Micah 6:3

O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. O MY PEOPLE - the greatest aggravation of their sin, that God always treated them, and still treats them, as His people. WHAT HAVE I DONE UNTO THEE? - except kindness that thou revoltest from me? (; .) WHEREIN HAVE I WEARIED THEE? - what commandments have I ever enjoined that should have wearied thee as irksome? (.)...

Here God, in the first place, offers to give a reason, if he was accused of any thing. It seems indeed unbecoming the character of God, that he should be thus ready as one guilty to clear himself: but this is said by way of concession; for the Prophet could not otherwise express, that nothing that deserved blame could be found in God. It is a personification, by which a character; not his own, is ascribed to God. It ought not therefore to appear inconsistent, that the Lord stands forth here, and is prepared to hear any accusation the people might have, that he might give an answer, _My people! what have I done? _By using this kind expression, my people, he renders double their wickedness; for God here descends from his own elevation, and not only addresses his people, in a paternal manner, but stands as it were on the opposite side, and is prepared, if the people had anything to say, to...

1-5 The people are called upon to declare why they were weary of God's worship, and prone to idolatry. Sin causes the controversy between God and man. God reasons with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. Let them remember God's many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their unworthy, ungrateful conduct toward him....

Verse Micah 6:3. _O MY PEOPLE, WHAT HAVE I DONE UNTO THEE?_] They are called to show why God should not pronounce sentence upon them. This condescension is truly astonishing! God appears to humble himself to his creatures. You have acted basely, treacherously, and ungratefully to me; this had already been proved by the prophets. What _cause_ have I given you for such conduct? I have required a _religious service_ from you; but have I wearied you by a fatiguing round of difficult duties? If I have, now testify against me; and you shall be first heard, and your plea received, if it be reasonable and good. They are silent; and God proceeds, and states what he has done for them....

O MY PEOPLE - This one tender word, twice repeated , contains in one a whole volume of reproof. It sets before the eyes God’s choice of them of His free grace, and the whole history of His loving-kindness, if so they could be ashamed of their thanklessness and turn to Him. “Mine,” He says, “ye are by creation, by Providence, by great deliverances and by hourly love and guardianship, by gifts of nature, the world, and grace; such things have I done for thee; what against thee? ‘what evil have I done unto thee?’” “Thy foot did not swell these forty years” Deuteronomy 8:4, for He upbears in all ways where He leads. Wherein have I wearied thee? for “His commandments are not grievious” 1 John 5:3. Thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel, God says by Isaiah, “I have not wearied thee with i

EXPOSITION VERSE 6:1-7:20 Part III. In this address, which is later than the preceding parts, the prophet sets forth the way of salvation: PUNISHMENT IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN; REPENTANCE IS THE ONLY GROUND FOR HOPE OF PARTICIPATING IN THE COVENANT MERCIES. MICAH 6:1 1. _God_'_s controversy with his people for their ingratitude._ MICAH 6:1 HEAR YE NOW. The whol

O MY PEOPLE,.... These are the words of the Lord himself by the prophet, expressing his strong affection to the people of Israel, of which his goodness to them was a full proof, and this was an aggravation of their ingratitude to him; they were his people, whom he had chosen for himself above all people of the earth; whom he had redeemed from the house of bondage, had distinguished them by his layouts, and loaded them with his benefits, and yet they sinned against him: WHAT HAVE I DONE UNTO THEE? what evil things, what injuries to provoke to such usage? "what iniquity have you", or "your fathers, found in me", to treat me after this manner? have I been "a wilderness", or "a land of darkness", to you? Jeremiah 2:5; have I withheld or denied you anything that was for your good? The Targum is, "O my people, what good have I said I would do unto thee, and I have no

Micah 6:1. _Hear ye now what the LORD saith;_ And yet some doubt the infallible inspiration of Scripture. I would commence every reading of the Scripture with such a word of admonition as this: «Hear ye now what the Lord saith.» That is what the prophet said; but God spake by the prophet: «Hear ye now what the Lord saith.» Micah 6:1. _Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice._ As men were hardened, and turned away their ears, the prophet was bidden to speak to the mountains, those mountains which had been disfigured with the shrines of idols, with altars on every high hill, or, perhaps, those higher hills that were never cultivated, and that remained untouched by the defiling hand of men. God makes an appeal to these ancient things....

THE THIRD PROPHETIC DISCOURSE (6-7) CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The words of Jehovah to His people (Micah 6:1) _ 2. Israel's answer (Micah 6:6) 3. The moral demands of Jehovah (Micah 6:8) 4. The Lord must judge them (Micah 6:9) Micah 6:1. This chapter is cast in the form of a controversy. The utterance has been called by some the most important in the prophetic literature. It is hardly this, nor is, as critics claim, the eighth verse a definition of religion, “the greatest saying in the Old Testament.” The beginning is sublime, “Hear ye now what

POPULAR_ V._ PROPHETIC RELIGION. The classical summary of prophetic religion in Micah 6:8 is introduced by the figure frequently employed (Hosea 4:1; Hosea 12:2; Isaiah 3:13; Isaiah 43:26; Jeremiah 25:31) of a legal controversy between Yahweh and His people. Possibly this figure did not originally precede Micah 6:6, as the terms of the address O man! are broader than we should expect if Israel had been add