Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 6

Hear now what the Lord says - If you will not hear the rebuke of man, hear now at last the word of God. “Arise, you, Micah.” The prophet was not willing to be the herald of woe to his people, but had to arise at the bidding of God, so that he might not be rebellious like that rebellious house (Ezekiel 2:8). Stand up; as one having all authority to rebuke, and daunted by none. He makes the hearer ponder, showing it to be a very grave, urgent matter, to be done promptly, urgently, without delay.

“You contend before (or better, as in the English margin, with) the mountains.” Since man, who had reason, would not use his reason, God calls the mountains and hills, who (Romans 8:20) unwillingly, as it were, had been the scenes of their idolatry.

It is as if He would say (as Lapide notes): “Insensate though you are, you are more sensible than Israel, whom I endowed with sense; for you feel the voice and command of God your Creator and obey Him; they do not. I cite you to represent your guilty inhabitants, so that, through you, they may hear My complaint to be just, and own themselves guilty, repent, and ask forgiveness.”

“The altars and idols, the blood of the sacrifices, the bones and ashes upon them, with unuttered yet clear voice, spoke of the idolatry and guilt of the Jews, and so pronounced God’s charge and expostulation to be just.

Ezekiel is commanded, in a similar way, to prophesy against “the mountains of Israel” (Ezekiel 6:2–5), “I will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places, and your altars shall be desolate.” For it is said: “Lifeless nature without voice tells the glory of God; without ears it hears what the Lord speaks” (Psalms 19:3; Luke 19:40).

Hear, ye strong (or, it may be, ye enduring) foundations of the earth - Mountains and rocks carry the soul to times far away, before and after. They change not, like the habitable, cultivated, surface of the earth. There they were, before the existence of our short-lived generations; there they will be, until time shall cease to be. They have witnessed so many vicissitudes of human things, themselves unchanging. The prophet is directed to seize this feeling of simple nature. “They have seen so much before me.” Yes! “Then they have seen all that befell my forefathers; all God’s benefits, all along, to them and to us, all their and our unthankfulness.”

He will plead with Israel - God has a strict, severe judgment with His people, and yet condescends to clear Himself before His creatures, to come down from His throne of glory and place Himself on equal terms with them. He does not plead only, but mutually (such is the force of the word) impleads with His people, hears if they would say anything against Himself, and then gives His own judgment. But this willingness to hear only makes us condemn ourselves, so that we should be without excuse before Him. We do owe ourselves wholly to Him who made us and has given us all things richly to enjoy.

If we have withdrawn ourselves from His Service, unless He dealt harshly with us, we dealt rebelliously and ungratefully with Him. God brings all pleas into a narrow space. The fault is with Him or with us. He offers to clear Himself. He sets before us His good deeds, His Loving-kindness, Providence, Grace, Long-suffering, Bounty, Truth, and contrasts with them our evil deeds, our unthankfulness, spitefulness, our breach of His laws, and disorderings of His creation.

And then, in the face of His Goodness, He asks, “What evil have I done, what good have I left undone?” so that our evil and negligences should be but a repayment for His. For if it is evil to return evil for evil, or not to return good for good, what evil is it to return evil for His exceeding good! As He says by Isaiah, “What could have been done more to My vineyard and I have not done in it. Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5:4).

And our Blessed Lord asks: “Many good works have I shewed you from My Father. For which of those works do ye stone Me?” (John 10:32). “Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me?” (John 8:46). Away from the light of God, we may plead excuses, and cast the blame of our sins upon our temptations, or passions, or nature, that is, on Almighty God Himself, who made us. When His light streams in upon our conscience, we are silent.

Blessed are we if we are silenced and confess to Him then, so that we are not first silenced in the Day of Judgment (Job 1:8; Job 2:3; Ezekiel 14:20). Righteous Job said, “I desire to reason with God” (Job 13:3); but when his eye saw Him, he said, “wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5–6).

O My people - This one tender word, twice repeated, itself contains a whole volume of reproof. It sets before their eyes God’s choice of them of His free grace, and the whole history of His loving-kindness, so that they might be ashamed of their thanklessness and turn to Him. “Mine,” He says, “you are by creation, by Providence, by great deliverances and by hourly love and guardianship, by gifts of nature, the world, and grace; such things have I done for you; what against you? what evil have I done unto thee?” Thy foot did not swell these forty years (Deuteronomy 8:4), for He upholds them in all ways where He leads.

Wherein have I wearied thee? For His commandments are not grievous (1 John 5:3). Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel, God says by Isaiah, I have not wearied thee with incense; thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities (Isaiah 43:22–24).

For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of servants— What were you? What are you? Who made you what you are? God reminds them. They were slaves; they are His people in the heritage of the pagan, and that by His outstretched arm. God mentions some of the chief mercies He had shown them, when He had made them His people: His redemption of them from Egypt, His guidance through the wilderness, His leading them over the last difficulty to the promised land. The use of the familiar language of the Pentateuch is like the touching of so many keynotes, recalling the whole harmony of His love.

Moses, Aaron, and Miriam together, are Lawgiver, to deliver and instruct; Priest, to atone; and prophetess (Exodus 15:20) to praise God; and the name of Miriam at once recalled the mighty works at the Red Sea and how they then thanked God.

Remember now - The word translated "now" is a very tender one, like our "do now remember" or "please remember," imploring rather than commanding. Dionysius says: "I might command, but I speak tenderly, so that I may lead you to acknowledge the truth." What Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. God not only raised up Moses, Aaron, and Miriam from among their brothers, but He also turned the curse of the foreign Balaam into a blessing. This was not because of their righteousness (for even then they were rebellious), but contrary to what they deserved, out of His own truth and righteousness. It is not that the curse of Balaam could have hurt them in itself; but, in proportion to his reputation, it would have greatly emboldened their enemies, and its reversal must have struck great panic into them and others.

After human might failed against Sihon and Og, Balak sought superhuman aid. God showed them, through their own diviner, that He was against them. Even after they had seduced Israel through Balaam’s devilish counsel, Midian seems to have been struck by God with panic and did not strike a blow (Numbers 31:49).

From Shittim to Gilgal - These words are separated by the Hebrew accent from what came before. It is then probably said with concise energy, meaning, "Remember also from Shittim to Gilgal"—that is, all the great works of God from Shittim (the last encampment of Israel outside the promised land, where they sinned so greatly with Baal-peor) to Gilgal (the first encampment in the promised land, which they entered by a miracle, where the Ark rested amidst the victories God gave them, where the Covenant was renewed, and the reproach of Egypt was rolled away (Joshua 5:9)). Remember all, from your own deep sin and rebellion to the deep mercy of God.

So that you may know the righteousness - (or, righteous acts) of the Lord—His faithfulness in performing His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God speaks of His promises, not as what they were in themselves (mere mercy), but as what they became through that gracious and free promise: righteousness, because He had bound Himself to fulfill what He had, out of mere grace, promised. So in the New Testament He says, God is not unrighteous that He should forget your works and labor which proceedeth of love (Hebrews 6:10); and, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9).

Micah speaks, using a rare idiom, of the "righteousnesses" of the Lord, each act of mercy being a separate outflow of His Righteousness. The very names of the places suggest the righteous acts of God and the unrighteous acts of Israel.

“But we too, who desire with unveiled face to behold the glory of the Lord and truly have Abraham as our father, let us, when we have sinned, hear God pleading against us and rebuking us for the multitude of His benefits. For we too once served Pharaoh and the people of Egypt, laboring in works of mud and clay. And He redeemed us—He who gave Himself as a Redemption for all—so that we, the redeemed of the Lord, whom He redeemed out of the hand of the enemy and gathered from the lands, might say, His mercy endureth forever (Psalms 107:1–3).

He also sent before us Moses (the spiritual Law) and Aaron the High Priest (not bearing the symbolic Ephod and Urim, but having on His forehead the seal of holiness which God the Father sealed), and Miriam (the foreshadowing of prophets). Let us also remember what he, who wanted to devour us, plotted against us—the true Balak, Satan. He laid snares for us through Balaam (the destroyer of the people), fearing that we would cover his land and occupy it, thereby withdrawing the earthly-minded from his empire.”