Where we went wrong

Central Verse:

But you rise up against my people as

An enemy;

You strip the robe from the peaceful,

From those who pass by trustingly

With no thought of war…..

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob,

I will gather the survivors of Israel;

I will set them together

Like sheep in a fold,

Like a flock in its pasture;

It will resound with people. - 2:8 & 12, NRSV

Central Truth:

We serve a loving God yet God is also a God of Justice and the two must be held in balance. Most often this is thrown out of balance in our lives by covetousness.

Food for Thought (Questions about the text):

There is a huge tie between coveting and land in this passage as well as others in scripture. There were laws set in place in Deuteronomy that protected family lands and ensured that those lands would be passed on from generation to generation. There are stories in the Bible of people circumventing those laws (Jezzable and Ahas killing of a garden) and an assumption we must make of this passage is that people were figuring out ways to circumvent the law in Micah's day.

Connections: (Time with our society)

To say covetousness today is to pull out a word that seems to belong in the Victorian age. We rarely talk in a productive way about the application of covetousness which is greed. Greed is a staple in our society today. We see corporate greed running rampant and we see personal greed sprinting to keep pace. The underlying principle in greed is, "if I had just a little more I would be happy."

Micah is speaking to his society which is doing the same thing as our society is. The societies continue to mirror each other as we see individuals emphasis wealth and circumventing laws so that they have to pay less. Another aspect that is mirrored between the two societies is that both live as if nothing bad will happen because of these behaviors. We mortgage spiritual issues by saying in the end they don't matter compared to the comfortable life.

We have watched the displacement of the middle and lower classes in our society while the richest among us live as if there are no consequences for their actions. The biblical reality is there will be consequences, God doesn't hold back his justice forever.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good stuff. Found your link on Holy Bible app.
2:47 PM
wes said…
Thank you, so you know I am also doing a study on John, posting a previous study on Philippians, beginning one on 1 Peter and will have a Revelation study in the fall. I hope you are able to take advantage of the writings I have. Peace.
3:14 PM
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