Jehovah’s Appeal to Israel, Micah 6
Then comes the conclusion of the prophecy. The first portion of it (Micah 6) is in part a most solemn pleading of Jehovah. “Hear ye now what Jehovah saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, Jehovah’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for Jehovah hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel. O My people, what have I done unto thee?” Jehovah appeals to their own feelings of what is right. “O My people, what have I done unto thee? Wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against Me. For I have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam” (vss. 1-4). Had He ever been but the same God?
And then the answer comes. “O My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of Jehovah. Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (vss. 5-8). Very far from this was Israel’s walk.