Hatred does not fix hatred.
Oppression does not fix oppression.
Tearing down statues does not change history.
Protesting and yelling hateful things does not create peace.
Accusations do not create repentance but resentment.
In other words, our demands for justice are based on just us--what we think the problem is and what the solution is.
But: "You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness." (James 1:19-20). The word "righteousness" can also be translated "justice."This would imply that when we listen, choose our words with care and not allow our anger to fuel our search for justice, we demonstrate a heart that is sensitive to a standard greater than ourselves. We recognize and admit our failures, blindness, and shortcomings. This doesn't excuse us from seeking justice, but creates an environment where we acknowledge our need for humility and collaboration. We must acknowledge that our opinions and beliefs have their limitations.
In our anger over great injustices, we can make great mistakes.
We are not the measure of all things.
God is.
God's standards, character and guidance for righting wrongs is essential in order to create society that reflects righteousness. Reflects justice.
His righteousness. His justice.
The prophets knew that trying to work with people who had actively rejected God for their own brand of justice and were trying to recreate a world made in their own image, would not succeed. Why? The flesh does create shalom. Quite the opposite. Paul shows us the fruit of the flesh:
Now scale up from an individual to a society filled with such individuals. These attitudes and behaviors are found in a society where the people have rebelled against the idea that true freedom is found only in God.
Unchanged hearts will not change society for the better. Hearts that remain the same will be led by the flesh and a counterfeit justice will emerge, that will only sow more injustice as it goes.
Changed hearts change society. Hearts made anew with God's leading is where true justice is found.
Justice doesn't like a vacuum; if we don't use God's standard, we will create our own. Woe to any society based on our flesh.
So, the prophets came to remind the people that they needed to return to God. They needed to confess (acknowledge their moral failures and rebellious ways); repent (turn and go the opposite way of the flesh, and head towards God) and humbly wait upon God for guidance and direction (instead of relying on their own fallacious thinking).
Enter Micah.
He is coming during the reigns of three kings of Judah and was concerned with Samaria and Jerusalem.
No southern kingdom versus northern kingdom here: Both are morally corrupt and need to hear from God to recreate a just society. Samaria is denounced first.
listen, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
For the Lord is coming out of his place
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
Then the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will burst open
like wax near the fire,
like waters poured down a slope.
All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel (Micah 1:2-5).
Do you notice here that the LORD God (His covenant name--Hey Israel, remember the covenant you have with God? NO? Well, He does!) is on the move in all of His majesty? This oracle is not just from a man standing on a street corner, pointing a finger and wailing that the end is near.
It is God Himself who leaves His temple and walks mightily into Israel and into its capital, Samaria. All creation trembles as He walks. But lest Judah feel relieved that only Israel is going to receive God's judgment, Jerusalem in the southern kingdom is going to hear from God as well.
God's house is the temple at Jerusalem, but it cannot contain nor restrain Him. The whole earth is His court and He walks out of His temple as a King, who surveys His kingdom and finds injustice, much to His utter dismay.
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
Is there a play on words here? Jerusalem is on a mountain, and is indeed a high place, but high places were also where pagans engaged in reprehensible worship practices and were joined by God's chosen people.
Jerusalem has become indistinguishable from a pagan shrine. God is angry because of the utter repudiation of His covenant, where He called His people to be a blessing to all the nations (Gen. 12:3).
Not partners.
Not participants.
But priests and prophets who model, declare and display the beauty of holiness that is found in Yahweh alone.
Consequence?
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.
All her images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste;
for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them,
and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used.
It's as if God is saying:
You want paganism, Israel? You play the part of a prostitute who whores after foreign gods, act in despicable ways and yet call on Me? Sadly, I will allow a pagan army (you admire their ways so much, as if you want to be them) to come and do what pagans do best: kill, steal and destroy.
Why does Judah think it will escape God's judgment? That only Samaria will be judged? Because both kingdoms are filled with His chosen people?
No. Both kingdoms are compromised to the point where they do not care, and silence those who do.
Why do we think we will escape God's judgment? Because we were founded on Christian principles? No. We are compromised to the point where many do not care and many silence those who do.
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