Micah 3:1-6
Micah 3:1
And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye
princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
The leaders of Israel should have known the principles of
judgment. True judgment was a mark
of godly leadership knowing how to adjudicate matters according to the law of
God. Here through Micah is
basically denouncing the fact that the leaders were not exercising proper
judgment but were susceptible to bribes and favoritism.
They were allowing their judgments to be swayed based on profit.
Micah 3:2
Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their
skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
The leaders were to love the good and hate the evil.
Hate the evil, and love the good,
and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be
gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
(Amos 5:15) Amos had
prophesied to the same people they were to love the good and hate the evil,
instead the very opposite as being done that they hated the good and loved the
evil. Then Micah uses an
illustration as that of a vulture who finds a dead body.
The vulture eats it down to the bones and all that is left is the
skeleton. This is how thorough the
leaders were in extracting lands and money from the people till they literally
had nothing left to live on. This
would also be likened to cannibals who do the same thing except it is not
vultures but the people eating other people and that is what the leaders were
doing, they were devouring the people for their own profit.
Micah 3:3
Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin
from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the
pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
That lie upon beds
of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of
the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
(Amos 6:4) Amos had also
spoken about the wealthy and the leaders who ate up the people not as cannibals
but stealing all their goods, homes, and money and leaving them nothing to live
on, even finding food would have been a chore without money.
The flaying of a person is when the skin is removed by means of a knife
and the Assyrians were very skilled in that technique as they would flay the
enemies they conquered. Micah is
stating that the plundering of these people was so thorough, that it was like
their entire body including the bones were broken up and just like a cook cooks
an entire animal, that is what the leaders did to the people.
They were not satisfied until they had it all.
Micah 3:4
Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear
them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved
themselves ill in their doings.
Therefore all
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for
this is the law and the prophets.
(Matthew 7:12) The Golden Rule
of doing unto others as you would have them do to you is what is in view here in
Micah 3:4. The judges and leaders
would also be subject to the same terrors they imposed upon the people when they
are taken by the Assyrians into captivity.
The persecutors are normally the ones who scream the loudest when life
turns against them. They will cry
out unto the LORD when they are in captivity but God will not hear their cries
as they did not hear the cries of the poor people they oppressed.
The word “ill” means “evil or bad” describing the way they ordered their
life in opposition to the law of God.
Micah 3:5
Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my
people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not
into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
Then Micah turns to the false prophets who were bringing
a false message and were causing the people to err.
The word “err” means “wander or go astray.”
Jeremiah faced a false prophet named Hananiah who prophesied falsely
among the people claiming the captivity of Judah would only be 2 years not 70.
By the end of the year that he made that false prophecy God had stuck him
dead. These false prophets were
preaching a false peace and any false teaching would sting or hurt as if one was
bitten by strong teeth. These false
prophets were prophesying good things and prosperity and were not warning the
people that their sins would be judged soon by God would use the Assyrians as
his tool. The last part of this
verse speaks about the false prophets which God did not send.
I have not sent these prophets,
yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
(Jeremiah 23:21) The
fact that they were falsely prophesying to the people meant they were at war
with God because they were unbelievers.
When a person becomes saved, they are no longer at war with God, there is
peace.
Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
(Romans 5:1) These false
prophets changed the true word of God with their false teachings.
Micah 3:6
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have
a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun
shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.