Micah: When He Could Have Said, “I Told You So!”

Micah 4:1-5

In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established

    as the highest of the mountains;

it will be exalted above the hills,

    and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

    to the temple of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways,

    so that we may walk in his paths.”

The law will go out from Zion,

    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He will judge between many peoples

    and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

    and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

    nor will they train for war anymore.

Everyone will sit under their own vine

    and under their own fig tree,

and no one will make them afraid,

    for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

All the nations may walk

    in the name of their gods,

but we will walk in the name of the Lord

    our God for ever and ever.

Micah was a small-town boy speaking truth to power in the big city of Jerusalem.  In today’s passage, he is speaking to an audience that is experiencing the invasion of the Assyrians.  Although he warned them that it was going to happen, they were not prepared and thus, they were devastated.  Imagine the powerful and elite leaders being warned of a coming invasion and ignoring and downplaying those warnings.  I know it’s a stretch to imagine in our own times, but give it a try 😊. 

In any case,  they were probably more ready to listen to Micah now that it happened as he predicted.  Yet in the midst of their devastation, Micah offers them hope.  In Micah’s words are the echoes of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that Israel will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.  The temple will be reestablished, and people will come from all over the world to “go up to the mountain of the Lord. Swords and spears will be more useful being shaped into implements for farming.  To people gripped by fear, he proclaims fear’s days are numbered.  And it will all happen because “we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.”

Even though they ignored God’s warnings, God will not abandon them or the purpose God has for them.  Micah’s proclamation of God’s faithfulness is repeated by virtually all the prophets, even the doomiest prophets of doom.  There is always hope no matter how bad things get because of the faithful and compassionate character of God.  It is a timeless message and thus it is a message for us as well. 

One of the values of journeying through the prophets of ancient Israel is that we might see this faithful character of God and gain hope from them.  However, it’s also important for us to hear the value of listening and heeding the warnings of God before catastrophe strikes.    It is to see the way that the poor are being exploited and marginalized before the consequences of doing that eventually come. 

Institutional and systemic racism,  inequitable access to basic food and health care,  and voter suppression practices all have consequences that we will eventually reap if we don’t work to remedy them.  In 1956 MLK paraphrased a statement first made by Theodore Parker a century earlier when he said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  Hear Parker’s original words:

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice” 

The bend towards justice is because the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of the moral universe is a God of justice.  We, as followers of that God, are invited to be people of justice.  More on this tomorrow.

Prayer: God, give us eyes for justice and hands, feet and mouths for doing it.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Pray for students who are struggling with school in the chaos create by the multiple crises we are in right now.

Song:  Towards Justice- Eliana Light ft. Chana Rothman and Isaac Zones