What Does the Lord Require?

Micah 6 is set in a courtroom. Yahweh tells his prophet to plead his case before the mountains, the enduring foundations of the earth. Then God speaks tenderly: my people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! He recounts his saving acts: he brought them out of Egypt, redeemed them from slavery, and sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

A worshiper responds with a series of rising offers. Should he come with burnt offerings and year-old calves? Would Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oil? The offers grow bigger, as if God could be bought. Micah's answer cuts through it all: he has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

The rest of the chapter shows the gap between this standard and the city's life. Merchants kept treasures of wickedness, a short ephah, dishonest scales, and a bag of deceitful weights. The rich were full of violence, and people spoke lies. Because they followed the statutes of Omri and the works of Ahab's house, they would sow but not reap and eat but not be satisfied.