disobedient and rebellious; they were sinning. The Bible uses the example of dirt as a way of describing what sin makes us. God is clean and we are unclean or dirty. The result is we cannot be with God; we are destined for destruction. In my work I use a lot of rags. I usually wash them and reuse them but sometimes they are too dirty and I throw them away. We are that dirty, sort of. There is one way we can become clean, if we allow Jesus to be thrown away for us, that is what he did at the cross, he was forsaken by God the Father. In his mercy God allows that undeserved punishment as a substitute for each of ours.
In verse 11 Micah points out that the powerful people don’t want to hear all of this, they just want to keep listening to people who will tell them that they are chosen and that God is planning a party for them. In verse 12 God speaks direct to them and tells them that he is good for his promises, but only for some. God bring them to the eternal kingdom but it will only be those who follow their king, Yahweh.
I like it that there is hope but it requires bowing to God our king. We need to realize that God is pure and that we need help. We are offensive to God but he is willing to clean us up. We can be part of the “remnant” if we will put our lives in his hand. If we want to keep pretending that God will let us into Heaven no matter what, we are fooling ourselves and headed for an eternity without God. That will be so miserable it is called destruction. God loves us and warns us and provides a way for us but we must listen to the truth and put our lives in his care.
God thank you for taking my punishment on the cross. Jesus thank you for enduring a separation between you the Father so I do not have too. Help me follow you better each day. Help me have a cleaner life each day. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for the promise of eternity with You.