Introduction to Series on Micah
Micah 2:1-11
August 29, 2010
Joanna Harader
A couple of weeks ago I began a list of things I love about Peace Mennonite Church. First on the list: There has been a snake skin on top of the fridge for months and nobody cares. Last week the snake skin was put up on the children’s bulletin board, so now I need to add an item to my list: When the kids ask to put a shed snake skin on the bulletin board, the Sunday School teachers say, “sure.”
Ken mentioned at sharing time last week that he appreciates that we do not have sermons every week. I get the sense people often feel a little awkward saying this around the preacher, but I really don’t mind. I’m glad we don’t have sermons every week; I am very grateful that this community is not bound by some of the restrictions that a lot of churches place on their worship experiences.
I appreciate the fact that this church is different. And I appreciate the fact that we can sometimes step back and look at more traditional worship practices and say, “Well, maybe we can try that one.”
That’s what the worship team did, and that’s why we are starting a sermon series this morning. The worship team suggested we look at one of the prophets, and set me loose to choose which one. I went first to Jeremiah, but it has 52 chapters and I thought that you all might not want to have a year-long sermon series. So I moved over to Micah, which has 7 chapters. Seven chapters full of condemnation, despair, hope, justice. It’s going to be a great ride.
While each sermon in the series will, in a sense, stand alone, I would like to suggest four practices that can help you get the full “Micah experience” in the coming weeks.
First, you might want to take some notes. Something you hear one week may very well relate to a passage we look at a few weeks later.
Second, because the sermons and discussions each week will connect, try to come as often as possible, and if you can’t make it, check to see if the sermon you missed is posted on the web site. Third, read the book of Micah at home. It’s only seven chapters. We will touch on most of the chapters in the book, but we will not take the time to read the entire book during worship.
And finally, consider bringing your Bible with you to worship so that you can (gasp) make notes in the margins and refer to the broader context of the book as we discuss specific passages.
I have never had the experience of going through an entire book of the Bible in consecutive sermons before. And I am really looking forward to it. By staying in Micah for several weeks, we will have a chance to understand the message of the prophet deeply, to learn about the historical situation of the listeners, to gain, I hope, a relatively full picture of the messages from God that Micah proclaimed and thus to hear the messages God has for us today.
You have heard this morning from the second chapter of Micah, but the book–as you may imagine–begins with chapter one. We’re not focusing specifically on the first chapter because it contains a preponderance of Hebrew puns that are basically lost in the English translations. Still, it is worth backing up to get a general sense of what is going on here.
The book of Micah opens with these words: “The word of Yahweh that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.”
There is a lot of information in that opening sentence, and understanding this introduction will help us to fully hear the message that Micah delivers in the verses that follow. Let’s start at the end of that sentence and work our way to the beginning.
“Concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.” So here is the down and dirty overly-simplified version of a long and complex period of history. In the biblical accounts, we read a lot about the nation of Israel and its kings and its military exploits. Saul, David, Solomon . . . we have a vision of a glorious, strong nation worshiping Yahweh. The reality is that that “golden age,” known as the United Monarchy, lasted only about 100 years–right at the turn of the first millennium BCE.
The United Monarchy ended when external threats and internal fighting caused a political split between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The capital of the Northern Kingdom was Samaria. During the time of Micah, Samaria falls to the Assyrians. And the Assyrian armies are trying to invade the Southern Kingdom. We should keep in mind here that the Assyrian army is horrible and brutal and I can’t even say some of the things they did because there are children here and it’s getting close to lunch time.
So, in the book of Micah we will here about both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms. Generally, the South is referred to as Judah and the North as Israel. But we will hear Micah refer to the South also as Israel to remind his listeners of the unity of Yahweh’s covenant people.
Now to the middle of the first sentence: “During the days of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah.” Micah is prophesying in roughly the mid to late eight century B.C.E. Judah, the Southern Kingdom, still has kings–they have not yet been conquered. But the threat from the Northern Kingdom now conquered by Assyria is growing.
King Ahaz, in a political move whose value is still debated to this day, decides there is no way his little nation can fend off the Assyrian forces for much longer, so he strikes a deal with Assyria. Assyria will quit trying to invade his country, and in return the Southern Kingdom will pay Assyria a LOT of money and will generally follow Assyria’s rules and honor Assyria’s gods.
Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, decides this is a bad arrangement and begins destroying idols and withholding tribute money. The Assyrians do not appreciate this and thus break through Judah’s defense cities and take the capital of Jerusalem.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. While Micah is prophesying, the Assyrians have not yet taken Jerusalem. Judah’s alliance with Assyria means rampant idolatry and insane taxes. And the constant military threats against Judah mean that it’s borders are littered with military installments and fortress cities.
Now going all the way back to the very beginning of the book of Micah: “The word of Yahweh that came to Micah of Moresheth.”
Micah designates himself as a prophet by declaring that he is speaking not his own words, but the words of Yahweh. There is a common misconception that prophets are primarily fortune tellers. It is true that sometimes the biblical prophets speak about future events, but the primary role of the Hebrew prophet was not to predict the future, but to interpret the present. The prophet is the one through whom God speaks to God’s people. The prophet is the one who reads the signs of the times and tells the people what the consequences will likely be if they continue down the path they are on.
In addition to being a prophet, we know that Micah is located in the Southern Kingdom. While he probably did most of his preaching in Jerusalem, Micah is from a small town in the hill country, a border town in an area that was highly fortified against invasion from two sides. A rural town occupied not by the political elite, but by farmers and shepherds.
In chapter one, Micah, a rural prophet, has traveled from his hometown to Jerusalem, the political center of Judah. Here, Micah prophesies that Jerusalem will fall just as Samaria, the Northern capital, has fallen. Judah will be conquered because of the sins of the people.
Then chapter 2 goes into more detail about why Judah will fall. It will fall because some people in the country:
covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them.
They defraud a man of his home,
a fellowman of his inheritance.
I imagine that sounds eerily familiar–to those of you who have read or heard or seen any news stories lately. Coveting. Defrauding. Next week we will talk more about how Micah’s words speak to our contemporary situation.
For now, let’s stay in Judah, 720ish BCE. Injustice is rampant in the land. The wealthy elite have managed to set up a system in which the rich can easily get richer and the poor are quickly reduced to abject poverty. The rulers taxed the rural people at an exorbitant rate–up to 75%–in order to pay the tribute to Assyria and line their own pockets. Because of this unreasonable taxation, many farmers were forced to sell their lands a plot at a time until they were merely vassals working the land that was supposed to have been their ancestral inheritance.
Then this scraggly guy from the hills walks into Jerusalem and yells at the rich and powerful: Hey! You guys are wicked and evil and God is going to get you for this!
As you might imagine, he is not received well: “Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. / “Do not prophesy about these things; / disgrace will not overtake us.”
These other prophets insist that Jerusalem is protected. They believe that Judah will never fall because Yahweh established a covenant with the people through David which promised continual protection of David’s royal line and the city of Jerusalem. According to these prophets, the people have no obligations; God will protect them regardless of what they do.
Micah, however, is concerned about the covenant established through Moses on Mt. Sinai. This is a covenant in which God promises to protect the people as long as they uphold their end of the deal. The ten commandments are part of this covenant. And if we want to reduce this covenant to its simplest form, the people have two basic responsibilities: to worship Yahweh and uphold justice. If the people honor God and uphold justice, God will protect them.
But, says Micah, the leaders of Judah are failing on both accounts. And because they are not upholding their end of the deal, that divine protection they rely on to cover their errors sins–that protection is gone.
Micah is prophesying the word of God as it has come to him. But he knows that the people do not want to listen. There are plenty of so-called prophets around and Micah has no illusions about which prophets the leaders will choose to listen to:
If a liar and deceiver comes and says,
‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’
he would be just the prophet for this people!
Plenty of wine and beer. Prosperity. Security. Comfort. Good times. We all want a happy, rosy future for ourselves and those we love. And there will always be plenty of people who are willing to take our money and tell us exactly what we want to hear.
But what we want to hear is not always the same thing as the truth. And Jesus promised that it is the truth that shall make us free.
The hard truth spoken through Micah is that we will all–those at the top included–pay a price for living in a society based on unjust practices.
The hope-filled truth is that we serve a God who desires justice; a God who became flesh in Jesus–who enacted justice though he suffered great injustice.
The life-giving truth is that we serve the risen Christ who makes the way of justice clear, who makes it possible, who makes it, ultimately, inevitable.
Thanks be to God.
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