John Calvin Commentary Micah 6:4

"For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." — Micah 6:4 (ASV)

God, having testified that He had in no way been troublesome to the people, now states with what great and numerous benefits He had bound them to Himself. However, we might prefer to interpret the words as explanatory and somewhat ironical, suggesting that He records His benefits instead of trouble or vexation; though, in my judgment, it is better to read the two clauses separately.

I have brought you, He says, from the land of Egypt, from that miserable bondage; and then He says, I have redeemed you. With the word 'redeem,' He more clearly and fully illustrates His kindness. Then He adds, I have set over you as leaders Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, the sister of them both.

Benefits, we know, are often accompanied by injuries; and one who obliges another destroys all his goodwill when, as often happens, he turns kindness into reproach. Thus, it is frequently the case that one who has been kind to another inflicts so serious an injury that the memory of his kindness ought not to continue.

God mentions here these two things: that He had conferred vast benefits on the people, and yet that He had in no way been burdensome to them.

It is as though He said, "Many are those things which I can, if necessary, bring forward on My part, by which I have more than a hundred times made you indebted to Me. Now you, in your turn, cannot bring anything against Me. You cannot say that I have accompanied My benefits with wrongs, or that you have been despised because you were under obligations to Me, as is often the case with men who proudly domineer when they think they have made others bound to them. Therefore, I have not thought it proper to accompany My great favors with anything troublesome or grievous to you."

We now understand why the Prophet expressly mentions these two things: that God had in no way been vexatious to His people, and that He had brought them up from the land of Egypt.

That redemption was so great that the people ought not to have complained, even if it had been God's will to lay some very heavy burdens on their shoulders. For this answer could have always been readily given: "You have been delivered by Me; you owe your life and your safety to Me. Therefore, there is no reason why anything should now be burdensome to you, for the bondage of Egypt must have been more bitter to you than a hundred deaths; and I redeemed you from that bondage."

But, since the Lord had treated His redeemed people so kindly and so humanely, indeed, with so much indulgence, how great and how intolerable was their ingratitude in not responding to His great kindness? We now more fully understand the Prophet’s meaning in these words.

I have made you to ascend, He says, from Egypt; and then, I have redeemed you. He goes on, as we have said, by degrees. He afterwards adds, I have sent before your face Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

God means here that it had not been a momentary kindness, for He continued His favor towards the Jews when He set over them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. This was an evidence of His constant care until He had completed His work of delivering them.

For Moses was a minister of their deliverance in upholding civil order, and Aaron in matters of the priesthood and spiritual discipline.

With regard to Miriam, she also performed her part towards the women. As we find in Exodus 15, she composed a song of thanksgiving after their passage through the Red Sea. From this, however, arose her base envy towards Moses; for being highly praised, she thought herself equal to him in dignity.

It is, at the same time, right to mention that it was an extraordinary occurrence when God gave authority to a woman, as was the case with Deborah, so that no one may consider this singular precedent as a common rule.