Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 6:8

He hath showed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

8. The prophet denies that any external forms will make up for the want of spiritual qualities. The sacrifice of the heart is what God demands; but “man convinced of sin is ready to sacrifice what is dearest to him rather than give up his own will and give himself to God” (W. Robertson Smith). The passage reminds us of Isa 1:10-15, Hos 6:6. Evidently Hezekiah’s reformation had been purely external (comp. Isa 29:13).

He hath shewed thee ] viz. Moses in the Law, especially in Deuteronomy.

what doth the Lord require of thee ] Comp. Deu 10:12, ‘And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul?’

to do justly ] The opposite of Israel’s present characteristics (comp. Mic 6:10, Mic 2:1-2, Mic 3:2-3; Mic 3:9-10).

to walk humbly with thy God ] Humility is the primary religious virtue in the Old Testament (comp. Isa 2:12).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He hath shewed thee – Micah does not tell them now, as for the first time; which would have excused them. He says, He hath shewed thee; He, about whose mind and will and pleasure they were pretending to enquire, the Lord their God. He had shewn it to them. The law was full of it. He shewed it to them, when He said, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to serve the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command thee this day for thy good? Deu 10:12-13. They had asked, with what outward thing shall I come before the Lord; the prophet tells them, what thing is good, the inward man of the heart, righteousness, love, humility.

And what doth the Lord require (search, seek) of thee? – The very word implies an earnest search within. He would say (Rup.), Trouble not thyself as to any of these things, burnt-offerings, rams, calves, without thee. For God seeketh not thine, but thee; not thy substance, but thy spirit; not ram or goat, but thy heart. : Thou askest, what thou shouldest offer for thee? Other thyself. For what else doth the Lord seek of thee, but thee? Because, of all earthly creatures, He hath made nothing better than thee, He seeketh thyself from thyself, because thou hadst lost thyself.

To do judgment – are chiefly all acts of equity; to love mercy, all deeds of love. Judgment, is what right requires; mercy, what love. Yet, secondarily, to do judgment is to pass righteous judgments in all cases; and so, as to others, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment Joh 7:24; and as to ones self also. Judge equitably and kindly of others, humbly of thyself. : Judge of thyself in thyself without acceptance of thine own person, so as not to spare thy sins, nor take pleasure in them, because thou hast done them. Neither praise thyself in what is good in thee, nor accuse God in what is evil in thee. For this is wrong judgment, and so, not judgment at all. This thou didst, being evil; reverse it, and it will be right. Praise God in what is good in thee; accuse thyself in what is evil. So shalt thou anticipate the judgment of God, as He saith, If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of the Lord 1Co 11:31. He addeth, love mercy; being merciful, out of love, not of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver 2Co 9:7. These acts together contain the whole duty to man, corresponding with and formed upon the mercy and justice of God Psa 101:1; Psa 61:7. All which is due, anyhow or in any way, is of judgment; all which is free toward man, although not free toward God, is of mercy. There remains, walk humbly with thy God; not, bow thyself only before Him, as they had offered Mic 6:6, nor again walk with Him only, as did Enoch, Noah Abraham, Job; but walk humbly (literally, bow down the going) yet still with thy God; never lifting up thyself, never sleeping, never standing still, but ever walking on, yet ever casting thyself down; and the more thou goest on in grace, the more cast thyself down; as our Lord saith, When ye have done all these things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do Luk 17:10.

It is not a crouching before God displeased, (such as they had thought of,) but the humble love of the forgiven; walk humbly, as the creature with the Creator, but in love, with thine own God. Humble thyself with God, who humbled himself in the flesh: walk on with Him, who is thy Way. Neither humility nor obedience alone would be true graces; but to cleave fast to God, because He is thine All, and to bow thyself down, because thou art nothing, and thine All is He and of Him. It is altogether a Gospel-precept; bidding us, Be ye perfect, as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Mat 5:48; Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful; Luk 6:36; and yet, in the end, have that same mind which was also in Christ Jesus, who made Himself of no reputation Phi 2:5, Phi 2:7, Phi 2:9.

The offers of the people, stated in the bare nakedness in which Micah exhibits them, have a character of irony. But it is the irony of the truth and of the fact itself. The creature has nothing of its own to offer; the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin Heb 10:4; and the offerings, as they rise in value, become, not useless only but, sinful. Such offerings would bring down anger, not mercy. Micahs words then are, for their vividness, an almost proverbial expression of the nothingness of all which we sinners could offer to God. : We, who are of the people of God, knowing that in His sight shall no man living be justified Psa 143:2, and saying, I am a beast with Thee Psa 73:22, trust in no pleas before His judgment-seat, but pray; yet we put no trust in our very prayers. For there is nothing worthy to be offered to God for sin, anal no humility can wash away the stains of offences.

In penitence for our sins, we hesitate and say, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? how shall I come, so as to be admitted into familiar intercourse with my God? One and the same spirit revolveth these things in each of us or of those before us, who have been pricked to repentance, what worthy offering can I make to the Lord? This and the like we revolve, as the Apostle saith; We know not what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom 8:20. Should I offer myself wholly as a burnt-offering to Him? If, understanding spiritually all the Levitical sacrifices, I should present them in myself, and offer my first-born, that is, what is chief in me, my soul, I should find nothing worthy of His greatness. Neither in ourselves, nor in ought earthtly, can we find anything worthy to be offered to reconcile us with God. For the sin of the soul, blood alone is worthy to be offered; not the blood of calves, or rams, or goats, but our own; yet our own too is not offered, but given back, being due already Psa 116:8. The Blood of Christ alone sufficeth to do away all sin. Dionysius: The whole is said, in order to instruct us, that, without the shedding of the Blood of Christ and its Virtue and Merits, we cannot please God, though we offered ourselves and all that we have, within and without; and also, that so great are the benefits bestowed upon us by the love of Christ, that we can repay nothing of them.

But then it is clear that there is no teaching in this passage in Micah which there is not in the law . The developments in the prophets relate to the Person and character of the Redeemer. The law too contained both elements:

(1) the ritual of sacrifice, impressing on the Jew the need of an Atoner;

(2) the moral law, and the graces inculcated in it, obedience, love of God and man, justice, mercy, humility, and the rest.

There was no hint in the law, that half was acceptable to God instead of the whole; that sacrifice of animals would supersede self-sacrifice or obedience. There was nothing on which the Pharisee could base his heresy. What Micah said, Moses had said. The corrupt of the people offered a half-service, what cost them least, as faith without love always does. Micah, in this, reveals to them nothing new; but tells them that this half-service is contrary to the first principles of their law. He bath shewed thee, O man, what is good. Sacrifice, without love of God and man, was not even so much as the body without the soul. It was an abortion, a monster. For one end of sacrifice was to inculcate the insufficiency of all our good, apart from the Blood of Christ; that, do what we would, all came short of the glory of God Rom 3:23. But to substitute sacrifice, which was a confession that at best we were miserable sinners, unable, of ourselves, to please God, for any efforts to please Him or to avoid displeasing Him, would be a direct contradiction of the law, antinomianism under the dispensation of the law itself.

Micah changes the words of Moses, in order to adapt them to the crying sins of Israel at that time. He then upbraids them in detail, and that, with those sins which were patent, which, when brought home to them, they could not deny, the sins against their neighbor.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mic 6:8

But he hath shewed thee, o man, what is good

Piety and true religion

I.

What is good? You may conceive of true piety as of a tree of life planted in the midst of Paradise, in the midst of the Church, spreading as it were its branches; whereof these three in the text are the fairest. Justice and uprightness of conversation; mercy and liberality; and humility. The sacrifices and ceremonious parts of Gods worship were good but ex institute, because God for some reason was pleased to institute and ordain them. In themselves they were neither good nor evil. When they were commanded, it was for the sake of that good effect which the wisdom of God could work out of them. That which is good in its own nature is always so. Piety and true religion are older than the world. Ceremonies are confined to time and place. The ceremonious part of religion was many times omitted, many times dispensed with, but this good which is here shown admitteth no dispensation. Mere outward performances of some parts of the law were not done out of any love to the law or the Lawgiver. Formal worshippers do not love the command; they obey for the sake of something else. Outward performances and formality in religion have the same spring and motive with our greatest and foulest sins. The same cause produceth them, the same considerations promote them, and they are carried to their end on the same wings of our carnal desires. This formality in religion standeth in no opposition with the devil and his designs, but rather advanceth his kingdom and enlargeth his dominion. This formality and insincerity is most opposite to God, who is a God of truth. Innocence, integrity, and mercifulness are the good mans sacrifice. They were from the beginning, and shall never be abolished.

II. What is good, and its manifestations. View this good as it stands in opposition to the things of this world, which either our luxury or pride or covetousness has raised in their esteem and above their worth, and called good, as the heathen have done their vices. Good things are not in themselves, but only as they are subservient to the good in the text. Look at the good of the text.

1. As fitted and proportioned to our very nature. God built up man for this end alone, for this good;–to communicate His goodness to him, to make him partaker of a Divine nature, to make him a kind of god upon the earth, to imprint His image upon him, by which according to his measure and capacity he might express and represent God.

(1) By the knowledge not only of natural and transitory things, but also of those which pertain to everlasting life.

(2) By the rectitude and sanctity of his will.

(3) By the free and ready obedience of the outward parts and inward faculties to the beck and command of God.

2. As fitted to all sorts and conditions of men. Freedom and slavery, circumcision and uncircumcision, riches and poverty, quickness and slowness of understanding, in respect of this good, of piety and religion, are all alike. Religion is no peculiar, but the most common and the most communicative thing that is. This good is every mans good that will.

3. As lovely and amiable in the eves of all. This is the glory of goodness and piety, that it striketh a reverence in those who neglect it, findeth a place in his breast whose hand is ready to suppress it, is magnified by those who revile it, and gaineth honour when it cannot win assent.

4. As filling and satisfying us. That which filleth a thing must be proportioned to it. There is nothing in the whole universe that is taken for enough by any one particular man; nothing in which the appetite of a single man can rest. Only this good here in the text can fit it, because it is fitted to it.

5. As giving a relish and sweet taste to the worst of evils which may befall us, whilst with love and admiration we look upon it. It maketh those things which are not good in themselves useful and advantageous to us. This good is open and manifest to all. It is published by open proclamation, as a law, which hath a forcing and necessitating power. But if the object be so fair and visible, it may be asked, How cometh it to pass that it is hid from so many eyes, that there be so few that see it, or see it so as to fall in love with it and embrace it? Three hindrances are mentioned by Isidore of Pelusium.

(1) Narrowness and defect of the understanding and judgment.

(2) Sloth and neglect in the pursuit.

(3) Improbity of mens manners, and a wicked and profane conversation.

Then let us cleave fast to this good, and uphold it in its native and proper purity against all external rites and empty formalities; and, in the next place, against all the pomp of the world, against that which we call good when it maketh us evil.

III. The promulgation of this good as a law. What doth the Lord require of thee? This is as the publication of it, and making it a law. And His will is attended with power, wisdom, and love.

1. By His power God created man, and breathed into him a living soul. Made him as it were wax, to receive the impressions of a Deity, made him a subject capable of a law. As God createth, so He continues man and protects him. From this ocean of Gods power naturally issueth forth His power of giving laws, of requiring what He may please from His creature.

2. As His absolute will is attended with power uncontrollable, so it is also with wisdom unquestionable. The only wise God. His laws are like Himself, just and holy, pure and undefiled, unchangeable, immutable, and everlasting. As His wisdom is seen in giving laws, so it is in fitting the means to the end, in giving, them virtue and force to draw us to a nearer vision and sight of God.

3. Gods absolute will is attended with love. These are the glories of His will; He can do what He will; He will do it by the most proper and fitting means; and whatsoever He requireth is the dictate of His love. Consider the form in which Gods requirements are presented, and the manner of proposing them. The prophet here does not bid us do any great things. When men pretend they cannot do what God requires, they should change their language; for the truth is, they will not. It is not only easy, it is sweet and pleasant to do what God requireth. Obedience is the only spring from whence the waters of comfort flow, an everlasting foundation on which alone joy and peace will settle and rest. Take in view the substance of these words of the text. The word Lord is a word of force and efficacy; it striketh a reverence into us, and remembereth us of our duty and allegiance. As He is Lord paramount, and hath an absolute will, so His will is attended with power, with that power which made thee. I cannot name the several ways we stand obliged to this Lord. We may comprehend all in that axiom of the civilians, We have as many engagements and obligations as there be instruments and writings betwixt us.

IV. Justice and honesty. We are no sooner men, but we are debtors, under obligations to God, to men, to ourselves. To do justly is to give every man his own, not to lay hold on, or alienate or deceitfully withdraw, or violently force from any man that of which he is the lawful possessor. Private justice is of far larger extent than that which is public, which speaketh and acteth from the tribunal. Public justice steereth by no other compass but the laws of men; but this by the laws of nature and charity. Justice and honesty in its full shape and beauty is fastened upon its proper pillars, the law of nature, and the law of the God of nature.

V. The love of mercy. Where there is no justice, there can be no mercy; and where there is no mercy, there justice is but gall and wormwood. Therefore in the Scripture they go hand in hand. Consider mercy–

1. In the fruit it yieldeth.

2. In its root.

VI. Walking humbly with God. Humility consisteth in placing us where we should be at the footstool of God. (A. Farindon, B. D.)

True religion a reasonable service

Virtue is essentially, and therefore inseparably connected with religion. It is not possible that a vitiated mind should have any proper relish for Divine truth. The animal man comprehendeth not the doctrines of the Divine Spirit. There is a strong and an insuperable reason in nature for this evident distinction between good and bad men in inquiries of religion, which is plainly this,–That every advance in celestial truth opens a prospect the most inviting to the virtuous, while the vicious man trembles at every ray of light which is let in on his disordered mind. It seems most natural to put the address of the text into the mouth of the king of Moab, in conversation with the prophet. Success against a numerous and victorious enemy engrossed the kings thoughts. For this purpose he had recourse to the God of Israel, whose aid he endeavours to engage by a profusion of offerings in every kind of his substance, or even, if all these should fail, with the life of his son. The answer is such as well suited a representative of the Creator of the universe. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. Whatever answers entirely the end for which it was made is said, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, particularly to be good. That must be good indeed which serves admirably the purpose for which it was designed by infinite wisdom. To man alone is reserved the happy privilege of dedicating voluntarily his powers to the ends for which they were at first bestowed. This is good for man. It is naturally to be expected of him, upon whom the dominion of this world and the reversion of the next is conferred, that he should regulate his conduct by the laws of nature and of God. This is his rational worship. Obedience, arising from any other cause than moral motives, would be the motion of a stone, not the duty of a man, and consequently incapable of being in any sense acceptable to God more than the rising vapour, or the falling dew. It is most reasonable to suppose, that if ever the Creator of the world should vouchsafe to make any discovery of His intention relative to the conduct of man, the tables of revelation must contain a transcript of the laws of nature. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God is the sum and great outline of the whole duty of man. To preserve a solicitous attention to Gods supreme direction, under a rational conviction of His paternal care; an equitable regard to the rights and interests of our brethren, His children; with a sensible concern for their infirmities and wants, a concern which must reach out its hand beyond the line of rigid justice. These offices are generally ranged by moralists under three different branches, as they relate to God, to mankind, and to the individual. However contracted or enlarged, this is the law of man; and this law is properly eternal and immutable, which is not so of any accidental or accessional appendages to religion. If this law were once as punctually observed as it is often plainly promulged, we should then have the same harmony in the moral as has always been in the natural world. (T. Ashton, D. D.)

What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy god?–

Three things God wants of us

I. Explain the whole passage. The prophet alludes to the story of Balak and Balaam. The lesson drawn from the story is this,–How unavailing are the most costly sacrifices, how far from being truly acceptable to God, when not attended with true piety, justice, mercy, and a good disposition of the heart in those that offer them. For this was the case of Balak in the history told us. We have in the text a sort of dialogue betwixt Balak and Balaam, represented to us in the prophetical way. It might seem that Balaams advice was too good for him to give; but it is to be considered that Balaams character was of a mixed nature, had something good and something bad in it.

II. Raise observations on the passage.

1. This reference of one Scripture book to another is one of those internal marks of their truth and genuineness which, to men of true learning, gives great satisfaction in their study of the Sacred Scriptures.

2. How prone men must have been to rest in the mere outward performances of some acts of worship or devotion, to the neglect of those substantial duties of justice, mercy, and true piety; or that purity of heart and life which God more especially requires in those that worship Him. Learn here the harmony and agreement of Gods dispensations to mankind from the beginning of the world. Resolve to learn and practise the good lesson of the text. (O. Peters, M. A.)

What God requires

God had shown by His law what is good; but the prophet adds that it is to do justly, to love mercy (or kindness), and to be humbled before God. It is evident that, in the two first particulars, he refers to the second table of the law; that is, to do justice, and to love mercy. Nor is it a matter of wonder that the prophet begins with the duties of love; for though in order the worship of God precedes these duties, and ought rightly to be so regarded, yet justice, which is to be exercised towards men, is the real evidence of true religion. The prophet therefore mentions justice and mercy, not that God casts aside that which is principal–the worship of His name; but he shows, by evidences or effects, what true religion is. Hypocrites place all holiness in external rites; but God requires what is very different; for His worship is spiritual. But as hypocrites can make a great show of zeal and solicitude in the outward worship of God, the prophets try the conduct of men in another way, by inquiring whether they act justly and kindly towards one another, whether they are free from all fraud and violence, whether they observe justice and show mercy. Micah adds, however, And to be humble in walking with thy God. No doubt, as the name of God is more excellent than anything in the whole world, so the worship of Him ought to be regarded as of more importance than all those duties by which we prove our love towards men. The main object of the prophet was to show how men were to prove that they seriously feared God and His law: he afterwards speaks of Gods worship. Condemned here is all pride, and also all confidence in the flesh: for whosoever arrogates to himself even the least thing, does in a manner contend with God as an opposing party. The true way then of walking with God is, when we thoroughly humble ourselves, yea, when we bring ourselves down to nothing: for it is the very beginning of worshipping and glorifying God when men entertain humble and low opinion of themselves. (John Calvin.)

Gods requirements and Gods gift

The prophet read off rightly Gods requirements, but he had not anything to say about Gods gifts. So his word is a half-truth. The great glory of Christianity is not that it reiterates or alters Gods requirements, but that it brings into view Gods gifts. To do justly, etc., is only possible through repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Gods requirements. In the text are the plain, elementary duties of morality and religion. It covers substantially the same ground, in a condensed form, as does the Decalogue, only that Moses begins with the deepest thing and works outwards, as it were: Micah begins at the other end, and starting with the lesser, the more external, the purely human, works his way inwards to that which is the centre and the source of all.

II. Our failure. There is not one of us that has come up to the standard. Micahs requirements come to every man that will honestly take stock of his life and his character, as the statement of an unreached and unreachable ideal If then it is true, that all have come short of the requirement, then there should follow a universal sense of guilt, for there is a universal fact of guilt, whether there be a sense of it or not. And there follows a hopelessness as to ever accomplishing that which is demanded of us.

III. Gods gifts. The gift of God is Jesus Christ, and that meets all our failures. What a difference the conception of God as giving–rather than requiring–makes to the spirit in which we work! What a difference it brings into what we have to do. We have not to begin with effort, we have to begin with faith. First go to the giving God. Then accept His gift. And then say, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

On the extent of genuine religion

Most commonly the Scriptures press upon us, in the first instance, that supreme and affectionate faith towards God and Christ, which is the foundation of every Christian virtue. And then proceed to inculcate those pure principles, those holy tempers, and those good works which genuine faith in God and Christ will necessarily produce. Sometimes, however, solicitous to recommend the tree by a reference to the excellence of the fruit, they specify works in the outset; and then direct our views to that faith from which every acceptable work is to spring. Love to God and our Redeemer, whether mentioned first or last, must be the fountain from which every human duty is derived. Christ is the cornerstone of the belief and the practice of a Christian. Explain the different branches of human duty according to the order in which they are arranged by the prophet.

I. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. So clearly hath God made known whatever is necessary to salvation, that they who attain not salvation shall stand without excuse. In the breast of every man God hath implanted a natural conscience. And He has given us His written Word. On every man He bestows power to attain eternal life. He ensures to every faithful suppliant the all-sufficient influence of His Holy Spirit, not only that it may enlighten the mind to understand the Scriptures,. but may also give grace to obey them. And He commands His ministers to preach the Gospel throughout the world to every creature. Then if you know not your duty, it is because you will not know it. If you perish through ignorance, it is because you prefer ignorance to understanding.

II. What then must we do to be saved?

1. You must do justly. You must be just in every part of every one of your proceedings. You must render to every man, cheerfully, and without delay, that which belongs to him. This rule obliges you–

(1) On all occasions to speak the truth. For a lie is not only a breach of your duty to God, but is also a breach of your duty to your neighbour.

(2) To be a faithful subject to the king: to submit to all who are entitled to authority over you.

(3) To keep from injuring the person and restraining the liberty of your neighbour.

(4) To avoid in any way injuring your neighbours property. And the methods in which this may be done are numberless.

2. You are to love mercy. Mercy signifies Christian charity in its largest sense. It includes everything which we mean by affection, benevolence, kindness, tenderness, mildness, meekness, patience, forgiveness; and by every other expression which implies goodwill to men. Observe the difference of the terms in which God requires of us first justice then mercy. We are to do justly; we are to love mercy. Justice admits of no degrees. If we are not perfectly just, we are unjust. But mercy is in its own nature capable of gradations. One person may be more merciful than another. Thou shalt love mercy then. Thy heart shall be constantly set on deeds of mercy, they shall be thy study; they shall be a delight unto thee.

3. You are to walk humbly with God. To walk with God signifies to be a faithful and zealous servant of God. We are to bring our whole hearts, as well as our actions, into subjection to the Divine will. Are you in prosperity? Walk humbly with your God. Let the Giver be glorified in His gifts. Are you in distress? Walk humbly with your God. Evidently then, to the Jew and to the Christian, the sum and substance of religion have ever been the same. (Thomas Gisborne, M. A.)

Root principles

I. The root principle of all duty. Do justly. It is said that in some parts of Africa and South America certain races of men have been found with apparently no sense of justice in them, and of course no religion. It would be interesting to know how far the one is the cause or the consequence of the other. It may be said they have lost their religion, and with it all sense of justice, or, having lost all sense of justice, there is no groundwork or foundation for any religious principle to operate upon. The question comes before us in a practical shape. How are the wild creatures of our streets to be caught and tamed and domesticated; how are the principles of justice and morality to be imparted to them–in other words, how are they to be taught to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God? In the Hebrew law God laid a foundation, in justice and morality, for the Gospel; a foundation on which He afterwards reared the superstructure of a glorious Church, whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise. On this common platform of justice and morality we all meet, acknowledging the law of the God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.

II. The root principle of all religion. Love mercy. We are not only to practise this virtue, and imitate this attribute of our Father in the heavens, but we are to love mercy. To love it we must see it in all its beauty and Divine perfection, and this we can only do in Jesus Christ. He is the mercy of God to us.

III. The root principle of the spiritual life. Walk humbly with thy God. To walk with Him humbly and reverently, as He reveals Himself in the pages of His Word, and in the person and work of His Son, is the privilege of His believing children. This humble walk with God is one of light, and joy, and triumph. The entrance is pleasant, so is the road; the company; and the end. (R. Balgarnie.)

Of the great duties of natural religion, with the ways and means of knowing them

In these words you have–

1. An inquiry which is the best way to appease God when He is offended.

2. The way that men are apt to take in this case.

3. The course which God Himself directs to, and which will effectually pacify Him. Dwell on this third point.

I. Those several duties which God here requires of us. The Jews reduced all the duties of religion to these three heads, justice, mercy, and piety: under the first two, comprehending the duties which we owe to one another; and under the third, the duties which we owe to God.

II. The ways and means by which God hath made known these duties to us, and the goodness and the obligation of them.

1. By a kind of natural instinct.

2. By natural reason.

3. By the general vote and consent of mankind.

4. By external revelation.

5. By the inward dictates and motions of Gods Spirit upon the minds of men. (J. Tillotson, D. D.)

The Lords requirements

I. The duties expressed by the prophet. They are most reasonable; there is nothing in them but what every enlightened mind will most cordially agree to.

1. To do justly. Not only to think and speak justly, but to act so–to act with honesty, integrity, and fidelity, without injuring, defrauding, oppressing or tempting to evil any one. To do justly is in every way to befriend your neighbour.

2. To love mercy. To take pleasure in acts of compassion, forgiveness, and kindness. The love of mercy is a very different thing from any act of professed mercy. Real mercy lies in the motive of kindness, and the love of it lies in the gratification felt in anothers benefit. The love of mercy is a mighty impulse to its exercise. The love of mercy gives an intensity to it.

3. To walk humbly with God. This indicates a teachable, submissive, thankful, patient, and dependent spirit; a close communion with God; and a progressive know ledge of the character and majesty of the Deity. As this knowledge dawns upon the soul, so does the soul sink into self-abasement. The great characteristic of walking with God on earth is trust in Christ.

II. The motives furnished in the text for the discharge of these duties.

1. One motive is derived from the exhibition of the Lords goodness.

2. Another from the authority of the requirement.

3. Another from the nature and reasonableness of the things required. (W. D. Horwood.)

Gods requirements

The consummate result of all education consists in the power of applying a few scientific principles. Out of one clear rule or method spring all the products of the branching and luxuriant science of figures. So the highest art and achievement of mans life is but the flowering of one or two germinal truths. The requirements of the text are easy to understand–worth whole tons of sermons and dissertations. And yet these are precepts which are not yet made practical in the hearts of men. It is the application of the theory that is requisite. These words of the text point out the entire essence of religion–vital, evangelical religion. Some people entertain a dread of plain propositions. They do not like to have religion put in simple words; they want it left with some vagueness and complexity mingled with it. In plain words, they suspect it is only good morality. They miss the vitality of religion, as they call it. There is nothing in these words concerning terms of salvation, or faith in the atonement. But we may be sure that all the essence and vitality of religion is here. Christ is here; because who can do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with his Maker, without that communion with Christ Jesus, and that inspiration of His Spirit, by which alone we are strengthened and guided to do these things? And what an advantage there is in having such a condensed statement of religion! It clears up things; it is like getting a glimpse of a star in heaven, and taking our latitude and longitude, when we have been drifting about on the dark waves of doubt. The words of the text set forth no light affair for our performance. The essence of all right doing, right feeling, and right living is here indicated. The text expresses nothing less than all morality, all philanthropy, all religion; the essence of all vital religion, and the highest spiritual life.

1. The foundation principle of morality is involved in the precept, Do justly. It is a compact summary of all social duty. It abolishes all standards of mere selfish advantage and worldly policy, commanding us to do the just, the true, the righteous thing, whatever may come of it in the way of personal or temporal consequences. Be just, in thought, deed, word, hand, brain, heart. What, then, is the proper idea of justice? There is a vast difference between law and justice–between human enactments and Gods everlasting requirements. Is your idea of justice that which is merely legal? Or is it to set up your individual will, your selfish standard, regulated only by parchment laws, no matter what the spirit of civilisation or the general good demands? With others justice only means the stern thing–eye for eye, etc. But in this way a man gets a good chance to deify his own passions, and think he is doing God service. Sometimes men reverse this a very little. They manage, by some sting of reproach, or some obnoxious word, to get their revenge. They are after their revenge all the while. But justice is a merciful thing. It may be severe, it is never merciless. True justice is the justice of charity. In order to do justly we should construe the conduct of others as we would have our own conduct construed by them. The text absorbs so much of our being as is occupied in doing. Do justly. It is a lesson that God has set in two words, but it may take man all his life to learn it. All action should be just action.

2. A requisition which calls for all the life and power of the most genuine philanthropy Love mercy. Here comes in the element of feeling coupled with doing. In all good and true performances there must be affection. Out of philanthropy springs justice, as, in its highest form, that springs out of the ocean depths of Gods love. The grandest justice in this world is that which is conceived by the spirit of an earnest, toiling humanity. For all good and noble ends we ought to love mercy. There can be no beneficent power in this world that does not spring from love. They who have the real love of mercy in them, rejoice when they can palliate. You never can lift men up, and bring them into Gods kingdom, by any other way than loving them and implicating yourself with them. And mercy is the essence of all love. If you want to love your fellowmen, have mercy on them. Loving mercy is the spring of all right feeling, as doing justly is of all right being.

3. The final requirement is to be religious–to walk humbly with thy God. Neither to be just nor merciful is the primal thing, for we cannot do so unless we come into communion with the Spirit of Almighty God. We cannot do a right thing save as we are inspired to do it. This is the very essence of all true religion–to walk humbly with, or before God. The religion of the Bible makes us walk with God. It gives us a sense of a personal relation to Him. The Bible makes God a kindred personality. We become like Him, and we obtain therefore in ourselves the real springs and powers of all good feeling and all good action. Then learn that there is something required which is more than mere exercise of the intellect–it is the surrender and sanctification of the will and the affections. A surrendering, transfiguration, regeneration of the heart that brings men into a position in which they can walk humbly with God, do justly, and love mercy. God is the inspiration of all human excellence the quickener of all human thought; and when we can walk with Him, we do not need anything else; we can walk with Him everywhere. (E. H. Chapin.)

The last gospel of science

Prof. Huxley calls this verse the perfect ideal of religion. And he says that the true function of science is not to set herself in antagonism to religion, but to deliver her from the heathen survivals, the bad philosophy, and the science falsely so called, which have obscured her lustre and impaired her vigour. Consider what this perfect ideal is, and what it involves. The prophet, whether Micah or Balaam, sums up the whole duty of man in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. Can we accept this summary as setting forth the very substance of religion? Yes, if we are allowed to take the words of Micah in the sense in which he used them. Taken simply by themselves, indeed, and apart from their prophetic use, they postulate the existence of God, and of a God whose character is the standard and rule of the justice and mercy we are bound to show. A God, therefore, to whom we owe a constant obedience, with whom we are to walk in a living sympathy and communion, and toward whom our proper attitude is one of profound humility and devotion. What did a Hebrew prophet mean by a just man, if not a man who walked in all the commandments of the Hebrew law blameless? Whence did this man learn that justice must be tempered with mercy but from the self-same law? What was his standard of compassion and charity but the charity of God? Assuming the words of the text to mean only what a modern man of science would use them to mean, have you considered how much they involve; how difficult it is to apply them to the complex and often conflicting claims of human life; and how much more difficult it is to render them a living and constant obedience? Is it always easy to ascertain What justice demands? The fatal defect of all the ethical schemes put forward by those who reject revealed religion and yet are fain to find some substitute for it is that they take no account, or not sufficient account, of the fact and power of sin. We who believe in God and Christ contend that to men defiled and weakened by sin, only faith in God, revealed in Christ, will enable them to do their duty, and to embody the perfect ideal in their lives. (Samuel Cox, D. D.)

A great question answered

Without controversy the highest, noblest element in man is his moral nature, with all that the word involves. A mans highest destiny can never be achieved if this element of his nature be neglected. To gain this end of conformity to our highest nature in moral and spiritual matters, we need to know the law of our being on this subject. The greatest practical question man can ask is, How shall I live? What shall I do to meet the highest destiny of which I am capable, both for time and eternity? This question the prophet answers. It can be answered in no other way. No man can answer it out of the depth of his own judgment. It cannot be answered by conscience, nor by expediency. The Church cannot answer it. Upon no human foundation can we build anything solid in ethics. See the completeness of the prophets answer.

1. The answer is practical.

2. It covers the whole ground. Two conclusions–

(1) Let us as individuals take no mans authority in matters of duty.

(2) National security and prosperity depend upon the use and teaching of the Bible. (C. V. Anthony, D. D.)

The threefold law

This is the climax of an outburst of Gods rebuke and expostulation. He stoops to plead with His rebellious people. Here are two characteristics of the natural heart.

1. An insinuation that God is a hard, austere Master.

2. A readiness to yield all excepting the heart itself.

Notice that these three commands are linked together. The triple command cannot be dismembered. Notice that the order is logical, not that of historical development. Justice is the root, mercy the foliage, and godliness the fruit.

I. Deal justly. There may be a noisy zeal in religion while the scant measure, the wicked balance, and the deceitful weight are used.

II. Love mercy. The whole New Testament unfolds this idea. This is to be not an occasional act, but a habit; not in exercise when under pressure, but growing from an inward impulse.

III. Walk humbly with God. Lit. it is bow low. Thus we feel an invisible presence and power, and have fellowship with the Unseen. Walking with God involves five particulars.

1. Choice of Him.

2. Sense of His actual presence.

3. Prayerfulness.

4. Sympathy.

5. Constant dependence.

Two remarks–

(1) This verse is commonly quoted by the enemies of Christ, mere moralists. But it is one of the most searching portions of the Word, and proves that by the law no flesh is justified, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

(2) Those who have fled to the Cross for refuge will find in this verse a new incentive to holiness. It is by a blameless life we are to illustrate to the world the genuineness of our faith and professions of godliness. Let us not frustrate the grace of God, but lovingly heed this threefold law, that we may at once prove to ourselves, and to the world about us, that we are truly the children of God. (J. H. Worcester, D. D.)

The great question of humanity

Apart from revelation man can only know of God through man. And so the guess of man concerning God in any age reveals that ages heart. The answers given to the question, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? greatly differ. Through them all the desire is manifestly to atone for bygone sin. Yet when we examine the offerings of atonement which man has laid upon the seen and unseen altars of the world, we cannot help exclaiming: What were sin if gifts like these would purchase cleansing? What were man if gifts like these could give him peace? And what were God if gifts like these could call forth His forgiving love? Gods answer to the deepest question of humanity reveals Gods character. He does not behold our efforts of atonement with complacency, as though we were climbing feebly up a righteous way. God regards our offerings of atonement with exalted scorn. We have in the text a great ethical doctrine to which the heart of universal man assents without reserve. All men feel, and ever will feel, that whosoever doeth these things shall doubtless live by means of them. If a man will do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before his God, all heavens that are worthy of the name will open wide before him. We have here a scheme of holiness in three degrees.

1. If we would stand before the High God we must act justly. Justly in every relation of life. And we must be just to God, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.

2. We must love mercy. In heaven, maybe, only justice is required. On this sin-stained earth mere justice, if it stood alone, may emphasise the evils that are here. We must add mercy to our justice. A merciful man will be honoured by his fellows as long as aught of the Divine remains within humanity. Mercy is a tree whose root is pity, and its branches stretch with healing leaves and refreshing fruits above all the helpless, and suffering, and needy, of every grade and kind. Blessed are they who are merciful on earth, for they shall obtain mercy when they stand before Gods throne.

3. We must walk humbly with God. The more we understand the meaning of the two words God and man, the more daring seems the affirmation that they may walk together. To say that God will walk with man is to clothe God with ineffable tenderness. And to say that man can walk with God is to clothe men with sublimity. Surely the great mystery of the religious life is this, that God can walk and talk with me as though He and I were the only beings in the universe. But we must walk humbly with our God, so humbly that we shall commit all our ways to Him; so humbly that we shall never murmur at distress, knowing that all things work together for good; so humbly that we shall never worry about the things to come, remembering that sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. All sorts and conditions of men have quoted this text approvingly. But all have not quoted it with equal fairness to themselves. The man whose inward piety has not as yet transformed his outward life, is apt to slur over the words, do justly. The man who takes his stand upon his own integrity is apt to glide too swiftly over the words love mercy. The man whose faith is limited to sensuous things is apt to read only in a poetic way the words walk humbly with thy God. Refrain from doing justly, and the love of mercy soon will pass away. Refrain from doing justly, and from loving mercy, and the consciousness of the Omnipresent God will fade. And refrain from walking humbly with the Lord, and the love of mercy and desire for justice soon will disappear. All have not quoted this text with equal fairness to the evangelical faith. One can safely challenge the world to produce a single man who has fulfilled the whole of this counsel, apart from the shed blood and broken body of our Lord. (J. Moffat Logan.)

Religion and religionism

These words express the true object of all revelation, which is to make men good; they express the inmost meaning of all life, which is the attainment of holiness. Unmistakable in their plainness, these words sweep away the cobwebs of confusion of ages. Frankly accepted, they would be an eternal cure for all the maladies which in age after age have afflicted religion. They show that the aim of religion is to elevate character, to purify conduct, to promote goodness; they sum up the mighty spiritual teaching of the prophets; they herald the essential moral revelation of the Son of God. The word religion properly means certain opinions, and certain ordinances; a set of doctrines; or a mode of worship. New, outward ordinances, when their importance is exaggerated, tend to become burdensome and superstitious; and religious opinions, when maintained by ambition and self-interest, have deluged the world with crime. To avoid confusion, however, I will call this religionism, not religion. A stream of religionism flows through the Old Testament. The Judaic code has neither value nor significance in itself, but solely in so far as it may be a help or adjunct to higher things. Religionism, when it ends in opinions or observances, is worthless. All that was poorest and most pagan in Judaism eagerly seized on this element in the sacred books. Side by side with this stream of religious ordinance flows, through most of the Old Testament, and through all the New, the richer, purer, deeper stream of righteousness. And righteousness expresses, and alone expresses, the essence of true religion; for true religion is a good mind and a good life. Ask a dogmatist What must I do to be saved? and he will give you some elaborate, metaphysical definition. Ask a party religionist, and he will say that you must hear the Church. Ask your Lord and Master, and He will say, If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments. See how the prophets spoke; the New Testament so completely endorses their spiritual ideal that, while every page and verse of it breathes of righteousness, you scarcely find any religionism at all scarcely any organisation, ritual, or dogmatic creed. What is the sum total of the moral revelation of Christ? It goes into two words–Love: Serve. The teaching of every one of His apostles was the very antithesis of the spirit of externalism. According to them, he that doeth righteousness is born of God. To preach these principles is to preach the very essential heart of the scriptural morality; but yet it is a preaching that invariably makes religionists very angry. For its importance lies in this, that it is the very touchstone which discriminates between true and false religion, and which sweeps away, at any rate, the exaggerated importance attached to the adjuncts, the scaffoldings, the traditions and ordinances of men, which to so many make up the whole of their religion. What God wants is not so-called orthodoxy, but truth in the inward parts. What will avail you is not any amount of religiosity, but righteousness. The reason why it is necessary to insist on this is that eternal pharisaism of the human heart, which prefers formalism to spirituality, and which causes a constant recrudescence of Judaism in the heart of Christianity. The lesson for us is clear. Our religious opinions may be false; our party shibboleths may be but the blurred echoes of our ignorance or our incompetence; our private interpretations of Scripture may be no better than grotesque nonsense in their presumptuous falsity, and all this may not greatly matter, if by some Divine deliverance from our opinionated follies, we still do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. (Dean Farrar.)

The essentials of religion

It is a great thing to get down to simple principles. One of the hopeful signs of our times is a growing disposition to do this. In science and in theology alike, we are recognising simplicity where we once imagined that there was wonderful complexity. I rejoice that, in theology, we are getting down to fundamental Christian truths, which will ultimately make more clear mans duties and Gods love. This was, in part, the mission of Christianity. Gods Temple of Truth could hardly be seen for the human rubbish which had accumulated about it, and Jesus Christ came to sweep it away. You remember how He did so. His Sermon on the Mount must have amazed all His hearers. It went down to the very roots of human life and duty, and was a fresh revelation of truth. His disciples followed in His footsteps. Even St. Paul, who was by far the most subtle minded of them, analysed Christianity, and showed that it consisted in three things–faith, hope, love,–and finally he reduced even these to one, saying, Love is the fulfilling of the law. The fact is, that the nearer men are to God, the simpler becomes their religious life and their religious thought. Look at this text. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. Micah could fairly say this to every one in Israel; but much more forcibly should the words come home to us, who have heard the teaching and known the life of Jesus, Son of God, and yet Son of Man.

I. What does the Lord require of thee but to do justly? The reference of the prophet is to justice between man and man, which was but seldom seen in his day. Happily, our law courts are, on the whole, among our noblest institutions. But how about business affairs? What of the conflicts between capital and labour? Is all as it should be there?

II. The second requirement is to love mercy. The philanthropist in the Church may be the screw in business. To do justly is to do what right requires, and to love mercy is to do what love requires.

III. The last requirement is walk humbly with thy God. This is not the top stone of the edifice, but its foundation. Walk humbly with God, and you win walk honestly and kindly among your neighbours. (Alfred Rowland, LL. B. , B. A.)

The essentials of a religious life

They have always been the same. Our Lord has reality added nothing to these words of Micah. What he has done has been to put these truths in a new setting, to read them with a wider and deeper application; to embody them in His own life, and thus to enforce them with greater authority; to give us a new motive for obedience, and greater power to obey. What, does the Cross say to us but do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly? The essentials of a religious life are practical rather than theoretical. It appears that the Jews of Micahs time were most anxious about the right form of worship. Yet, what does Micah declare to have been the common life of these people? He takes us into their houses, and shows them to be full of dishonest gains. He takes us into their shops, and shows us the scant measure, the short weights, the false balances. Into their law courts, and we find the judge selling his verdict for a bribe. Right through society there was the same hollow deception. The inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouths. So the prophet has to tell them this, It is not a question of right worship for you, but of right conduct. Not how you should sacrifice, but how you should live. There are certain duties necessary because God has commanded them, and there are other duties which God commands because they are necessary. There are two ways in which men, nowadays, make too much of the non-essentials of religion. There is the ritualist, who exaggerates the importance of ceremonial. We become ritualists of a sort when we think the claims of God are met by coming to services and meetings regularly. The essence of religion is not in those agreeable emotions you feel in listening to a stirring sermon. It lies in honest dealing, in kind actions, in that humble, obedient spirit which springs from a realisation of the presence of God. Its sphere is principally not in the Church, but outside–in the world and in the home. The time and place in which to show that you are religious men and women is when you start upon your work in the morning, when you buy and when you sell, when you spend an hour in recreation, quite as much as when you pray or when you teach. Another way in which some make too much of the nonessentials of religion is on the side of doctrine. Men speak as ii they wanted all difficult questions settled out of hand before they will become the servants of God. There are difficulties in the Bible, but they belong to the intellect, and not to the practical life. We need not underestimate the importance of evangelical doctrine, but unless the doctrines of grace bear practical results, it is doubtful whether we are truly acquainted with them. These are the essential things–

1. Do justly.

(1) There is a justice of which the civil law is the guardian.

(2) A justice of which custom is the guardian.

(3) The only justice which will satisfy God is that of which conscience is the guardian.

This will teach the thief to make restitution; this will not truckle to underhand tricks; this will respect the claims of others even when it is most seeking to advance its own.

2. Love mercy. Many fail here. They are as upright as a marble column, and as cold and hard. The instincts of our better nature should teach us to be merciful. God urges us to show mercy one to another on the ground that we are all debtors alike to Him.

3. Walk humbly with thy God. Many so called moral men, and kind men, are nevertheless godless men. What is it to lead a godless life? It is to spend the life apart from God. This is the essence of all religious life, making God a reality, and acting as in His presence. (Frank Hall.)

The three great human duties

Misconceptions of the truth are as dangerous as the reception of falsehood. This text is one by which proud, self-sufficient, and ungodly mortals are accustomed to lull their consciences to sleep, and their guilty fears to rest, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. They say, that if a man do the best he can, God will require no more.

I. What is it to do justly?

1. Is it not to keep a just weight, and a just measure; to be true and just in all your dealings?

2. To do justly, there must be no extortion, no speculation, no forestalling, no monopoly, no oppression.

3. The just man hates every false way; he keeps far from a false matter; he raises no false report; he is no false accuser, takes no false oath, bears no false report.

4. If you do justly, it will be by your God as well as by your neighbour. If just towards God, you will have respect unto all His commandments. You will justify all the gracious dispensations of heaven. Can you bless God for your creation so long as you make, not God, but self, the end of your creation? Can you say that you justly bless God for your preservation so long as you do not bless Him for your salvation? It is impossible that you can justly bless God for the inestimable gift of His dear Son while you refuse to hear Him. If you are just with God, you will be constant in your attendance in His house–the place where His honour dwelleth.

II. What is it to love mercy?

1. If you love mercy, you will break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.

2. You will be merciful in all your intercourse with mankind.

3. If you love mercy, and show it to others, you will crave it for yourself.

4. If you love mercy, your walks will be walks of mercy, your visits will be visits of mercy, and your inquiries will be inquiries of mercy.

III. What is it to walk humbly with God?

1. If you do, you will be of a teachable spirit.

2. You will have a mean opinion of yourself.

3. You will not be carried away with high-sounding words in sermons or in prayers: you will love the plain, homely, honest truth.

4. If you walk humbly with God, you will walk humbly before Him.

5. You will walk humbly with Him in secret; your humility will not be a mere show of humility.

6. If you walk with your God, you will walk much with His dear Son.

7. You will enjoy much of His presence, the lifting up of the light of His countenance.

8. You will neither hide the talents He has committed to your charge in a napkin, nor lock up His kindnesses in your bosom, but will make known His goodness to the sons of men. Thankfulness will ever dwell with humility. (John Clementson.)

Gods great demonstrations and demands

Do justly. There is a justice of expiation, to break off our sins by repentance. A justice of compensation, by meet repairing our public injuries. A justice of vindication, to confirm our laws by inflicting such just penalties and restraints as some mens insolvencies have deserved. There is the allay of mercy, or moderation, compassion, and tenderness, by way of pardon, indemnity and oblivion. There is added the root and crown of all virtues and graces, humility; which makes you surest of Gods acceptation and benediction. Humility is the salt that must be mingled with every sacrifice; a sweet perfume that must attend every oblation. It is the glory of all human and Divine perfections; the security of justice, and the sanctuary of mercy. If you intend to walk with God, and hope that God will go along with you, you must not only deny, you must so far utterly renounce, and annihilate yourselves, as not to trust in or seek yourselves, but the living God.

I. The Demonstrator or Shewer. The Lord.

1. The rise or occasion of this demonstration. Find this in Mic 6:6-7. Observe the vaunting questions and presumptuous postulations of a company of formal hypocrites.

2. The credit and authority of this Demonstrator, which makes His words, both for the truth and goodness of them, most worthy to be believed, received, and obeyed. He is the great and inexhaustible fountain of all power and order, natural, civil, spiritual. He is not more able by His wisdom, than willing by His indulgence and love, to instruct mankind in the way that is best for him. He has showed us the most infallible and immutable rules of justice, mercy, and humility.

II. The thing demonstrated. Denoted under three grand heads–

1. Consider justice, mercy, and humility together, and conjointly. Note the sanctity of these grand demands. The shortness of the discourse concerning them. Their perspicuity, though stated so briefly. The order and situation of the particulars. Justice comes first; then mercy; and then humility. The juncture of these three is inobservable, because they are inseparable where they are sincere. The common epithet, or predicate, to all of them. The Lord hath showed thee what is good.

2. Consider them separately.

(1) In the subject or substance, spirit and quintessence, of each of them. What is justice? Some measure it by their power; others by their wills; yet others by their fancies and imaginations. Some measure justice by necessity; some measure justice by forcible power and possession; as if might were right. Justice must be considered, in its fountain and original, the wisdom and will of God; in the grand cistern and conservatory, which is the sovereign and legislative power in every society and polity. Justice is considerable in the pipes and conduits of all subordinate magistrates. There is a justice due to God, to ourselves, and to others. What is mercy? By mercy God is, as it were, greater than Himself: a denier of Himself, and a sider with our interests. All our hopes and happiness are founded upon, and bound up in, the mercy of God. Mercy in God is a perfection of goodness, by which He moderates the severity of His justice toward sinful mankind. Mercy in man is an affection by which he lays to heart the misery of another, and is disposed to relieve them. Mercy is an inseparable attendant to human justice; yea, and to the Divine. Penitents are the proper objects of mercy. There are but few cases wherein the summum jus is required. In most cases there is possibility of remission, and moderation. What is humility? It is a most Christian grace, no less than a most manly virtue, becoming all men,–in the sense of their common infirmities, and mortal condition; in the conscience of their many sins and deserved miseries; in the reflection upon their best actions, full of failings and defects. Pride destroys and sours all the good, even of justice and mercy, that any man doth. Pride hath its reward only from itself, or the vain world. Consider the predicates or actions applied so each of these three terms. Consider justice–

1. Materially, as to the merit of the cause or person.

2. Regularly, as to the law prescribed by God or man, not by private opinion.

3. Authoritatively, by due order and commission, derived to thee from the lawful supreme power.

Do justice as to the inward form, principle, or conscience, for justice sake, not for ambition. Do justice in practice; impartially, speedily, in due measure and proportion, with humanity and compassion to the person. Love mercy. Observe the order; justice of showing mercy. Observe the emphasis of the word love put to mercy. Justice must be done as a task enjoined. Mercy must be loved and delighted in. This love is conjoined to mercy as a thing in itself most desirable, as most beneficial to ourselves and others, as obedience to Gods commands, and in imitation of the Divine perfections. Love mercy for the advance of all graces; as the best sign of the best religion, remembering that sin exposeth thee to misery; in order to confirm thy hope, and increase thy reward in glory. Walk humbly. Be ready and prepared to go with God. The words imply a freedom and familiarity of conversation which cannot be without two are agreed; nor can there be agreement with God, except where the heart is humble. Walking is a social and friendly notion, and it is progressive and parallel, in a way of confirmity, not contrariety. The more a man walks with God, the more he will grow in humility.

3. To whom God shows, and of whom He requires, these great lessons and duties. Thee, O man.

(1) All mankind.

(2) Those who enjoy the light of Gods Word.

(3) Each in His particular station.

4. The manner of Gods showing and requiring these duties of all sorts of men, in all occasions, times, and dealings. God hath showed it to mankind in those inward Principles of right reason, and that standard of justice which is set up in each mans own heart. By the letters patent of the Holy Scriptures. By the greatest exemplars of holy men in all degrees. With frequent obtestation, threatening punishment. (John Gauden,, D. D.)

Gods claims on man

1. Has God any claims upon you? Has He a right to require anything of you, if it should seem good to Him to do so?

2. Does He exercise this right? Has He actually required anything? In the Bible you find God everywhere speaking imperatively to His creatures, giving them not merely counsels, but authoritative counsels and commands.

3. What are the claims which God asserts? What doth the Lord require of thee? Thy supreme love, thy choicest affections, thy whole heart, and whatever else such a love disposes to and draws after it. God has given rules for the regulation not only of our external conduct, and all of it, but of our speech, our thoughts, our motives, our principles of action, and of all the various modifications of feeling.

4. What is the character of these claims of God?

(1) They are reasonable. Their reason ableness may be inferred from their reality. God is incapable of making an unreasonable demand.

(2) They are particular. They are made on you as an individual, and not in any social capacity. God addresses His commands singly to each one.

(3) His claims are paramount. In every comparison they deserve to have the preeminence; in every competition the preference.

(4) His claims are impartial. God asserts them with respect to every intelligent being, and with respect to each the same.

(5) His claims are unalterable. We may change, but not they. Our duty is the same, whatever our character. God cannot lower His demands to adapt them to our inclinations or disabilities. Then how have we treated His claims? Have we done as He has required? Remember, there is a penalty threatened on him who disregards them. The claims of justice are prior to the claims of mercy. You ought to comply with His explicit and authoritative claims upon you. And you ought to comply at once, and fully. (W. Nevins, D. D.)

The requirements of the Gospel

There have been considerable disputes in those countries where the Scriptures were unknown with regard to mans chief or sovereign good. Religion is mans chief good. It is good in its origin; it cometh down from the Father of lights; it is good in its nature; it is good in its tendency and in its end. It is mans chief good. There is nothing in it but what is most fit and proper and suitable to man, whether considered in himself, or in his relation to God or to His fellow creatures. Religion is a satisfying good. It possesses the power of healing all the various disorders of the human mind and heart; the power to console, comfort, exhilarate, and delight the redeemed spirit of man, in all the circumstances through which, in the providence of God, he may be called to pass in this world. It is a universal good, not restricted to any class of persons, to the persons of any one age, or country, or locality. It is an everlasting good; as vast as the necessities and capacities of the human spirit. The table of the law which instructs us in our duty to God is generally the first presented to us in Scripture. In the text the order is reversed. It is required that every man do justly to his fellow man. We are required to act with the exactest integrity and uprightness towards our fellow creatures in all respects, and towards every one of our fellow creatures. Keep the Golden Rule. But we are not to do justice strictly; we are also to love mercy. Mercy is ever ready to listen to complaints, to relieve wants, to pardon offences, to cover faults. Mercy delights to imitate the Father of mercies; to do good, according to its power, to all mankind, under all circumstances. There must not only be merciful conduct and language, but a merciful heart within us. Walk humbly with thy God. This means at least three things–reconciliation, affection, and intercourse.

1. Reconciliation. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed. There are three classes of persons with whom God can never be agreed. The immoral, the unbeliever, and the worldly minded

2. Affection. All Gods people love Him. And we know that God loves His people.

3. Intercourse. The intercourse between God and His people is as real as any intercourse is which takes place between any spirits in heaven, or any interchange of thought and of kindness which takes place between men on earth. Humility is essential to walking with God. The margin reads, and to humble thyself to walk with thy God. Before any of us can walk with God we must be humbled under His mighty hand; and the more deeply and thoroughly we humble ourselves, the more closely we shall walk with God. I speak not of that humility which is woven into the character by artifice and cunning; but of that humility which is wrought in the inmost soul by the finger of God. There are two doctrinal heresies against which our text is opposed.

1. The heresy of those who seek to be justified by works.

2. The heresy of those who think to be justified by a faith which is a mere sentiment, and never does any works. (F. Ward.)

The inner meaning of the Divine requirements

These words have often been quoted with respectful admiration by persons who look upon what they suppose to be the theology of the Bible with indifference or contempt. The philosopher and the philanthropist are to be invited to extricate these great maxims from the overlying mass, to give them the prominence which has been given to those dogmas which are so intricate, and which lead to evil results or to none. Most cheerfully do I take these words of the prophet as my guide; they are worthy of all the honour which has been paid them. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly,–does God indeed require all this of me? If I may not learn how I can be just and merciful and humble, to assure me that I am bound to be so is an intolerable oppression. Men have felt this at all times; they are feeling it now. And the feeling, though it is mixed with much contradiction, is not a false one. They would have a right to complain of us, and of the Bible, if we came and delivered to them a set of precepts–the best precepts in the world–and did not tell them whence they were to derive the strength for obeying the precepts. Our morality must have some deep underground basis to rest upon. What is that basis? I answer, you must seek it in that very theology of the Bible which you have supposed it so great a deliverance to cast aside. There, and there only, will you find the protection against the narrow, local, artificial dogmas of priests, and the dry, hard, scarcely less artificial, often even more heartless, dogmas of philosophers. There you will find the protection against the flimsy, conventional morality of classes and ages; there you will find a meaning for the words, Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly, and a power to translate them from words into life.

1. The Lord requires thee to do justly. The whole question of the ground of moral obligation is raised by this sentence. It seems to tell me that some One is commanding a certain course of action which I am bound to follow because He commands it. And this course of action is described by the phrase doing justly. Is justice, then, nothing in itself? Are actions made right because a certain power insists that they shall be performed? The main controversy between the mere priest and the mere philosopher, so far as it bears on human conduct, lies here. The one has always been tempted to maintain that an omnipotent decree makes that good which would not be good without it, makes that evil which would be otherwise indifferent: the other has been always seeking to find what constitutes an action or a habit just or unjust, true or untrue; whether something in its own nature, or in its effect upon the individual doer, or in its influence upon society. The conscience in men cries out for a ruler; therefore it gives heed to the priest. Conscience exists only in the affirmation that right and wrong are eternally opposed; therefore it gives heed to the philosophers. Experience shows that the priest is very prone to raise maxims of temporary expedience to the level of eternal laws; there fore the conscience protests against him. Experience shows that the philosopher can find no standing ground from which he can act upon individuals or society, but is obliged to beg a standing ground from their opinion, or to erect his own above both; therefore the conscience protests against him. Then comes the message: He hath shown thee, O man, what is good. A message from whom? If He has not told me what He is, the tidings are worth nothing, the good has not been shown. If you desire a universal morality, there must be the revelation of a moral Being. If yon would have the command do justly, in place of a weight of rules, observances, and ceremonies, you must have justice set before you, not in words, formulas, decrees, but livingly, personally, historically. You must be taught what the just Being is by seeing what He does what He does for you. He would have you like Him. He must tell you how He makes you like Him. The Bible is not a book of mere moralities. It would be if you took away its theology. Its theology is the unveiling of the righteous Being to the heart and conscience of the only creature that is capable of being righteous, because of the only creature that is capable of departing from righteousness. It is at last the manifestation to all nations of that original righteousness which had been the root of all righteousness in them; the manifestation of the Divine righteousness in a Man, who came into the world to reconcile men to His Father, that they might receive His Spirit, and be able to he just, as He is,–to do justly, as He does.

2. The Lord requires of men to love mercy. This is a higher obligation still–harder to fulfil. I may do things, but against my whole nature. They will not be just or righteous acts, according to the scriptural idea of righteousness, which supposes the man to be good before he does good things. But they may be just according to some legal, philosophical, or sacerdotal rule. Can such a rule explain how I am to love because it is desirable that I should? Mercy is, no doubt, a beautiful quality. But there is a limit to mens admiration. If mercy meets an unmerciful habit of mind in us, its works will be explained away. Mercy is not necessarily loved when it is exhibited in its fullest, most perfect form, when it shows itself in the most gracious and serviceable acts. There may be a cry for it on another ground. Men may feel that they resisted the Divine righteousness, that they are at war with it. They may invoke mercy to avert the punishment which they believe that righteousness desires to inflict upon them. Turn to the theology of the Bible. There Christ is set forth as the image of the Father, not in one quality, but in His whole character. He is said to show forth the righteousness of God in the forgiveness of sins. Man wants mercy because he has sinned, but this mercy has in it a power of putting away sin, of covering it, extinguishing it,–of transforming the creature, who was the subject and slave of it, into a new creature who can love mercy and do justly.

3. The Lord requires man to walk humbly with Him. About this virtue of humility there is as much strife as about justice and mercy. Can it be intended that the man should think meanly of the nature and the powers which God has given him? The more nobly he judges of his humanity, the more noble, says the philosopher, he himself will be. It is most true that, if we try by any artificial methods to cultivate what is called the grace of humility, it may become actually another name for meanness, for the abandonment of manliness and dignity, for a nominal self-denial which is compatible with much in ward self-exaltation. What is the true humility? We are humble in ourselves only when we are walking with God. It is this which lays a man in the dust. It is this which raises him to a height he had never dreamt of. The theology of the Bible, then, explains its morality. It enables us to know what we ought to be, and to be what we would wish to be. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

What doth the Lord require of thee

The text contains three points for our self-examination. The Lord requires, first, that we do justly; in other words, that all our conduct be upright and faithful, that we defraud not any, and that we always do unto others as we would they should do unto us. The second requirement is, to love mercy. To be just, strictly just, honest, upright, is indeed something, but it is not all. A man may be very honest, and yet very selfish; indeed, justice and mercy are somewhat antagonistic virtues, and are not often found existing together. The man who prides himself upon his integrity not unfrequently makes it an excuse for uncharitableness. The more highly, then, any one prides himself upon his justice, the more reason he has to examine himself on the point of mercy. Are you always tender hearted,–ready to forgive,–treating others with due consideration and kindness, and putting the most charitable construction on all their actions? It is required of us not merely to show mercy, but to love mercy; to take positive delight in doing good. The third requirement is, to walk humbly with thy God. This implies something more than the absence of pride. What is it to walk with God? There is implied in the expression a unity of mind and will, a holy communion and fellowship with God, such as those are very far from even dreaming of, who content themselves with doing justly and loving mercy. Where shall we find this unity save in those who humbly inquire what Gods mind is, and who seek to know and do His will? The text is literally, as margin, Humble thyself to walk with thy God. Sinful man is naturally too proud to walk with God; he would rather be altogether independent and walk by himself. When by the grace of God he has been humbled and brought low, then he finds that to walk with God is his highest honour and present joy. Our text, which at first seemed but an epitome of the law, is seen to contain the Gospel. (W. E. Light, M. A.)

The requirements of God

I. To do justly. To act, speak, and to strive to think, fairly, honestly, towards all men. Not to suffer feelings, interest, passions, or prejudices to influence us. (See for Scripture counsels and commands, Deu 16:19-20; Psa 82:3-4; Exo 23:3; Exo 23:8; Lev 19:33-36; Pro 20:14; Lev 19:11; Exo 23:1.) Notice that we are bidden to do justly, but not commanded always to exact justice, or our strict rights from others.

II. Love mercy. The doing of strict justice is sometimes most painful, but the work of mercy is ever a labour of love. The Christian learns, more and more, how much he is indebted to mercy; and hence he loves mercy with thankful love, and the work of mercy is to him the work of gratitude. The Bible has beautiful precepts on this subject (Deu 22:1-4; Exo 23:4-5; Mat 5:44; Rom 12:20-21). The poor are especial objects of Gods mercy (Deu 15:11; Deu 24:10-13). The merciful will not be too sharp in gathering for himself all he can, nor in insisting on every right which mans law gives him, if that right bear hardly on his neighbour (Deu 24:19-21; Jam 2:13). Mercy is to be shown in sympathy (Rom 12:15; Luk 23:34).

III. Walk humbly with thy God. The humblest thing a man can do is to accept Christ. The next is to depend simply and entirely on God the Holy Ghost for strength to do just, grace to love mercy, and to walk humbly. To walk humbly is to have a constant sense of our sinfulness–Gods holiness; our weakness–Gods all might; our folly and ignorance–Gods wisdom, truth, and love. It is to acknowledge God in prosperity (Deu 8:12, etc.). It is to acknowledge God in adversity (1Pe 5:6; Isa 57:15). (F. J. Scott, M. A.)

The sum of Gods requirements

These words are the answer of the Almighty, by the mouth of His prophet, to the cry of one of old, whose difficulties in his religious course appeared too great for him. God demands from him no impossible service–no countless sacrifices, no rivers of oil; He but bids him walk in the way in which all may walk who will–the paths of justice, mercy, and humility. The very terms in which the requirement is made imply that the work is far from an impracticable one. God speaks in mercy and tenderness. Upon the ease with which His precepts may be obeyed He founds a claim, surely a most touching and irresistible claim, to obedience. Was the doing justly, loving mercy, and walking with God a thing practicable for the few,–living in the dawn only of the day spring; and can it be impossible for you, the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus–you, upon whom the Sun of Righteousness hath risen in all His glory? God never set a man any work which he could not perform. He never yet bade His servant to do His will, and withheld from him the power of doing it. If you ask how a man, awakened to a sense of religion, may set himself to do the will of God, you must bear in mind the twofold principle of pure grace and free will. You must never lose sight of your own utter inability to do anything of yourselves apart from the grace and power of God. If we would work the works of God it must be in the might of God. But you must not rest satisfied with praying for grace; you must not relax in your own exertions to serve and obey God. When we think how great a task is set before us we may well rejoice that we have many promises that it is not an impossible one. We should see that the seeming impossibilities had been all of our own imagining. Though we are never, to remit our watchfulness, nor to forget our danger of again falling into sin, if we be true to God, we shall find each additional act of self sacrifice made in obedience to His will a source of peace and comfort to us. (G. W. Brameld.)

Do Justly

Here is the summing up of the law; these are the things which, if a man do, he shall live by them. Seldom does a sinner come to Christ who has not first attempted to work out his own salvation by keeping the law, who has not resolved in his own strength not to sin again, but to walk blameless. If he strive honestly and deal faithfully with himself, it will not be long before he will despair of success in his undertaking. This is quite beyond us, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and mind, and soul, and strength. And yet no man can enter the pearly gates who does not thus love his God. Is Gods, then, an unjust requirement? Surely it is the one object of all human law to compel man to do justly. Would society, culture, civilisation, anything that is worth living for, be possible if all men refused to be just? Is it, then, unreasonable for God to command us to do justly? Is it too hard to require us to love mercy? Is this not felt instinctively to be one of the noblest traits of character, and do we not admire the exercise of it? If all men were strictly just to each other, humanly speaking, there would be little need of mercy; but realising that we need mercy ourselves, is it too much that we should be required to grant it to others? And the third require ment is surely no heavy or excessive burden laid upon us. Do justly. That is the foundation virtue, without which you can rear no superstructure of noble character. A man who has no sense of justice is utterly lost to all good influences, and, labour as you may, nothing can be made out of him. Ones sense of justice may be perverted, and needs to be rightly educated; but it must be there, else there can be only vileness and corruption. Primarily, justice means erectness, uprightness, being swayed neither to the right nor to the left by all the influences that can be brought to bear upon the life.

1. We must be just to ourselves; and we can do this only by giving any faculty of our nature its due authority and influence in governing our conduct. There are three motors in us which govern the executive will–passion, self-love, and conscience, and these are far from agreeing with each other. Our entire lives are frequently one long battle between them. Justice requires that all passions and appetites should be subordinate to self-love, which bids us regard the consequences to ourselves of what we do. Not selfishness, but self-love, which, in its proper place, is a noble faculty But above self-love sits the supreme ruler conscience, whose one great utterance, Duty, is the grandest word in any language; which shows to passion the baseness of sacrificing all else to present gratification, as well as the injury that results; and which tells self-love of higher and grander aims than personal advantage. If you are just to all that is best and truest in your own characters you will not be unjust to others. If you have not been thus just to yourselves, there is no hope for you save in Christ.

2. We must be just to our fellow men. Just before charitable and merciful. Men are ready to do anything, and to give liberally, if only they can avoid doing justly. There can be no mercy shown by one who is not just. A little more justice in the world would do away with the necessity for much almsgiving. Justice consists in giving to each action its proper reward, neither adding thereto from partiality, nor taking therefrom from envy and hatred. Then be perfectly upright, bending neither to the side of weak dislike to inflict suffering, nor to the side of angry desire for vengeance, and showing no respect of persons. And never ask more than justice from others. Do justly to those about you in estimating their conduct towards you, and especially in judging of their motives. You may be restfully sure that God will always–and in His gracious redemption most certainly of all–do justly. (T. T. Eaton, D. D. , LL. D.)

The justice of one man towards another

There are in religion things that are of a mutable and alterable nature, and things that are immutable and unchangeable. Whatsoever is by institution may, by the same authority that imposed it, be discharged and abated. The things mentioned in this text continue to all perpetuity. About these things all persons agree, that are of any education and improvement. Single out for treatment this righteousness between man and man–to do justly. There is a difference between justice and equity. Equity takes into account the circumstances of a case, grants allowances, and can moderate the rigour of law. There is no one but expects this measure from God when he makes application to Him. God considers and deals with us in a way of mercy and compassion. And we should deal so with one another. This is true liberty and perfection for a man, to have power over his own right, so as to compassionate and commiserate in ease of weakness and offence. It is greatness of power to be able to do this; and it is goodness of mind to perform it. Therefore let just and equal be so stated that that shall be just which appears to be either according to law or according to reason. Right is determined either by the proprietors, or by the magistrate, or by the voluntary agreement of persons that have power and interest. In commerce, custom and usage is to be heeded, for these began by consent. A man may be unjust from the nature of the thing, as well as by the breach of any law or constitution. He is equal–as differing from just–who considers all things that are reasonable, and makes allowance accordingly. There is a third thing beyond these, and that is to be gracious and merciful. God deals with us usually, but we deal thus with one another very rarely. The following are reasons why we should take this whole temper of mind into consideration, and put it into practice.

1. It is the temper of God.

2. It is everybodys tenure and security. Where justice and equity do not get place there will be nothing but fraud, and everybody will be insecure.

3. These things do uphold the world, which otherwise would soon fall into confusion.

4. It is according to our principles; we are made to these things.

5. It is the right in every case. A mans greatest wisdom is seen in finding that out, and his goodness in complying with it.

6. They are the rule and law of all action.

7. Everybody expects to be thus dealt with by others. That which is expected from another should be the measure of my dealing with him.

8. If we keep to the rule of right and fit we shall be justified whenever called to examination. Punishment is for the upholding of right, or it is exemplary that others, by a bad example, may learn not to offend. To live in the practice of justice and equity, will remove all suspicion of arbitrariness or self-will, will give a man hearts ease and satisfaction, and will render a man acceptable to. God.

There are several things which every man must take care of that would be found in the practice of justice and equity.

1. Let a man be wary of self-interest.

2. Let no man allow himself to be arbitrary in a thing depending between himself and another.

3. Let not a man take upon him to be judge where he is a party.

4. Be always ready to any fair reference.

5. As thou art a Christian, yield more in fair consideration towards a friendly composure than absolute reason will oblige to and enjoin.

6. Let nothing rest upon secret and undeclared trust; leave nothing half done.

7. Make a simple reparation in case of wrong.

8. Be a plain and open dealer.

9. Make the same allowance for the infirmity and mistakes of others as thou dost desire for thyself.

10. In acknowledgment of what Christ hath done for thee, be thou equal, just, and righteous, beyond what absolute reason or strict right may enjoin. (B. Whichcote, D. D.)

Justice and mercy

These words, written so many hundred years ago, come home to our hearts as freshly as if they had been spoken yesterday. We also have been shown what is good, and we also should admit that no better description could be given of the goodness which our hearts recognise than to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Of course, it is true that through the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ we have a clearer knowledge of Gods nature, and so a deeper insight into what He requires of us, than the people to whom Micah spoke. No modern equivalent of burnt offering or calves of a year old, not thousands of rams or ten thousands of rivers of oil, no gift of churches, or communion plate, or musical instruments, or stained-glass windows, no, not even subscription to charity–nothing is good in the sight of God unless it carries with it the good will, the will to do justice and mercy. For today I do not propose to consider with you the abstract question as to what justice is, a question first asked in one of the most fascinating books in the world, The Republic of Plato, and often enough asked since. I propose to follow the Jewish prophet in assuming that we have all been instructed in the Divine law, so that the great names of justice and mercy have a meaning to us, whether we can put that meaning into words or not. Assuming that, I wish to call your attention briefly to the necessary moral qualities which underlie the practice of these Christian virtues. The moral qualities necessary for all who aim at being just and merciful are three–courage, patience, sympathy.

1. Courage. Courage is plainly necessary; for what can it profit us to see the right course to take, if, through faint heartedness, we are unable to take it? No one can be just or merciful who cannot take his own line; who has not, as we say, the courage of his opinions.

2. And then, patience–that is necessary. How much injustice in the world comes about because people will not take the trouble to investigate the case before them. In the abstract, in intention everybody is anxious to be just; everybody is eager to be merciful. But, unfortunately for us, the world is not an abstract world. It is very concrete, and it presents particular cases for the exercise of our virtue, and so our good intention counts for so little. If action on a great scale were required of us, we should all give a judgment that would be admirably just. But unfortunately, the decisions that are asked for from day to day are trifling decisions on everyday matters, and, in every instance, to come at the true facts of the case means spending time, means going into worrying details, and there is so much else to be done of so much importance. And so we become unjust, just for want of patience.

3. And then the man who would be just or merciful must have the power of putting himself in the place of another, and seeing the matter in all its circumstances from anothers point of view; and that means that he must have a real interest in other people for their own sakes, and be able to understand them, and be able to see why they did what they did. Would it be too much to say that no one can be either just or merciful to those whom he does not love? I said that these three qualities of courage, patience, and sympathy are necessary, whether the work that we have to do is an act of justice or an act of mercy. And you will see that it is so when you recollect that that common distinction between justice and mercy is merely a practical distinction necessary for human infirmity, but not a distinction that goes down to the root of action. We might illustrate from any trial for murder. In a case of that sort we should consider that it was the province of justice to concern itself with the bare account of the crime alleged, and if that were proved sentence would be passed. And then it would be considered the part of mercy to come in and weigh the extenuating circumstances, and modify the sentence accordingly. But if justice means giving to every one his due, clearly mercy is still more due to the criminal than what we called first justice. The extenuating circumstances are a very real part of the action. Or again, suppose that some one in our employment has abused our confidence. A clerk has stolen money to pay his gambling debts. Well, his employer, if he were a just man, in deciding whether to prosecute his clerk or not to prosecute him, would decide on the whole circumstances, and he would do what he thought best in the interests of the clerk. If he thought imprisonment likely to have the most salutary effect on the mans character he would prosecute, and in that case prosecution would be mercy as well as justice. We can see this, of course, most plainly in Gods dealings with us. We can see. I mean, that justice and mercy are only two sides of the same thing. We know God gives us in all the circumstances of life what He sees to be best for us. We may sometimes call what He sends us a judgment, and sometimes we may call it a mercy, and all the time we know that the judgment as much as the mercy proceeds from His love proceeds from His knowledge of our real need; so that His justice is mercy in being what is best for us, and His mercy is justice, because that best is our due as being His children. Now, that is our ideal–a mercy that shall be justice, a justice that shall be mercy. Let us, then, do justice, let us love mercy, as becometh saints. And then for that third requirement. That, we know, is a pre-condition of the other two–to walk humbly with God. If the other two gave the substance of saintship, surely this gives the secret–to walk humbly with God. It is a strange expression, and the rendering in the margin of the Bible is stranger still: Humble thyself to walk with God. Surely, if we had a vision of God as Moses or Isaiah, we should veil our faces and fall in the dust. Why should we need humility to walk with God? Indeed it is a question well worth asking, Why are we so often ashamed to obey the promptings of Gods voice speaking in conscience? Why are we so often ashamed to be just, ashamed to be merciful, ashamed in society of defending an unpopular person, ashamed in politics of defending an unpopular cause, fearing to be righteous overmuch, to be merciful overmuch? May God give us enough humility to accept His Almighty guidance through this world–humility enough to be on the lookout for the way that He has prepared for us to walk in; and may He give us all the courage and the patience and the sympathy necessary for our task whatever it may prove to be. (H. C. Beeching.)

And to walk humbly with thy God–

Of walking humbly with God

The beginning of this chapter contains a most pathetical expostulation of God by the prophet with His people about their sins, and unworthy walking before Him. Convictions, made effectual upon the soul, draw out its inward principles, which are not otherwise discovered. Men think they must do something whereby to appease the God whom they have provoked. They fix on two general heads. They propose things which God Himself had appointed, such as sacrifices and burnt offerings. Or they propose things of their own finding out, which they suppose may have a further and better efficacy to the end aimed at than anything appointed of God Himself. They have a better opinion of their own ways and endeavours, for the pleasing of God and quieting their consciences, than of anything of Gods institution. There is nothing so desperate, irksome, or wicked that convinced persons will not engage to do under their pressure on the account of the guilt of sin. The prophet discovers to such Persons their mistake. God prefers moral worship, in the way of obedience, to all sacrifice whatever. This moral obedience is referred to three heads–do justly; love mercy; walk humbly with God. The two first are comprehensive of our whole duty in respect of men. The third head regards the first table of the law.

I. What it is to walk with God.

1. Some things are required to it.

(1) Peace and agreement. These have to be made, can only be made, through the blood of atonement.

(2) Oneness of design. The aim of God, in general, is His own glory; in particular, it is the praise of His glorious grace. To exalt this glorious grace, two things are considerable. That all which is to be looked for at the hand of God is upon the account of mere grace and mercy. The enjoyment of Himself in this way of mercy and grace is that great reward of him that walks with Him. That a man may walk with another, it is required that he have a living principle in him to enable him thereunto.

2. What it is to walk with God. It consisteth in the Performance of that obedience, for matter and manner, which God, in His covenant of grace, requires at our hands.

(1) That our obedience be walking with God, it is required that we be in covenant with Him, and that the obedience be required in the tenour of that covenant. Things required if it is to answer the tenour of the covenant. It must proceed from faith in God, by Christ the Mediator. The person must be perfect or upright therein.

(2) That our obedience may be walking with God, it is required that it be a constant progressive motion towards a mark before us. Walking is a constant progress.

(3) Walking with God is to walk always as under the eye of God. By a general apprehension of Gods omniscience and presence. Two things will follow being under the eye and control of God. Reverential thoughts of Him. Self-abasement under a sense of the imperfection of all our services.

3. Our walking with God in our obedience argues complacency and delight therein; and that we are bound unto God in His ways with the cords of love.

II. What it is to walk humbly with God. The original words are, To humble thyself in walking. In our walking with God distinguish between the inward power of it and the outward privilege of it. What it is in reference whereunto we are to humble ourselves in walking with God. To the law of His grace, and to the law of His providence. We must humble ourselves to place our obedience on a new foot of account, and yet to pursue it with no less diligence than if it stood upon the old. We must address ourselves to the greatest duties, being fully persuaded that we have no strength for the least. We must see that in Christ is our supply. And we humble ourselves to be contented to have the sharpest afflictions accompanying the strictest obedience. Consider now what it is to humble ourselves to the law of His providence. There is much in Gods providential administration beyond, and even apparently contradictory to, the reason of men. Four things require this humbling of ourselves.

(1) Visible confusion.

(2) Unspeakable variety.

(3) Sudden alterations.

(4) Deep distresses.

We are to be humbled unto His sovereignty. His wisdom, His righteousness. How are we, by what means are we to humble ourselves to the law of Gods grace and providence?

(1) Let faith have its work.

(2) Constant abiding reverence of God will help the soul in this universal resignation and humbling of itself.

This reverence of God ariseth from the infinite excellency and majesty of God and His great name. The infinite, inconceivable distance we stand from Him. This glorious God is pleased of His own grace to condescend to concern Himself in us and our services.

III. Humble walking with God is the great duty and most valuable concernment of believers. Sundry ways whereby glory redounds to God by believers humbly walking with Him.

1. It gives Him the glory of the doctrine of grace.

2. It gives Him the glory of the power of His grace.

3. It gives Him the glory of the law of His grace, that He is a King obeyed.

4. It gives Him the glory of His justice.

5. The glory of His kingdom; first, in its order and beauty; and secondly, in multiplying His subjects.

This humble walking must certainly be the great and incomparable concernment of all those whose chief end is the advancement of the glory of God. In humble walking with God, we shall find peace in every condition. We shall find comfort. This will make us useful in our generation. (John Owen, D. D.)

Walk with God

Why not joyfully? There is a foundation laid for this. Joy is not, however, absolutely necessary. We have known much self-denial, and deadness to the world, and spirituality of devotion, and zeal for the glory of God and the welfare of others, in persons who may be said to be saved by hope, rather than confidence. But with regard to humbleness of mind, this is indispensable,–always, and in everything: and no progress can be made without it. How is our walking humbly with God to appear?

I. In connection with Divine truth. Here, God is our teacher; and if, as learners, we walk humbly with Him, we shall east down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Christ; we shall sacrifice the pride of reason; and having ascertained that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and discovered what they really contain, we shall not speculate upon their principles, but admit them on their Divine authority.

II. In connection with Divine ordinances. Here we walk with God as worshippers; and if we walk humbly with Him, we shall have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and with godly fear.

III. In connection with His mercies. Here we walk with God as our benefactor. If we walk humbly with Him, we shall own and feel that we have no claim upon God for anything we possess or enjoy.

IV. With regard to our trials. Here we walk with God as our reprover and correcter; and if we walk humbly, we shall not charge Him foolishly; we shall not arraign His authority, or ask, What doest Thou?

V. With regard to our conditions. Here we walk with God as our disposer and governor; and if we walk humbly, we shall hold ourselves at His control; we shall be willing that He should choose our inheritance for us. We shall be satisfied with our own allotment, and learn, in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content.

VI. With regard to our qualification and ability for our work. Here we walk with God as our helper and strength; and if we walk humbly, we shall be sensible of our insufficiency for all the purposes of the Divine life. Here, humility is–to fear always; and to–pray. Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.

VII. With regard to the whole of our recovery. Here we walk with God as a Saviour; and if we walk humbly, we shall not go about to establish our own righteousness, but submit ourselves unto the righteousness which is of God, and acknowledge that we have nothing to glory in before Him. Happy this humble walker with God! God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. (William Jay.)

Gods requirements from His creatures

I. A great deal is required of man when he is told to walk humbly with God.

1. He who walks with God must be considered as living in the full consciousness that the eye of his Maker is ever upon him; that he cannot take a single unobserved step, nor do the least thing which escapes Divine notice. When you consider walking with God as implying an ever active consciousness of Gods presence, it would not perhaps be easy to find words which should better express a preeminent holiness. If a man has a practical conviction that God is ever at his side, such a man will be the same in public and in private.

2. Walking with God denotes a complete fixing of the affections on things that are above. He has both his head and his heart in heaven. High attainments in piety have been reached by the man to whom such a description applies.

II. Why, though a great deal be required, it might be spoken of in that almost slighting manner which is so observable in the text. The form of expression seems to indicate that God might have required much more than He has required. God asks nothing which it is not for mans present as well as future advantage to yield. He hath so ordered His dealings with our race, that obedience is the parent of peace, and disobedience of disquietude. The creature is advantaged by giving what the Creator demands. God might have instituted so different a mode of dealing with man, that what He now asks is as nothing compared with what He might have demanded. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)

Humility

A question to which the text is an answer. This question teacheth us that ceremonial observances will not compensate a neglect of substantial duties; that hypocrites will give anything rather than give up themselves to the Lord; that it is not the costliness of the sacrifice, but the godliness of the sacrifice which God looketh at. The answer is. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. Doctrine–In revealing our duty to us, God exacteth nothing of man but what is good. God has revealed His mind by the light of nature, and by the light of His Word, which is more clear, full, and certain. The revelation of Gods mind consists of two parts, the moral part, and the evangelical part. Whatever God has revealed is good. There is a moral and beneficial goodness. God exacteth nothing of us but what is good. This can be proved by the design of the Christian religion; and by the structure and frame of it. Doctrine–Walking humbly with God is our great duty, which distinguisheth the sincere from the hypocrites. What is walking humbly with God? A ready submitting and subjecting of ourselves to all Gods commands. This includes a fear to offend, and a care to please. A patient contentedness with every condition God bringeth us into. It implieth specially reverence in worship, and that we be deeply sensible of our unworthiness to approach His holy presence. A constant dependence on Him, and a looking for all from Him that we stand in need of in the course of our obedience. A modest sense of our own vileness and nothingness; humility being and involv ing a mean esteem of ourselves. What reasons may enforce this humility. It is God, on whom we continually depend, who requires it. It is our God, in whom we have direct interest. We are always with Him; in His eye and presence. Then if walking humbly with God distinguishes the sincere from the hypocrite, let us take care to walk humbly. (T. Manton, D. D.)

Humility before God

In the evening of the morning that Gordon, When in Palestine, received a telegram from England, asking him to undertake a mission which he had all his life longed to undertake, he was found by a friend outside the city wall, kneeling in prayer. When remonstrated with on account of the place being dangerous from Arabs, he replied, The telegrams from England this morning filled me with such elation. I felt I might get into trouble by being proud, and I thought I would just get upon my horse and go away by myself and humble myself before God.

Peace on the path

(Mic 6:8, marg.):–This walking with God is the most expressive phrase in the Bible for the Divine life. God and the soul companion pedestrians on the path of life–what could be more forcible? Walking with God is the flood tide of spirituality in our hearts, all the shoals and rocks and shallows covered by the bay-filled sea.

I. Meeting must be. Before we can walk with God, we must have met Him. Here is just the difficulty, this is the stumble at the start. There can be no walking with God, no communion with Him, till agreement be come to. There is a quarrel and controversy in the universe. By birth, man is Gods enemy; by choice, he is; by will, he remains. Darkness and light cannot be together. How then can man walk with God? Agreement is found alone in the Lord Jesus. It is in the Cross of Christ.

II. Acquaintance must be. For walking together more is required than agreement. Agreement would not keep us together. This walking together is for the closest of friends alone. We must be friends with God. We must know one another, we must love one another. This acquaintance, this knowledge, this friendship is found also in the Lord Jesus. In Christ we know God, and thus we walk homeward together. Sin is that which brings distrust, and sin is done away in the Sin Bearer.

III. the same pace must be. Walking with God implies that at the same pace the feet lift along the path. He knows what a slow, struggling pace ours is. He knows how our faltering feet drag along on the heavenly road. God will not let His feeble child walk cheerlessly alone, far behind Him.

IV. Going the same way must be. When two walk together, one face does not look one way, and the other face the other way. Both step onward side by side. Thus it is with us and the Lord, our Companion. (J. Bailey, A. M.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 8. He hath showed thee, O Man, what is good] All the modes of expiation which ye have proposed are, in the sight of God, unavailable; they cannot do away the evil, nor purify from the guilt of sin. He himself has shown thee what is good; that which is profitable to thee, and pleasing to himself. And what is that? Answer, Thou art –

I. To do justly; to give to all their due.

1. To God his due; thy heart, thy body, soul, and spirit; thy wisdom, understanding, judgment. “To love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.” This is God’s due and right from every man.

2. Thou art to give thy neighbour his due; to do to him as thou wouldst that he should do to thee, never working ill to him.

3. Thou art to give to thyself thy due; not to deprive thy soul of what God has provided for it; to keep thy body in temperance, sobriety, and chastity; avoiding all excesses, both in action and passion.

II. Thou art to love mercy; not only to do what justice requires, but also what mercy, kindness, benevolence, and charity require.

III. But how art thou to do this? Thou art to walk humbly with thy God; , hatsnea, to humble thyself to walk. This implies to acknowledge thy iniquity, and submit to be saved by his free mercy, as thou hast already found that no kind of offering or sacrifice can avail. Without this humiliation of soul there never was, there never can be, any walking With God; for without his mercy no soul can be saved; and he must be THY God before thou canst walk with him. Many, when they hear the nature of sin pointed out, and the way of salvation made plain through the blood of the Lamb, have shut their eyes both against sin and the proper sacrifice for it, and parried all exhortation, threatening, c., with this text: “God requires nothing of us but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him.” Now I ask any man, Art thou willing to stand or fall by this text? And it would cost me neither much time nor much pains to show that on this ground no soul of man can be saved. Nor does God say that this doing justly, c., shall merit eternal glory. No. He shows that in this way all men should walk that this is the duty of EVERY rational being but he well knows that no fallen soul can act thus without especial assistance from him, and that it is only the regenerate man, the man who has found redemption through the blood of the cross, and has God for HIS God, that can thus act and walk. Salvation is of the mere mercy of God alone; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The manner of raising attention, says Bp. Newcome, on Mic 6:1; Mic 6:2, by calling on man to urge his plea in the face of all nature, and on the inanimate creation to hear the expostulation of Jehovah with his people, is truly awakening and magnificent. The words of Jehovah follow in Mic 6:3-5. And God’s mercies having been set before the people, one of them is introduced in a beautiful dramatic form; asking what his duty is towards so gracious a God, Mic 6:6; Mic 6:7. The answer follows in the words of the prophet, Mic 6:8. Some think we have a sort of dialogue between Balak and Balaam, represented to us in the prophetical way. The king of Moab speaks, Mic 6:6. Balaam replies by another question in the two first hemistichs of Mic 6:7. The king of Moab rejoins in the remaining part of the verse; and Balaam replies, Mic 6:8. Bps. Butler and Lowth favour this. I cannot agree.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The prophet answers the inquiry made Mic 6:7 otherwise than these inquirers did expect: You who make this inquiry might have spared this pains.

He, God himself, hath already plainly enough told you this.

Thee, O Jews, every one of you, might from the law of God know what would please your God, and with what you ought to come before him; you might have read, 1Sa 15:22, that he delighteth in your obeying his word; and more early, Deu 10:12,13,20. the same practical rule was laid down.

What is good in itself for you, and well-pleasing to your God; from his own mouth your holy and righteous fathers did know, and so might you, what is that good with which you should appear before God.

What doth the Lord require of thee? what so much? or what without? or doth he require any thing without? It is a question that must be resolved in a negative, comparative, or absolute; the Lord doth not require sacrifice without moral duties, nor doth he require sacrifice so much as such duties after mentioned.

To do justly; to render to every one what is their due, superiors, equals, inferiors, to be equal to all, and oppress none, in body, goods, or name; in all your dealings with men carry a chancery in your own breasts, and do according to equity.

To love mercy; be kind, merciful, and compassionate towards all that need your kindness, do not use severity towards any; though the laws of man did not require you to remit of your pretences, and if you exacted all your right you did not break the laws of men, yet you should have respect to the law of love, and show mercy with delight in showing it, Rom 12:8; 2Co 9:7; Heb 13:16.

To walk humbly with thy God; in all duties which immediately refer to the precepts of the first table, in all religious exercise and deportment toward God, keep the heart sincerely humble toward God; think highly of him, his laws and determinations, murmur not against the final determinations God by his providence makes, complain not of any of his precepts; know and own it, thou art an unprofitable servant if thou hast done all, Luk 17:10.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. HeJehovah.

hath showed theelongago, so that thou needest not ask the question as if thou hadst neverheard (Mic 6:6; compare Deu 10:12;Deu 30:11-14).

what is good“thegood things to come” under Messiah, of which “the law hadthe shadow.” The Mosaic sacrifices were but suggestiveforeshadowings of His better sacrifice (Heb 9:23;Heb 10:1). To have this “good”first “showed,” or revealed by the Spirit, is theonly basis for the superstructure of the moral requirements whichfollow. Thus the way was prepared for the Gospel. The banishment ofthe Jews from Palestine is designed to preclude the possibility oftheir looking to the Mosaic rites for redemption, and shuts them upto Messiah.

justly . . . mercypreferredby God to sacrifices. For the latter being positiveordinances, are only means designed with a view to the former,which being moral duties are the ends, and ofeverlasting obligation (1Sa 15:22;Hos 6:6; Hos 12:6;Amo 5:22; Amo 5:24).Two duties towards man are specifiedjustice, orstrict equity; and mercy, or a kindly abatement of what wemight justly demand, and a hearty desire to do good to others.

to walk humbly with thyGodpassive and active obedience towards God. The three moralduties here are summed up by our Lord (Mt23:23), “judgment, mercy, and faith” (in Lu11:42, “the love of God”). Compare Jas1:27. To walk with God implies constant prayer andwatchfulness, familiar yet “humble” converse with God(Gen 5:24; Gen 17:1).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

He hath showed me, O man, what [is] good,…. This is not the answer of the prophet to the body of the people, or to any and every one of the people of Israel; but of Balaam to Balak, a single man, that consulted with him, and put questions to him; particularly what he should do to please the Lord, and what righteousness he required of him, that would be acceptable to him; and though he was a king, he was but a man, and he would have him know it that he was no more, and as such addresses him; and especially when he is informing him of his duty to God; which lay not in such things as he had proposed, but in doing that which was good, and avoiding that which was evil, in a moral sense: and this the Lord had shown him by the light of nature; which is no other than the work of the law of God written in the hearts of the Heathens, by which they are directed to do the good commanded in the law, and to shun the evil forbidden by it; see Ro 2:14;

and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly; or “judgment” e; to exercise public judgment and justice, as a king, among his subjects; to do private and personal justice between man and man; to hurt no man’s person, property, and character; to give to everyone their due, and do as he would desire to be done by; which as it is agreeable to the law of God, so to the light of nature, and what is shown, required, and taught by it:

and to love mercy; not only to show mercy to miserable objects, to persons in distress; to relieve the poor and indigent; to clothe the naked, and feed the hungry; but to delight in such exercises; and which a king especially should do, whose throne is established by mercy, and who is able, and should be munificent; and some Heathen princes, by their liberality, have gained the name of benefactors, “Euergetes”, as one of the Ptolemies did; see Lu 22:25; such advice Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar, a Heathen prince, as agreeable to the light of nature; see Da 4:27;

and to walk humbly with thy God? his Creator and Benefactor, from whom he had his being, and all the blessings of life, and was dependent upon him; and therefore, as a creature, should behave with humility towards his Creator, acknowledging his distance from him, and the obligations he lay under to him; and even though a king, yet his God and Creator was above him, King of kings, and Lord of lords, to whom he owed his crown, sceptre, and kingdom, and was accountable to him for all his administrations: and this “walking humbly” is opposed to “walking in pride”, which kings are apt to do; but God can humble them, and bring them low, as Heathen kings have been obliged to own; see Da 2:21.

e “judicium”, V. L. Munster; “jus”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The prophet therefore proceeds in Mic 6:8 to overthrow these outward means of reconciliation with God, and reminds the people of the moral demands of the law. Mic 6:8. “They have told thee, O man, what is good, and what Jehovah requires of thee, simply to do right, and love good, and walk humbly with thy God.” , impersonal, “one has told,” or they have told thee, namely Moses in the law. The opinion that Jehovah should be supplied as the subject is a very improbable one, for the simple reason that Jehovah is expressly mentioned in the second dependent clause. The use of , nisi, as in the similar connection of thought in Deu 10:12, may be accounted for from the retrospective allusion to the gifts mentioned by the people: not outward sacrifices of any kind, but only the fulfilment of three following duties: namely, above all things, doing righteousness and exercising love. These two embrace all the commandments of the second table, of whose fulfilment Israel thought so little, that it was addicted to the very opposite, – namely, injustice, oppression, and want of affection (vid., Mic 2:1-2, Mic 2:8; Mic 3:2-3, Mic 3:9 ff., Mic 6:10 ff.). There is also a third: humble walk with God, i.e., in fellowship with God, as Israel, being a holy priestly nation, ought to walk. Without these moral virtues, sacrificial worship was a spiritless opus operatum , in which God had no pleasure (see at 1Sa 15:22 and Hos 6:6).

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

He then says that God had shown by his Law what is good; and then he adds what it is, to do justice, to love mercy, or kindness, and to be humbled before God. It is evident that, in the two first particulars, he refers to the second table of the Law; that is to do justice, and to love mercy (169) Nor is it a matter of wonder that the Prophet begins with the duties of love; for though in order the worship of God precedes these duties, and ought rightly to be so regarded, yet justice, which is to be exercised towards men, is the real evidence of true religion. The Prophet, therefore, mentions justice and mercy, not that God casts aside that which is principal — the worship of his name; but he shows, by evidences or effects, what true religion is. Hypocrites place all holiness in external rites; but God requires what is very different; for his worship is spiritual. But as hypocrites can make a show of great zeal and of great solicitude in the outward worship of God, the Prophets try the conduct of men in another way, by inquiring whether they act justly and kindly towards one another, whether they are free from all fraud and violence, whether they observe justice and show mercy. This is the way our Prophet now follows, when he says, that God’s Law prescribes what is good, and that is, to do justice — to observe what is equitable towards men, and also to perform the duties of mercy.

He afterwards adds what in order is first, and that is, to humble thyself to walk with God: (170) it is thus literally, “And to be humble in walking with thy God.” No doubt, as the name of God is more excellent than any thing in the whole world, so the worship of him ought to be regarded as of more importance than all those duties by which we prove our love towards men. But the Prophet, as I have already said, was not so particular in observing order; his main object was to show how men were to prove that they seriously feared God and kept his Law: he afterwards speaks of God’s worship. But his manner of speaking, when he says, that men ought to be humble, that they may walk with their God, is worthy of special notice. Condemned, then, is here all pride, and also all the confidence of the flesh: for whosoever arrogates to himself even the least thing, does, in a manner, contend with God as with an opposing party. The true way then of walking with God is, when we thoroughly humble ourselves, yea, when we bring ourselves down to nothing; for it is the very beginning of worshipping and glorifying God when men entertain humble and low opinion of themselves. Let us now proceed —

(169) The expression is remarkable — to love mercy, or benevolence, beneficence, or kindness; it is not only to show mercy or kindness, but to love it, so as to take pleasure and delight in it. — Ed.

(170) The words are, והצנע לכת עם-אלהיך. The verb צנע occurs nowhere else but as a passive participle in Pro 11:2; but its meaning there is evident, for it is opposed to pride, זדון, which means a swelling pride, such as fills one with high notions of one’s self. Then the opposite of this is to be humble from a sense of one’s own emptiness. As it is here to the infinitive Hiphil, its literal meaning is what Calvin assigns to it — tohumble one’s self. And the best rendering of this line would be — “And to humble thyself to walk with God.” The Septuagint renders it ετοιμον εναι — to be ready; Theodotion, ασφαλιζου; Vulgate, solicitum But these seem not to have understood the word. The Welsh version is exactly and literally the Hebrew — (lang. cy) Ac ymostwng I rodio gyda ‘th Dduw. Gostwng is to humble, and by adding (lang. cy) ym , and dropping the g, the verb has exactly the meaning of the Hiphil in Hebrew—to humble one’s self. They are, indeed, some verbs in Welsh which admit of all the modifications of the Hebrew verbs, being active, passive, causative, and reflective. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(8) To do justly . . .God setteth more by mercy than by sacrifice. So also in Ecclesiastes: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Mic 6:8. He hath shewed thee, O man, &c. See here the true spirit of the law of the Lord! See here what makes a true Israelite! A truth, which the carnal Jews could never comprehend. In vain did their legislator and their prophets inculcate it upon every occasion. They had always recourse to their gross conceptions, their attachment to sacrifices, and merely external services: herein they imagined their piety, their religion, to consist; while they neglected the more essential duties of man, and the practice of the most solid virtues, justice, benevolence, and piety. Compare Tit 2:12. Houbigant reads, I will shew thee, O man, &c.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mic 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Ver. 8. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good ] i.e. what is right, just, and acceptable to himself. He showed it by the light of Nature; for Aristotle (Nature’s secretary) saith, It is not likely that God is so well pleased with the costliness of the sacrifices as with the godliness of the sacrifices. He hath showed it much more by the light of Scripture; there he hath told thee what is the unum necessarium, one thing necessary; in comparison whereof all other things are but side businesses; what is the totum hominis, the whole duty of man, sc. to “fear God, and keep his commandments,”Ecc 12:13Ecc 12:13 ; what is the bonum hominis, as here, yea, the summum bonum, or chiefest good of man attainable in this life, viz. communion with God and conformity to God.

And what doth the Lord require of thee ] But thee? Quia in omni creatura terrena nihil melius fecit te, ipse quaerit te a te, quia perdideras te in te, as Augustine elegantly paraphraseth this text: Inasmuch as God hath among all earthly creatures made nothing better than thee, therefore he requireth thee of thee.

But to do justly, and to love mercy ] This is the sum of the second table; as that which followeth is of the first, to walk humbly with thy God. Here then is a brief of the whole Bible, a little Bible, as the eleventh to the Hebrews is by one not unfitly called a little book of martyrs. Do this and live: do this here enjoined, and thou shalt never fall; yea, thou shalt go gallantly into heaven, as St Peter hath it, 2Pe 1:10-11 . Certa semper sunt in paucis, saith Tertullian. Things simply necessary, whether to be believed or practised, are few in number but many in virtue; in sight small, but great in weight; like gold, which being solid, is contracted into a narrow room; but may be drawn into so large an extent that one angel may cover an acre of ground, as the naturalists have observed. To do justly is the duty, not only of magistrates, whom God hath intrusted with the administration of his earthly kingdom, by the due execution of vindictive and remunerative justice, but also of all other persons in their various places and stations, whose rule must be that golden saying of our Saviour, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets,” Mat 7:12 . See Trapp on “ Mat 7:12 “

And to love mercy ] This is more than to show mercy; for that a man may do, and yet, for want of love, lose all, 1Co 1:3 . He must not only draw out his sheaf, but his soul to the hungry, Isa 58:10 , nor distribute spiritual alms, but do it out of deep affection, as Titus, 2Co 7:15 ; he must be “ready to distribute, willing to communicate,” 1Ti 6:18 ; his mercy must flow from him as water doth from the fountain, or light from the sun; it must not be wrung from him, as verjuice a from a crab apple, or as distilled water is forced out by the heat of the fire. Let the love of Christ constrain us to look out some of his receivers (as David did Jonathan’s flock), to whom we may show mercy for his sake. What though we be weak, yet if willing to show mercy, God accepteth according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not, 2Co 8:12 . The widow’s mite is beyond the rich man’s magnificence, because it came out of a richer mind. The apostle bids, “put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,” Col 3:12 , such as the jailer had toward Paul and Silas; such as the Samaritan had toward the wounded man by the wayside; such as those primitive Christians had, who came to the church with strong affections, with large contributions, Act 4:34 . The like is foretold of Tyre, when converted, Isa 23:18 ; and of Ethiopia, Psa 68:31 , that she shall “hastily stretch her hands unto God,” Heb. she shall make them run, noting her readiness and speediness in giving her goods unto the saints. The tender mercies of the Almighty, shed forth abundantly upon his, leave a compassionate frame upon their hearts, and do dye their thoughts, as the dye vat doth the cloth.

And to walk humbly with thy God ] Or, bashfully, with a holy shamefacedness, and solicitousness of doing anything that may offend the eyes of God’s glory. “Yea, what care,” saith the apostle, 2Co 7:11 , sc. of walking worthy of the Lord, unto all-pleasing, Col 1:10 , as proving your hearts and lives to him in every part and point of obedience. This the Lord in a mystery taught his people, Deu 23:13-14 , when commanding them to cover their excrements with a paddle, he giveth this reason thereof: “For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.” They that stand in the presence of princes must be every way exact; and give them all due respect. Now a good man, like a good angel, is ever in God’s presence; and must therefore walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called, with all lowliness and meekness, Eph 4:1-2 , with all modesty, and demission of mind and of demeanour (as the word here signifieth), and especially when he draweth nigh to God in holy duties. Then it must be his care to exercise a threefold humility. First, precedent: before he sets upon God’s service, he must in heart devote and dedicate all that he is, and hath, as a due debt to the Almighty, saying with David, 1Ch 29:14 , It is of thine own, Lord, that I give thee: , as that good Emperor Justinian said. The second is concomitant; when in the performance of good duties he hath grace (this lovely grace of humility especially), “whereby he may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear,” Heb 12:28 ; which is nothing else but an awful respect to the Divine majesty, with whom we have to do, Heb 4:13 . The third is subsequent; when after he hath done his best he is dejected in the sense of his many failings in the manner; and looking on his plumes, he looketh also on his black feet, and is abashed and abased before the Lord. Lo, this is to humble himself to walk with his God. And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

a The acid juice of green or unripe grapes, crab apples, or other sour fruit, expressed and formed into a liquor; formerly much used in cooking, as a condiment, or for medicinal purposes. D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Micah

GOD’S REQUIREMENTS AND GOD’S GIFT

Mic 6:8 .

This is the Prophet’s answer to a question which he puts into the mouth of his hearers. They had the superstitious estimate of the worth of sacrifice, which conceives that the external offering is pleasing to God, and can satisfy for sin. Micah, like his great contemporary Isaiah, and the most of the prophets, wages war against that misconception of sacrifice, but does not thereby protest against its use. To suppose that he does so is to misunderstand his whole argument. Another misuse of the words of my text is by no means uncommon to-day. One has heard people say, ‘We are plain men; we do not understand your theological subtleties; we do not quite see what you mean by “Repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus Christ.” “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God,” that is my religion, and I leave all the rest to you.’ That is our religion too, but notice that word ‘require.’ It is a harsh word, and if it is the last word to be said about God’s relation to men, then a great shadow has fallen upon life.

But there is another word which Micah but dimly caught uttered amidst the thunders of Sinai, and which you and I have heard far more clearly. The Prophet read off rightly God’s requirements , but he had not anything to say about God’s gifts . So his word is a half-truth, and the more clearly it is seen, and the more earnestly a man tries to live up to the standard of the requirements laid down here, the more will he feel that there is something else needed, and the more will he see that the great central peculiarity and glory of Christianity is not that it reiterates or alters God’s requirements, but that it brings into view God’s gifts. ‘To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God,’ is possible only through repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you suppose that these words of my text disclose the whole truth about God’s relation to men, and men’s to God, you have failed to apprehend the flaming centre of the Light that shines from heaven.

I. So, then, the first thing that I wish to suggest is God’s requirements.

Now, I do not need to say more than just a word or two about the summing-up in my text of the plain, elementary duties of morality and religion. It covers substantially the same ground, in a condensed form, as does the Decalogue, only that Moses began with the deepest thing and worked outwards, as it were; laying the foundation in a true relation to God, which is the most important, and from which will follow the true relation to men. Micah begins at the other end, and starting with the lesser, the more external, the purely human, works his way inwards to that which is the centre and the source of all.

‘To do justly,’ that is elementary morality in two words. Whatever a man has a right to claim from you, give him; that is the sum of duty. And yet not altogether so, for we all know the difference between a righteous man and a good man, and how, if there is only rigidly righteous action, there is something wanting to the very righteousness of the action and to the completeness of the character. ‘To do’ is not enough; we must get to the heart, and so ‘ love mercy.’ Justice is not all. If each man gets his deserts, as Shakespeare says, ‘who of us shall scape whipping?’ There must be the mercy as well as the justice. In a very deep sense no man renders to his fellows all that his fellows have a right to expect of him, who does not render to them mercy. And so in a very deep sense, mercy is part of justice, and you have not given any poor creature all that that poor creature has a right to look for from you, unless you have given him all the gracious and gentle charities of heart and hand. Justice and mercy do, in the deepest view, run into one.

Then Micah goes deeper. ‘And to walk humbly with thy God.’ Some people would say that this summary of the divine requirements is defective, because there is nothing in it about a man’s duty to himself, which is as much a duty as his duty to his fellows, or his duty to God. But there is a good deal of my duty to myself crowded into that one word, ‘humbly.’ For I suppose we might almost say that the basis of all our obligations to our own selves lies in this, that we shall take the right view-that is, the lowly view-of ourselves. But I pass that.

‘To walk humbly with thy God.’ ‘Can two walk together unless they be agreed?’ For walking with God there must be communion, based in love, and resulting in imitation. And that communion must be constant, and run through all the life, like a golden thread through some web. So, then, here is the minimum of the divine requirements, to give everybody what he has a right to, including the mercy to which he has a right, to have a lowly estimate of myself, and to live continually grasping the hand of God, and conscious of His overshadowing wing at all moments, and of conformity to His will at every step of the road. That is the minimum; and the people who so glibly say, ‘That is my religion,’ have little consciousness of how far-reaching and how deep-down-going the requirements of this text are. The requirements result from the very nature of God, and our relation to Him, and they are endorsed by our own consciences, for we all know that these, and nothing less than these are the duties that we owe to God. So much for God’s requirements.

II. Our failure.

There is not one of us that has come up to the standard. Man after man may be conceived of as bringing in his hands the actions of his life, and laying them in the awful scales which God’s hand holds. In the one are God’s requirements, in the other my life; and in every case down goes the weight, and ‘weighed in the balances we are altogether lighter than vanity.’ We stand before the great Master in the school, and one by one we take up our copybooks; and there is not one of them that is not black with blots and erasures and swarming with errors. The great cliff stands in front of us with the victor’s prize on its topmost ledge, and man after man tries to climb, and falls bruised and broken at the base. ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’ Micah’s requirements come to every man that will honestly take stock of his life and his character as the statement of an unreached and unreachable ideal to which he never has climbed nor ever can climb.

Oh, brethren! if these words are all the words that are to be said about God and me, then I know not what lies before the enlightened conscience except shuddering despair, and a paralysing consciousness of inevitable failure. I beseech you, take these words, and go apart with them, and test your daily life by them. God requires me to do justly. Does there not rise before my memory many an act in which, in regard to persons and in regard to circumstances, I have fallen beneath that requirement? He requires me ‘to love mercy.’ He requires me ‘to walk humbly,’ and I have often been inflated and self-conceited and presumptuous. He requires me to walk with Himself, and I have shaken away His hand from me, and passed whole days without ever thinking of Him, and ‘the God in whose hands’ my ‘breath is, and whose are all’ my ‘ways,’ I have ‘not glorified.’ I cannot hammer this truth into your consciences. You have to do it for yourselves. But I beseech you, recognise the fact that you are implicated in the universal failure, and that God’s requirement is God’s condemnation of each of us.

If, then, that is true, that all have come short of the requirement, then there should follow a universal sense of guilt, for there is the universal fact of guilt, whether there be the sense of it or not. There must follow, too, consequences resulting from the failure of each of us to comply with these divine requirements, consequences very alarming, very fatal; and there must follow a darkening of the thought of God. ‘I knew thee that thou wert an austere man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not straw.’ That is the God of all the people who take my text as the last word of their religion-God ‘requires of me. The blessed sun in the heavens becomes a lurid ball of fire when it is seen through the mist of such a conception of the divine character, and its relation to men. There is nothing that so drapes the sky in darkness, and hides out the great light of God, as the thought of His requirements as the last thought we cherish concerning Him.

There follows, too, upon this conception, and the failure that results to fulfil the requirements, a hopelessness as to ever accomplishing that which is demanded of us. Who amongst us is there that, looking back upon his past in so far as it has been shaped by his own effort and his own unaided strength, can look forward to a future with any hope that it will mend the past? Brethren! experience teaches us that we have not fulfilled, and cannot fulfil, what remains our plain duty, notwithstanding our inability to discharge it-viz., ‘To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.’ To think of God’s requirements, and of my own failure, is the sure way to paralyse all activity; just as that man in the parable who said, ‘Thou art an austere man,’ went away and hid his talent in the earth. To think of God’s requirements and my own failures, if heaven has nothing more to say to me than this stern ‘Thou shalt,’ is the short way to despair. And that is why most of us prefer to be immersed in the trivialities of daily life rather than to think of God, and of what He asks from us. For the only way by which some of us can keep our equanimity and our cheerfulness is by ignoring Him and forgetting what He demands, and never taking stock of our own lives.

III. Lastly, my text leads us to think of God’s gift.

I said it is a half-truth, for it only tells us of what He desires us to be, and does not tell us of how we may be it. It is meant, like the law of which it is a condensation, to be the pedagogue , to lead the child to Jesus Christ, the true Master, and the true Gift of God.

God ‘requires.’ Yes, and He requires, in order that we should say to Him, ‘Lord, Thou hast a right to ask this, and it is my blessedness to give it, but I cannot. Do Thou give me what Thou dost require, and then I can.’

The gift of God is Jesus Christ, and that gift meets all our failures. I have spoken of the sense of guilt that rises from the consciousness of failure to keep the requirements of the divine law; and the gift of God deals with that. It comes to us as we lie wounded, bruised, conscious of failure, alarmed for results, sensible of guilt, and dreading the penalties, and it says to us, ‘Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.’ ‘God requires of thee what thou hast not done. Trust yourselves to Me, and all iniquity is passed from your souls.’

I spoke of the hopelessness of future performance, which results from experience of past failures; and the gift of God deals with that. You cannot meet the requirements. Christ will put His Spirit into your spirits, if you will trust yourselves to Him, and then you will meet them, for the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. So, if led by Micah, we pass from God’s requirements to His gifts, look at the change in the aspect which God bears to us. He is no longer standing strict to mark, and stern to judge and condemn: but bending down graciously to help. His last word to us is not ‘Thou shalt do’ but ‘I will give.’ His utterance in the Gospel is not ‘do,’ but it is ‘take’; and the vision of God, which shines out upon us from the life and from the Cross of Jesus Christ, is not that of a great Taskmaster, but that of Him who helps all our weakness, and makes it strength. A God who ‘requires’ paralyses men, shuts men out from hope and joy and fellowship; a God who gives draws men to His heart, and makes them diligent in fulfilling all His blessed requirements.

Think of the difference which the conception of God as giving makes to the spirit in which we work. No longer, like the Israelites in Egypt, do we try to make bricks without straw, and break our hearts over our failures, or desperately abandon the attempt, and live in neglect of God and His will; but joyfully, with the clear confidence that ‘our labour is not in vain in the Lord,’ we seek to keep the commandments which we have learned to be the expressions of His love. One of the Fathers puts all in one lovely sentence: ‘Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.’

Think, too, of the difference which this conception of the giving rather than of the requiring God brings into what we have to do. We have not to begin with effort, we have to begin with faith. The fountain must be filled from the spring before it can send up its crystal pillar flashing in the sunlight; and we must receive by our trust the power to will and to do. First fill the lamp with oil, and let the Master light it, and then let its blaze beam forth. First, we have to go to the giving God, with thanks ‘unto Him for His unspeakable gift’; and then we have to say to Him, ‘Thou hast given me Thy Son. What dost Thou desire that I shall give to Thee?’ We have first to accept the gift, and then, moved by the mercy of God, to ask, ‘Lord I what wilt Thou have me to do?’

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

man. Hebrew. ‘adam. App-14.

mercy = lovingkindness, or grace.

walk humbly. The Hebrew expression (hatzene’ leketh) occurs only here. This verse embodies the principles governing Jehovah’s administration under the Law, but not under the Gospel. Now, He requires faith in the Substitute Whom He has provided for the sinner; and His righteousness must be imputed in grace. See App-63. IX: and 72. Compare also Rom 3:23, Rom 3:24. Eph 2:3-9. Tit 3:5-8, &c.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Life for God

What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?Mic 6:8.

1. Isaiah of Jerusalem and Micah the Morashtite, who lived at the same time, present a striking contrast. Isaiah was by birth an aristocrat, if not of royal descent; Micah was a yeoman from an obscure village. Isaiah was a statesman, Micah an evangelist. Isaiah addressed himself to the largest and highest political issues; Micah dealt with social morality and personal religion. It is not without significance that at first, though not ultimately, the fervent and pointed preaching of Micah was more effective than the majestic statesmanship and sublime teaching of Isaiah. An intensely interesting passage in the Book of Jeremiah (Jer 36:18) reveals the important fact that the famous reformation of Hezekiah was the direct result of the preaching of Micah.

Isaiah and Micah agree absolutely in their essential teaching, but each contemplates the present and the future from his own standpoint. Micah, a humble-minded countryman, realized the special wickedness of the two great Hebrew capitals, Jerusalem and Samaria. He drew a graphic picture of the social vices of the time. The judges were venal, the princes corrupt, the prophets mercenary; mammonism and luxury were rampant; the rich coveted fields and houses, and were ever extending their estates, crushing the poor, and divorcing the people from the soil. Those in authority remorselessly fleeced and flayed the hapless people. On the other hand, there was a most extravagant expenditure. The Temple and the city were made magnificent. But Micah, instead of being carried away by this architectural splendour, saw in the sanctuary and in the palaces of the privileged the blood of the disinherited, the exploited, the down-trodden poor. They build up Zion, he cries out, with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

2. Now God, the King and Judge of His people, comes down from His lofty throne, His awful seat of judgment, to speak to rebellious Israel in another tone and under another character. He has rebuked in vain, He has punished in vain. His people go on sinning and heed none of His judgments. He feels that no small part of their sin is but senseless folly and perverseness. So He comes down not to command but to argue. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; and this is the meaning of Micah as well as of Isaiah. God is resolved to plead His own cause against Israel as though He were an equal; and He invites them to meet Him in the presence of the everlasting hills. For many an age those hills have looked down in silent, unchanging majesty on all the doings and all the sufferings of the people. Through summer and winter, day and night, sunshine and storm, they have remained the same, while one generation after another has been born and has grown up and has died out. In their solemn, stately presence God desires to have the matter argued out as between Him and His people. Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lords controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.

3. There is no attempt of the people to do what they had been invited to do. They will not stand out openly beside the Lord and state their complaints against Him. They neither deny what He has done for them nor yet confess it. They have nothing to plead against Him, yet they will not say so. But they take for granted that He is a hard, grasping, exacting master. They think this argument of His with them is only meant to wring something out of them. So they demand to know how much He will take to let them off. Instead of honestly pleading their cause, they blindly inquire how they may satisfy the demands of the Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

4. The text is the answer given to these wild and desperate questions, not directly by the Lord Himself, but by His holy prophet. The prophet has to speak for God to the people; but he is also himself one of the people, and so his message is that of a man who has gone through the same discipline as themselves. But the difference in his heart from their hearts has made all the course of life have a different look to him from what it has to them; and he speaks out of that which he knows, because he has felt it in himself. Not in language of rebuke or threatening, but in simple appeal to what they too might have known if they would, does he fulfil his office as Gods spokesman among men.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Not the gifts which wealth can buy, not the sacrifices of selfish fear, not these shall bring you near to Him. You have nought to give but what He first bestowed on you, and with a breath could take away again. It is character that He wants, not presentsmoral and spiritual character, integrity of soul, truth in the inward parts, and the pure heart which alone can see God. Not what you bring with you, but what you yourself are, can alone be your passport into His presence. Not your many prayers, not your bended knees, not your psalm singing, not your sound opinions, not your pious customs, your Sabbaths and fasts and many other observances, not these, but your just conduct, your merciful spirit, and your lowly heart, shall open to you the strait gate that leadeth unto life eternal.

In the eighth century b.c., in the heart of a world of idolatrous polytheists, the Hebrew prophets put forth a conception of religion which appears to me to be as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of Pheidias or the science of Aristotle. And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? If any so-called religion takes away from this great saying of Micah, I think it wantonly mutilates, while, if it adds thereto, I think it obscures the perfect ideal of religion.1 [Note: Huxley, in The Nineteenth Century, Dec. 1885.]

The Congressional Library in Washington is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Each alcove of the reading-room is decorated with a distinct and separate design, the decorations in one alcove being in honour of art, in another of history, science, music, philosophy, etc. Before the motto was chosen for the alcove of religion, the Committee entrusted with the matter sent out a request to prominent clergymen and leading religious teachers asking them to send in such for competition. The motto finally selected was the text from MicahAnd what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.1 [Note: A. Lewis, Sermons Preached in England, 221.]

If, indeed, there be a nobler life in us than in these strangely moving atoms,if, indeed, there is an eternal difference between the fire which inhabits them, and that which animates us,it must be shown, by each of us in his appointed place, not merely in the patience, but in the activity of our hope; not merely by our desire, but our labour, for the time when the Dust of the generations of men shall be confirmed for foundations of the gates of the city of God. The human clay, now trampled and despised, will not becannot beknit into strength and light by accidents or ordinances of unassisted fate. By human cruelty and iniquity it has been afflicted;by human mercy and justice it must be raised; and, in all fear or questioning of what is or is not, the real message of creation, or of revelation, you may assuredly find perfect peace, if you are resolved to do that which your Lord has plainly required,and content that He should indeed require no more of you,than to do Justice, to love Mercy, and to walk humbly with Him.2 [Note: Ruskin, Ethics of the Dust, Lect. x. 121 (Works, xviii. 360).]

I

Do justly

1. Justice, righteousnessthat is the basis of all moral character, the essential quality of a good man. It is a great word this righteousness, and covers all our relations to each other and to God, forbidding wrong of every kind and under any plea, placing all men, high and low, rich and poor, wise and foolish, on the same moral level, and calling us to do justly to them all alike, for that is the due of the meanest and the weakest as much as of the greatest.

Justice is one of Gods own glorious attributes. He is a just God; there is no unrighteousness in Him. He would have His children to be like Him, and thus reflect His image. The child of God should be just to his servants, his customers, his employees, to all with whom he has any dealings. Masters should be just to their servants, giving them a fair equivalent for their work. Servants ought to deal justly with their employers in filling their working hours with honest labour instead of trying to escape with doing as little as possible.

Justice had been taught Israel by institutions like the jubilee year, which rectified the wrongs that periodically recur in complicated societygiving liberty to helpless slaves, and restoration of land to those from whom it had been alienated. Merciful provision for the poor was made through institutions from which the twentieth century has still much to learn, even while we thankfully acknowledge the labours of good men who have abrogated the cruel acts of olden time in England. Consideration for others was taught by ordinances like those which forbade the second going over of the vines and the gleaning of the fields. Even capitalists and owners were to be taught that they had no right to secure to themselves all they could get. The claim of the labourer for a days wage for the days work was not to be neglected, was not even to be delayed in settlement, and the vicious principles of long credit and consequent usury were hit hard by Mosaic laws. On the other hand, mans relations to God were indicated by the Sabbath days, which were Gods claim on time; by the tithes, which were Gods claim on income; by the first-fruits, which were Gods claim on increase; by thank-offerings, which were Gods claim on thankfulness; and by burnt-offerings, which symbolized Gods claim on a mans whole self. The more we study the institutions of the old dispensation, the more clearly we see the truth of Micahs declaration so far as every son of Israel was concerned: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good.

2. What is our obligation to be just? Is it the civil and criminal courts of law? The large majority of unjust acts are not punishable by these courts. Is it the belief in a coming day of judgment? That is an obligation to self-interest, not to justice. Is it the welfare of the greatest number? In the order of nature number one is the greatest, and each man is for himself. Is it the existence of a power called conscience? That is the very thing to be explained. What is conscience? It means literally a knowing together. In the things of this world it is the sight of my brother in my own looking-glass, my seeing of him in me. In the most common act of justice, I have, I must have, a double vision; he and I are reflected in one mirror. There can be no justice without sympathy, and there can be no sympathy without substitution.

It is a familiar doctrine of theologians that Christ offered up a sacrifice to satisfy Divine justiceto pay the debts of man. It is truer than some of these theologians dream of. It is not an abnormal, a miraculous thing. It is the illustration of a universal principle which holds always, everywhere. To estimate the debt of another is not an easy thing; it demands a sacrifice. It was a bold and a deep insight which ventured to affirm that Christ Himself was no exception to the law. To estimate the debts of man He, too, had to descendto sacrifice. He, too, had to begin, not only by self-forgetfulness, but by incorporating a new selfa servants form. He had to put Himself in the place, in the environment, of the debtor. He had to consider his circumstances, to live within his experience. He had to measure the influence of his heredity, the force of his passions, the strength of his temptations, the contagion of his surroundings, the power of his examples, the bane of his upbringing. All this and infinitely more, to Christ, to us, to every living spirit, is involved in estimating the moral debt of another.

When we affirm that justice is an attribute of God, our conception of justice is a human one, but if man is made in the image of God, as Christianity affirms, and God not fashioned after the image of man, the fact that it is a human conception does not prevent it from being an attribute which really exists in God; and when we affirm that Gods justice is perfect we mean that Gods omniscience gives Him a perfect knowledge of the minutest circumstances connected with each individual, and that this enables Him to estimate correctly the precise degree of his responsibility. This knowledge man has not, and, therefore, as far as this ignorance prevails, his estimate of the character of an act is imperfect, and, consequently, the judgment formed of it partakes of the same degree of imperfection. But this defect of our knowledge does not prevent our conception of justice from being a true representation of that attribute as it exists in God. The only difference between justice as administered by God and justice as administered by man is that the omniscience of God enables Him to take into account the circumstances of a mans birth, of his surroundings, and of those tendencies which have been transmitted from ancestors, with the formation of which as an individual he has had nothing to do, and for which he is therefore irresponsible. This a human judge is incapable of doing, and therefore justice, as administered by him, is necessarily imperfect.1 [Note: C. A. Row, Future Retribution, 24.]

II

Love mercy

1. There is an instinctive mercy in the heart of man. It is described by one wordpity. Pity is the instinct of mercy, and it belongs to man as man. But is pity also the love of mercy? Love supposes some object of attraction. Does pity imply an object of attraction? Is the sensation of pity one of attraction at all? In the living being attraction involves a certain amount of pleasure. Is not the sensation of pity one of pain? It is true men go to witness on the stage scenes of horror. But they do not go on account of the horror; they wish to see the situations of dramatic power which the horror will bring forth. Pity is a sensation which in itself and by itself is painful, and therefore repulsive. The men of the most pitiful nature are precisely those who wish most to avoid it. This is surely not the love of mercy.

Where will you find a kinder-hearted soul than Oliver Goldsmith? No beggars cry could reach his ear without emptying his pocket. And yet, if Oliver saw the beggar in the distance, he turned the corner to escape him. It was not the wish to protect his money; it was the desire to escape the pain of a sad story. How many a young minister making his parochial rounds feels exactly the same in relation to the contact with sorrow!2 [Note: G. Matheson, The Bible Definition of Religion, 35.]

2. But the prophet tells us that we must love mercy. There is no religion without love. The man who does good, but does not love, is not a good man. He pretends to be, but would be different if he could. Hence, while the prophet begins with doing, he reminds us that our doing justly must spring from a corresponding inward motive, which he describes as loving mercy. This is the only guarantee that we shall act in accordance with justice. It alone supplies the power which shall keep us up to this standard of conduct in face of difficulty or strong temptation to forsake it. If a man does not love a principle or the course of action which is prescribed, he will find some way of evading or only partially recognizing it. And to do justly is often so directly opposed to what seems to our advantage at the time, or to what our natural instincts prefer, that nothing will enable us to overcome these but the love which pays homage to righteousness for its own sake, and finds more satisfaction in doing it than could possibly be found under any circumstances by its sacrifice. And it is not only justice we are to love but mercy. For the best way to secure that a lower duty shall be done is to love a higher one that embraces it. Even to love to give a man what is really his due is not to be governed by the most generous of motives. It encourages a precise and rigid way of looking at things. It is always ready with its foot-rule to see that it gives no more, if it gives no less, than the precise measurement. It stands with the scales in its hands (as Justice was fabled to do of old) and is mainly concerned to see that the beam of the balance is straight. But we are required to do something more than this. We are to love mercy.

Many fulfil the first requirement but stop short at the second. They do justly, but they do not love mercy. They are as upright as a marble column, and as cold and as hard. They lift themselves up in their integrity like some snow-clad mountain peak; but it is always winter-time with them; no gentle beam ever falls on them to thaw the ice, and make the generous stream to flow in blessing to the valley beneath. They never ask any favours and they never wish to give any.

A sage, Baroka by name, while walking one day in a crowded market-place, suddenly encountered the prophet Elijah, and asked him, whoout of that vast multitudewould receive the highest reward in the Future State. Whereupon the Prophet pointed out a weird-looking persona turnkey, because he was merciful to his prisoners. And next, two commonplace workmen who were walking through the crowd pleasantly chatting together. The sage instantly rushed after them and asked In what consists your special merit? But they, much puzzled, replied: We are but poor workmen. All that can be said for us is that we are always of a cheerful spirit and good-natured. When we meet anybody who seems sad we join him, and we talk to him, and cheer him till he forgets his grief. And if we know of two persons who have quarrelled, we talk to them and persuade them till we have made them friends again. Nothing more. This is our whole life.1 [Note: Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 21, 1913.]

Small things are best;

Grief and unrest

To rank and wealth are given;

But little things

On little wings

Bear little souls to heaven.

3. When a man loves mercy and exercises mercy towards men because of his love for humanity, he will have learned that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and to look upon all he has and is as a means to an end. If God has given a man an abundance of this worlds goods, it is not that he may sit in idleness, but that he may become the benefactor of men. If He has given one broad shoulders and strong muscles, it is not that he may tyrannize over the strong, but that he may lift up the weak. If to another He has given great powers of mind and heart, it is not that he may make others his servants, but that those powers may be utilized to the blessing of humanity.

Think of that noble Father Damien among the lepers at Molokaithe lovely island in a smiling sea, which looks a Paradise, but is the home of miserable lepers who long for death. Their only hope has come through that brave messenger of mercy who was himself stricken with the fell disease and wrote to a friend: Almighty God knows what is best for my sanctification and with that conviction I say daily a good Fiat voluntas tualet Thy will be done.

Think, lad, of living ones life, ones life with such as these;

To leave all bright and fair for horror and foul disease,

For the sick that none can cure, the sore that none can aid

Do you think the stoutest heart could face it undismayed?

And moreto know full well its like will come to pass,

Ones own clean body and sound shall be this hideous mass,

This loathsome, shuddering heap one fain would put away

In the breast of the kindly earth, to hide from the eye of day.

He heard the call nor stayed: My Master, here am I!

His work was there, and he went to do his work and die.

Hope to the hopeless he bore, and the comfort that comforteth

To the hearts of men who lay in the vale of the Shade of Death.

He has loved and worked for the lepers, its now the fourteenth year,

And the stroke has fallen at last, and the end it draweth near;

He will love and work to the end, as surely the martyrs can

Who follow the bleeding feet of the martyr Son of Man,

The feet that fathomd and scaled, or ever their rest was won,

The awful abyss of love, and its heights that know the sun.

III

Walk humbly with thy God

Here we have a word which occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Translators have struggled with it. The earliest of them, the Greek translators of the Septuagint, render it Prepare yourselves to walk with God. It seems to point, in the original, to that devotion of ones self to the purpose of knowing God which leads one to put everything else aside, to examine his own heart and life, to humble himself into a sense of his own ill desert which shall, as it were, empty his heart of all else, that God may come and dwell in it. It points to a private and personal discipline, and recalls the many other instances in the Bible where a man is spoken of as dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, or entering into secret intercourse with his Maker.

1. Walking with God implies a personal faith in God. This is something more than a mere acknowledgment of Gods existence, for the devils believe and tremble: it is something more than a belief in an infinite powerit implies a faith in a personal God. A man cannot walk with the God of Pantheism or with the God of Deism. He may recognize the greatness of the latter, and have spiritual communion with the former, but he can only walk with the God of Theisma personal, present God, who is the God of Christianity.

It is the peculiarity of the Bible that it makes God a personality, brings Him down into communion with men. Philosophy demonstrates and proves that there is a God by a slow logical process, and finally lifts us up on a great platform where we can take a telescopic view of the Almighty. Oriental mysticism meditates about God; it stands afar off and gazes upon the effluence of His glory. The Bible gives us a sense of a personal relation to Him. It is full of it. The Psalms overrun with it, and that is the reason why they live for ever, and are read more than any other part of the Old Testament. They are all glowing with a sense of the personal presence of God. They make us feel that affection, wisdom, goodness are not abstractions, but qualities of a kindred personality. That is the peculiarity of the Bible. It makes God a kindred personality; He hears our prayers and consorts with our weakness. There is a personal God revealed in the Bible, with whom we may commune and walk. As we do, we become like Him, and we obtain, therefore, in ourselves the real springs and powers of all good feeling and all good action. The essence of religion is in walking humbly with God; while we do this and when we do this we shall love mercy, we shall do justly.

Personal Christianity is a communion of the soul with the living God through the mediation of Jesus Christ. Herein is really included all that belongs to the characteristic life of Christendomrevelation and faith, conversion and the comfort of forgiveness, the joy of faith and the service of love, lonely communion with God, and life in Christian fellowship. All this is only truly Christian when it is experienced as communion with the living God through the mediation of Christ. When we believe in a mans personal Christianity we are convinced that he stands in that relation towards God in which all this takes place.1 [Note: W. Herrmann, The Communion of the Christian with God, 9.]

2. Walking humbly with God implies not only a personal faith in a personal God, but a personal faith in a personal God of infinite greatness, in the presence of whom humility must be shown. We must bow low and become as little children in order to enter His Kingdom. Such a faith in God means obedience and love of God. We are to love and hate what He loves and hates, for only as they are agreed can two walk together. The nations that have this faith in God most fully will survive longest. The people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The Jew believed himself to be walking with God, and to be walking alone; he claimed a light which the surrounding nations had not. His attitude towards the God with whom he walked was deeply humblerather too humble; he was afraid to commune with Him. But though he was too tremulous to enjoy his walk with God, he had great pride in the reputation of it. He wanted the surrounding nations to look at him as he passed by. He desired men to see that he had a peculiar privilege, that he was a marked man, a distinguished man. He wished those on the worlds road to be aware that he was one out of the commonchosen, precious. His walk with God was not a state of pride, but it was a source of pride. He boasted of it; he displayed it. On the ground of it he separated himself from his kind. He dwelt apart from the nations. He recognized haughtily and at a distance the brotherhood of common men. He flourished in his hand that torch which gave him superior illumination, and he bade the outside multitude attend and admire. Such is the pride which Micah says pure religion must conquer.

Humility is the great ornament and jewel of Christian religion; that whereby it is distinguished from all the wisdom of the world; it not having been taught by the wise men of the Gentiles, but first put into a discipline, and made part of a religion, by our Lord Jesus Christ; who propounded Himself imitable by His disciples so signally in nothing as in the twin sisters of meekness and humility; learn of me, for I am meek and humble; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For all the world, all that we are, and all that we have, our bodies and our souls, our actions and our sufferings, our conditions at home, our accidents abroad, our many sins and our seldom virtues, are as so many arguments to make our souls dwell low in the deep valleys of humility.1 [Note: Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living, chap. ii. sec. iv.]

3. Is this everything? If to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with ones God is all that is required, what advantage hath Christianity? Much every way, but chiefly in this: man has ever known his duty, but he has ever lacked the power to fulfil it. Christianity alone has supplied the power. The world has been like a well-constructed but motionless machine; it needed what Christianity has suppliedmotive power. Call it conscience, moral sense, natural religion, what you will, man has ever had a sacred witness and a faithful monitor; but what has that availed? The bitter cry of human helplessness has ever been going up:

Ah, if he gives not arms as well as rules,

What can he more than tell us we are fools?

Christianity has given arms, whilst every other system merely furnished rules.

The essentials of a religious life have always been the same. The difference between the Old Testament and the New is not a difference of kind, but a difference of degree. Jesus Christ repeatedly affirmed that He had not come to inaugurate a new religion. Think not that I came to destroy the law and the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. The law was given for a foundation, the grace and truth of Jesus Christ for fulfilment; just as the artist first places on the canvas the firm clear outlines of his figures, then lays on the colours which give grace to the form and expression to the features.

Our Lord has really added nothing to these words of Micah. What He has done has been to put these truths in a new setting; to read them with a wider and deeper application; to embody them in His own life, and thus to enforce them with greater authority; to give us a new motive for obedience, and greater power to obey. What does the cross of Christ say to us but Do justly? It shows us the enormity of sin, its awful consequences, its proper deserving, the rigour of the Divine justice which could not forgive without such satisfaction. What, again, does the cross of Christ say to us but Love mercy? There is the crowning exhibition of pity and love! We look, and say with John, If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. And it is at the cross that we find the way to walk humbly with our God. Every barrier has been removed there. Through Him who hangs there we have access unto the Father.

Speaking at the Keswick Convention in 1902, the Bishop of Durham (Dr. Handley Moule) remarked: Twenty years ago, it was said to me by a young Oriental student at Cambridge, just on the verge of stepping into the full light of God and joy in Christ, after long and cautious inquiries into Christianityit was said to me in words that I cannot forgetI have been reading your sacred Book; and the difference between it and our sacred books in the East is not altogether in its precepts; for there are wonderful precepts, high and great, also in our books; but your Book, and yours alone, contains, I see, the secret of how they may be done.

The power of man to stand between abstract truth upon the one side and the concrete facts of life upon the other comes from the co-existence in his human nature of two different powers, without the possession of both of which no man possesses a complete humanity. One of these powers is the power of knowing, and the other is the power of loving. The power of knowing, however the knowledge may be sought or won, whether by patient study or quick-leaping intuition, including imagination and all the poetic power, faith, trust in authority, the faculty of getting wisdom by experience, everything by which the human nature comes into direct relationship to truth, and tries to learn, and in any degree succeeds in knowingthat is one necessary element of manhood. And the other is Love, the power of sympathetic intercourse with things and people, the power to be touched by the personal nature with which we have to dolove therefore including hate, for hate is only the reverse utterance of love, the negative expression of the souls affection; to hate anything is vehemently to love its opposite. Love thus, as the whole element of personal affection and relationship of every sort, this, too, is necessary, in order that a man may really be a man.

The New Testament tells us of Jesus that He was full of Grace and Truth. Grace and Truth! It must have been in the perfect meeting of those two elements in Him that His mediator-ship, His power to transmute the everlasting truths of God into the immediate help of needy men consisted. He was no rapt self-centred student of the abstract truth; nor was He the merely ready sentimental pitier of the woes of men. But in His whole nature there was finely wrought and combined the union of the abstract and eternal with the special and the personal, which made it possible for Him, without an effort, to come down from the mountain where He had been glorified with the light of God, and take up instantly the cure of the poor lunatic in the valley; or to descend from the hill where He had been praying, to save His disciples half-shipwrecked on the lake; or to turn His back on the comforting angels of Gethsemane, that He might give Himself into the hands of the soldiers who were to lead Him to the cross.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks, Twenty Sermons, 8.]

Life for God

Literature

Balmforth (R.), The New Testament in the Light of the Higher Criticism, 1.

Bowne (B. P.), The Essence of Religion, 73.

Butcher (C. H.), Sermons Preached in the East, 64.

Chapin (E. H.), Gods Requirements, 7.

Cox (S.), Expositions, iii. 70.

Davidson (J. T.), A Good Start, 217.

Davies (J. Ll.), The Gospel and Modern Life, 190.

Dewey (O.), Works, 684.

Faithfull (R. C.), My Place in the World, 207.

Farrar (F. W.), The Silence and the Voices of God, 71.

Fraser (J.), Parochial Sermons, 189.

Gollancz (H.), Sermons and Addresses, 64.

Henson (H. H.), Ad Rem, 109.

Hort (F. J. A.), Village Sermons, ii. 214.

Hughes (H. P.), Essential Christianity, 259.

Kingsley (C.), Sermons for the Times, 81.

Lewis (A.), Sermons Preached in England, 218.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Ezekiel to Malachi, 230.

Matheson (G.), The Bible Definition of Religion, 1.

Moinet (C.), What is Religion? 1.

Neale (J. M.), Sermons on the Blessed Sacrament, 146.

Newbolt (W. C. E.), The Cardinal Virtues, 51.

Parker (J.), City Temple Pulpit, vii. 50.

Smith (W. C.), Sermons, 99.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxvi. (1880), No. 1557.

Stimson (H. A.), The New Things of God, 98.

Thompson (J.), Words of Hope and Cheer, 137.

Christian World Pulpit, xix. 237 (J. Vaughan); xxiii. 322 (R. Balgarnie); xxxiv. 321 (F. W. Farrar); xlvii. 138 (F. Hall); lxviii. 317 (B. Chadwick); lxxvii. 298 (W. B. Selbie).

Church of England Pulpit, l. 309 (H. D. Rawnsley); lv. 110 (H. C. Beeching).

Churchmans Pulpit: Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity, xiii. 420 (H. Goodwin).

Homiletic Review, lxii. 231 (J. H. Melish).

Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 21, 1913.

Methodist Times, Jan. 19, 1911 (F. B. Meyer).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

O man: Rom 9:20, 1Co 7:16, Jam 2:20

what is: 1Sa 12:23, Neh 9:13, Psa 73:28, Lam 3:26, Luk 10:42, Rom 7:16, 2Th 2:16

and what: Deu 10:12, Deu 10:13

to do: Gen 18:19, 1Sa 15:22, Pro 21:3, Ecc 12:13, Isa 1:16-19, Isa 58:6-11, Jer 7:3-6, Hos 6:6, Hos 12:6, Amo 5:24, Zep 2:3, Mat 3:8-10, Mar 12:30-34, Luk 11:42, Tit 2:11, Tit 2:12, 2Pe 1:5-8

love: Psa 37:26, Psa 112:4, Psa 112:9, Isa 57:1, Isa 57:2, Mat 5:7, Mat 18:32-35, Luk 6:36, Eph 4:32, Col 3:12, 1Pe 3:8

walk humbly: Heb. humble thyself to walk, Gen 5:22, Lev 26:41, 2Ch 30:11, 2Ch 32:26, 2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13, 2Ch 33:19, 2Ch 33:23, 2Ch 34:27, Isa 57:15, Isa 66:2, Eze 16:63, Dan 4:37, Mat 5:3, Luk 18:13-17, Rom 10:1-3, Jam 4:6-10, 1Pe 5:5, 1Pe 5:6

Reciprocal: Gen 17:1 – walk Deu 13:4 – walk Deu 16:20 – That which Deu 27:10 – General 2Ki 22:19 – humbled Psa 36:4 – setteth Psa 85:12 – the Lord Ecc 6:12 – who knoweth Isa 1:12 – required Isa 1:17 – seek Isa 5:7 – he looked Jer 9:24 – for Eze 33:14 – that which is lawful and right Amo 5:14 – Seek Mic 6:1 – Arise Zec 7:9 – saying Zec 8:16 – are Mat 7:12 – for Mat 11:30 – my yoke Mat 23:23 – the weightier Mat 25:35 – I was an Luk 2:25 – just Luk 3:13 – Exact Luk 10:37 – He that Joh 6:28 – What Rom 12:3 – not to Heb 13:16 – with such 1Jo 5:3 – and

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

WORSHIP AND CONDUCT

What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Mic 6:8

It is not right to say that this inspired summary of wherein true worship, true ritual, true religion consists was a wholly new thing when Micah spoke.

The law had been all along a schoolmaster to bring the people unto Christ. Before Abraham was Christs Spirit was at work.

It was, however, given to a man of the soil, a simple vine-dresser, to whom life was real, life was earnest, to put into words that burn and shine for ever the noblest views as to the reality of religion ever delivered by a prophet of Old Testament times to the world, the briefest and most appropriate definition of wherein the essence of true worship consists. As we read these words, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? we are obliged to confess that Christ, as has been well said, added nothing to Micahs summary of human duty except the power to act on it.

Micah, the man of the country, in contrast to Isaiah, the city man, was a lover of the woods and of the fields.

I. It was the crofter trouble of those old times which in part caused Micah to speak burning words.As Isaiah had cried woe to the plutocrats who joined house to house and laid field to field till there was no room, who did away with the small holdings, so Micah cries woe upon them also. And the worst of it all was that the rich tyrant class felt itself so respectable that it could not think the judgment of God was possible, and while the heads of Jacob and the princes of the house of Israel had forgotten the elements of justice, were spurning justice and twisting all that is straight, were plucking the very flesh from the bones of the poor by exaction, and by their extortions were devouring the people, the hireling prophets, who were living upon the gains of the great, cried peace so long as they could have a good dinner, and hounded on destruction against those who would not satisfy their demands. While they have aught between their teeth they proclaim peace; and against him who will not lay food to their mouths they sanctify war. Meanwhile, the great palaces at Jerusalem were rising upon the ruin of the people. They all laid in wait for blood. They hunted every man his brother with a net. And that was not the worst of it, for all the while they went about their religious duties with assiduity. They leaned on Jehovah and said, Is not the Lord among us? no evil can happen to us. It was at such a crisis of sham religion divorced from righteousness and justice, sham worship divorced from the walk of godliness, that the patriot Micah perceives that the sin of Jerusalem is not want of zeal in worship, nor rebellion against God, but a real lack of understanding that religion, to be anything, must mean conduct and character, and that Jehovah, if He is God, is a God Who demands that men shall give Him their reason and thought, as well as their emotions and their desire, to fulfil the minutest regulations of ritual or religious ceremonial.

II. An appeal to history.He urges them to believe that like as a father pitieth his children, so as a father will God reason with their reasonable minds. He introduces the idea of a debate or argument between the God of Israel and His people upon the stage of the vast amphitheatre of nature and the silent, listening hills. It is an appeal to history that he makes in every direction. To the south, he tells them, is the wilderness of Egypt, from whence God redeemed His people; there are the clover fields through which Abraham aforetime led his flocks. Here to the north is Adullam, that saved David from the sword of Saul; there the plain of Elah and the brook that runneth like a white ribbon through the plain, where David sought and found the pebbles for his sling. Away over the hills to the north-east is little Bethlehem Ephratah and the tower of the flock that shall one day humble the pride of Jerusalem, when the true Shepherd-Lord shall be born thereBethlehem where Jesse dwelt, and Jesses son first proved himself a man after Jehovahs heart. If men are silent, these historic scenes will find a voice to proclaim the purpose, the patience, and the lovingkindness of the Lord Who redeemed them. Surely these hills and vales will proclaim the righteous deeds of Jehovah, the Deliverer mighty to save; of Jehovah, the covenant God Who keepeth His promise for ever. Now, as one gazes back upon the Old Testament heroes, one sees that, with all their faults, their righteousness lay in conduct. Righteousness was for them not holiness so much as right dealing and kindly dealing between man and man as members of a nation. It was not till later times that righteousness became identified with worship and almsgiving, or, rather, that worship and almsgiving superseded conduct. Not purity of heart so much as right doingthis was what the prophets demanded: justice between class and class, kindness between rich and poor, and humbleness of heart for all the elect of Jehovah. They lifted up their voice in protest against the mistaken importance given to outward forms of religion; they demonstrated its worthlessness as a substitute for the moral service of God as manifested in civic rectitude and social well-doing. They did not denounce sacrifices, for the idea of sacrifice was as much a matter of course as our idea of going to church on Sunday. But they did denounce the hypocrisy of all this outside show of worship when the heart refused to humble itself upon the altar of self-sacrifice by deeds of mercy and justice.

III. The eternal antagonism of letter and spirit, which Christ, in His words to the woman of Samaria, so clearly declared, was as clearly made manifest by the prophets of the Lord eight centuries before.And as long as the world standeth we shall honour the fig-gatherer of Tekoa for his brave saying, I despise your feast days. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and meat offerings, I will not accept them. But let judgment run down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream; yea, and we shall feel the splendid note of accord ring like a trumpet in mens ears that Micah, the vine-dresser, sounded, when to the perplexed people who had begun to realise the hollowness of their religious services, and the need of some more consistent union between conduct and worship, and who asked, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? he answered in the words of my text, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micahs voice has never been silenced. It may sound paradoxical, but the very fact that men are forsaking the ordinances of religion in all the churches in this money-seeking age of commerce and competition and unreality in religion, is a sign that they feel that till our ways are more just and kind, and full of reverence in our dealings between man and man, it is mockery to attend church services, and for a pretence make long prayers. Micahs voice has never been silenced. I see the results of it in Toynbee Hall, in the University Settlement movement in East London, in the Sweated Industries Exhibition, in the Garden City and the City-Planning Conference, in the anti-smoke crusade, in the demand for medical inspection of schools, in the League of Mercy and Pity, in the care of our crippled children, in the Food Reform League work, in the movement for homes for consumptives, in Temperance work, in the Trades Union rally, in the legislation for small holdings, yes, even in the cry for labour churches without creeds, for undenominationalism without catechisms in our schools, and the passionate preaching of a socialistic gospel. But though, if one reads church papers, one would believe that justice and mercy and a humble heart before God and man were of less import to national well-being and the glory of God than the objection to a church catechism on the part of the Free Churches, or the colour and shape of a sacramental vestment on the part of the Anglican communion, there is surely going on in this matter-of-fact and grossly material age a recall to first principles and spiritual truth. Conduct and creed, and not creed alone, is the message, not only of Micah, but of Christ the Lord, that is more and more entering into our ears. The Lords controversy with this people is not being held in vain.

Canon Rawnsley.

Illustration

Do justly. That is the foundation virtue, without which you can rear no superstructure of noble character. A man who has no sense of justice is utterly lost to all good influences, and, labour as you may, nothing can be made out of him. Ones sense of justice may be perverted. and needs to be rightly educated; but it must be there, else there can be only vileness and corruption. Justice is the one foundation on which all character must rest. Jesus gives justice this first place also. Justice, mercy, and truth are His words. Not that justice is more important than her sister virtues, but that it is the firstthe one upon which the others rest, and without which they deteriorate into vices, as mercy without justice becomes weak and indifferent to wrong.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Mic 6:8. As if the preceding two verses were the actual inquiry of a penitent man of Israel, the prophet makes an almost verbatim quotation from the wTlting of Moses in Deu 10:12. The requirements were general in their statement, hut had they been honestly respected it wouid have prevented the leaders from committing their cruelties against the poor, and then their sacrifices of animals would have been acceptable to God as a discharge of a duty enjoined by the divine law.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Mic 6:8. He hath showed thee, O man, what is good He hath showed thee that there is no forgiveness without repentance, and that repentance is but a name, unless there be a ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well: and that this implies the practice of every branch of piety and virtue; the performance of every duty that we owe to God, our neighbour, and ourselves; 1st, To do justly To render to all their dues, to superiors, equals, inferiors; to be true and just to all, and to oppress none, in their persons, property, or reputation; in our dealings with others to carry a chancery in our own breasts, and to act according to equity. 2d, To love mercy Not to use severity, or exercise malice, envy, revenge, enmity, or hatred toward any, but to be compassionate, merciful, forgiving, kind, and beneficent toward all, according to our ability. And, 3d, To walk humbly with thy God To humble thyself before the holy and just God, under a deep sense of thy past guilt and present unworthiness, renouncing all high thoughts of thyself, and all dependance on thy own righteousness for justification before him, but relying solely on his mercy, through the Mediator. The words imply, too, that we should keep up constant communion with God, by the exercise of an humble, holy, loving, and obedient faith, serving the Lord, as the apostle says of himself, in all humility of mind, and with continual reverence and godly fear. See here the true spirit of the divine law! See here what makes a true Israelite! a truth which the carnal Jews could never comprehend: in vain did their legislator and their prophets inculcate it upon every occasion. They always had recourse to their gross conceptions, their attachment to sacrifices, and merely external services: herein they imagined their perfection to consist; while they neglected the more essential duties of man, and the practice of the most solid virtues, justice, benevolence, and piety.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, {g} but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

(g) The Prophet in few words calls them to the observation of the second table of the ten commandments, to know if they will obey God correctly or not, saying that God has commanded them to do this.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

No, these sacrifices were not what the Lord wanted. He had already told the Israelites what would be good (beneficial) for them when they sinned (cf. Deu 10:12; Deu 10:18; 1Sa 12:24; Hos 12:6). He wanted each of His people ("O man") to change his or her behavior. The address "O man" emphasizes the difference between God and man, particularly man’s subordination under God. It also connects Micah’s hearers, the people, not just the leaders, with the vain worshippers described in the two previous verses. Specifically, the Lord wanted His people to practice justice rather than continuing to plot and practice unfairness and injustice toward one another (cf. Mic 6:11; Mic 2:1-2; Mic 3:1-3). He also wanted them to love kindness, to practice loyal love (Heb. hesed) by carrying through their commitments to help one another, as He had with them (cf. Mic 6:12; Mic 2:8-9; Mic 3:10-11). And He wanted them to walk humbly with Him, to live their lives modestly trusting and depending on Him rather than arrogantly relying on themselves (cf. Mic 2:3). There is a progression in these requirements from what is external to what is internal and from human relations to divine relations. Doing justice toward other people demands loving kindness, which necessitates walking humbly in fellowship with God. [Note: Mays, p. 142. See also Waltke, in Obadiah, . . ., p. 197.]

This verse contains one of the most succinct and powerful expressions of Yahweh’s essential requirements in the Bible (cf. Mat 22:37-39; Mat 23:23; 1Co 13:4; 2Co 6:6; Col 3:12; Jas 1:27; 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 5:5). It explains the essence of spiritual reality in contrast to mere ritual worship. Though the Lord asked His people to worship Him in formal ways, which the Mosaic Covenant spelled out, His primary desire was for a heart attitude marked by the characteristics Micah articulated (cf. Psa 51:16-17; Jer 7:22-26).

"No vital relationship with God is possible if one is unfaithful to the responsibilities arising out of his God-given relationships with his fellow men." [Note: Robert B. Chisholm Jr., "A Theology of the Minor Prophets," in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, p. 403.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)