Proper 12 (OT)

Micah 3:1-12

3 And I said:

Hear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

Is it not for you to know justice?—

² you who hate the good and love the evil,

who tear the skin from off my people

and their flesh from off their bones,

³ who eat the flesh of my people,

and flay their skin from off them,

and break their bones in pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot,

like flesh in a cauldron.

⁴ Then they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

he will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

⁵ Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets

who lead my people astray,

who cry “Peace”

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

⁶ Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

The sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

⁷ the seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

they shall all cover their lips,

for there is no answer from God.

⁸ But as for me, I am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression

and to Israel his sin.

⁹ Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

who detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

¹⁰ who build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

¹¹ Its heads give judgment for a bribe;

its priests teach for a price;

its prophets practice divination for money;

yet they lean on the Lord and say,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

No disaster shall come upon us.”

¹² Therefore because of you

Zion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

It was a pretty good idea to have people pay their priests and prophets to tell them what they wanted to hear. It would be easy to tell people what they want to hear. This would be the way to make a pretty cent. You can just promise all their fortunes will come true, while they give all their money to you.

The Nation of Israel is corrupt in this manner. The prophets cry out "Peace", but God is going to bring devastation upon his people. They have bribed their judges in order to escape judgment. They have bribed their priests to offer sacrifices and say they are forgiven. They even bribe prophets to cry out "Peace", when God is telling them something different.

Micah has been told by God, the people will be skinned alive and their flesh eaten. This is because of all this wicked corruption that has been taking place within Israel. But there is still some good news, God is bringing true justice to the people of Israel. God has told them the truth. He will destroy them because of their corruption. And he should destroy each of us for our corruption.

Instead, God has destroyed or killed his only Son Jesus Christ. Christ may not have been skinned alive, but if you watch the Passion of the Christ there is a strong picture of skin being torn off his body. He was killed and buried. This destruction took place on our behalf. Our sins continue to corrupt us, but God has shown us his mercy through the sacrifice of his only Son for the forgiveness of all your sins.