"Listen, you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Should you not know justice,
2 you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
and the flesh from their bones;
3 who eat my people's flesh,
strip off their skin
and break their bones in pieces;
who chop them up like meat for the pan,
like flesh for the pot?"
4 Then they will cry out to the LORD,
but he will not answer them.
At that time he will hide his face from them
because of the evil they have done.
5 This is what the LORD says:
"As for the prophets
who lead my people astray,
if you feed them,
they proclaim 'peace';
if you do not,
they prepare to wage war against you.
6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
and darkness, without divination.
The sun will set for the prophets,
and the day will go dark for them.
7 The seers will be ashamed
and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their faces
because there is no answer from God."
Questions to consider:
- Compare and contrast the characteristics of the leadership (priests, rulers, prophets) of Israel at this time.
- How will God’s judgment be shown to each group?
Possibilities for prayer:
In the midst of a lot of the hard things that God is saying about and to the people of Israel, one of the striking things about this book so far is the way in which God speaks so clearly to Micah. As Micah writes, he states without hesitation “what the Lord says.” It must have been a pretty intimidating thing to hear from God in such a real and unquestionable way. Though, while it was surely an intense experience, I know that I have had moments when I have wished that God would clearly and audibly speak to me so that I would know what to do next, how to respond to a situation, etc. Today, let’s ask for God to speak to us clearly, and that we would be able to listen and know, confidently, that it is God’s voice we hear.
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