Micah 3:4

These rulers have hated good things and they have loved evil things. This has happened for a long time. They are now asking God for help in their troubles. Probably they have often met to pray to God. But that has not helped them. They are in great trouble. They know God’s promises. They know this one for example: ‘He will hear those that cry to him. He will rescue them from their troubles’ (Psalms 107: 6, 13, 19, 28). The message in these verses is for all people. All people have done wrong things. God promises to forgive people. But he forgives them only when they are sorry for their wrong actions. People must repent (turn away from their evil behaviour). And they must trust God. So this promise in the Psalms will not become true for these evil rulers. This is because they have not stopped their evil deeds. They have not sincerely repented.

The poor people have asked the judges (the rulers) for help. And God was speaking to these rulers by means of the poor people’s cries. But the rulers did not understand that. So the rulers did not listen to the poor people’s cries. Now God will deal with the rulers in the same way. He will not listen to them. He will act like someone who hides his face from them. There is a verse in Proverbs about this. ‘A man shuts his ears to the cry from the poor people. He too will then cry out to God. But God will not answer him’ (Proverbs 21:13).

We might ask why God would not answer these rulers’ prayers. It was because they had done evil things. The rulers had behaved badly. This had continued for a long time. It was their habit to do evil things. The rulers knew God’s demands. They understood the law. They understood the reasons for the law. The rulers knew about legal decisions. They knew the difference between right and wrong decisions.

These rulers had done evil things for such a long time that it had become a normal habit for them. In the Book of Hebrews, the writer describes their situation well (Hebrews 10:26-31). Their evil behaviour controlled their lives. They knew what God wanted them to do. But they refused to change their behaviour.

v5 Here is God’s message to the *prophets. They lie to my people. If people give food to them, those *prophets promise peace. They say, ‘All is well.’ If people do not give food to them, they even prepare war against the people.

Micah has dealt with the greedy rulers. Now he deals with the greedy *prophets. The systems of religion and politics join with each other. Both systems protect the criminals. And the criminals do wrong things to the people, who then suffer.

Verse 5 Micah speaks God’s message. The *prophets are false. They lie to the people. The things that they teach are wrong. In the Book of Deuteronomy, its writer warns about that (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). False *prophets hope to please kings. Kings will give a rich reward to them. These *prophets hope to please political and legal leaders. These *prophets hope that leaders in business will praise them. This is what the leaders say. ‘Tell us what we want to hear. Then we will pay you well. Speak a message that comforts us. Then we will feed you well.’ God has given to these *prophets the gifts that they need. But they have no courage. And they have no moral strength.

In the *Hebrew text, Micah says that the *prophets ‘bite with their teeth’. They eat the food that people give to them. But they are even more greedy. It is as if the *prophets bite like snakes. A snake will kill and eat a man. And these *prophets are as terrible as snakes! These evil *prophets would do anything in order to get money from people. So, these evil *prophets speak in order to get money. Micah makes that plain. They also speak to get food for their mouths. The political rulers pay the false *prophets. They pay them for a message that the rulers wish to hear. They pay money for lies. There is no truth in the nation any longer. There is no fair practice in business either.

Therefore, the rulers pay money to the *prophets. In that way, the rulers are feeding them. Then the *prophets speak this message. ‘Life is wonderful. There is peace for everyone.’ But if the rulers do not pay money to the *prophets, the rulers do not feed them. So the *prophets then change their message. They even prepare war against people. They promise war instead of peace.

Sometimes God sends a message about war. It is the right message for that time. But then the false *prophets speak to the people about peace. Or sometimes the right message is about peace. But then the false *prophets speak about war. However, Micah’s message is the truth.

These false *prophets cause the people to behave in wicked ways. But these *prophets do not speak any message about punishment.

v6 You will live in the dark. You will be far from the sun, so that you cannot see it. You will have no message from me (that is, from God). The sun will set for the *prophets. The day will become dark for them.