Plans of God and Men, Micah 2:1-13

September 28, 2008

First Church of the Brethren

H. Kevin Derr

Micah 2:1-13

“Plans of God and Men’

¹ Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.

² They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance.

³ Therefore, the LORD says: “I am planning disaster against this people,
from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly,
for it will be a time of calamity.

⁴ In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song:
‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up.
He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’ ”

⁵ Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD
to divide the land by lot.

⁶ “Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. “Do not prophesy about these things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”

⁷ House of Jacob, should it be said, “Does the LORD become impatient?
Does he do such things?” “Do not my words do good to those whose ways are upright?

⁸ Lately my people have risen up like an enemy.
You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care,
like men returning from battle.

⁹ You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes.
You take away my blessing from their children forever.

¹⁰ Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place,
because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.

¹¹ If liars and deceivers come and say, ‘We will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ they would be just the prophets for this people!

¹² “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture;
the place will throng with people.

¹³ One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.”

Prayer

I. We find in our text two oracles, one of woe, one of redemption. The oracle of redemption has some very clear and powerful messianic overtones that you will notice. But as we begin, we start with a lament of woe, an oracle of death.

a. The oracle of woe, ¹ Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.

i. This is an oracle of woe to those who plan iniquity, those who plan evil and do it.

1. Doing evil, in this light begins with thinking about evil, planning to do evil.

2. This is the tendency we have to nurture evil thoughts, whatever type they are, and hold on to them, feed them, nurture them until they grow into sin or rebellion against God.

ii. In this case, it is those who plan evil while they rest on their beds at night, and in the morning they do the evil they had planned, because they can.

1. One of the reasons they can is simply because no one calls them to account.

2. The rulers of the land are either powerless to stop them, or are approving of their actions or at best unconcerned about what they do.

b. So, what is it that they do? These are men who have the resources to take land from others. Micah writes, ²They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance.

i. Likely these are men with land and money, who make loans to people knowing that they will not be able to repay them, in order to seize their land.

1. They covet fields and seize them, they defraud people of their homes, and in doing so take their inheritance.

a. Land was to stay in the family, passed from generation to generation, not sold to others

b. In fact, in the year of jubilees, land that had been sold was to be returned to the family from which it came.

c. In a real sense the land was sacred, in that it was part of the covenant between God and his people.

d. Land ownership, was not really kept in the hands of individuals, but in the family, and ultimately as a stewardship of what God had given the people.

2. The intentions of those who do evil are laid bare, their concern is adding to their person possessions.

c. First we find the accusation in the oracle of woe, this is followed by an explanation of the sin, then we find the judgment of God. Micah records God’s message to the wealthy who take from those who have little. He says, ³ Therefore, the LORD says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

i. God says, destruction is going to come upon you and there is nothing you can do to escape it, it is at hand!

1. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

a. In other words, you have trusted in riches and ill gotten gain, you have cheated people of their land, their inheritance, their possibility of a future, and you walk about proudly, as if what you have done is right, just and good.

b. But, calamity is coming, and you will no longer walk proudly, but you will be brought low.

2. Oh, but it gets worse, ⁴ In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song:
‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’ ”

a. Those who exploited the poor, the widow and the orphan will be taunted, most likely by the very same ones they cheated.

b. The will sing them mournful song, as if speaking for them, ‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’

i. We are utterly ruined

ii. My families possessions are divided up.

iii. God takes it from me!

iv. He has given my fields to traitors, to those we thought we had under our thumbs.

c. The wealthy, the exploiters are surprised that their empires are gone. They cry out that they have done nothing wrong. And now their things are passed out to others, and those they oppressed, exploited and cheated did not side with them in the end, and they seem suppressed.

i. In this you can see shades of Enron, Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac, and any one of the recent financial woes.

ii. Always, those in the thick of things assert they have done nothing wrong.

ii. Now it gets worse, these evildoers will be no more, they are cut off from the covenant community. Micah writes, Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot.

1. This sounds like an odd thing to say, but in truth it is very simple.

2. The land is assigned to the people of God by lots, if you do not have anyone one among the people of God, you will have no division in the land. You will have no part in the community of faith. You are disowned, your family is no more. You are utterly ruined.

d. As you may well imagine, Micah’s message was not well received by the rich and powerful, those who exploited the weak and the powerless.

e. They had religious leaders who told them what they wanted to hear, it is the same way today, you can find some religious leader who will tell you want you want to hear, it is sad how little difference there is. Micah quotes them saying, ⁶ “Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. “Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”

i. The false prophets are saying, “You are good, doing your best, no need to worry, disgrace, destruction, will not overtake us….”

ii. They spoke what people wanted to hear.

II. So, Micah asks a question, ⁷ House of Jacob, should it be said, “Does the LORD become impatient? Does he do such things?” “Do not my words do good to those whose ways are upright?

a. Micah asks the whole of the covenant community, “Does the Lord’s patience endure forever?” or “The Lord will never bring judgment upon us.”

b. “Does God do such things as bring judgment on his people? The answer is yes, of course he does. This is central to the story of God’s people.

c. And Micah pushes the question a little bit more, “Don’t my words do good to those whose ways are upright?”

i. It is only those who live in unrighteousness who need to fear, the upright have nothing to fear from God’s judgment, rather they will hear, well done my good and faithful servant.

ii. The unrighteous, on the other hand, have much to fear.

d. God brings two additional complaints against the people, Micah writes, ⁸ Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle.    ⁹ You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes.
You take away my blessing from their children forever.

i. My people have risen up like an enemy army, and they do some very specific things

1. They rob the passerby who mistakenly thinks the land is safe, they he can walk through like a soldier returning from battle

2. They drive women, most likely widows from their homes

3. They drive fatherless children from their blessing, from their land

4. They rob and cheat to gain more for themselves.

5. It is so common, it is like an army has arisen in the land.

ii. Because this has been so common, there is only one solution, to see the people gone from the land, to clean the land of the evildoers. ¹⁰ Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.

1. Get up, go away! These people will be taken into exile

a. The land that was their home will be taken from them

b. The land is defiled, ruined beyond all remedy, save one, allowing it to be empty.

iii. No one wants to hear the truth, they want to hear what their itching ears are wanting to hear. Micah writes, ¹¹ If liars and deceivers come and say, ‘We will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ they would be just the prophets for this people!

1. They want false prophets to tell them, there is plenty, you will prosper, enjoy yourselves. See there is plenty of wine and beer….

2. But this is not what they need to hear, it is what they want to hear.

III. As dire as it all sounds, there is still hope here, hope for the future. Micah records, ¹² “I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.

a. God will bring back a remnant, a portion of the people.

b. God will be their shepherd, and will gather them and lead them

c. There will be many, the land will be filled with God’s people.

d. Then we find what may well be a reference to Jesus. Micah writes, ¹³ One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.”

i. One who breaks open the way will go up before them

1. This sounds like Jesus defeating death

2. Jesus will take us to the Father, to the King who will pass before the people of God

3. Jesus will lead them.