Micah 3
Reading Time: 2 minutes Listen
And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
4 Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
5 Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Public Domain KJV text from Wordproject.org
ESV Bible text displayed through the American Bible Society's Global Bible Widget
NIV Bible text displayed through the American Bible Society's Global Bible Widget
Commentary
Micah was not paid by the leaders or other prophets in Israel for his work! In the third chapter he has some very direct messages for the people in power: “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil” (Micah 3:1-2, NLT).
In The Acts of the Apostles, Ellen White says, “Solemn are the responsibilities resting upon those who are called to act as leaders in the church of God today” (p. 92). It is simple: Leaders always have other people watching them, and because of their expanded influence, they have more responsibility to live as Christian examples in every aspect of their lives.
In one sense everyone is a leader because leadership is influence and we all have influence. When we are not displaying Christian virtues—using language that demeans people, losing our temper, not practicing humility—we misrepresent the Savior we serve.
Gordon Bietz
Former President, Southern Adventist University (now retired)
