©Michael Player
Chapter 6:1-2 (ESV) - Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
Question to consider: Why would the LORD tell Micah to plead his case before the mountains?
Today’s passage reminds me of the LORD’s word to Jeremiah in which He pleaded His case for bringing judgment to the ruling authorities, then to the people, and finally to the land itself. While it may seem odd to bring His case before the mountains, all of creation declares the glory of God and was created good. Out of all of God’s creation, the only one that has been found worthy of judgment is man. Tragically, our sin has brought a curse that affects all of creation, and the apostle Paul reiterated this in Romans 8:19-22, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
In pleading His case before the mountains, the LORD may have been warning them that they would experience suffering as He contended with His people. When Abel was killed, the LORD said to Cain, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.” (Genesis 4:10-11) We need to remember that to get to this point, the LORD had spoken through several prophets over the course of generations, and He longed for the rulers and people to repent from their idolatry and return to Him. As Moses declared, the LORD is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6)
Of course His mercy not only extends to people but to the rest of creation as well. Once the LORD’s judgment had been poured out on Jerusalem by the Babylonians, the land was given rest from all human habitation for seventy years as Sabbath. As it was written in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, “[Nebuchadnezzar] took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for Your creation and the care with which You tend to it despite the curse we have brought upon it. Help us to be good stewards of what You have entrusted to us, and we look forward to the day when all things have been made new. Amen.