Micah now shifts his attention to the leaders of the people (v1-3) who apparently were not acting justly. They were hating good and loving evil and they were treating people like animals, even to eating their flesh, breaking their bones, and chopping them in pieces like meat for the pot.
“Then (v4) they will cry to the LORD, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.”
We might think that God always here’s the cries of His people, but here we see that that is not the case. Our prayers can be hindered if there is iniquity in our hearts. Psalm 66 – “If I regard iniquity in my heart the LORD will not hear me.”
God as shown His judgment on the bad leaders, now He moves on to the false prophets, who make His people stray, saying ‘peace’ when preparing war against Him (v5-7). He says that He puts nothing in their mouths, their words are not from Him. They are in complete darkness with no guidance from God and be totally ashamed.
Micah was full of confidence, not in himself, but in the Power of God’s Spirit (v8) and because he was speaking God’s words in His Spirit he could speak freely against Jacob and Israel pointing out their sin. God had given him the job to expose their sin.
Micah tells the house of Jacob and rulers of Israel who were acting unjustly. There was bribery, bloodshed, priests teaching for pay and prophets divining for money (v9-12). They would receive judgment. They hypocritically assumed that The LORD was with them and that no harm would come upon them. Their confidence was false, they were presuming God was with them even though they were disobeying Him. Of course, that was not the case. God spells out the judgment that would come upon them if they did not repent and it would not be pleasant.
Unlike many other prophets whose words from God were disregarded, it is clear that King Hezekiah took notice of Micah’s words for his words were remembered about a hundred years later as described by Jeremiah (26:17-19)
“Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying: “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.”‘ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and seek the LORD’s favour? And the LORD relented concerning the doom which He had pronounced against them. But we are doing great evil against ourselves.”
It is apparent that the people were failing again and therefore Jeremiah reminded them of Micah’s words and the remedy. It was good that someone remembered them.
