Loving Covenantal Love:

An Exegesis of Micah 6:1-8

By

Colton Conrad

Originally for:
Beeson Divinity School
Hebrew III
Dr. Mark Gignilliat
11/15/15
very slightly adapted in 2020…
 Translation:
Micah 6:1-8

1 - Hear now that whicha the Lord saysb:

Arise, plead your casec tod the mountains and let the hills hear your voice.
2 - Hear, Mountains, the lawsuita of the Lord, and the enduringb foundations, for the
lawsuitc is God’sd against his people and against Israel he will establish what is right e
3 - My people, what have I done to you? And how have I caused you to be
overburdened?a Answer me!b
4 – For I took you up from the land of Mizraim (Egypt) and from the house of slaves I
redeemed you and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 – My people, remember now what Balak King of Moab counseled, and what
Balaam son of Beor answered him, and froma Shittim as far as Gilgal, in order to
know the Lord’s righteousness.
6 – With what shall I come before the Lord and bow to the High God? Will I come
before hima with a burnt offering with a calf of a year old?
7 – Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands rivers of
oil? Should I give my firstborn (as) my transgression, the fruit of my belly as the sin
of my soul?
8 – He has told to you, Man, what is good and what does God seek from you? For a It
is to seek justice and to love covenantal loveb, and to walk in wisdomc with your God.

Justification

1
1a – “That which” could also have been glossed “the word,” The BHQ cites that the rendering of “the
word” seems to be both “more free” and “literal.” These might account for the different readings. However,
the harder readings are preferable and better supported textually, and happen to be consistent with the
writing style that we also find in verse 2 and so on (‫ֶת־ריב‬
֣ ִ ‫)אֶת־ ֶהה ִָ֔רים; א‬
1b – “the Lord says,” is the most supported view. The text criticism at hand shows that it may have said
“Hear the Word of the Lord, the lord says.” However, the manuscript that comes from is a medieval
manuscript and Wurthwein says that the Masoretic notes became less well understood and their value “for
safeguarding the text was lost.”1 The other important factor is that this is what the Lord is saying now. It
has immediacy to it. It is a qal present participle which indicates that it is an action proceeding at the very
moment of speaking. Not in the future, not has said, but an emphatic “Thus saith the Lord.” 2
1c – ‫“ ִ ֣ריב‬plead your case,” the imperative here is directed to Israel, to plead their case before God.
Holladay’s lexicon aptly locates this as something that takes place in a court, where a case is to be
conducted. In this case it is something done in a lawsuit, a dispute. Israel is to arise and plead its case. (see
also 2a for clarification).
1d – “to” – ‫אֶת‬. This is often translated before or against. Waltke notes that Renaud does not allow before,
arguing that it could be against. Waltke cites that to make an accusation against is untenable because
mountains, not persons are in view.3 However, mountains here are being personified. They are who
Yahweh is summoning to hear his complaint. Therefore, it is not against them. Yahweh has made the
complaint (see 2a), and the mountains are witnesses.4

2a – “lawsuit.” ‫אֶת־ריב‬
ִ֣ The imperative here amounts to a dispute, a lawsuit. Holladay translates this as
5
pertaining to a legal case and Waltke however finds this (appealing to Wurthwein and some form critical
studies), to be an “accusation,” where there is an oral complaint made by the offended party.6 The setting of
the mountains as witnesses and Israel called to plead her case merits this translation as a lawsuit, which is
also an accusation but helps find the setting and better grasps the imagery of this passage.

2b- ‫ ְוהָאֵתָ ִנ֖ים‬In order to best identify what fits with this word here, we need to consult other passages in
scripture. In Deuteronomy 21:4, the ESV has glossed this as a running brook (masc. singular absolute).
Holladay also offers a translation of this as flowing, or ever flowing streams (for him in the substantive).
This passage in Micah could also be a substantive as it is indeterminate, referring to as Waltke glosses it,
enduring ones. Though it does seem to be a nominal predicate, the word here is almost certainly referring to
the foundations, and so is instead a superlative adjective. Therefore instead it acts as a adjective, a
metaphor which gives life to the mountains, they are “enduring, or ancient.”7

2c – ‫ ִ ֣ריב‬here, is a noun in the absolute. Therefore, Holladay would gloss this as also as “lawsuit” or
dispute, with or against, a person. The ‫ עִם־ע ַּ֔מ ֹו‬is ‘against’ rather than ‘with’ because it is in the absolute.
See also 2a, though 2a is in construct.

1
Ernst Wurthwein, The Text of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 38.
2
Jouon P. and Muraoka T., A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome: Gregorian & Biblical Press, 2013),
381.
3
Bruce K. Waltke, A Commentary on Micah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 345.
4
Waltke, 345.
5
William L. Holladay (ed.), A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1988), 338.
6
Bruce K. Waltke, A Commentary on Micah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 344.
7
JM, 14.

2
2d – ֙‫ לַ ֽיהוָה‬Here there is a preposition ‫ל‬
ַ . It is a ‫ ַל‬of possession. To the Lord belongs the lawsuit, the
dispute. JM say that though preposition ‫ל‬ ַ often expresses direction, it also indicates the accusative and how
things are related.8 Therefore, it expresses possession.9

2e – ‫ י ִתְ וַּכָ ֽח‬Holladay translates this in the hithpael as “argue out together.” However, the hithpael is a third
person masculine singular of that root, referring to the Lord, because the Lord is the subject – the dispute is
God’s against his people. Waltke says however, that the hithpael is not reciprocal, because the dispute is an
“accusation (or lawsuit) brought by one party against another.10 Therefore if this is not reciprocal, the
hithpael, being third person masculine must refer to God. He will argue together does not fit. The ESV uses
contend. However, there is not a quarrel. There is one bringing a charge, and Waltke agrees with H.
Boecker and F. Horst that the meaning of this is like how Holladay glosses the hiphil: to establish what is
right. Syntactically this translation fits within the passage better. It also reflects that the action being done is
God’s.11 Therefore it is God who is establishing what is right.

3a – ‫ְאֵתיָך‬
֑ ִ ‫ ֶהל‬In this context, Waltke translates it as “overburdened.”12 Typical translations give ”wearied,”
such as Holladay, and the ESV glosses it that way as well. The verb is a hiphil, which Holladay says could
be translated as “to make one tired or weary” or to “think one powerless, incapacitated.” 13 The Hiphil
makes it a transitive verb ‘to cause to be wearied or overburdened.” That is the question Yahweh is asking,
is how has he caused his people, and Israel to be overburdened? Burden here bears the significance of
carrying a yoke, not simply being tired, and fits with what Yahweh says afterwards about taking them from
slavery. He took the burden off of them.

3b – Here the ‫ בִּ ֽי‬more properly means in, but in this case it has a sense of intensity,14 and even a nuance of
hostility to it. Therefore this is translated with emphasis (exclamation).

5a – Here there is a ‫מִן־‬, meaning ‘from.’ However, it has an infinitive just after what it has described
(know). JM say that when a min has an infinitive after it, it has a consecutive meaning. Therefore it is
talking about a different event than what happened with Balaam. ESV glosses it as “what happened,” but
there are some liberties in that translation, though the idea is assumed. Here however, a more literal gloss of
“and from” is suitable, giving the min consecutive meaning yet still resolving possible syntactical issues.

6a - At first glance, what looks like a 1st common singular or plural pronominal suffix is actually a regular
third masculine singular pronominal suffix with an energic nun. In the future, an energic nun denotes an
action.15 Will I come before him with a burnt offering? The one that Micah is going before is Yahweh.

8a – ‫“ ִּכ֣י‬For“ typically means like or as. However, in this situation translating it as for is syntactically more
appropriate. This passage is defining an exact likeness or similarity, with the nuance of equality.16 What is
the likeness of what God has taught us that is good? It is equated with the three clauses to follow this ‫ ִּכ֣י‬.

8
JM, 458.
9
Ibid.
10
Waltke, 348.
11
Waltke, 348.
12
Waltke, 349. Waltke also appeals to H. Wolfe who argues that the root of ‫ לָאָה‬is overburdening or
burdensome.
13
Holladay, 171.
14
JM, 458
15
Jouon P. and Muraoka T., A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome: Gregorian & Biblical Press, 2013),
160.
16
JM, 461.

3
8b – ‫ ֶ֔חסֶד‬This word has many meanings. Holladay offers a variety of terms: “obligation to the community”
“loyalty” “faithfulness” “an obligation initiated by ceremony” which exists between a wife and husband,
“favour,” “grace” “kindness” “evidences of grace” “godly deeds.”17 Waltke takes a deeper look at this and
calls it “the practice of faithful love.”18 Love is wht he calls “the language of ancient Near eastern
covenants, of covenant obedience, and of covenantal spiritual commitment.”19 This word is packed with
theological significance. God here is asking for behavior that is consistent with hesed, “loyal kindness,
faithful love”. I think the term covenant love presents what this means more fully and places the reader in
the context of the type of community that Micah is prophesying to, or at least the expectations for such a
community, that they are to live in covenant love, with God and one another.

8c – ‫צנע‬often translated “walk humbly,” there is some debate as to what it means. This verb is an infinitive
absolute, and a hiphil. Holladay gives us the definition “to live cautiously, carefully.” Waltke cites that H.J.
Stoebe, though lacking coherent jumps from how he interpret the root word (Stoebe says “to strengthen”),
circumspectively comes about to see it as pertaining to wisdom.20 If used denominatively, it could be
rendered “to cause oneself to behave wisely.”21 The idea of walking then, seems to be more in line with
making a practice of such behavior towards God. To walk cautiously therefore means to walk causing
oneself to be wise. Though difficult, humility is certainly the posture with which to walk with the Lord, but
wisdom and caution seem to grasp the meaning of ‫ צנע‬much better.

Exegesis and Exposition:

“The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of

Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah –the vision he saw concerning Samaria and

Jerusalem.” (Micah 1:1) Micah 6:1-8 is one such word. It is an oracle of God, one

coming at the heels of both messages of destruction and of hope. In its context, Micah is

preaching to an Israel stirring because of the Assyrian and Egyptian empires coming

against them. Israel’s own prophets preach nothing but safety (Micah 3:5,11). But they

were turning from the Lord. Micah preached in order to turn Israel back to God.22 It

seemed to have been effective for the moment, as Hezekiah, the King at the time when

the people were surrounded by Sennacherib, repented and turned to the Lord, at Micah

and Isaiah’s urging.23

17
Holladay, 111.
18
Waltke, 392.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
21
Ibid.
22
Stephen Dempster, RS4123 Micah (Moncton: Crandall University, 2011), Global and Local Context.
23
In Jeremiah 26:12-19 we see Micah’s word given primacy for turning Hezekiah toward God, but in
2nd Kings 18-20 it seems to have been Isaiah. I see congruency, they were both prophesying the Word

4
 The social conditions present in Micah’s time were that God’s people had no

concern for the poor (Amos 2:8), used faulty weights and measures (Micah 6:11), the

godly have been swept from the land (Micah 7:2-3), and the leaders and prophets were

corrupting justice by accepting bribes and treating people as commodities.(Micah 3:1-

3)24. “A new kind of idolatry had taken root in Judah: the worship of material gains…

Isaiah (a contemporary of Micah) observed that a great rift had opened between Judah’s

influential wealthy and the neglected populace.”25 In Micah 6:1-8 we find God revealing

his nature. This is important for any robust view of Biblical theology, where God reveals

the problems of the people, all the while revealing to them his covenant love and

faithfulness. In the context of the Twelve, Micah certainly plays a critical role in showing

that God desires justice, covenant love and faithfulness. 26 He is not absent to the cries of

His people, and being His people means so much more than cutting circumcision or a

calf’s throat. God is after our hearts.

1 The fact that the Lord is the subject gives this portion of Micah tremendous

authority.27 This is the Lord speaking directly to His people. ‫ְהו֖ה אֵ ֥ת‬
ָ ‫ ֲאׁשֶר־י‬denotes that it is

“that which” the Lord is speaking. The Lord is the subject and these are the words

coming out of his mouth. The weightiness of the passage is immediately visible. Israel is

being called upon to defend her case to the mountains. Things are not as they should be.

of the Lord, and it certainly seems that Micah would have been doing so to the lay people and priests
and prophets, where Isaiah at least at that time, was doing so for Hezekiah himself.
24
Ibid. Social Conditions of the land.
25
Mordechai Cogan. The Oxford History of the Biblical World: Into Exile (New York: Oxford University
Press. 1998), 247.
26
Dempster, RS4123 Micah, Major Issues.
27
Waltke, 343.

5
 Israel is being called to plead their case – the imagery of the lawsuit is already

being established. The language of ‫ ִ ֣ריב‬occurs many times in this passage as Yahweh calls

the Israelites to court. They are called to plead their case before the mountains.

The mountains here are personified; they are the witnesses of the court case that

God is bringing against the Israelites. In the context of the Ancient Near East,

Mendenhall says that ancient suzerain-vassal treaties employed language that summoned

gods and the elements of the world to be witnesses and hear the treaty.28 This helps

unpack the covenantal aspect of Micah 6:1-8, placing the hearers on high alert that

something so big as God’s covenant with his people is at stake.

2 This verse reveals that Israel is being indicted for a breach of covenant. 29

Reiterating the judgment scene from verse 1, the Lord is now declaring that Israel

would be put on trial for their unfaithfulness to the covenant.30 The accusation or

“lawsuit” of the Lord is coming against them. This passage echoes Moses in

Deuteronomy 32:1, 5-7 where Israel is accused:31

“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth…

they have acted corruptly toward him: to their shame they are no longer his

children, but a warped and crooked nation. Is this the way you repay the Lord, O

foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your creator, who made you

28
Waltke, 374.
29
George E. Mendenhall, Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East (Pittsburgh: Biblical
Colloquium, 1955), 24-46.
30
Andrew Hill, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Minor Prophets: Micah (Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2005),
307.
31
Leslie Allen. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah. NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1990),
363.

6
 and formed you? Remember the days of old; consider the generations long

past.”

The Lord is bringing a case against His people. “Hear” ‫ׁשמְע֤ ּו‬
ִ is an important

prophetic device, starting, in Micah’s case, a new oracle, the final section of the book.32

This whole passage evokes a covenantal lawsuit, and the close relationship of the

covenant reveals that the offending party is closely tied to the offended; they are “His

people.”33 They are his people, and they have grieved him. Waltke argues that this refers

to those who are the wicked in Israel, and not those people who are oppressed (as

addressed in Micah 2:9 and 3:3).34 However, the punishment of the wicked will also

impact the righteous of his people. Rebellion has communal implications.

Waltke defines ‫ י ִתְ וַּכָ ֽח‬as saying that God will establish what is right.35 God is the

judge and the mountains are here envisioned as the jury.36 God’s initiation shows that he

will establish what is right. H. Boecker and F. Horst, also say that its meaning in the

hiphil could be “the legal procedure of setting something right.”37 What are the means all

this are to be set right – it looks ahead to Micah 6:6-8, where verses 6 and 7 reveal what

the way is not and verse 8 shows us the way.

3-4 Yahweh calls for an answer to the accusations brought before Israel. What

have I done to you? The interrogative ‫ ֶמה־‬is not a rhetorical question.38 The end of it

32
Delbert Hillers: Hermenaia: Micah (Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1984) 77, also see Micah 1:2. The
twelve also use this multiple times for their oracles (Hosea 4:1: Joel 1:2; Amos 3:1)
33
C.F. Kiel and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Micah (Peabody: Hendrickson
Publishers, 1996), 333.
34
Waltke, 348
35
Waltke, 348
36
see Exegesis on verse 1 and justification: 2e
37
Waltke, 348
38
Waltke, 349.

7
further proves that Yahweh wants an answer – ‫בִ ֽי עֲנֵ ֥ה‬39 There is a certain hostility, or

emphasis on Israel’s need to offer an answer. They need to justify themselves. However,

they cannot. Yahweh asks the “How have I overburdened you.”40 Are they acting like Job

complaining that God’s demands have worn them out (Job 16:7)? Surely not! Instead, we

find in verse 4 that God has in fact “redeemed” them! There is beautiful poetic irony

here. God then recalls specific points in salvation history. Verse 3 and 4 contrast

perfectly. God has done them only good.41 God has not overburdened them, rather he

unburdened them!42 ‫“ ֶה ְלא ִ ֵ֑תיָך‬overburdened” and ‫“ ֶה ֱעלִתִ֨ י ָ֙ך‬unburdened” or “brought up” are

a beautiful Hebrew word play. Yahweh has not done any wrong to them! Rather, he also

‫יתיָך‬
֑ ִ ִ‫“ ּפְד‬redeemed” them, ransom –he took ownership of them – he took them from

slavery, lifted off the burden and brought them to himself. This corresponds well to the

fact that they are now “His people!” Covenantal ownership and relationship is coming

into light, salvation history is showing that Israel has no case against God. He is at work,

and working for them. 43 There is no burden on them.

The latter half of verse 4 strikes a contrast between the heads and rulers that Israel

has now. In contrast to the magistrates, priests, and prophets that we saw in Micah 3,44

who drive women out of their houses and take their children away (Mic. 2:9); who eat the

flesh of the people and break their bones (Mic. 3:3), God gave them Moses, Aaron, and

Miriam. They were appointed leaders by God, a nation not like the other nations, but

established by God. He was the one who established what was right. And as seen in verse
39
See Justification 3b.
40
see justification 3a.
41
Waltke, 350.
42
Waltke, 380. Or rather, “How have I ground you down, I brought you up.” The hebrew (following the
sentence of this citation) play on words here is beautiful.
43
Waltke, 351.
44
Ibid., 381

8
2, he still is. It was by the Lord’s sending that they were made into a great nation. 45 The

Lord gave them a threefold spiritual leadership: Moses was the leader and lawgiver,

Aaron the High Priest, and Miriam the prophetess (who ministered through song). 46

5 As God continues to recall his righteous acts of delivering Israel, he now calls

(commands even) Israel, his people (‫“ ַע ִּ֗מי‬my people”) to remember ‫זְכָר־נָ ֙א‬. Waltke notes

that to remember means more in Hebrew than it does in English. In Hebrew it packs with

it the idea of “recalling past events,” and also of “actualizing the past into the present.”47

Brevard Childs said that the appeal to memory is a characteristic of a speech that a

defendant would give in order to show that they are not guilty of any wrong.48 In this

case, remembering is supposed to serve as an “intimate encounter” with the acts of

redemption that God has already done.49 In essence, remembrance is akin to participating

in these acts.50

These acts, which he calls them to remember, are that of King Balak, when he

summoned Balaam son of Beor to curse the Israelites because they had become too

powerful. God intervened and Balaam did not do what the King did, but finally spoke

what the Lord said (Numbers 24) – blessing. In the same way Gilgal was where the

Israelites encamped before they took Jericho (Joshua 4-10). All of these accounts recall

God’s faithful in the midst of the wilderness. In essence, God showed himself more

powerful than other God’s, when he shut down the incantation of a pagan prophet.51 If

45
Allen, 367
46
Walter Kaiser, Mastering the Old Testament: Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah,
Malachi (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992), 72.
47
Waltke, 382.
48
Waltke, 383.
49
Waltke, 383.
50
Ibid.
51
Waltke, 384.

9
God then saved and blessed Israel using an ass, Waltke is right in noting that he could

also save them from the asses of leadership in Israel in Micah’s time too!52

6-7 These two voices bear a change in voice, assumed to be Micah’s. Yahweh is

made the object now being spoken to.53 With what shall I come before the Lord? Ralph

Smith offers an interpretive and symbolic view of verses 6 and 7 in order to illustrate his

point. The sacrifices listed he says mean the following: burnt offerings signify total

dedication; Calves a year old represent the most desirable kind of sacrifice; thousands of

rams and ten thousand rivers of oil represent lavish sacrifice, and one’s own first born

represents their most valuable possession. But none of these things are required! They are

seen to cover sin, but in and of themselves they are nothing.54 This passage echoes Psalm

50:1-11, which thematically fits very well, with God acting as judge and verses 7-11

specifically relate to Micah 6:6-7:

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am

God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are

continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from

your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.I

know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.

God does not need sacrifice. Service rendered to God, as we recall the problem with Cain

in Genesis 4:3-5, is not what he requires. Sacrifice could no longer guarantee a state of

well-being, and Micah (and other prophets like Jeremiah) emphasized that heartfelt

52
Waltke, 384. (inspired though wording is my own)
53
Paul L. Watson, “Form criticism and an exegesis of Micah 6:1-8,” Restoration Quarterly 7, no. 1-2
(January 1, 1963): 66.
54
Ralph L. Smith, Word Biblical Commentary: Micah-Malachi (Waco: Word Books, 1984), 51.

10
obedience trumped any kind of “ritual obligation” as being the most important

component in the covenant.55 Waltke points out that to remember God’s saving acts

entails keeping His commands, and by remembering them they are internalized in

the heart. Waltke emphasizes this by seeing that remembering is not just recalling

the event, but of “actualizing the past into the present.”56

8 What Yahweh does require is finally fleshed out. He has told ‫ָאדם‬
֖ ָ what He is seeking.

The word here ‫ָאדם‬

֖ ָ is important, because rather than ‫“ אישׁ‬man,” it seems to carry with it

the idea of covenant people, an Israelite.57 God is still talking here to ‫ ַע ִּ֗מי‬, who he has

brought his accusation against. They have strayed from him, but he is calling for them to

return, and this is how the people of the covenant are to walk. Though some scholars

might see this as not referring to the Covenant people, and not seeing the covenant as

impotant for the minor prophets, others see it as the only place to start when interpreting

the messages of the Minor Prophets; without the covenant there would be no Old

Testament.58 The covenant is essential because it is through His love and His covenant

that God acts and moves, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to

strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

The first of these three is “to seek justice.” To seek justice means also “to

practice justice,” having to do with the decisions of the law and it implies a covenant

relationship.59 Waltke points to what B. Renaud said as he described the term justice ֙‫ׁשּפָט‬
ְ ִ‫מ‬

55
Cogan, 248
56
Waltke,
57
Waltke, 362-363.
58
Katie G. Cannon, “Covenanting: a Bible Study on Micah 6:1-8,” Reformed World 56, no.1 (March,
2006): 116.
59
Waltke, 391.

11
as not only signifying justice and the act of judging but to obey the law and to be in

relationship with others that agrees and follows the covenant that God has set in place.60

Seeking justice means that the covenant people treat their brothers and sisters as equals,

not taking advantage of one another (which Micah has been preaching). Faith is not a

private faith, people are involved (just as the covenant not only includes the individual

but the whole people). There is a social dynamic to it.61 “It’s justice in a world of

injustice, injustice in all its small and big, personal and social, relational and structural

expressions…and none of us can wash our hands of responsibility. In repentance we need

to listen to God’s call for justice.”62

The second good that God is seeking from us is to “love covenant love.”63 ‫ֶ֔חסֶד‬

directly pertains to the Covenant. E.B. Cranfield says that ‫ ֶ֔חסֶד‬expresses both loyalty

and conduct as evidence of loyalty.64 It is faithful love that is obedient to the covenant.65

The people of Israel were not practicing hesed, and they barely understood what it meant.

The covenant is a covenant that God made with his heart to the heart of the people. We

can’t feel hesed. It, like doing justice, means ‘to do’66, it is active and in the heart. It goes

over and above the call of duty,67 and it is covenant love that sticks through thick and thin

and is steadfast.68

60
Ibid. 392.
61
Dempster, RS4123 Micah, Micah 6:8.
62
Valdir R. Steuernagel, “Christian social responsibility today: reflections on the Lausanne Covenant,”
Journal of Latin American Theology 1, no. 1 (January 1, 2006): 35.
63
See Justification, 8b.
64
E.B. Cranfield, A Theological Word Book of the Bible: Love (Bloombury Street: SCM Press Ltd. 1957),
131.
65
Waltke, 392.
66
Ibid. 393
67
Stephen Dempster, HE1013 Biblical Hebrew (Moncton: Crandall University. April 11, 2011)
68
Dempster, RS4123 Micah, Micah 6:8

12
 Finally, God calls us to walk in wisdom with him. We are to make a practice of

such behavior towards God. To walk cautiously therefore means to walk causing oneself

to be wise. Though difficult to translate, humility is the posture with which to walk with

the Lord, but wisdom and caution seem to grasp the meaning of ‫ צנע‬much better. Though

walking in wisdom will certainly involve dwelling with the Lord in a right manner, and

that manner is humility. Walking in wisdom with God involves being a part of the

covenant community, in relation to God. Having acted justly and loved God’s covenantal

love and faithfulness, and having remembered (and participated in) all these acts, God’s

covenant people are called to turn to him. But let’s not lose that picture of walking. Like

Proverbs 3:5-6, when we trust in God, he makes our paths straight. There trust and

wisdom come together. The most common human daily activity is walking (at least in all

of history), and to walk with someone means to be in fellowship with them, sharing a

common set of values.69

In this passage, God initiated this trial, not to condemn Israel but to save them (as

we see when he comes to Micah 6:8).70 Salvation History shows God’s covenant love

with his people will not depart from them, even though they did not deserve it(especially

as he led them from Shittim to Gilgal). God’s covenant that the world would be blessed

through Israel, would still come true, even though Micah’s most dire prophecy would

come true a century later, even while the prophet Jeremiah remembered his words. But it

was not the end, Jesus Christ tcame not into the world. He came not to condemn the

world but to save it (John 3:17).71 The cross is where we find our most excellent sacrifice,

69
Stephen Dempster, Micah :Two Horizons Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co. 2017), 162.
70
Waltke, 377.
71
Ibid.

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and we lay hold of this by faith – a faith that trusts in Him and walks in fellowship with

Him – a fellowship bought by the blood of the lamb and made possible not by our own

sacrifices but by God’s own sacrifice for us. And by the power of the Holy Spirit we are

able to walk with Him, in wisdom (Galatians 5:25). All who are called and saved are

God’s covenant people, and are called into this great Covenant that the Lord takes very

seriously. Believers, those who trust in him, are who he calls ‫( ַע ִּ֗מי‬my people). Thanks be

to God for His hesed!

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 Works Cited

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Eerdmans 1990.

Cannon, Katie G. “Covenanting: a Bible Study on Micah 6:1-8,” Reformed World 56,

no.1 (March, 2006): 116

Cogan, Mordechai. The Oxford History of the Biblical World: Into Exile New York:

Oxford University Press. 1998.

Cranfield, E.B. A Theological Word Book of the Bible: Love. Bloombury Street: SCM

Press Ltd., 1957.

Dempster, Stephen HE1013: Biblical Hebrew. Moncton: Crandall University. April 11,

2011.

Dempster, Stephen. Micah: Two Horizons Commentary. Grand Rapids: Wm. B.

Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2017.

Dempster, Stephen. RS4123: Micah. Moncton: Crandall University, 2011.

Hill, Andrew. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Minor Prophets: Micah. Carol Stream:

Tyndale, 2005.

Hillers, Delbert. Hermenaia: Micah. Philadelphia: Fortress Press 1984.

Holladay William L. (ed.), A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old

Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Jouon P. and Muraoka T., A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew. Rome: Gregorian & Biblical

Press, 2013.

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Kaiser, Walter. Mastering the Old Testament: Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah,

Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992.

Kiel, C.F. and Delitzsch, F. Commentary on the Old Testament: Micah. Peabody:

Hendrickson Publishers, 1996.

Mendenhall, George E. Law and Covenant in Israel and the Ancient Near East.

Pittsburgh: Biblical Colloquium, 1955.

Smith, Ralph L. Word Biblical Commentary: Micah-Malachi. Waco: Word Books, 1984.

Steuernagel, Valdir R. “Christian social responsibility today: reflections on the Lausanne

Covenant,” Journal of Latin American Theology 1, no. 1 (January 1, 2006): 35

Waltke, Bruce K. A Commentary on Micah. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.

Watson, Paul L. “Form criticism and an exegesis of Micah 6:1-8,” Restoration Quarterly

7, no. 1-2 (January 1, 1963): 66.

Wurthwein, Ernst The Text of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014.

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