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3rd April 2024
WednesdayReflection
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Tyler Mayfield shares
A Commentary on Micah 6
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"What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:1-8 NRSV
The Hebrew is relatively straightforward here.
We can grasp the biblical concepts of "kindness" and "humility."
People can recite it by heart.
Perhaps we could say that it is etched into the hearts of many Christians.
But there is always a danger to familiarity.
The familiar can be overlooked or neglected.
First, the passage begins with the dispute language in verses 1-2.
God and God's people are contending;
God is upset with the people and wishes to argue with them through the prophetic voice of Micah.
Next, in verses 3-5, God provides a recitation of all the wonderful gifts God has provided.
This account, dense with imagery, biblical figures, and place names, recounts God's action for the sake of Israel.
In summary, God says,
"I have something I need to bring to your attention, a controversy I need to voice, so listen up.
What exactly have I done wrong?
I am constantly saving you so that you will always remember my righteous deeds."
It is interesting that God does not accuse Israel of any explicitly wrongdoing; instead, God delivers a self-defence speech.
Perhaps, then, it was the case that the people are the ones who actually had a contention with God, a dispute which is not recorded in this prophetic book.
Now, it is time for the people to respond to God's complaint.
But they have nothing to say in light of God's powerful and reassuring speech except to ask questions.
Finally, in verses 6-8, the language of dispute is dropped altogether, and we read a series of rhetorical questions.
They are questions one might find worshippers asking as they make their way to the Temple.
The four questions heighten the theological drama by identifying progressively excessive gifts.
The central issue with all the questions concerns the gift, the sacrifice.
What is it, O God, that you want from us?
What do you require?
Just tell us your favourite offering, and we will surely sacrifice it - even if it is a rather extreme request.
God does not want a specific type of offering.
God wants a specific type of person.
The passage culminates with an answer.
It may not be the answer the people expect.
In fact, it is not the answer they seek. They have focused on offerings - small and large.
They have emphasized sacrificial worship to the exclusion of justice and kindness.
God requires more than sacrifice when entering His presence.
God clarifies what is good. The answer is rather straightforward:
To do justice.
To love kindness.
To walk humbly with your God.
Now that the clarification has been given to us, the more difficult task is to live into these requirements as God's people.
Justice is perhaps not our default operating system.
Humility is not second nature.
What actions do these requirements call forth from us as we look into our neighbourhoods and cities?
><(((°>
Working Preacher
We have enlisted hundreds of friends - biblical scholars, theologians, homileticians and pastors dedicated to the craft of biblical preaching - to provide you timely, compelling and trustworthy content.
Tyler Mayfield
is the A.B. Rhodes Professor of Old Testament and Director of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
He is the author of Father Abraham's Many Children: The Bible in a World of Religious Difference.
He received the M.A.R. degree in Bible from Yale Divinity School and the Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Claremont Graduate University.
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