Matthew Henry Commentary Micah 6
Matthew Henry Commentary
Micah 6
Matthew Henry Commentary
Micah 6
"Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah`s controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 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. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; [remember] from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah." — Micah 6:1-5 (ASV)
The people are called upon to declare why they were weary of God's worship, and prone to idolatry. Sin causes the controversy between God and man. God reasons with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. Let them remember God's many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their unworthy, ungrateful conduct toward him.
"Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?" — Micah 6:6-8 (ASV)
These verses seem to contain the substance of Balak's consultation with Balaam on how to obtain the favor of Israel's God. A deep conviction of guilt and wrath will lead people to make careful inquiries after peace and pardon, and then some basis for hope of them begins to exist. For God to be pleased with us, our concern must be for an interest in the atonement of Christ, and that the sin by which we displease Him may be taken away.
What will be a satisfaction for God's justice? In whose name must we come, since we have nothing to plead as our own? In what righteousness should we appear before Him? The proposals betray ignorance, even though they show zeal. They offer what is very rich and costly.
Those who are fully convinced of sin, and of their misery and danger because of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon. Yet they do not offer rightly. The sacrifices had value from their reference to Christ; it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. And all proposals of peace, except those made according to the gospel, are absurd.
They could not answer the demands of Divine justice, nor satisfy the wrong done to the honor of God by sin, nor would they serve at all instead of holiness of the heart and reformation of life. People will part with anything rather than their sins; but they part with nothing so as to be accepted by God, unless they do part with their sins. Moral duties are commanded because they are good for humankind.
In keeping God's commandments there is a great reward, as well as after keeping them. God has not only made it known, but has also made it plain. The good that God requires of us is not paying a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but love for Himself; and what is there unreasonable or hard in this? Every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into obedience to God, if we are to walk comfortably with Him.
We must do this as penitent sinners, dependent on the Redeemer and His atonement. Blessed be the Lord that He is always ready to give His grace to the humble, waiting penitent.
"The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and [the man of] wisdom will see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure that is abominable? Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights? For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but shalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people." — Micah 6:9-16 (ASV)
God, having shown how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows how plain it was that they had done unjustly. This voice of the Lord says to all: Hear the rod when it is coming, before you see it and feel it. Hear the rod when it has come, and you feel its sting; hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks.
The voice of God is to be heard in the rod of God. Those who are dishonest in their dealings will never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. What is obtained by fraud and oppression cannot be kept or enjoyed with satisfaction.
What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not soon plucked up again. Their being the people of God in name and profession, while they kept themselves in His love, was an honour to them; but now, being backsliders, their having once been the people of God turns to their reproach.
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