Micah Part One Deep Dive
JUSTICE & RESTORATION | HANNAH WHITE
The writer pens Micah Chapter 6 from within a courtroom. No, not a literal courtroom, but a prophetic one, in which God is making His case against Israel. The people of Israel are standing trial before their Creator for turning away from God and from others, with all Creation as witness to the case. I wouldn’t want to be on the opposing side of that defense, would you?
While at first this section of text doesn’t present a comfortable picture (when is judgment ever easy to swallow?), it concludes with an infamous scripture.
M 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
This scripture reflects the heart of God and the heart of the Book of Micah. He is a God who acts justly — responding to sin, requiring righteousness and delighting in truth — but also a God who loves mercy, and whose end goal is always restoration and redemption. This is the Book of Micah!
Micah is written in a primarily poetic literary style, scattered with metaphor, allusions, passion and ‘interruption → answer’, a literary device that is present throughout the whole book. The Book of Micah is split into three cycles of prophetic oracles, each cycle consisting of a pair of oracles — one of judgment, and one of restoration.
This textual structure of an ‘oracle of doom’ versus an ‘oracle of hope’ brings forth powerful parallels that highlight the inherent nature of God as both a Keeper of justice and a Cultivator of redemption. For every prophecy declaring the destruction of Israel and incoming plunder from the Babylonians, there is a word and promise of hope. Micah presents both a Messianic prophecy, predicting the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; as well as a prophetic picture of the Millennial Kingdom to come.
This is such a beautiful picture of our God. When we look at the cyclical oracles in Micah, we can know that God’s purpose for the world is not to bring destruction, but to bring justice. And as a result of that justice, He then longs to bring forth redemption. God’s promise of justice and restoration is one that we as Christians can rely on and expect in our lives because it is seen all throughout the scriptures, in both the Old and the New Testaments. The prophetic books in particular utilise the literary groupings of different oracles, like in Micah, to deliver these prophecies. We can see this in Hosea, Amos, Joel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and then further in the Gospels and in the Pauline letters...the list goes on! Time and time again the scriptures show us the justice-seeking and redemptive power of God.
When I read Micah, I am filled with both the fear of God and an empowerment of hope for my future and for the future of the world at large. We serve a strong, zealous and passionate God who seeks righteousness and is capable of destruction. But, unlike the ‘destruction’ we have come to know in earthly terms, our God is a carrier of justice and will never leave things in ruins. He is a Rebuilder, a Redeemer, a Life-giver, a God of second chances, a fair Judge and the King of restoration — nothing is wasted!
Hannah White is a graduate of C3 College and an incredibly gifted writer and academic. But that is not all, Hannah is an incredible singer!
recommended
An Introduction to the Old Testament
Philemon part one
Micah part One