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Bible Commentaries
Micah 6

Bell's Commentary on the BibleBell's Commentary

Verses 1-16

  1. Intro:
    1. Q: What does the Lord seek from a believer? (we’ll see later)
  2. Hhjjkj (Chapter 6)
    1. THE CASE! (1-5)
    2. (1,2) God is called to the witness stand.
      1. The “silent ancient witness” of the mountains, become His jury!
      2. As if an incriminating “global tape recorder” is witched on for evidence.
    3. (3-5) He pleads His case against Israel.
      1. I have not let you down(3);…I brought you up!(4)
      2. Q: Had they forgotten all that He did for them?
        1. It is good for us to review God’s gracious acts toward us, & make sure we express gratitude to Him.
    4. THE CONFESSION! (6-8)
    5. (6,7) They wanted to shove their requirements over into the religious & ritual realm.
      1. Q: Don’t we try the same kind of heap-it-up appeasing?
      2. We clock-in a few more “religious work hours” on our eternal time-card.
      3. Or we spout a few more verbal promises of obedience or holiness.
    6. (8) Q: What is good? What does the Lord require?
      1. This is not the gospel! – We aren’t saved by obeying this list. We can’t obey it…unless we are saved!
      2. Deut. 10:12 also tells us how to live as God’s forgiven people, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, "and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?”
      3. The Library of Congress was set up primarily to assist Congressmen in preparing laws. Numerous quotations from Scripture can be found w/in the walls of the library of Congress. Former President Charles Eliot from Harvard selected this verse to be inscribed on the walls. (Micah 6:8)
      4. Do justly – The Lord wants justice!
        1. There is something worse than appearing before the Lord empty-handed, namely appearing before him dirty-handed
          1. empty-handed. (Juan Alfaro)
        2. Define Justice – “a commitment & a responsibility for the defense of the poor & the powerless so that they will not be victimized by the more powerful groups of society.”
      5. Love mercy(loving kindness) – or merciful kindness.
        1. Define Mercy – “compassion & steadfast & loyal love,…a community-oriented activity, expressed concretely by protecting & helping those in need & thru a spirit of solidarity.”
      6. Walk humbly w/your God – When Martin Luther was asked, “what is the 1st step in religion?” He replied, “humility”; when asked the 2nd & the 3rd he answered in the same way!
        1. Define walking humbly – “is in direct opposition to the pride
          1. presumption that drives persons to be self-centered & closed to everyone else.”
    7. THE CONDEMNATION! (9-16)
    8. (10-12) Centers upon commercial crookedness.
      1. Story - A non-Christian worked for a Christian in the printing business. This prominent businessman left Christian pamphlets out in his front waiting room & even had regular devotions during business hours for all employees. Yet the non-Christian observed the obvious-while the boss contracted to use one grade of paper w/customers in the front room, he used a cheaper grade of paper to carry out the job in the back room. Needless to say, the non-Christian employee wasn’t too impressed.
        1. God cares very much how we run our businesses.
    9. (16) Omri & Ahab were 2 of the most wicked kings which ever ruled Israel. The nation suffered because they followed their bad examples.
Bibliographical Information
Bell, Brian. "Commentary on Micah 6". "Bell's Commentary". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cbb/micah-6.html. 2017.
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