Micah 6:9

This message has two parts. First, Micah tells the people to listen to God. Micah says that the *LORD is calling to the city’s (Jerusalem’s) people. Then Micah adds his own thought. He says, ‘To respect your name (God’s name) is wisdom.’ He knows that ‘to respect the *LORD is the beginning of wisdom’ (Psalms 111:10). Secondly, God speaks to the people by means of Micah. God tells the nation called Judah to listen. The people from Judah are gathering in the city. They come there to meet with God in the *Temple. They also come to do business. In verses 10-12, Micah accuses them about evil behaviour in their businesses. God will punish them because of those matters. Their businesses will suffer economic loss.

God made rules (the *covenant) with his people, *Israel. The Book of Deuteronomy clearly states this. The *covenant describes the relationship between God and his people. The people should always listen to (obey) God. This was the purpose of the *covenant. The people should hear God’s commands and then they should obey them. ‘The *LORD let you hear his voice from heaven. He did it so that he could give a strong message to you. He told you that you should not do wrong things any longer. On earth, he let you see his great fire. He spoke to you from it’ (Deuteronomy 4:36).

God had spoken to his people. Then they understood his *covenant. They understood that they benefited from it greatly. Micah looks back to an earlier time. Moses and *Israel’s people were in the desert. It was important for them to hear God’s voice. The people understood that they needed to obey God. (Look at Deuteronomy 5:26.) They understood how important that was. When God spoke, there was only one choice. Either the people obeyed or they did not obey. When they obeyed, all would go well. Happy and pleasant things would happen to them. When the people did not obey, the results would be terrible. They would suffer many *curses. There would be so many *curses that the people could not even count them. (Look at Deuteronomy 28:1-68.)

The people in Jerusalem had not obeyed God. So it was certain that they would suffer the *curses. That is what Micah would tell them in verse 13-15. When God gave them commands, they should respect him greatly. That was good wisdom. It was very important to their economy. Micah refers to a *rod. One can hit people with this *rod. That is a way to punish people. Isaiah uses the word ‘*rod’ in the same way. He calls the army from Assyria ‘the *rod of my anger’ (Isaiah 10:5). So the ‘*rod’ is something that God uses. He uses it to punish his people.

v10-11 Some bad people still steal from other people. And those bad people hide their wealth. They still measure quantities in smaller baskets than they should use. That makes me angry. They still weigh things by false means. In their bags, people still have objects to measure weight wrongly. Yes, they are still cheating people in those ways. All those bad things are still happening. So I cannot consider these people as innocent.