Rebellion in the Kingdom: Part Three

Micah 3:1-12

Main Idea: Israel and Judah rejected the King’s counsel by abusing justice, abandoning mercy, embracing pride, and being motivated by popularity and greed.

1. I. Self-Inflicted Ignorance
   1. A. They abused justice rather than embracing it.
   2. B. They abandoned mercy rather than embodying it.
   3. C. They embraced pride rather than rejecting it.
2. II. Self-Interested Leadership
   1. A. They were motivated by popularity rather than principle.
   2. B. They were motivated by greed rather than grace.
3. III. Spirit-Empowered Courage
   1. A. Micah of Moresheth
   2. B. Jesus of Nazareth

Rebellion is a dangerous enemy. In chapter 2 we observed that it manifests itself most often in response to commands from authority figures. As we study Micah 3, we will discover yet another type of rebellion—rebellion against wise counsel. When I was a police officer, I regularly encountered this type of rebellion. One night I received a call about a domestic dispute at a residence. When I arrived, I found an estranged husband and wife involved in a heated argument. After defusing the situation, I walked the husband outside toward his car. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, “Listen, I know you’re going through a tough time, but it’s hard to resolve conflict in the middle of the night. You’re both tired and upset. Let me give you some free counsel. Go home, get some rest, and talk with your wife tomorrow. Maybe you’ll both see things a little clearer in the daytime.” He thanked me, said okay, and drove off in his car.

Thirty minutes later I received a call back to that same house. When I arrived, the man was yelling, cursing, and throwing furniture off of the porch. As you might imagine, his wife was terrified. This time my approach was different. I arrested him for disorderly conduct, placed him in the back of my patrol car, and carried him off to jail. As we rode to the jail, he poured out his anger against me. “Why are you doing this to me? That’s my house. That’s my furniture. That’s my wife. I can do whatever I want!”

When he finally calmed down a little I replied, “Man, I gave you some good advice about not coming back until tomorrow. You’re the one who chose not to follow it. You placed yourself in this car, not me.” Rebellion against wise counsel is the highest form of ignorance, and it always leads to difficult circumstances.

Self-Inflicted Ignorance

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Of course, people have been saying for years that ignorance is bliss. Honestly, ignorance is one of our greatest enemies. God Himself says that it can become a huge obstacle in our lives. In Hosea, for instance, God made this statement: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (4:6). Think about that for a moment. Like Micah, Hosea was proclaiming a message of judgment. Soon, God’s judgment would be poured out on His people. And of all the things that God could have chosen to identify as the root cause of the problem, He named ignorance. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Then God added this phrase: “Because you have rejected knowledge” (v. 6). This phrase emphasizes the role that rebellion may play in our ignorance. Simply stated, it is an act of rebellion to reject God’s truth.

There are two types of ignorant people. The first category includes the people who have a lack of knowledge because of the circumstances of their lives. They may have grown up in an environment where the pursuit of knowledge was neither valued nor encouraged. Or they grew up in a context where the pursuit of knowledge was not even an option. In numerous places around the world people live in ignorance because they do not have the opportunity to pursue an education. I never struggle with this type of ignorance because it is a byproduct of circumstances outside a person’s control. Clearly, folks in this group can still be destroyed by a lack of knowledge. For instance, the inability to understand electricity can be deadly for someone ignorant of its power. So, too, is an ignorance of the dangers of drinking polluted water. But this type of ignorance is more easily excused when people have been given no instruction about such things.

The second category of ignorance, however, involves a totally different type of person. This group includes the people who have been exposed to truth. They have a knowledge base, but they choose to ignore that knowledge and embrace ignorance instead. There is nothing worse than self-inflicted ignorance. It always has devastating consequences. This is exactly what God was saying to His people in Israel and Judah: “You are being destroyed because of your lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge.” The people had abandoned God’s covenant and His commands. In Micah 3 we’re going to see that the people had also rejected God’s counsel.

As we study this chapter, we’re going to witness a tragic decision by the leaders and people of Israel and Judah. They had been given knowledge—it was in their hands! But you know what they did with it? They rejected it, and judgment was rushing toward them. Remember the first verses of chapter 1? God was preparing to leave His throne in heaven, come down to His people, and bring judgment with Him. We’re going to be reminded of something very important in this text. Every follower of Jesus has been exposed to the truth of God’s Word. It contains “everything required for faith and godliness” (2 Pet 1:3). But we must be careful; we may place our hope in all the wrong places. Like Israel and Judah, we may embrace idols and reject God’s commands for our lives. If we do this, we will also reject God’s counsel and wisdom. Once we reach that dangerous place, we have the potential to be destroyed by our own sinful choices—choices that result from rejecting God’s counsel for our lives.

They Abused Justice Rather Than Embracing It

Micah began this chapter by challenging the nations’ political leaders. First he asked the leaders a rhetorical question: “Aren’t you guys supposed to understand justice?” Of course, the answer should have been a simple “Yes.” After all, Micah was talking to the king, the cabinet, the princes, the advisors, the mayors, and such. They had the best education, jobs, and opportunities. They had been exposed to the knowledge of God’s truth and counsel. As a result, God expected them to know what justice is and have some interest in its pursuit. Instead, Micah described them in verses 2-3 and 9-11. We read this, and we’re surprised by the horror of this description. The very people whom God in His providence had placed in positions of authority in Israel and Judah had abandoned their responsibility before Him. Because they were leaders, they had a higher level of responsibility and accountability before God. He had given them truth, but they despised His counsel.

What was God’s counsel to the political leaders in Israel? Look at Exodus 23:6-8. It’s just one example we can find in Scripture that speaks to this subject. It says,

You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit.Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty. You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous.

It’s relatively easy to understand exactly what God was teaching His people in this text. Justice is perverted when a poor man doesn’t stand a chance against a rich man in court. The poor man can’t afford high-powered attorneys, and he certainly doesn’t have the money to bribe the judge. God didn’t want His people being falsely accused and killed by unscrupulous and unjust leaders. It mattered so much to God that He said, “I will not justify the guilty.” The meaning of the phrase is obvious—God does not give wickedness a pass. He won’t overlook or ignore it. He will always punish sin. That is why the death and resurrection of Jesus are at the heart of God’s redemptive plan for His world. As sinners, we cannot do anything to alter our condition. We are under God’s wrath because of sin. But on the cross Jesus took our place and bore our sin. He was punished for our sin so that God can both “be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom 3:26). Jesus had to die for our sin in order for us to be forgiven because God will not acquit the guilty.

God was very clear with His instructions to the leaders in Israel and Judah. He was not going to tolerate injustice. He would not accept leaders and judges who made decisions on the basis of under-the-table payoffs because that would “subvert the course of justice” (Prov 17:23). God had been patient with His people, continually calling them to repentance, so that they could experience the blessings of covenant relationship. Micah continued to warn the political leaders with this message—God’s patience was growing short.

As we return to Micah 3, we find that they had abandoned this counsel from the law in several ways. As we just saw, they abused justice rather than embracing it. In 2:1 we saw that the political leaders made plans continuously to defraud others. They were willing to evict widows and orphans so that they could take the houses for themselves. They were planning to affect the outcomes of trials based on the size of the bribes they were offered. The abuse of justice was rampant in Israel and Judah.

They Abandoned Mercy Rather Than Embodying It

The abuse pictured in 3:2-3 is staggering. Micah used the following language: “You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones. You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.” I read these words, and I think about a barbecue technique in South Carolina called a “pig-picking.” We cook the hog whole and then chop it and eat it right off the grill. Similarly, the leaders were attempting to strip away everything of value from the people, the very people they were supposed to love as neighbors. There’s no mercy here; they just cared about themselves.

They Embraced Pride Rather Than Rejecting It

Look at 3:11: “Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, ‘Isn’t the Lord among us? No disaster will overtake us.’” You want to talk about arrogant! The political leaders Micah was addressing in chapter 3 were the very people he would challenge in the most famous verse in this book: “Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8). These leaders were the antithesis of this truth. They abused justice, they abandoned mercy, and they were full of pride.

God’s response in verses 4 and 12 is sobering. God said in effect, “I’m about to abandon you in the coming disaster. Don’t call out to Me. I will not hear or answer you. You are the source of the destruction that is coming through My judgment because of your evil deeds.” Yet the people continued to be content in their sin. Nevertheless, God was steadfast. “My judgment is coming. You’re going to call out for help, but when you do, I’m not going to be there. I will not acquit the guilty. You will be destroyed for lack of knowledge, but it’s not because I didn’t love you enough to give you the knowledge. It’s because you chose to reject and rebel against that knowledge in favor of your own agenda.”

Self-Interested Leadership

Micah rebukes a second group of leaders in chapter 3—the religious leaders. He wrote about them in verses 5-7 and 11. Micah was writing this to the persons responsible for leading the people in worship. They were tasked with teaching the people to embrace covenant loyalty, obey God’s commands, and apply God’s counsel. Yet Micah described just the opposite. They had become motivated by greed. Malachi suggested a possible, pragmatic reason for this behavior. In Malachi 3 he rebuked the people for their disobedience in tithing. The people had abandoned that command along with all of the others. This, in turn, placed a heavy burden on the Levites. They were the one tribe without an inheritance; they needed the people to be obedient with their tithes so that they would have the resources necessary for life. As the tithes disappeared through disobedience, the Levites struggled to survive. Apparently, rather than trust God, they began to try to solve the problem themselves by charging the people for their services.

They Were Motivated by Popularity Rather Than Principle

Micah identified two motivational problems of the religious leaders. First, they were motivated by popularity. Remember, Micah preached an unpopular message. The false prophets in Micah’s day wanted to be liked by the people, so they preached a message that appealed to the people. Whether it was true or not was irrelevant. They adopted a preaching style that focused on a positive message over a truthful one. They told the people that they were fine. God loved them, and they were secure because they were children of Abraham. In doing so, however, Micah says they led God’s people astray (v. 5a).

They Were Motivated by Greed Rather Than Grace

Second, the religious leaders were motivated by greed. Micah said they were prepared to provide a positive sermon for the ones who would give them money, but they stood ready to curse anyone who refused (v. 5b). They were following in the footsteps of the prophet Balaam, who was all about making money (Num 22). They didn’t care about the people at all. Micah’s description in verse 11 was brutal: “Her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for money.” They were nothing more than glorified fortune-tellers and conmen. This was the group tasked by God with leading the people into a lifestyle of covenant loyalty and obedience, a lifestyle motivated by love for God and neighbor. Is it any wonder that the nations of Israel and Judah were in such bad shape?

We can look around at our own context and find people functioning in the same way. Today there are many religious leaders for whom money is the only motivation of their ministry. God promised the same consequence for the religious leaders as the political leaders. When they called for help in the day of trouble, God was going to abandon them. If it’s possible, however, the religious leaders have a worse fate than the political leaders. God told them that in the hour when they most needed to hear from Him, the silence would be deafening (vv. 6-7). The religious leaders had the potential to hear a true word from God. But God was consigning them to an existence of spiritual darkness. They would never again hear a word from God.

Spirit-Empowered Courage

Micah of Moresheth

Then we get a glimpse into Micah’s heart. He stands as a man of truth in a land of falsehood and sin. In the face of opposition and danger, he held firmly to God’s truth. In a culture that had abandoned covenant loyalty and obedience, Micah lived as a man of God. How was that possible? Micah himself answered the question in verse 8: “As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the Lord, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” In this verse he demonstrated how he was different from the false prophets around him.

Micah was filled with God’s power. Where did that power come from? It came from God the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Holy Spirit didn’t indwell every person prior to His appearance at Pentecost (Acts 2). Prior to Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did empower some people to fulfill God’s unique, sovereign purposes. Micah said, “I am filled with power, and because of that power, I am able to teach with justice and courage the message of judgment that God has given me!”

Jesus of Nazareth

When I read this text in Micah, I cannot help but think of some similar verses written by Isaiah, one of Micah’s contemporaries. Read Isaiah 61:1-3:

The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn, to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify Him.

Notice that Isaiah’s description of his ministry was very similar to Micah’s. They both were aware that the Holy Spirit had appointed them to a special prophetic work, and they were committed to accomplishing it. What’s even more interesting about Isaiah’s text is that Jesus quoted it 700 years later to describe His own prophetic ministry (Luke 4:16-30). The people who heard Jesus speak these words in the synagogue were amazed at His gracious speech. Then Jesus looked at them in the spirit of Micah and Isaiah and told them that their hearts were so hard that He couldn’t do any miracles because of their lack of faith. Suddenly, the people went from being amazed to being enraged, and they dragged Him out of the city to throw Him off of a cliff. Miraculously, He was able to escape.

The people in the synagogue that day were just trying to do what Israel and Judah had done for centuries, the very thing the political and religious leaders in Israel did several years later when they collaborated to have Jesus sentenced to death: kill the messenger. Only this time, the messenger had come to die. Wicked, selfish men coordinated the death of Jesus the Messiah, but a sovereign God orchestrated it. And through His death and resurrection, Jesus would provide a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the world.

The people in Micah’s day had lost sight of the promise of Messiah. Instead, they were placing their hope in other things. In chapter 1 Micah said they were placing their hope in their government rather than in God to protect them. In chapter 2 Micah said they were hoping in culture, believing that cultural norms defined their ethics, even if those norms violated God’s truth. And here in chapter 3 Micah said they were rejecting God’s counsel in favor of their own arrogant wisdom. The people were holding on to one key idea that was at the root of all of these issues: They were going to be fine, no matter how they lived, no matter what they did, because they were Abraham’s descendants—and that’s just the way it was. Ultimately, the people were placing their hope in their religious birthright. Yet through Micah God was saying, “It’s only through sacrifice that your sins are forgiven, and it’s only through covenant loyalty and obedience that you will receive My favor.” Nevertheless, the people rejected it.

This sounds strangely similar to our own culture. Countless people attend a church on Christmas or Easter Sunday, check the “church” box on their “to do” list, and leave unchanged. They embrace the same philosophy as Israel and Judah. In essence they say to themselves, “Everything’s fine. God loves me, He understands me, and He is unconcerned about my lifestyle choices.” Sadly, their misguided hope in religious activity will send them straight to hell if left unchanged.

Jesus came into our world for one reason: to blow up the myth of religion. He didn’t come so that people could know more about God; He came so that people could know God. But people cannot come to God with an arrogant heart; they must come by faith, with humility, trusting in God’s Son as their Savior and Lord. When Jesus hung on the cross, and God placed our sin on Him, it was to provide a perfect sacrifice for our sin. When God raised Him from the dead, it was to demonstrate that the sacrifice had been accepted and forgiveness was now available. The fact that forgiveness is available does not mean that it’s automatic, however. Each person must make a decision about Jesus. Many will ignore Him; others will deny Him; a few will trust Him. These are the ones who will find that Jesus is the only true source of hope in life!

Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior face a common danger. If we’re not careful, we may substitute religious activity for a growing relationship with God. Micah is warning us that we can become just like the political and religious leaders of his day. Yet God continues to challenge us to pursue truth and live truth for His glory. That’s His ultimate purpose for our lives, and we will accomplish it as we accept and apply His counsel to our lives daily.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Micah affirms what Hosea 4:6 states: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Simply put, the people were not teachable. Why is it important to be teachable today, and what are the dangers of rejecting God’s truth?
2. The people in Israel and Judah fell carelessly into false doctrine and evil practices. They were not discerning when it came to following God’s truth. Read the following verses: 1 Timothy 6:3-5; Galatians 1:6-10; Jude 1-25. What are the dangers of embracing false teachers?
3. Sometimes, just like the people in Micah 3, we take God’s grace in our lives for granted. Romans 6:1 states, “What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” What are the dangers of presuming on God’s grace?
4. Rebellion sometimes reveals itself through overt disobedience to direct commands. Other times, however, it reveals itself through the rejection of wise counsel. Read Proverbs 24. Make a list of the benefits of embracing wisdom and the consequences of rebelling against it.
5. Second Peter 1:3-11 reveals that God has given us “everything required for life and godliness.” Read this text and list all of the benefits that come from receiving God’s wisdom with a teachable spirit.
6. Sometimes, as we see in Micah 3:4,7, God’s silence is part of God’s sentence in our lives. Think about a time when God’s silence was a byproduct of sinful lifestyle choices. How did it feel to experience the silence of God’s inactivity in your life? Reflect on what happened to bring about a change in your fellowship with God.
7. The political and religious leaders in Micah’s day had abandoned the pursuit of justice. How and why is justice a byproduct of heeding God’s counsel?
8. First Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-16 emphasize the importance of a pastor’s integrity. Why is a leader’s integrity so important for the health of the church?
9. Sadly, many religious leaders have sold out the gospel in pursuit of money and popularity. Ultimately, what does Micah 3 teach us about the wisdom of this choice?