GOD TAKES THE PEOPLE TO COURT

Micah 6:1-8

1-2 Listen now, listen to God:  
“Take your stand in court.
    If you have a complaint, tell the mountains;
    make your case to the hills.
And now, Mountains, hear God’s case;
    listen, Jury Earth--
For I am bringing charges against my people.
    I am building a case against Israel.
3-5 “Dear people, how have I done you wrong?
    Have I burdened you, worn you out? Answer!
I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;
    I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you--
    and Aaron and Miriam to boot!
Remember what Balak king of Moab tried to pull,
    and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.
Remember all those stories about Shittim and Gilgal.
    Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present.”

6-7 How can I stand up before God
    and show proper respect to the high God?
Should I bring an armload of offerings
    topped off with yearling calves?
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams,
    with buckets and barrels of olive oil?
Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child,
    my precious baby, to cancel my sin?
8 But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously--
    take God seriously.

(Study questions given in advance)

This translation is from The Message.  Read this, then read the same passage in whatever Bible you normally use, and see if you find anything different in your understanding.
     This passage takes the form of a court case, with God as the Plaintiff, Humankind (specifically the Hebrew people of this time) as the defendant, and the Earth as the Jury.
     Verses 1-5 are God speaking.  Verses 6-8 are the People responding - and ending up answering their own question.  You’ve heard this reading a lot because it’s one of my favorites, but I don’t know if I’ve ever given the background and setting for this.  

1. Does hearing it as a 'Court Trial' help your understanding of what is said?

2. Does you understand this reading as being relevant to our own time today, just as it was 3000 years ago? 

3. God’s argument is the same as we hear through ALL the prophets.  It isn’t a hard argument to understand - why do you think we people have such difficulty hearing, and acting upon, what God is asking?

4. If you have the time, read the whole Book of Micah – it’s only 7 chapters long.


Notes from our in-church Discussion:

Micah was an 8th-century B.C.E. prophet from a small village in Judah.  In his prophesying he  reproaches unjust leaders, defends the rights of the poor against the rich and powerful, and in general, preaches social justice.  Elsewhere in the book he says:

Alas for those who devise wickedness
   and evil deeds on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
   because it is in their power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
   houses, and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
   people and their inheritance .....

(It sounds so much like today, doesn't it?)
For such a short book (only 7 chapters) it has a number of notable, familiar scriptures, such as in chapter 4:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
.....He shall judge between many peoples,
   and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
   and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
   and no one shall make them afraid;
   for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Or the one promising that the long awaited One-to-Come will come from little Bethlehem (Micah 5):

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

Our reading for today is known as the "covenant lawsuit" (6.1–8), a rhetorical genre in which Yahweh (God) sues Israel for breach of contract, that is, for violation of the Sinai covenant.  The people have not been keeping up their end of the Mosaic bargain -- they have not been practicing justice – and hence, the trouble coming upon them is proven to be nothing but their just desserts.
     Such things are what come to those who act without justice -- who cease to listen to God's command to "seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."