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He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6: 8).
Micah was a prophet of God living in the dark days of Judah. A contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos, he prophesied mainly in Samaria and the surrounding areas of Judah, particularly Jerusalem. Though his office covered the reigns of the kings of Judah, namely Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, most of Micah’s prophesies were made during the rule of the wicked King Ahaz.

Micah minced no words. His prophecies were grim and severe, meant to awaken his hearers to consider their ways and return unto the Lord. The thrice repeated phrase: “Hear ye” (Mic. 1:2; 3:1; 6:1) divides the whole book into three prophetic addresses. “In the first the threatening of judgment predominates; in the second the announcement of the Messianic salvation; in the third there follows the parenthesis or admonition to repentance and humiliation under the chastising hand of the Lord, in order to participate in the promised salvation” – Keil & Delitzsch.

 The prophet had warned the priests, the princes and the people about their grievous sins, yet they had continued in disobedience. In the context of Micah 6: 8, the Lord, speaking through His servant, reminded His people what was required of them: “Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against Me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. 6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (vv. 1-8).

Interestingly, Micah chapter 6 opens with a “court room” scene. The prophet announced the lawsuit that the Lord had brought against His own people. Here God called His people to literally “contend” with Him and to answer for their grievous sins. In the form of a judicial contest between the Lord and His people, the prophet held up before the Israelites their ingratitude for the great blessings which they had received from God (vv. 1-5); he rebuked their spirit of formality, and taught that God required inward holiness and obedience (vv.6-8); God must, in judgment, inflict severe punishment, because the people had practised falsehood and violence (vv. 9-14).

Even the mountains and the hills – “spectators” from time immemorial to the Lord’s goodness to Israel throughout the ages - were summoned as witnesses to the controversy and to testify of Israel’s disobedience and ingratitude (vv. 1-2). “Their ingratitude and rebellion are sufficient to make the mountains, the hills, and the strong foundations of the earth to hear, tremble, and give judgment against them. This, then, is the Lord's controversy with His people, and thus He will plead with Israel” – Adam Clarke.

 “O My people” (v. 3) expresses the Lord’s strong affection for His people. They were His people, whom He had chosen for Himself “above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deut. 7: 6); whom He had redeemed from the house of bondage, had and loaded them with His benefits; yet they sinned against Him. With the hope of invoking the right response from His people, the Lord set before them the benefits and blessings they enjoyed by His gracious hand (vv. 3-5). He reminded them of how He had delivered them from Egyptian bondage and the evil devices of Balak and Balaam. Let them remember God’s many favours to them and their fathers, in contrast to their unworthy, ungrateful conduct towards Him, “that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord” in contending with them. (… to be continued)