Transcript
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Well,
I'm going to begin today with discussing
some things
to help make our Bible study and our
application of what we learn more
effective.
And one of the greater challenges we
face as God worshippers seeking to study
his word is putting aside
the way the Bible has typically been
taught in the gentile world of
institutional Christendom for centuries.
And this way of teaching begins with
tending to set aside the gritty
realities of the humans we encounter in
the scriptures and thus bypasses the
kinds of lives they were living.
We tend to raise them up to mythological
or nonrealistic levels such as what
happens in the great works of the
ancient Greeks like Homer or even Esau
did with their characters.
I even dislike the term terms like Bible
heroes
because it once again raises ordinary
people to levels
that seem impossible for us to identify
with or let alone personally attain.
Thus, when reading all of these
different about all these Bible
personalities,
we need to take them down from their
pedestals
and instead put ourselves into their
sandals.
We need to realize
that there are everyday issues of family
disharmony,
difficulties in supplying an adequate
living, getting sick and injured at
times is a norm,
having emotional ups and downs,
arguments with their spouses, having
conflicting thoughts about what would be
the right thing to do, but then bumping
up against how that choice might
material affect them in negative ways.
This is what they dealt with just as we
do.
This means that when someone in the
Bible says something or does something
good or bad, we have every right to ask
what motivated them to do or think as
they did.
What was not said in the story is
important
because when people thought about
carefully those unsaid but obvious
realities of life, it reveals the truth.
These were real people, not pure people.
Their every decision was not altruistic
or even necessarily righteous.
They had their needs, had their personal
preferences, as we all do.
They faced unexpected circumstances,
struggled every day in trying to obey
God. And these inescapable realities
were what drove them more than anything
else. So even though Micah
was a great and true prophet of God, he
views things and thinks things and says
things through the filter of his own
life and life experiences.
It all has a basis on how the world is
from his viewpoint at the time he speaks
them.
But even more, none of these Bible
prophets were professionals.
They were not academically trained in
the occupation of prophet.
Nor were the adept writers taught their
craft by a literary expert. Oh,
certainly they were literate to a higher
degree than for the typical Hebrew.
Nonetheless, they spoke and wrote in the
mode of their day in ways that were
known to the general public and pleasing
to the prophet personally.
Micah stands out
as having a most unorthodox way of
speaking and writing because that's how
we thought.
Most of the other prophets were much
more consistent in whatever style they
chose to speak to us. But Micah was
anything but consistent.
He writes in a kind of Hebrew poetry
but constantly violates the usual and
customary structure of it.
He mixes the literary genre in his
writings from poem to metaphor to
allegory to simple pros.
That makes his writings not only
interesting
but a bit more difficult to decipher
especially for those neither living in
his era or in his geographical location
and it is a doubly difficult for us so
far removed from him in culture and in
time. So let's continue today with that
understanding and I will continue to do
my best to supply some of the hidden
background and sense of his words that
are not at all plainly apparent.
Open your Bibles
to Micah chapter 6
verse 4 and we'll begin reading from
there.
Micah chapter 6 verse 4.
I brought you up from the land of Egypt.
I redeemed you from a life of slavery. I
sent Moshe a Haron and Miriam to lead
you. My people, just remember what Balok
and the king of Moab had planned, what
Bilam the son of Bor answered him, and
what happened between Shitim and Gilgal,
so that you will understand the saving
deeds of Adonai.
With what can I come before Adonai to
bow down before God on high? Should I
come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves in their first year? Would
Adon and I take delight in thousands of
rams, 10,000 rivers of olive oil? Could
I give my firstborn to pay for my
crimes, the fruit of my body for the sin
of my soul?
Human being, you have already been told
what's good. What Adom Adonai demands of
you. no more than to act justly, love
grace, and walk in purity with God.
The voice of Adonai he calls to the
city. It is wisdom to fear your name.
Listen to the rod and to him who
commissioned it. Are there still
illgotten gains in the house of the
wicked? Still the detestable short epha
measure? Should I declare innocent
wicked scales and a bag of fraudulent
weights?
The rich men there are full of violence.
The inhabitants tell lies with tongues
of deceit in their mouths. Therefore,
I'm starting to strike you down, to
destroy you because of your sins. You
will eat but not be satisfied with
hunger gnawing inside of you. You will
conceive but not give birth. And if you
do give birth, I will give him to the
sword. You will sew but not reap. You
will press olives but not rub yourself
with oil. Likewise, you will press
grapes but not drink the wine. For you
keep the regulations of Omri, the
practices of the house of modeling
yourselves on their advice. Therefore, I
will make you an object of horror, the
inhabitants of this city a cause for
contempt. You will suffer the insults
aimed at my people.
after God asking Israel rather
rhetorically
through Micah exactly how he has wearied
them
to make them grow tired from obeying
him. He begins to remind Israel of their
history.
That has everything to do with their
identity and why they even exist.
Micah 6:4, I brought you up from the
land of Egypt. I redeemed you from a
life of slavery. I sent Moshe Aaron and
Miriam to lead you. There are two
elements to this verse that are vital.
First,
what it was that was done for Israel.
And second, who brought it about?
Three times we hear God say, "I did it.
God brought. God redeemed. God
established a leadership for Israel.
Once again, a more literal translation
can be helpful than the somewhat dynamic
translation methods routine in the
complete Jewish Bible. In the YT, we
hear, "For I brought thee up from the
land of Egypt, and from the house of
servants, I have ransomed thee, and I
send thee before thee, Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam."
Micah uses a technique
that only adds to his repertoire of
mixing various kinds of literary styles
but can only be seen in the Hebrew
language.
Here a word play as a means to rebut
Israel's accusation against God.
No doubt this is Micah's doing in giving
this message worded precisely as it is
and acting as God's authorized middleman
messenger.
In verse three,
he explains that indeed
instead of God wearing Israel in Hebrew,
it is heta
he has actually brought them in Hebrew
all right up to Canaan. Here's the
difference of the YT from how the
complete Jewish Bible incorrectly
translates another and different part of
the same verse. First, where the
complete Jewish Bible speaks of a life
of slavery,
life of slavery involves a condition or
a manner of life for the people.
But in the YT it says house of servants.
We're going to find this phrase
regularly substituted in the Bible as
meaning Egypt.
That is Egypt's identity as concerns
Israel is as a house of servitude
not freedom.
So Egypt and house of servants are
simply two terms for the same thing.
Further, the term redeemed
used generally can be reckoned as
meaning to rescue something,
exchange one thing for the other, like
in redeeming a coupon at a grocery
store.
But instead, by using the word ransom,
it explains that what God did for Israel
in Egypt required a payment.
What was that payment?
The lives of scores of thousands of
Egyptian firstborns,
many of which, especially if they were
children, were otherwise innocent
of any wrongdoing against Israel.
This is the kind of redemption that is
the foreshadow of what is needed for the
eternal salvation of people that comes
through the death of the otherwise
innocent firstborn of God, Yeshua.
Now, can you imagine a believer
thanking anyone else but God for our
redemption?
Even though there are admittedly some
large church Christian branches that
would have you thank the church.
The Lord sees Israel as having forgotten
from where the redemption from Egypt
came and who to thank.
Rather than being a wearium a wearying
burdensome God, Yov has repeatedly
blessed Israel with unmmerited favor.
He redeemed a people who in no way
deserved it. They did nothing to bring
it about. It was all him. It was his
grace towards his chosen people.
In saying this, Yov in as much explained
that he is Israel's leader. Yet the
first thing that is done here is to say
he sent forth Moses, Aaron and Miriam.
That is to send these fourth means to
anoint a leadership. Now isn't this in
conflict with itself?
I mean surely no one would argue against
the self-evident reality that Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam were leaders.
So the key is that Yov says I sent
that is the supreme leader sent others
who were to bear the tasks of
operational leadership for Israel based
upon the supreme leaders instructions
and principles.
The supreme leader remained visible to
them
and it is he whom Israel physically and
tangibly followed in the form of the
mysterious fire cloud.
When this supreme leader had something
to say to the operational leadership he
had sent and appointed for Israel, he
would visibly hover over the tabernacle.
And Moses, sometimes Aaron as well,
understood the signal that they were
summoned to come and hear what God had
to say.
Therefore, in quite tangible ways, all
three of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam were
prophets.
They delivered God's oracles and
instructions and warnings to the people.
From here forward in the Bible, a
ministry of prophets began in Israel as
a more regular or a typical way of God
delivering new oracles to the leadership
andor to the people.
Prophetic ministry of this particular
kind unique to the Old Testament only
finally ended hundreds of years later
with Malachi.
Now, Moses was the one that spoke
mouth-to- mouth with Yov in audible or
at least direct communication dialogue.
Aaron achieved communication with God in
another way, especially using the urim
and tumim.
He was given away to get counsel from
God and leading people in the ways of
Torah and in worshiping God, but also as
the chief administrator of the ritual
parts of the law of Moses. And although
not perfectly stated, Moses acted as
Israel's civil leader, Aaron as their
religious leader.
Moses and Aaron were brothers
and so was Miriam immediate family as
their biological sister.
This fact actually created quite a bit
of trouble.
Many of the other tribes and clans, even
clans of Moses's own tribe, Levy, were
most unhappy
that only one family line in the tribe
of Levy could hold so much power.
One of Miriam's main tasks was to lead
the women of Israel in dance and praise,
but also whereas there was non-male
leadership of women needed over certain
matters, it was Miriam at the forefront.
Now, I would like to mention that quite
interestingly,
we will not find mention of Aaron in all
the prophets succeeding.
Aaron doesn't really have his own
separate story.
He is bound up in his relationship with
Moses and with the people of Israel.
He served as Moses's spokesman, but he
did not speak his own mind. Rather, it
was purely as a messenger of his
brother.
Other than the fact that Aaron was
Moses's brother, there is no reason
given for his eventual lofty status as
Israel's first high priest.
I mean, what qualified him? What acts of
merit did he do for God
to choose him to be high priest?
For Moses, we follow his story from
infancy.
We see why God selected him to be his
earthly hands and messenger to ransom
Israel from slavery to liberty and to
lead them to the promised land of
Canaan.
Micah 6:5, "My people, just remember
what Balak, the king of Moab, had
planned, what Bilam, the son of Bor
answered him, and what happened between
Shitim and Gilgal, so that you will
understand the saving deeds of Yov." So
just as verse three asked two questions
of Israel. What have I done to you now?
How have I wearied you? So verse 5 has
God telling Israel to remember two
things. First,
what the king of Moab had planned to do
to Israel. And second, how the gentile
seer Balum responded to Moab's king
Balak.
The ancient Hebrew sages recognized this
as a well understood pattern
first set down in the Balac and Balam
story. How Yovi dealt with Blam and
prohibit him from doing what King Balot
wanted done to curse Israel
instead was seen as one of a series
of righteous deeds that reflected God's
complete loyalty to the covenants he had
made with the Hebrews from Abraham to
Moses.
He promised to protect them and he did.
God obligated himself to those covenants
and he fully expects reciprocity
from Israel.
So here once again,
God addresses Israel as my people.
Of course, indicating that despite
Israel's disloyalty to those covenants,
as Israel
tended to do, those covenants remained
intact.
in operation.
If the definition of breaking the
covenant as Israel did meant disillusion
of the covenant, then Israel is no
longer God's my people.
Israel is God's covenant people
as the Bible reiterates time and again.
So no covenant know my people.
And when the last half of this verse
mentions from Chetim to Gilgal, this is
speaking about a a section of Israel's
journey. Chetim, which means acacia
tree, is to the east of the Jordan
River. Gilgal's on the western side.
So it reminds Israel that even during
their journey to Canaan, God was
protecting them, blessing them.
And from a more general standpoint, this
is more speaking about the large section
of their journey on the east side of the
Jordan when they which they then came
over on a crossing over the Jordan into
Canaan and another substantial segment
of their journey on the West Bank. Yob
is saying that he guarded over them,
kept harm from them all that time on
both sides of the Jordan.
Now the final words of verse 5
are not put correctly in the complete
Jewish Bible. That is where it speaks of
the saving deeds of Yov. What is said is
the sedc
of Yov. Sedc means righteous,
not saving.
God says he did these things so that
Israel will know God's righteous deeds
for them.
In other words, his righteous deeds, his
blessings. For Israel were completely
visible, commonly known, not hidden, not
difficult to understand.
These deeds should have been remembered,
brought to mind should Israel ever start
to have doubts about God's intentions
and relationship with them. I mean, what
a lesson is taught here.
How many times after God blessing us,
protecting us, answering our prayers,
forgiving us, providing for us, showing
us mercy,
do we encounter something really
difficult and we begin to wonder where
God is and why isn't this fixed already?
Why is he allowing us to go through
this? Has something changed?
See this is like the proverb proverbial
read bending in the wind.
Everything is fine till something
unpleasant happens.
Then we begin to lose faith.
We react in whatever direction the wind
blows. Sometimes in a good direction,
sometimes in a not so good direction.
That's the sign of an unsteady
mind and faith.
The example is shown in Micah is that we
are to remember those times when God did
wonderful things for us and can continue
to praise him even when things aren't
going so well.
And the very last thing we should ever
do is question or even blame God.
If anyone in our relationship with God
could ever be unfaithful or absent, it
won't be him.
Micah 66.
With what can I come before Yov to bow
down before God on high? Should I come
before him with bird offerings, with
calves in their first year?
The undeniable facts of history
will not allow Israel to get off the
hook
or to deflect their own shame and blame
for their attitude. Now,
God did all these gracious things for
Israel. It's recorded. It's known.
This verse indicates that Israel
responds to this reminder by feeling
fully convicted.
So they want to know what they can do to
remedy this bad position they put
themselves in. I want to pause and share
something that Namia Gordon once wrote
that is enlightening and appropriate for
this moment in our study.
I'll begin with a question of my own.
Why is what Israel is hearing from Micah
seen as new information?
Did God change?
Did the Torah change?
Why haven't they remembered their own
history?
Why have they not been doing the right
things?
Why are they having to be taken to the
woodshed?
And all along they thought things
between them and God were fine and in
good order.
Perhaps the story of Josiah
according to Namia is a place to find
our answer.
Josiah is a a a king of Israel who early
in his youth developed a tremendous love
for God and wanted to worship him in all
sincerity.
Now that he's king and the temple's in
poor repair and he understands that God
wants it to be in good condition, he
begins to collect money, not for
himself, but to give to the temple
authorities to make all the need of
repairs and restorations.
And despite his heart for God, Josiah
doesn't know that bringing an asher into
the temple is forbidden
and so supports doing just that.
Rather, he wants it there. He even wants
to beautify it.
He's a late teen.
He's a king. He loves God, but he
doesn't know any better
than to allow a pagan asher, a fur tree
as a fertility symbol into the
sanctuary.
This custom of putting an asher into the
temple had gone on since long before he
was born,
and he and no one else in his kingdom
thought anything of it.
But
one day, those who were working on the
repairs in the temple stumble across a
Torah scroll. They give it to the high
priest.
And the high priest brings it to a
member of Josiah's royal court. And
Josiah hears it and he begins tearing
his clothes
in a sign of shame and grief.
Josiah says that although he was
desirous of worshiping Yave, he didn't
have all the information
about how to go about it.
What was prohibited? What was permitted?
He didn't know that having that ashra in
God's house was actually wrong and a
serious offense to God. See, here's the
thing.
As much as I constantly criticize the
church, it is quite full of well-meaning
people.
People who do want to worship and obey
God, but they don't have all the
information.
Most of the information they do have has
been corrupted by centuries of Christian
dogma and man-made doctrines. And the
church often tells their members that
whatever information they do need is
found only in the New Testament and from
pastoral
homalies.
This is what happened to Israel in
Micah's day and before Israel grew
ignorant of truth
was some knowledge withheld.
In other cases, truth was replaced with
traditions.
They only knew what they knew and didn't
know what they didn't know.
In those days, there was no alternative
source of information than what the
priests told them.
That is why in the Old Testament, we
find our religious leaders as bearing
the brunt of the blame from God for all
the errors and lack of faithfulness of
their people.
However, for those of us in modern
times, the equation is a bit different.
No one desiring to know God and his
truth is blocked from obtaining it.
No one has to believe what the ignorant
church leaders say with no way to fact
check them.
No one, no matter how poor, has to be
without a Bible because they are
available from cheap to free.
Therefore, for modern people to be like
the Israelites of our story, it comes
from at least a partial willful
ignorance.
And for you church leaders, you too can
go beyond your seminary apologetics
and minimal Bible knowledge without any
barriers to cost or availability.
Knowledge and truth are out there just
waiting to be used.
Let each of us pray and be active to be
sure we do not put ourselves in the
positions we are finding Israel in in
these Micah passages.
They don't even know how to make
reparations to God.
And how can you avoid sin if you don't
even know what is sinful?
How can you do right what you don't know
what right is?
And the only way you're going to find
out is to go to God and his word and
believe it over the many false or
incomplete teachings you have lived your
life by.
As we have God speaking with Israel
during this dialogue,
obviously there isn't a single person or
a single leader or a single group that's
representing Israel. This is like
posting on social media for all of a
certain category of readers to read. Now
whether they do or not, it's another
matter. So Israel is present here as a
kind of a anonymous figurative person
that is representative of the entire
community.
Thus in verse six when a voice comes
forward and asks with what can I come
before Yov? This is yet another
anonymous figurative person that
represents all Israel.
It represents the communal mindset of
the people of Israel in general. One
could certainly call it a straw man.
The Bible scholar Francis Berkit of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries made
this illustration an example from his
day to compare to Micah. This concerns
the earnest but ignorant settler in
Palestine who knows nothing of the
religion of Elijah and Amos.
That is, there are very earnest God
seekers
who operate out of their ignorance,
having no idea that they are ignorant.
And even though the God they seek is
better reflected by the prophets Elijah
and Amos, these people know nothing of
them or of their faith.
So the first question asked in verse 6
and
what should I bring to come before Yov
demonstrates how very little they know
about what to do
concerning something as basic as
sacrificing.
Seems to me that the way this question
is phrased is that it is people asking
the prophet Micah what to bring as a
gift.
Now this may well be an actual response
that occurred when Micah first began to
present this prophecy.
It also seems to me that while sacrifice
would be the proper and expected answer,
in fact, the question
is also phrased in such a way as to
imply not a sacrifice but a gift of
appeasement,
the way one might approach a king or
maybe even an offended friend.
Even so, the truly proper answer to what
they should bring is what they should
do.
Israel should have looked to Moses for
the right response.
Deuteronomy 10
12-13. So now, Israel,
all that Yo, your God asks from you is
to fear Yave your God. Follow all his
ways. Love him and serve Yah your God
with all your heart, all your being, to
obey for your own good the mitzvot, the
commands and regulations of Yahweh.
Beginning with the law of Moses,
restoring one's relationship with God
has a definite sequence.
It begins with recognizing one's sins,
confessing them, repenting, and then
with one's heart in the right place,
bringing the prescribed sacrifice as
atonement.
But Israel wants to jump immediately to
sacrificing.
They want to skip recognition of their
offense.
Therefore, they can't possibly convince
them uh confess them. They see no reason
to repent. And therefore their heart and
sincerity are not in the proper mode for
God to accept their sacrifice.
And as the next part of verse six says,
so how about I bring you a sacrifice?
Would that work?
And for that sacrifice, perhaps I should
bring you a yearling calf. How about
that?
And since the representative Israelites
don't seem to know what their sin was,
then of course they have no idea of the
prescribed type of burnt offering to
bring to the altar.
This is a people
who had much confidence and assuredness
among themselves and no doubt assurances
from their religious leaders that they
knew as much as they needed to know
and according to that they were doing
everything right.
But in fact, they knew next to nothing.
And what little they did know was filled
with error. This entire line of
narrative only exposes them further for
their faith kindergarteners
that they were.
And the charlatans,
their trusted leaders have been.
And as they continue in verse 7, their
questions only make matters worse.
Would Yove take delight in thousands of
rams with 10,000 rivers of olive oil?
How about if I give my firstborn son for
my crimes, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul?
There's only two possible ways to take
what's being said here. Either this is
tainted with a sneering tongue-in-cheek
sarcasm
towards Micah and God or this is truly
an honest question of which the people
would like an answer.
I think it's the latter. I think the
people are actually asking if the issue
might be the number of rams and olive
oil needed to get back into good graces
of their God. And even if those grossly
enormous amounts they propose isn't
sufficient, would God finally see the
depth of their sincerity, if they
offered what is usually the most
precious thing in their family, their
firstborn child is a human sacrifice.
At least Israel sees their big trouble
with God. They've characterized it as
sin, but no mention of what they think
that sin might be
or the repentance that's on their minds.
What's to be said here?
The Israelites had lost any sense of
what mattered to God,
what was acceptable to God, what was
aberrant to God.
By Micah's day, the people of the
northern kingdom had spent a long time
using a golden calf
as their main worship symbol and said it
symbolized Yov.
Probably had been in use for 150 years
by Micah's day.
No one questioned its legitimacy.
Naturally, this pagan and prohibited
idol opened the door to accepting other
pagan worship practices, just
repurposing them
for Ephraim Israel to worship God in
their own way.
So, where child sacrifice was seen among
the pagans as the greatest, the most
valuable sacrifice one could offer to
their gods, then it seems that the
people of the northern tribes of Israel
adopted that thought as well.
The horror, the corruption, and idolatry
that we're reading in these words is
about as bad as it gets.
And still God calls them my people.
Still, the covenant with Israel remains
intact.
Micah 6:8.
human being, you've already been told
what's good.
What Yay demands of you no more than to
act justly, love grace, and walk in
purity with your God.
Let's turn again to a more literal
rendering of this verse to add some
additional insight in the Young's
literal translation.
He hath declared to thee, oh man, what's
good? Yay, what is Jehovah requiring of
thee except to do judgment and love
kindness and lowly to walk with thy God?
See, when we examine the Hebrew, we see
that whereas most translations say man
or human being, the word is Adam.
And certainly those English translations
aren't wrong. But there's a nuance that
gets obscur obscured. See, by using the
term Adam, it takes this message outside
the exclusive sphere of Israel and into
the entire world. See, Adam means
mankind
universally.
Everybody,
God says, I have already shown everybody
what's good. Yhovah has also shown
everybody
what he requires of them of us and
simply it is to act justly love grace
and to walk in the pure ways with God.
Christianity
tends to highly water this down to mean
to always act in love but in whatever
way you think love amounts to.
The thought expressed in Micah is also
found in the Gospels.
Meaning what we find in the Gospels is
but bringing forward what was said and
known a long time ago. In Mark 12:32-34,
the Torah teacher said to him, "Well
said, Rabbi, you speak the truth when
you say that he is one, that there is no
other beside him, and that loving him
with all one's heart, understanding and
strength, and loving one's neighbor as
oneself means more than all the burnt
offerings and sacrifices." And when
Yeshua saw that he responded sensibly,
he said to him, "You are not far from
the kingdom of God."
God through Micah is referring to two
things when he speaks of what already
has been told to everyone.
First is that a moral sense
instilled
in everyone ever born
and that it is virtually in our DNA.
And this moral sense goes by a few
different names, but most common is
natural law.
natural law meaning it's not a written
down moral code but rather it's
intrinsic
to the nature of all human creatures.
You know when we speak of morality this
is a uniquely human attribute.
No other creatures have a sense of
morality
regardless of their level of
intelligence.
Morality
must be intrinsic in us provided by how
God constructed humans to be or it
wouldn't exist.
See, we are the place morality exists.
Think of it.
Humans do not need a sense of morality
to live and to function as living
beings.
There's nowhere a surgeon could operate
to add to it or to remove it
like he could our lungs or our hearts or
some other organ or limb. Morality is
purely an invisible God thing.
Therefore, it's logical
that if the concept of morality exists
as the common human trait,
then the definition of moral living must
also exist.
And it must come from the same place
that created the concept of morality.
It must come from outside the human
sphere of existence.
The law of Moses provides that
definition.
Without it, then humans are making up
good and evil as we go.
And of course, that's exactly what we
see in the world.
Even the church has gone so far as to
define sin as whatever the Holy Spirit
tells you personally it is.
thereby understanding that the same
spirit will tell others different things
that are and aren't sim for them.
See this is irrational of itself when we
understand the very nature of morality
itself.
Second is that the moral code has
already been given to us in detail by
God through Moses. The law of Moses
gives us the finer details of what's
good
of what Eve demands of us, what account,
what acting justly amounts to, what
loving grace is predicated upon, what
walking in the pure ways of God are.
There is a source
for us to find these answers.
and it had been given six centuries
prior to Micah's day.
It was never held in secret.
And so in all Israel and in the world in
general who wanted to know, all who
wanted to know could know.
In this diet tribe,
God is essentially accusing Israel's
religious leadership of being haters of
good.
Does that mean their intentions were
evil? No.
Means that they sought their own
definitions
and that of their previous leadership to
decide what's good.
And the notion that having the authority
to do such a thing had long ago been
build become built into their society.
See, it is interesting that the question
what is what is good has been raised
before and in other places in the Bible
and it is something we need to ask
ourselves every day.
Isaiah
1 16-1 17 wash yourselves clean. Get
your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop
doing evil and learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Relieve the oppressed, defend orphans,
plead for the widow.
Jeremiah
chapter 22:15 and 16. Your cedar may be
excellent, but that doesn't make you a
better king. Oh, true, your father ate
and drank, but he also did what was
right and just, so things went well with
him. He upheld the cause of the poor and
the weak, so everything went well. Isn't
that what knowing me is all about?
says Yahweh.
Where do we find all this information?
How to treat orphans, widows, the
oppressed to determine what justice is,
the right ways to help the weak, the law
of Moses.
What Micah verse 8 just said
and what we just read in Isaiah and
Jeremiah are wisdom sayings.
It is meant to inform all men and all
ages just what it is that pleases God.
It informs us of proper behavior and
sincere understanding of what God wants
and the doing of it. And it is much
greater than the offering of sacrifices
as it comes to sin and the conditions it
causes. These are only ever needed
because men do not do what pleases God.
Therefore, if we walk in God's ways and
obey him,
then this is far better to our father
than killing one of his innocent
creatures to offer up to him to pay for
what we did wrongly.
And believers, if mankind followed God's
ways and obeyed him perfectly, we'd have
no need for a savior.
Yovi wouldn't have had to allow the
sacrifice of his own son for our sakes.
The reality is mankind will sin. We will
need a way to pay for it. Used to be
animals.
Now we can rely on the once and for all
sacrifice of Yeshua.
Okay, we'll continue next time in verse
9.
For more teachings of real Bible study
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