Morality in Freefall (Micah 5: 10-15)

We read Scripture and there's a kind of "God said it, then it happened" feel, as if the people do not even have time to repent and return back to the Lord and His ways. Like a Hollywood movie, where someone's life is compressed into a two hour film, the events in the prophetic books seem to allow for little reflection by the people the prophet is railing at. 

We are, in effect, listening to a conversation, way back in the past, and only from one side. We don't hear the responses of the king and the people to the warnings of the prophet. We hear only what the prophet says the king and people are saying, and we may feel it's a biased account. 

God appears in the narrative as an irate parent, acting in anger after a searing array of accusations. He acts quickly with very little tolerance for human frailty.  

Is this an accurate assessment of God, His prophets and His people?

When you start looking, you see that many of the prophets had long careers and their voices were heard for many decades. Some of the prophets had short careers, but many were in it for the long haul.

Here is a quick chart that outlines what drives prophesy:

"Outline/Major Themes. These books employed two forms of prophecy: 1) informing the audience of their current spiritual condition in the eyes of God ("forth-telling") and 2) making predictions for their future ("fore-telling"). These two forms were used to communicate five reoccurring themes found throughout many of the books:

Sin - Spiritual adultery in the form of idolatry and wickedness
Call to Repent - God's vengeance and pending judgment
God's Forgiveness - God's love and willingness to restore a relationship tainted by sin
Encouragement - to remain faithful and enjoy God's blessings
The coming Messiah - the promised King" [1]

In other words, there is a clear pattern to how God deals with His people, and why He acts the way He does. In our culture, we don't take rules seriously--they are for everyone else. 

I was a teacher for many years.  Many of the parents or my adult students thought that they should have exceptions to what the syllabus said.  Yes, life happens, but when it is very clear that if you do not do A, then B will result, parents and students would try to negotiate with me to work around the rule. Thankfully, my community college students were much better at accepting the consequences from what they failed to do.

Some of the parents of my high school students expected I would accommodate their requests regarding their son or daughter. They grew tense with me when I would not budge. They went to the administrators, who then undermined what I had said. 

Following rules isn't about blind obedience.  It is about building character: You know what is expected of you and you do it because it is the right thing to do. I was very clear in my expectations and the department's expectations. I spent time making sure students understood. But I also had administrators come in my classroom and ask me to be lenient, in so many words, with a student whose parents were upset. (I was told by other teachers that these parents would make it very unpleasant for the school.)    

And yes, I had to accommodate such parents and students. No character building there for all concerned.   

It is no surprise then that in one particular school, where I had battled the whole year with upholding standards, the seniors for their senior prank effectively vandalized the school.  It was so bad that when the first employees arrived, they called the police thinking someone had broken in.  When the parents and students later arrived for the start of school, I heard grumbling from parents that the school should not have called the police. 

The school had been trashed but, hey, that's OK!  They are just kids, right?  

(We teachers had been cleaning up for about an hour before they arrived. So, what the parents saw was not as bad as it had been. To this day, I believe we should have left it alone for the parents to see, and then have had the students clean it up.) I even had one teacher mad at me because I said I was disgusted by what happened.  I had been cleaning wet toilet paper off the carpet and was not in a very jovial mood. 

This is a kind of microcosm for the people of God.

The prophets made it very clear that the behavior and words of the people, their kings and prophets were not in line with the law given by Moses. 

So, looking again at our chart, the people knew what sin was, because they were told what it was.

They were told to stop and turn away from what they were doing. 

God was willing to forgive, but the people had to first admit they were in the wrong, and then stop their behavior. Anyone can say they are sorry.  That's the easy part.  The hard part is really changing.  

The consequences of turning and following Yahweh's ways would bring blessings. Not just a pat on the  head, but visible reminders of how God loved them and wanted the best for them: prosperity in the land, protection from enemies and shalom in the nation and in the home.  

A glorious future awaited when God would reign on earth and shalom would prevail as the Messiah would come and deliver His people from all that oppressed them!   

God is clear what He is angry against, by specifically listing what He will destroy: 

“In that day,” declares the Lord,

“I will destroy your horses from among you
   and demolish your chariots.
I will destroy the cities of your land
  and tear down all your strongholds.
I will destroy your witchcraft
  and you will no longer cast spells.
  I will destroy your idols
  and your sacred stones from among you;
  you will no longer bow down
  to the work of your hands.

I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles[e]
   when I demolish your cities.
I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
   on the nations that have not obeyed me.” (5:10-15)

This fits both Israel and the Assyrians.  All nations who engage in evil come under His wrath.  But equally true is that all nations who come to His Messiah and seek forgiveness for sin will be welcome in and will sit down at the table of fellowship. 

One final observation. I have noticed a shift in morality from the time I was a young person to now, some fifty years later.  When I was growing up, there was a right and wrong derived from the Bible and my parents upheld it, even though they were not professing Christians.  I think they saw themselves as such, however, because they obeyed basic biblical morality. 

Trust me:  This is not a "good old days" reminiscence. The 60's and 70's were full of problems and sin.  But if you broke the 11th Commandment--you got caught--then your transgression was weighed against biblical morality.  Yes, there were hypocrites a-plenty, but at least the culture could agree that some things were wrong and there had to be some kind of consequence for breaking the rules. 

So, in order to be called "immoral," you broke a law from this transcendent code. Not my code.  Not your code.  But a code that the culture agreed was important to uphold, even if you didn't personally have a relationship with Jesus. 

Lying. Stealing. Adultery. Cheating. Violence. Murder.

The society had little tolerance for such immoral behavior.

But, over time, "follow your bliss" became more important than following fusty dusty irrelevant rules.  Do your own thing.  Papa's got a brand new bag. Different strokes for different folks. 

So, the whole notion of a transcendent moral code, derived from the Bible was losing ground--eroded over time by a kind of "Let's break free of such antiquated notions!" Freedom over faithfulness.  Self over salvation.  Relevance over reverence.  

Today, I am seeing a harvest from those seeds sown long ago.  Something is no longer immoral--it's amoral.  

Consider this:  If you are being immoral, we point to the code.  But if there is no transcendent code, then you haven't really done anything wrong. It's only my opinion that you did. You agree to disagree and carry on. 

So, schools come up with their own codes to try to hold students responsible, but parents don't necessarily buy that and because it's a locally determined code, they locally decide to ignore it. There aren't really any consequences to ignoring it. If the school presses too hard, parents lawyer up. 

"Morality" is now determined by screeching on social media, whose definitions are fluid and unpredictable. Who is and who isn't in violation changes with the next post. 

I wonder if, in the time of the prophets, this same kind of transformation occurred, going from the Mosaic code to the pagan code, to resisting any kind of code.  

A nation, a people, without obeying a code given by their Creator and to Whom they are answerable, presage a future where anything goes.

Scary then.

Scary now.

[1] "Survey of the Prophets--Introduction," Bible Questions, https://www.biblequestions.org/bqar410.html