Micah's prophecy is very basic. He is focusing not on fine points of law or
layers of interpretation in the Law. His
focus is on the basis of the law, justice and mercy, truth and grace. God's original acts on behalf of the Jews was
to see that justice was done with respect to their enslavement by the Egyptians
and it was also an act of mercy. It was
mercy because the Jews had done nothing to deserve God's deliverance. They were not the only people who were
enslaved on earth at the time but they were the only people on earth with whom
God was in covenant through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was in His mercy that they were chosen and
received justice. Mercy and justice are
commanded then of His people, they are to be like Him in character. Micah's complaint is that they are failing in
this very basic way and everything else flows from this character issue. When they get this right, God's ways will be
established and there will be no more war because the character of people will
be changed.
Here we are again at the parable of the sower. It seems this
parable comes up more than any other or God is still trying to teach me
something about this parable that I refuse to learn. The sower indiscriminately spreads the seed
without respect to what sort of reception it will receive. The soil is what it is initially, hard and
unreceptive. The initial work of
preparation is God's. To make the soil
receptive God must do something, we don't know how to prepare our hearts to
receive the seed, we don't know what it is, we are indifferent to it. The next soil is receptive but it has no
depth, it is rocky. The rocks have to be
cleared and moved, painstaking work. The
next soil is filled with thorns that choke out the new growth, the cares of the
world, those things have to be removed as well if we truly want to produce a
bumper crop that will delight the sower.
Finally, we get to that soil. Like
Micah, it all has to begin at the beginning, not focusing on fine points but
basics like the rocks and thorns.
Felix was a pagan ruler but his wife, Drusilla, was
Jewish. Paul spoke of righteousness,
self-control and the coming judgment with them.
Why? Felix had persuaded Drusilla
to divorce her husband and marry him instead, there was a distinct lack of
righteousness and self-control in their lives.
Paul took the risk of speaking into this just as John the Baptist did
with Herod and Herodias. Felix's alarmed
reaction then is understandable isn't it?
He was also hoping Paul would bribe him, something Paul would never do
because God alone was His redeemer. Paul,
in speaking to these two focused on very basic issues which were common to all
mankind but with a particular application to them. Good begins with self-control, look at
Genesis 4 where Cain was told about self-mastery.
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