Faith Formation: Micah - Justice, Kindness, humility

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will gather survivors of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture; it will resound with people. The one who breaks out will go up before them; they will break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass on before them, the LORD at their head. Micah 2:12-13

The tone of the poetry shifts from angry accusation and lament towards the leaders of "my people." Micah directed his next words to those who suffered and were scattered from the eleven towns Micah lamented you have not attended to them. So I will . Their homes and fields were beset both by confiscation from the powerful and the marauding armies invading Israel. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Micah spoke to them words of comfort and hope.

The editor of Micah's sayings seems to have arranged them by a pattern from judgment, doom and lament to hope and promise. One can sense the pattern set in chapters 1-2, 3-5, and 6-7. Each section begins with the word "Hear" or "Listen." The prophet spoke the harsh and gloomy oracles in the hearing of the people and leaders. The word of hope in 2:12-13 is brief, but extended in 4-5 and concludes Micah's poetry in 7. The image of a righteous, true shepherd, traditional imagery of a king who cares for the people, figures in the hopeful final words of each section. Rather than a simple, "it will all be better in the end," the sense perhaps was "God will be with you through the time of trial."

"I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the survivors of Israel..." The need to gather was because the people were scattered, driven away from their villages and fields. Jeremiah and Ezekiel both held the rulers accountable for their neglect of the flock they were entrusted to shepherd. Both announced that God would have to intervene to shepherd the people because of their failure. "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and shatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered the flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. Then I will myself gather the remnant of the flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ... I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall no longer fear or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing." Jeremiah 23:1-4 The leaders of the people fleeced them and treated as possessions for use or exploitation. God would lead them and raise up new leadership that would shepherd them, heal them and return them to pleasant pastures beside still waters. The Gospel of John enlists the metaphor of the Good Shepherd as one who leads the sheep to pasture and back to the fold, and whose care goes so far as to lay down the shepherds own life for the sheep. Psalm 72 envisions the righteousness of the king not according to the kings power or wealth, but according to the kings care and compassion for the needy, the poor, the vulnerable, and those oppressed by violence. The resounding of the people, the loud bleating of the sheep, comes not from fear or despair, but from peace and security.

The image changes in the second part of this saying. It is not as clear or as memorable. It conjures up imagery of David fleeing Saul or his son Absalom in 1/2 Samuel. Or again, the ill fated attempt of King Zedekiah to flee the siege of Jerusalem in 2 Kings 25. David's story may be the better of the two to consider since David flight with his followers eventually resulted in his return to Jerusalem and the throne. The imagery remains one of escape and rescue from a besieged city led by a king, or "the LORD," who would lead and be with them.

Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk humbly with God.

Pastor Tim Bauer