Scripture Focus: Micah 5.1b-2
…They will strike Israel’s ruler 
on the cheek with a rod. 

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, 
though you are small among the clans of Judah, 
out of you will come for me 
one who will be ruler over Israel, 
whose origins are from of old, 
from ancient times.”

Reflection: Representative Combat
By John Tillman

When Elon Musk challenged Putin to a fight over Ukraine, few thought, “That’s a good idea.” And it’s not just because we were afraid Musk might lose. In our individualistic society, we are unlikely to agree that one person can represent us as a group.

People strongly identified with their nation, their king, or their gods in less individualistic eras. This is one of the reasons representative combat made more sense in those cultures. We see this in the example of David fighting Goliath.

In the Bible, names of people or places are often used as an appellation for the entire nation or group. They might be called, Israel, Judah, David, the root of Jesse, Jerusalem, Zion, Samaria, the name of the current king, etc. The leader or city was the nation and the nation was the leader or city. When tribes revolted against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, they said, “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son?” (1 Kings 12.16) It was a ripping apart—a separation of identities.

We still use names this way linguistically but I doubt we feel as unified emotionally. We still refer to the United States as Washington, the White House, or the name of the current president. We are likely to refer to other countries using similar appellations: Moscow, Downing Street, Macron… But if a leader is disrespected, “struck on the cheek with a rod,” we might be angry on his or her behalf but most wouldn’t feel as if we were struck. Language changes slowly. Hearts change in an instant. Culture changes somewhere in between.

When we do choose a representative in important matters we want a “winner.” We want someone important, impressive, and powerful to show up. Micah’s description of a ruler coming from the humble town of Bethlehem is an upending of that.

If we are to have any part in God’s kingdom, we must bind our identity to Jesse’s son, the humble Jesus, born in Bethlehem. Jesus is our representative, our “David,” the true Israel—the one who struggles and overcomes in an unexpected, upside-down way. If the appellation, “Christian” applies, then when Jesus is struck on the cheek, we are. When Jesus dies, crucified, we die. When Jesus slays the Goliath of sin and death, we rout them at his side.

If we hesitate to identify with Jesus, humble and crucified, nothing else he did will be credited to us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
My mouth shall recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long; though I cannot know the number of them. — Psalm 71.15

Today’s Readings
Micah 5 (Listen – 2:21)
John 21 (Listen – 3:58)

Read more about Unto Us, He Comes
He comes to the victims and perpetrators of war and conflict, bringing them peace.
Unto us, he comes.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/unto-us-he-comes-hope-of-advent/

Read more about Christ, the True Hero
As Christians, it is more important that we realize that we need a hero than that we pledge to be one.

https://theparkforum.org/843-acres/christ-the-true-hero/

Scripture Focus: Micah 3.5-9
​​5 This is what the Lord says: 
“As for the prophets 
who lead my people astray, 
they proclaim ‘peace’ 
if they have something to eat, 
but prepare to wage war against anyone 
who refuses to feed them. 
6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions, 
and darkness, without divination. 
The sun will set for the prophets, 
and the day will go dark for them. 
7 The seers will be ashamed 
and the diviners disgraced. 
They will all cover their faces 
because there is no answer from God.” 
8 But as for me, I am filled with power, 
with the Spirit of the Lord, 
and with justice and might, 
to declare to Jacob his transgression, 
to Israel his sin. 

Reflection: Turn Out the Lights
By John Tillman

The prophets who opposed Micah said pleasant things. Micah did not. 

They leaned on God’s unconditional love for his people and leaned away from talking about the nation’s sins. They promised peace at home and victory at war. “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.” (Micah 3.11) Because of this, they were trusted by kings and political figures and had the ears of the powerful and the wealthy. Glory and wealth and food and fame were their rewards.

Micah attacked his prophetic opponents, political powers, and the people with no-holds-barred truth. Micah did this even though he lived under the rule of Hezekiah, one of the best kings in Judah’s history. (Sin still exists! Even under leaders we think are “good”!) Despite living under a “good king” Micah was loud, angry, and abrasive about sin in high places. 

Micah’s writing doesn’t mention threats on his life, but killing him must have at least been discussed in the halls of power. Many years later, when Jehoiakim’s government was about to kill Jeremiah on a treason charge, Micah was brought up in Jeremiah’s defense. They basically said, “How can we kill Jeremiah for his offensive prophecies when Hezekiah didn’t kill Micah for his?” (Jeremiah 26.16-19)

Micah’s opponents faced no such threats. They enjoyed the favor of their chosen audience rather than the favor of God. The secular and religious prophets that serve our culture also desire glory, wealth, food, and fame. To a certain degree, we all do. 

Today’s world is so polarized that often “prophets” choose one group to comfort and one to offend. They purposely outrage one group to provoke an attack so that others will race to their defense. Christian and secular leaders do this and we should be wary of these tactics.

God punished false prophets with blindness. This means that previously they weren’t blind. God covered false prophets with darkness. This means they used to enjoy his light.

This kind of judgment still happens today and can happen to us. If we ignore the light long enough, God will blind us. If we attack every prophet who says something we find offensive, we’ll never be at peace.

In choosing prophets that please us, we will soon find ourselves ashamed in the dark and isolated from the God we stopped listening to.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
May God be merciful to us and bless us, show us the light of his countenance and come to us.
Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations. — Psalm 61.5

Today’s Readings
Micah 3 (Listen – 1:51)
John 19 (Listen – 6:23)

Read more about The Losers Who Write History
May we learn to listen to “losers” and…dissenting voices, testing every “prophecy” against scripture.

Read more about How to Read Prophetic Judgment
Judgment-filled prophecy is one case in scripture where it is safer to assume it’s about you than others.

Scripture Focus: Micah 2.6, 11
6 “Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. 
“Do not prophesy about these things; 
disgrace will not overtake us.” 
11 If a liar and deceiver comes and says, 
‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ 
that would be just the prophet for this people!

From John: We look back today on this post from 2020 and the harsh words Micah had for those who objected to the types of issues he prophesied about.

Reflection: Prophets We Want, Prophets We Need
By John Tillman

In his commentary on Micah, James Limburg described the people’s objections to Micah as grounded in “a theology which assured them of the Lord’s perpetual blessing, of his long-suffering and patience, and of his mighty acts on behalf of his people.”

Micah’s opponents had a theological concept that God’s nature and promises trapped him into perpetually improving their circumstances. In other words, God loved them too much for anything bad to happen. This misreading of the scriptures provided a bulletproof feeling of invulnerability. To them, it was scandalous and inappropriate to proclaim guilt or catastrophic consequences. 

Certainly, the Lord’s nature is long-suffering and patient. God’s first description of himself in the Bible is that he is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. (Exodus 33.19-23, 34.5-7) But God will also have justice. In this same passage, he declares that he will not leave the guilty unpunished. 

Certainly, the Lord made promises regarding Abraham’s descendants. But as John the Baptist later warned, “out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” (Luke 3.7-9) Any person or group thinking God’s plans would be thwarted if they experienced suffering, defeat, imprisonment, or even death is foolish and prideful.

Modern Christians welcome messages of blessing or victory or power but, like Micah’s objectors, reject convicting messages. We are sometimes guilty of falsely claiming biblical promises (such as the Abrahamic promises or promises regarding our righteousness in Christ) as a cloak of invulnerability against suffering or guilt. Many today are scandalized by “prophets” who speak like Micah and Amos, especially if they speak on similar topics. They object:
“Don’t say such things!” 
“Don’t talk about justice.” 
“Don’t hold us responsible for prior generations.” 

*God regularly holds entire nations responsible for the deeds of prior generations. — Amos 1; Joel 3.19; Ezekiel 25, 35)

Pointing out unrighteousness or the need for justice should not be scandalous.

We wrongly interpret God’s promises to us through Christ if we only see them as guarantees of blessings in this life. We are ignoring Christ’s lived example if we do not think it likely suffering, mistreatment, or even death might be part of God’s plan or purpose for our lives.

If the only prophets we listen to promise “plenty of wine and beer,” and the only signs we want from God are blessings for ourselves, we may be in the same boat as Micah’s hearers.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Deliver me, O Lord, by your hand from those whose portion in life is this world. — Psalm 17.14

Today’s Readings
Micah 2 (Listen – 2:11)
John 18 (Listen – 5:16)

Read more about The Gospel is an Uprising
The Anastasis—the Uprising—is the great jailbreak of God.

Read more about Unworthy Prophets
These prophets claim to speak for God but, instead, tickle the ears of the powerful…