Hear O Heads of Jacob! Micah Part 5 (Chapter 3, vv.1-4)

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?

Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

At the end of chapter 2, we were given a brief but refreshing respite from the trail of destruction and judgement God promised on his people in the preceding verses. In verse 12, God promised to mercifully assemble the house of Jacob together as a shepherd gathers his sheep. The Christological significance cannot be overlooked here, for it is easy to see in these words Christ the good Shepherd, who gathers his people, his church, into his arms, carries them all their days, and rescues them from danger. In verse 13, Christ as deliverer is further indicated by the breaker who plunders the enemy city and leads forth his captives. At this point, we must read and watch closely, for the messianic themes of the book begin to gain pace and have greater clarity. But unless we should think our woes are past, we should not be so quick to declare: chapter 3 begins where God left off prior to the messianic interlude, the condemnation of the house of Jacob, and more particularly, its wicked rulers.

And I said, could be the prophet speaking here of himself, but this is unlikely since it is God who has been speaking in the first-person so far. The invitation is one of a passionate exhortation: .שמו־נא Hear I pray, or hear, I implore you, for the words I am about to speak are of utmost importance to you. Whereas אוי is an expletive of despair, נא has with it the sure mercy of long-suffering and the hope of repentance. God speaks in this fashion that wicked men might hear what he is about to say, turn from their wicked ways and repent.

The object of this exhortation are the heads of Jacob and the princes of Israel, who are handed a heavier condemnation than the ordinary people. This is for two reasons: 1) the heads of the nation were expected to protect the people from those who would seek to profit or abuse them. The heads of Jacob (ראשי יעקב) could mean anyone is a high position of authority — the high priest, the tribal authorities in the villages, the king, or even the royal administrators. In Isaiah chapter 22, we read of God’s anger towards a certain treasurer named Shebna, who used his high position of service to profit and enrich himself. This Shebna was guilty of building for himself a grand sepulchre and a house out of rock. Even worse, as his name seems to suggest, he was not even a Judean, and seems to have been a traveling fraudster who came to Jerusalem to offer his services to the king. God pronounced his judgement on Shebna in verse 19: And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down (Isaiah 22:19). Instead, God promised to raise up one named Eliakim son of Hilkiah in his stead who would be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah (Isaiah 22:21b). This theme is encountered elsewhere in scripture. 2) The heads of the nation were expected, above all, to know the way of judgement and to enforce it in the every day social life of the nation. We ask, where was the manual which should have served as the guiding rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience? It is found in the Word of God, and to the people at this time, that Word was contained in the Law. The charge of dereliction becomes even more obvious when we consider the command expressly given to kings: And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them (Deuteronomy 17:18-19). It was the king’s duty to study and know the law of God. It was a prerequisite for ruling over God’s people. It was a shameful scandal then, when word was brought to king Josiah that the Book of the Law had been newly unearthed in his day (2 Kings 22:8, 2 Chronicles 34:14). How many years had gone by without this guiding Rule? How many of God’s people had been defrauded and destroyed because the  king did not know the Word and could not discern judgement?

We observe another group upon whom the Lord’s condemnation falls: The princes of the house of Israel (קציני בית ישראל) is an unusual formulation, and the word for princes here קצה is better translated, the heads of society. Not only are the civil authorities in mind, but also those principal men who ought to have stood up and led the people in the absence of godly civil authority. Wicked rulers who pervert judgement do not give the people license to live wickedly. All men must know the Word of God in order to impose order and restraint upon their own households, and even themselves.

In Micah’s day, the Law stood as the guiding rule of life and faith. There was also the words of the prophets which revealed God’s words of warning to direct the people away from judgement and misery. What then, is our guiding rule for obedience today? At the end of verse 1, God asks these rulers of Jacob, Is it not for you to know judgement? הלוא לכם לדעת את־המשפט Literally, is it not to you the knowledge (or understanding) of the judgement (or justice)? It is clear from these words that this knowledge of judgment was not merely something offered to these men to know, but was an expected, inherent knowledge which they should have possessed. We ask, then, what constitutes this knowledge of judgment? We can answer our question with what has already been explained, namely, that the Word of God provides this clear understanding - not merely the Law - but the entire Law, Prophets, Writings, and New Testament. The entire Bible provides this since it is God who wrote it, and the entire counsel of God is needed to have a proper understanding. God is the embodiment of all proper judgment. Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? (Isaiah 40:13, Romans 11:34, 1 Corinthians 2:16). He needs no counselor and answers to himself. Perfect in counsel and wisdom (Isaiah 28:29), the Lord gives us the rules by which to live, judges according to that standard, and leads us in the way we ought to go: For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us (Isaiah 33:22). 

The Son of God, the express image of the Father, has been entrusted with judgment of all peoples. All judgement has been committed into his hand. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgement also, because he is the Son of man (John 5:25-27). If we wish to know judgement, we must first know the Judge to properly understand the Word of God, and the Law of God. We cannot discern things as we ought to in our own power; only the Spirit of God can help us attain this knowledge of judgement.

The wickedness of the rulers of Jacob is further described in the following two verses. Here, it is evident just how much the knowledge of judgment has been perverted. It is said that these men pluck off skin and flesh and chop them as for the pot and caldron. The image is that these people don’t just kill and destroy, but kill, destroy, and devour every last ounce of those over whom they have been entrusted. Such was the state of rulers of Jacob, even in the time of Jesus. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation (Matthew 23:14).

The ideas expressed here point to a greater reality in our lives, namely, that satan, the accuser of the brethren, also deals with us as such. It was always satan’s plan to have us destroyed and consumed. He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). For the life of the man who does not know Christ is as this described here. While life here is difficult and tedious, the perils of this world pluck, flay, and break, life in the next is full destruction. I do not mean obliteration, but conscious, eternal death. Thus those who know not Christ are called accursed, cut off for all eternity (1 Corinthians 16:22). Pain and sorrow in this world only leads to being fully devoured in the next. This is the saddest fact to behold in the entire universe, and yet God must act according to his righteousness. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity (Habakkuk 1:13a). God cannot abide with sin and must pass judgement on those who reject the righteousness which he provides in his own Son. The rulers of Jacob were unknowingly doing satan’s work in leading the people astray, abusing them, and cutting off means of repentance. We can find many examples in our own day. This is why it is important for us to know the Word of God, and to be able to resist the schemes of the devil despite those who rule over us. Do not entrust your faith to another man, but put your faith firmly in Jesus Christ to save you.

The overall reason for this perversion of justice is succinctly explained at the beginning of verse 2: Who hate the good, and love the evil. It is because men by nature love what is bad and reject what is good that we need Christ to take over our lives. Unless one has the Holy Spirit, he cannot do what he should. In fact, everything he does, which is not done in faith of Jesus Christ, is sin to him (Romans 14:23).

Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

אז יזעקו אל־יי ולא יענה איתם z’ghauqh. As the root sounds, it is not just a cry, but a deep and painful groan - one which musters all strength and wells up painfully from the heart. This is a hard-to-stomach verse. Modern Christianity paints a picture of God as one who is always present and willing to help in any carnal, worldly pursuit. We like to think of God as one conformable to our desires and expectations. This verse shows something completely different. Here the Lord promises not to listen to the cries of his people because of their sins. He will hide his face from them and give them no answer because of their wicked doings. We are convinced that God in Christ has not cast off his people. Jesus came to save sinners after all, and he is near to his own in all their troubles and infirmities. He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him (Hebrews 7:25). He is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before his Father with joy (Jude 24). If a faithful man like David prayed: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalm 22:1), we also who are his should expect seasons where it seems God has turned his face from us and won’t answer. This is the normal experience of the life of a believer. Often it is because we have stumbled into a particular sin; other times, it is simply the cares of this world which seem to choke out the illuminating presence of the Spirit and steal our joy. We must not give up in these seasons of life, but instead press on in faith with repentance. If God has redeemed you from the curse of sin and death, then your future is glorious, above and beyond all that you could ever imagine.

B.S.Q.