CORRUPTION ( 7:1-7)

As Christians, sometimes we might think we should be shaded from the realities of life that everyone else has to face. However, the plain truth is, - with a slight alteration of the old saying, - while we are not of the world, we are still in it! … Micah was still in the world, and he had to face up to what was happening around him. Now, there are two main ways he could have dealt with this: he could either have absconded into the wilderness, found a cave, and hid there for the rest of his life … or, he could have stayed where he was and been true to God, even in the midst of a godless people. He did the latter.

… If God does not call you away, He means for you to stay where you are to serve Him. He does not separate His people from reality. In fact, His people are to be lights in a dark place … not to be hidden under a bushel but to be, - as it were, - lifted up and set into the candlestick so the light would shine and that men would see our good works and glorify our Father Who is in Heaven (Mt. 5:15,16). Indeed, that is what we are to do … Is. 44:8 Ye are even my witnesses … Mt. 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations … 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you

However, the great problem with facing up to the issues is that we come to realise how far removed our standards, - the standards of Scripture, - really are from the benchmark the world prescribes. When we were growing up, - generally-speaking, - the levels of decency and morality were what you would expect from a civilised country, but in the past couple of generations good standards and principles have taken a real battering! Consequently, if you are intent on being faithful to Christ today, - in your work, in your school, in your home, in the community, and even among some other Christians, - you will very often find yourself standing alone.

It is not that you are being ‘odd’, or thinking you are better than anyone else … but you are different because you are pursuing obedience to the Word of God, and that is how it should be when you are born again of the Holy Spirit.

And so, Micah is rightly lamenting over the state of his people. However, his lament does not direct him into despair, but it brings him before the throne of God. He brings the heavy and weighty problem of his people and his country to the Lord because he knows there is nothing he can do about it himself. Without God, he is powerless and hopeless. And so he approaches the Lord concerning the state of the land, its leadership, its present generation, and the generation growing up under the ‘smog’ of such spiritual pollution. … 2 And so, at the same time as the lament, there is also an overwhelming expression of his confidence in the Lord. Despite all he was experiencing he believed God was still in control … God was sovereign.

Here is how Micah surveys the scene …In verse one through to verse six we have the lament, Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: [there is] no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. 2 The good [man] is perished out of the earth: and [there is] none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge [asketh] for a reward; and the great [man], he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them [is] as a brier: the most upright [is sharper] than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen [and] thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies [are] the men of his own house. Then in verse seven we have his confidence, Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Sometimes we are so prone to get ‘the picture out of focus’ and in so doing we lose something of our confidence in the Lord! We say we trust in Him for our salvation which is for time and eternity … and yet, we live as if we are not too sure if we can trust Him for time! … Does God know for certain He will welcome me into Heaven? Yes, He does because He sent His Son to die for me, and His death for me on the cross paid the penalty for my sin so I won’t have to pay it, and I am no longer under His wrath so when I leave this earth He will bring me to Glory, II Tim. 1:12 I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I’m saved because of the eternal covenant God signed in Christ’s blood.

Now, I am depending upon that eternal covenant so therefore, why should I doubt Him concerning what will come my way between now and then … during this period we call ‘time’?! He has it all covered for no matter how hard it gets, and even if and when my faith becomes weak, underneath and above it all I know that, as Job said, 23:10 He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold … 13 he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

3 And so, especially in these opening four verses of chapter seven, Micah wrote about the spiritual and moral decay of his society. Yes, we have to face up to what is going on around us … and that was what Micah was doing.

Notice how his words are particularly addressed to . God was speaking to them loud and clear. In the previous chapter we read, 6:9 The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city. So, it is Jerusalem who must listen, 7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: [there is] no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. …

It is like the scene in the Book of Ruth where after the harvest the wheat has been gathered and brought into the storehouses, … but some of the wheat has been left at the corners and around the field for the poor people to come and claim. But it was the sad reality that when God went looking for the summer fruits and the grape gleanings of the vintage He couldn’t find anything because there was nothing there! As Job said, 30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came [unto me]: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. That was how bad the spiritual situation in the land had become! I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage. … They had ignored God’s word and how He had directed them … They had changed His laws!

God was looking for the fruit of righteousness among His people but it wasn’t there! Isaiah prophesied at the same time as Micah, and he said also, 5:7 the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. … That was the same message Micah was bringing! God expected spiritual fruit, but there was none to be found, there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. In the Song of Solomon, describing the love God had for the nation of Israel, He said, 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. … But there was no longer any fruit left in Jerusalem because the people had turned away from their God!

How tragic! And just in case some of the people were not understanding what God was saying through Micah, the message was made abundantly clear, The good [man] is perished out of the earth: and [there is] none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. It was as if there were no good people left! This was the consequence of God’s judgment upon their land. They had abandoned His law … What He called sin, they had given a new name in order to make it acceptable. 4 Instead of evil being recognised as evil, it had become the norm, - it wasn’t called evil any longer … and the protestations of God’s true people were no ridiculed, mocked and despised. Yes, it got so bad it was as if the good [man] is perished out of the earth: and [there is] none upright among men … None left! The nation was under God’s terrible judgment.

Consider that word ‘upright’ for a moment. It means ‘straight’ … ‘straight up and down’, as we say. There is no dishonesty with the upright, their word is their bond. They lived according to God’s law … but they had been replaced within the community by those who lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. These were unscrupulous and ungodly times. … And there is something else that’s quite striking in this verse, i.e. they hunt every man his brother with a net. This wasn’t the foreign invader, the outsider, the stranger … This was their own people they were turning against … it was their own people who were bringing their own nation down. They were doing it to themselves! They were turning against each other.

The government itself, who the people had elected to rule were passing through laws, v.3 that they may do evil with both hands earnestly. The Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh) translate it, “They are eager to do evil” … “Their hands do evil well”. It is what they were best at doing, - evil, contradicting and opposing God’s law. It was the one thing they could really do well! They were versatile, resourcefully clever, and positively brilliant at doing that which God said they should not do! … The prince asketh, and the judge [asketh] for a reward; and the great [man], he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap [wind] it up.

That was the kind of society this was! Instead of working together for the glory of God, they were ‘tearing each other apart’ and they had set themselves to do evil with both hands earnestly … so they wrap it up. They intricately ‘weaved’ their plans into operation. They were getting their own way, and they seemed unstoppable. That was how it was in Micah’s day!

He goes on to describe them in none-too-appealing a manner, The best of them [is] as a brier: the most upright [is sharper] than a thorn hedge. … These were nasty people. You wouldn’t have ‘got one over on them’! They had their own welfare at the centre of all they did. These leaders weren’t caring about their people. The industrialists didn’t give any thought to their workers. Consideration for others was a forgotten concept … and courtesy did not feature in their dealings. … 5 Set aside God and His Word and you get what you deserve, - corruption, exploitation, extortion, a lack of respect and the disintegration of society. And that is what was happening in Jerusalem!

However, the second half of verse four shows God was not prepared to sit idly and do nothing. He promised, the day of thy watchmen [and] thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. He was telling them there is judgment coming! This perplexity speaks of a great confusion. Contrary to everything the people believed, their beloved Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside were to be ‘turned upside down’ by a cruel and foreign invading army. … “No! The Lord would never allow that to happen to us!!” … Well, that is exactly what He was going to bring upon them!

The word ‘perplexity’ is only used twice in Scripture, - here, and in Is. 22:5, For [it is] a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord GOD of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. Terrible times would descend upon the people, - the watchmen (the faithful prophets) had been warning them for years about it, but they had taken no heed … The message had fallen on ears that were determined not to listen.

As a consequence, ‘the watchmen’, - the faithful prophets and preachers of God’s Word, - had become more and more of an irritant and an irrelevance … and anything they said was rejected. That is what Micah was contending with.

And here is how bad it had become … It had entered into the streets of every town and village, as well as the city of Jerusalem. The people couldn’t rely on each other … v.5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. You weren’t able to trust your friend … not even your best friend … But you couldn’t even trust your wife! True friendships and faithful marriages were falling apart … they were disintegrating. For all the ‘advancements’ in their society, they were heading towards inevitable ruin, for now shall be their perplexity.

Family life was in such a degenerative state that the son dishonoured his father, - calling him a fool, - and the daughter dishonoured her mother! There was a collapse in the foundational unit of society. There was no respect and no code of common decency. Families were falling apart … and when families fall apart, society falls apart! Relationships break down. Ties are broken and a man's enemies [are] the men of his own house. They argue openly, and fight in the courts for all to see! … These were terrible times in which Micah prophesied. 6

Now, surely, what makes this study particularly relevant to us is that we can see much of what was happening then happening today. These are the same issues we are having to deal with … and even more.

But what makes them more interesting is that this perplexity will increase for these are the same issues said will characterise the world into which He enters at His second coming … Mk. 13:12 the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against [their] parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.

It was a dark picture for Micah, - as indeed the picture outside is for us today, - but remember how the darkness will never be able to overcome the light … Well, here is proof of that, because the light is shining through the darkness in verse seven, Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. … Micah keeps the sovereignty of God in focus. He doesn’t have his eyes closed … they are fully open, and he is looking unto God! How is he looking? He is looking with confidence because he is trusting in God as the Jehovah of His ancient covenant. As we were saying earlier, He is the covenant God … and the terms of His covenant are written in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our sovereign God, and He is also our saving God, and He is our sustaining God … for He is the God of my salvation. … “Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.”

Yes, my salvation is all due to my God! No matter how dark the days, that’s what Micah trusted in for he knew God personally. He was obedient to Him, and he was waiting for Him ... Blessed [is] the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors (Prov. 8:34).

Micah knew all about how dark his society was, and how far they had gone away from God … However, he had been with God and God had shown him the bigger picture. Yes, God had made known to Micah there was a great time of glory ahead for those opening verses in chapter seven will give way to the joy described in chapter four, v.1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, [that] the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of ; and he will teach us of his ways, and we 7 will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of , and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. … There is Jerusalem again, - restored and forgiven!

This was what Micah was looking forward to … in anticipation of the Messiah, - the ruler in Israel, - coming to Ephratah, and then when He comes again he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth (5:4). … He was looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

Micah lived a long time ago, but his message is as much for us today as it was to his own nation. Much of what he had to contend with is happening all around us … People think they can do what they like and they are answerable to none. God has virtually been removed from the statute books, - ‘wiped off the radar’, - and everyone is doing what seems right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).

Let’s learn from Micah. He didn’t become downhearted … and instead of giving up, he was looking up! … I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. In these days of increasing corruption, may God remain our confidence … in the blessed hope of which we are assured, for He will have all the glory. Amen.