Not 'Devisors' but 'Participants'

Prophets serve a difficult function. They are asked to speak out against injustice. They are asked to speak out against the majority. They are asked to buck the system.

Micah, a country boy, did this. He came with a message of justice that shocked his people and called them to behave differently.

In this section, he is pronouncing ‘woe’ or ‘death’ upon a certain group of people. These people ‘plan evil’ on their beds. They then execute their plans in broad daylight. They are able to do this because they are powerful enough to do it. These are the rich they are the powerful.

Their evil is the oppression of the poor. They are taking land from people, probably through an unfair borrowing system. They are loaning out money and when people are unable to repay, they are taking their land. This is particularly important because land was the visible sign the people had that they were in the community of those being saved. In fact, God built into the system a right of redemption of the land.

Because they are planning evil, Micah announces that God is planning evil. They won’t be able to escape. Because they are confiscating fields, Micah announces their fields will be confiscated. It is a case of poetic justice.

The ultimate result is the most difficult part. These people are told that they will have no portion of land in the future assembly of God. This is an incredible claim because, as I said, land was the visible sign that a person was a person of God. God is saying, “You are not my people.”

Although we may not be ‘devising wickedness’ when we go to sleep like these people, we may be in a similar place. We are the beneficiaries of a corrupt system. We live in extraordinary wealth, and part of the reason we do this is because of corrupt systems that continue to oppress the poor. We may not ‘devise’ this oppression, but we often choose to remain in blissful ignorance, deciding not to become aware of the gross injustice that makes us rich because it would be too costly for us.

This passage then, should serve as a sharp rebuke. Micah seems to say, “People that continually participate with injustice are not people of God.” What we can learn from this is that part of what it means to be a ‘Christian’ or a person that is rightly related with God is proper social concern and action. A Christian simply cannot continue in blissful ignorance. Let’s repent, and discuss ways we participate with God in his redeeming the entire world from the damaging effects of the Fall.