Micah 6:1-8 presents the case that the Lord has against Israel. The Lord has a controversy with the people of Israel and contends with Israel. In the Old Testament, we see that many people approach with the controversy they have with God. However, in this passage, God has a controversy with the people of God. It advances the legal metaphor of a lawsuit to address the relationship between the Lord and Israel. This is not a usual lawsuit. The prophet summons the mountains, hills, and the very foundations of the earth. In one sense, the passage does not address humanity, but Israelite humanity. That which the Lord requires is not something that all human beings owe each other, like the Ten Commandments, but is what those in covenant with each other owe to each other.[1] As we shall see, the passage may have implications for what God expects of human beings as well.
The opening verses (6:1-5) are in a covenant lawsuit format. First, in verses 1-2, using words that can have multiple meanings, the prophet summons the people to hear the case of the Lord against them: 1Hear what the Lord says: Here is the covenant lawsuit format. Rise, the Lord is rising, plead your case, the Lord is pleading the case, before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth. The Lord pleads the case in the presence of creation. For the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. However, instead of itemizing a direct bill of indictment, in verses 3-5, the point is unequivocal that Israel had no reason to abandon the Lord, for the Lord has done no wrong, for the Lord has performed many gracious acts for Israel, so the Lord turns the tables and asks the "witness" Israel rhetorically: 3 “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! This format only makes it all the clearer that it is Yahweh alone who has the right to be weary - weary of Israel's disobedience. Isaiah 43:24 refers to the disobedience of Israel as a burden and making the Lord weary. Malachi 2:17 also speaks of Israel making the Lord weary through their disobedience. Instead of admitting growing weariness over Israel's disobedience, Yahweh offers a case history of the divine steadfastness and salvation visited upon Israel over the centuries. The gracious acts mentioned relate to the exodus from Egypt, the period of wandering in the desert, including the Balak-Balaam story in Numbers 22-24, and the crossing of the Jordan in Joshua 3-4. First, the Lord brought them out of Egypt, recalling the redemptive act of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. The Lord has kept covenant. 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. Second, the Lord sent them impressive leaders during their early years: and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, in which we should note the equality with which the sister is treated as a leader with her brothers, which contrasts with the narrative as we have it in the Torah. Third, the Lord protected them from enemies. In this eighth-century view of Hebrew history, the story of Israel's rescue from the deceits of Balak and Balaam was an exceedingly popular text. 5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him. Fourth, the Lord tells of Israel's successful entrance into the Promised Land, her final camp at Shittim and her first cultic actions at their site of entry at Gilgal: and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal. Here is what should be the result of the actions of the Lord: that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.” Together, these events present an impressive, albeit brief, overview of the saving acts the Lord has performed for Israel. Abruptly the covenant lawsuit/trial motif ends.
In 6:6-8, for which some scholars for a post-exilic date, we find the text taking the shape of a Torah liturgy. It represents the speech for the prosecution. The subject is the usefulness of sacrifice. The question-answer section of verses 6-7 acts as the liturgical answer of the people to the suit brought against them by the Lord in verses 1-5. As Israel wonders what it can do to earn back acceptance from the Lord, it offers a list of cultic activities whose purpose is to put God and the people back into a right relationship. The list of sacrificial actions that they might take grows in fervor and flamboyance as the verses continue. In the process, Micah poses the most urgent question of religious existence. What is the way of true worship?[2] 6 “With what shall I come before the Lord, and as the only offering for the poor, bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with the costly and highly prized offering of calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with the outrageously lavish demonstrations of sacrifice available only to the king such as thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Finally, the forbidden dark sacrifice: Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Torah had long outlawed child sacrifice but continued as a sporadic practice throughout the ancient Near East. Genesis 22 and the King of Moab II Kings 3:27 and the horror it brought upon Israel relate to this. In imagining the setting in which the people might ask such questions, we are to imagine them as pilgrims going to Jerusalem at one of the annual feasts. They would ask the questions at the gate of the temple.
Micah was not alone in his concern about the animal sacrifices required by Torah. His contemporary in Isaiah 1:11-17 also says the multitude of sacrifices of animals mean nothing. Another contemporary, in Amos 5:21-24, says the Lord hates their festivals and solemn assembling’s in which they make burnt and grain offerings. Psalm 40:6-8 says the Lord does not desire sacrifice and offering. Psalms 40:6 says the Lord has not required of the poet sacrifice, burnt offering, or sin offering. Psalm 50:7-11 says every animal already belongs to the Lord, so sacrifice and offering do not make sense. Psalm 51:16-17 says the Lord finds no delight in sacrifice and burn offering. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 very closely parallels Micah 6:8: “So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear [revere] the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God. …” A strong part of the tradition is to guide people away from dependence upon sacrifices and offerings, as if they replace a life of obedience. Although Micah knows that sacrifice is a necessary part of a right relationship with God, which Mosaic Law commanded and carefully detailed in Leviticus 1-6, these actions in themselves are still not enough. Historically, Israel in Canaan at first made modest use of sacrifice. However, as the religion of Canaan influenced Israel, it became more elaborate. Amos accepted the lower view of sacrifice, and earlier in I Samuel 15:22, where obedience is better than sacrifice. Hosea and Isaiah shared reservations about sacrifice. Hosea 6:6 (cited by Jesus in Matthew 9:13; 12:7), “For I desire mercy [hesed], not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Jeremiah had some challenging words in this regard: frankincense and burnt offerings are not acceptable (6:19-20). They need to amend their ways, act justly, and refuse to oppress (7:5-7). In the period of the exodus the Lord did not command them to present burnt offerings, but to walk in obedience to what the Lord commanded (7:21-26). One can properly boast only in knowing and understanding the Lord with love, justice, and righteousness (9:23-24). The wisdom teachers were consistent with this emphasis: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination while the prayer of the upright brings delight to the Lord (Proverbs 15:8), which while true, even more so is the sacrifice of those with evil intent (21:27), while the doing righteousness and justice is more acceptable than sacrifice (21:3). Even in NT times, there were rabbis who did not value sacrifice highly. Jesus has an analogous concern when he said the Pharisees counsel tithe on the smallest thing while neglecting the weightier matters of the torah, such as justice, mercy, and faith (Matthew 23:23) and when he said that loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbor is greater than observing the law regarding burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12:28-34). The writer of Hebrews takes it further, saying that we are wise not to interpret such reservations as a rejection of Temple offerings. Some NT passages follow certain OT passages’ lead in spiritualizing sacrifice. Thus, since the sacrifice of animals cannot take away sin, the Son told the Father that he would offer his body so that the sacrifice of animals is abolished, thereby establishing the priority of doing of the will of the Father (Hebrews 10:4-10), continually offering the sacrifice of praise, doing good, and sharing with others, which are the sacrifices that please the Father (Hebrews 13:15-16), offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to the Father through Jesus as the Christ (1 Peter 2:5). Such notions in the Old Testament expresses the common concept of the primacy of morality over sacrifices. Thus, we need not find such counsel mystifying. We may resolve the issue by seeing a combination of ironic and/or spiritualizing language and a corresponding call to return to a form of religious practice that does not use even proper religious observances as a cover-up for disobedience to God and unrighteousness, especially injustice. A religion of the heart will lead its observers not only to observe ceremonial practices, but also to live a righteous and just life in a society that shows love for God and neighbor.
The climax of this text is the response of the prophet to the litany of questions from the people. It spells out what it is God seeks from Israel if sacrifice is not what God requires so that she may "make things right." The "better way" is a threefold path. 8 He has told you, O mortal (adam), using an uncommon address. The use of adam may simply be to stress the mere creatureliness of human listeners over/against the exalted divinity of God the Creator. But there is another possibility. The inclusivity of the term adam may also point to the universality of God's expectations for these spiritual attitudes and attributes. All humans, even those outside Israel, may be expected to choose this threefold path. The prophet urges them to do what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but, the first two behaviors involving establishing right human-to-human relationships, (1) to do justice, and (2) to love kindness, and (3) to walk humbly (to live with in communion, referring to one’s whole way of life, even as Enoch in Genesis 5:21-24 walked with God, to walk modestly and wisely) with your God? Taken together, these three attitudes outweigh all sacrificial actions. This didactic saying is one of the most influential and oft-quoted sayings in prophetic literature. It was considered as a summation of all the law. Even for modern readers, these words seem reassuringly familiar. Yet, these words are profoundly challenging. The point is that God has been faithful to the covenant, while the people have responded with faithless ritual and lack of faith toward each other.
President John Adams wrote: “The longer I live, the more I read, the more patiently I think, and the more anxiously I inquire, the less I seem to know.... Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly. That is enough.... So questions and so answers your affectionate grandfather.”[3]
This passage challenges us to reflect upon that which we have set our hearts and lives. Hopefully, we will know ourselves well enough that success will be doing what we want to do.[4] We need to exercise care here, for that on which we set our hearts shall come our way. We need to be sure that on which we set our hearts is worthy.[5] We begin to improve the world when we look to our hearts, heads, and hands.[6] With some self-awareness, our thinking about such important matters is not simply rearranging our prejudices.[7] If our vision is to die with more toys than anyone else, we still die.[8] We do not give up our search for happiness and satisfaction, regardless of our fleeting the experience may be. Regardless of what we achieve, see, acquire, or do, satisfaction slips from our grasp. We crave it, we believe we can get it, we glimpse it, we may experience it brefly, but then it vanishes.[9]
As modern readers, we have long put aside animal sacrifices. However, we might replace that ritual with another. The ritual of Sunday observance is an obvious one. With biting satire, philosopher Kierkegaard offered another.
"We artful dodgers act as if we do not understand the New Testament, because we realize full well that we should have to change our way of life drastically. That is why we invented 'religious education' and 'christian (sic) doctrine.' Another concordance, another lexicon, a few more commentaries, three other translations, because it is all so difficult to understand. Yes, of course, dear God, all of us - capitalists, officials, ministers, house-owners, beggars, the whole society - we would be lost if it were not for 'scholarly doctrine!'"[10]
I suppose at some level, many of us have a controversy with God. We wonder why the world seems to operate the way it does. We see much in the world that does not have the nice, harmonious relationship between health, happiness, morality, and faith that we would like. Good people suffer greatly. Some Christians suffer in this world simply because they are Christians. Some people, who clearly reject any sense of morality, decency, justice, and mercy, often have success, as the world defines success.
Yet we at least need to think about the controversy God has with us. God often acts in goodness, mercy, patience, and love. Our response is to move through empty ritual, going through the motions of what we think is a good or religious life. God seems to ask of us some simple things we might call the better way to lead a well-lived human life, a life worthy of the God who made us. For example, God wants us to learn to treat each other with justice and fairness. We have an obligation to each other to respect the worth and dignity each of us has as children of God. God also wants us to learn to offer kindness or mercy to all persons. Such caring for others is the basis of all ethical life, for morality is not just a matter of following rules but of genuinely caring for others. God also wants us to learn to live our lives in communion with God. When we learn the habit of living in the presence of God, we learn to re-direct the focus of our lives from self and toward God. We commit ourselves to learning such simple ways of living our lives, we will move a long way toward what God wants us of us.
As he wrote about the people of Israel in crisis, Micah’s focus was to simplify — remind the people of their purpose. Like an executive on a corporate treadmill or a doctor who is given all she had to give, the people of Israel had been relying on their busyness, their ritual, their status as chosen people to make meaning of their lives. Their offerings to God were simply the fruits of their frantic labor, much like those of us who believe that if we can just do enough, give enough, work enough ... then our God, our boss, our families, our friends will finally be pleased with us.
Tony Campolo writes of his experience as a college professor, counseling students who are thinking of dropping out because they need time to "find themselves." His answer to them: "What if, after you peel away each of these socially prescribed identities and socially generated selves, you discover you're an onion? What if you take that long guru journey into yourself, and when you get there -- nobody's home? Stop to consider the fact that if you peel away all the layers of an onion, guess what you have left? Nothing! And it just may be that when you take that trip to the innermost recesses of your soul, that's exactly what you'll find." The self, Campolo continues, "is not an essence waiting to be discovered through philosophical introspection. Quite the contrary! I believe that the self is an essence waiting to be created! We create who we are through the commitments we make. And without commitments we have no identity."[11] He is making a crucial point. We are creating the self we shall be through the experiences of our lives, the relationships we form, and the choices we make.
It was an afternoon that changed a life forever. Here is the story:
Rick Olson stood with his son Patrick on a hill overlooking a panoramic view of downtown Pittsburgh with its three rivers and tall buildings. As they gazed over the railing on the Mt. Washington observation deck, Patrick pointed to the barges floating up and down the three rivers, a blue-and-gold bridge and a host of other scenes there laid out in front of them, all the while asking questions — “What kind of boat is that? How do they get the sand out of the railcars and into the barges? Which river goes south to north? Is it that one or that one?”
Rick had been living in Pittsburgh for 22 years and had never really paid attention to things like that. For two hours Patrick made observations, asked questions, and Rick could only say, “Hmmmm.”
Then Patrick asked his dad to point out the building where he had been working every day for five years as a corporate lawyer specializing in radio station mergers. There in that steel and glass edifice Rick was known as “The Mechanic” for his ability to close the deal, even though he was not very good at bringing in business. Well, at least Rick knew where his building was and pointed out the downtown tower.
“What’s the building next to it?” asked Patrick. Rick did not know. He had walked past that building every day for five years and he had no idea. How could he not know?
When they returned home, Rick made his son dinner, played with him, read him a story, put him in bed and kissed him goodnight. But when Rick came downstairs and plopped down on the couch, he had an epiphany. One thought kept gnawing at him: “I’d been here 22 years and never noticed all those things. What else have I been missing?”
Rick realized that he was unhappy as a corporate lawyer. His bosses passed him for partner, and he was not making much money. He scheduled his whole life around work, and it began to overwhelm him. He remembered the time his wife (now his ex) was scheduled for gallbladder surgery and on the way to the hospital one of the partners gave him a cell phone and suggested he make calls to clients while in the waiting room, or the time that his son Patrick had to sit in his office all night while his dad met with clients. He was multi-tasking his life and still not making it. It was time for a change.
That night Rick was 80 percent sure that he wanted to quit, but he needed to find the other 20 percent to be sure. That came in the form of a serious leg injury he sustained playing recreational hockey that forced him out of action for quite a while. When Rick woke up in the hospital and the doctor told him by that his foot and leg had broken in at least 11 places, Rick’s response was to laugh. “They just unlocked the gate. This is my chance to walk away.” The doctor replied, “You won’t be walking anywhere for quite a while.” “That’s fine by me,” said Rick. Ironically, during his 10-month rehabilitation, Rick had found the courage to move on with his life. For 20 years he had said that when work got frustrating, he would “rather drive a truck.” So that is what he did. Rick now spends 60 percent of his time driving an over-the-road tanker truck, working 10 days on the road, and then getting at least four days to spend with Patrick uninterrupted by his job. “I needed to do something different,” he explains. “I didn’t anticipate that I’d fall in love with the job.”
Rick is just one of the people profiled in Po Bronson’s book What Should I Do With My Life? Bronson calls the book title “The Ultimate Question” — the question that most of us wrestle with at some point. But rather than write another “how-to” book or a treatise on finding your purpose, Bronson simply spent time with people, hearing their stories, watching their transformation, seeing them “facing up to [their] own identity and filtering out the chatter that tells us to be someone we’re not.”
“Your calling isn’t something you inherently ‘know,’ as if it were a predetermined destiny. Far from it. Most of the people I interviewed found their calling after great difficulty. They had made mistakes before getting it right. For instance, the catfish farmer used to be an investment banker, the truck driver had been an entertainment lawyer, a chef had been an academic, and the police officer was a Harvard MBA. Everyone discovered latent talents that were not in their skill sets at age 25. “Most of us don’t get epiphanies. We only get a whisper — a faint urge. That’s it. That’s the call. It’s up to you to do the work of discovery, to connect it to an answer.”[12]
It is not a philosophical book. Instead, it is a look at the “hard-earned record of those who actually took action, changed their lives, and enjoyed or suffered the consequences.” Bronson gathers together stories of transformation from pointlessness to purpose, from success to significance, including:
• A mother torn between an Olympic career and her adolescent daughter.
• The Cuban immigrant who overcame the strong disapproval of her parents and quit her lucrative career to go into social work.
• The OB/Gyn physician who walked away from her lifelong “destiny” of being a doctor and was trying to make sense of it all.
• A high-powered IT saleswoman who gave up the certainty of salary to be a massage therapist because she missed a close connection with people.
The more you read Bronson’s book, the more you begin to understand that there are millions of people out there desperately seeking the answer to The Ultimate Question, and those answers don’t often come easy. Usually there is some pain, some risk, some adversity, some struggle involved — and often the vision for the future only comes to us through the lens of hindsight.
Micah breaks it down. The answer to The Ultimate Question is quite simple. We find our purpose in the larger purposes of God. “What does the Lord require of you?” asks the prophet. What really matters? A "Pontius Puddle" cartoon begins with "I wonder if God can really hear me." The next frame shows Pontius praying, "Hey God! What should I do with my life?" The third frame has a voice from heaven saying, "Feed the hungry, right injustice, work for peace." "Just testing!" Pontius replies. "Same here," God speaks back.
What is God’s purpose for us? What really matters is relationship — relationship with God and with each other, relationships not quantified by dollars or organization charts, by ritual or virtuous deeds. What really matters, says the prophet, is “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8).
[1]
[2]
[3] --John Adams, in a letter to his granddaughter Caroline, in response to a comment of hers about the riddles of life; cited by David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 650.
[4] A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and does what he wants to do. -Bob Dylan, singer, songwriter and successful 60-year-old.
[5] Beware what you set your heart upon. For it shall surely be yours. --Ralph Waldo Emerson.
[6] The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands. —Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
[7] A great many people think they are thinking when they are only rearranging their prejudices. -William James
[8] He Who Dies With the Most Toys Wins - But He Still Dies. -Greg Borchert, "The best T-shirts of summer, 2001," The Washington Post, August 2, 2001, C9.
[9] Brooks, Arthur C. “How to Want Less.” The Atlantic, February 8, 2022, www.theatlantic.com.
[10] -Brennan Manning, Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging (Colorado Springs, Colo.: Navpress, 1994), 137-138.
[11] --Tony Campolo, "Lose Yourself," on the Red Letter Christians blog, April 7, 2011.www.redletterchristians.org/lose-yourself/ Retrieved August 12, 2013.
[12] Po Bonson, Fast Company magazine (January 2003)
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