Micah 6:6-8

Context

Chapter 6 of Micah opens with a scene in which God summons Israel to court and calls the mountains as witnesses. Scholars call this form a "covenant lawsuit." In 6:3-5 God recalls the deliverance he has accomplished: the Exodus, the sending of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and the episode of Balak and Balaam. Verses 6-7 then present the question of the people (or of a worshiper): must one offer burnt offerings, thousands of rams, oil, even one's firstborn? Verse 8 gives the prophet's answer. God has already shown what is "good": "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God" (Micah 6:8).

Interpretation

• As a prophetic critique of ritual worship: Many commentators do not read this passage as a call to abolish sacrifice altogether. They read it instead as a critique of sacrifice unaccompanied by a corresponding way of life, placing it in the same tradition as similar proclamations in Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah.
• The meaning of the three elements: "Justice" renders the Hebrew mishpat, denoting fair judgment and right order. "Mercy" renders hesed, denoting love that is faithful to the covenant. "Walking humbly with" God refers to an attitude of living carefully and circumspectly before God.
• As a response to grace: Reformed and evangelical interpreters note that the recollection of deliverance in verses 4-5 precedes verse 8. They therefore read verse 8 not as a condition for salvation but as a description of the life of a covenant people who have already received grace.
• Jewish tradition: The Talmud preserves a rabbinic saying that Micah reduced the commandments of the Law to three.

Questions of Application

Some have pointed out that reading verse 8 in isolation can lead to the misunderstanding that one satisfies God through good works. Conversely, those who emphasize social engagement argue that confining the passage to personal piety obscures the social dimension of the justice the prophet proclaimed. The reference in verse 7 to offering one's firstborn is an extreme expression set against the background of human sacrifice in the surrounding religions of the time; it is generally not read as implying that God demands such a thing. Translations differ in wording, rendering the first term variously as "justice" or "righteousness" and the second as "mercy," "love," or "faithfulness."

In the Korean Church

The passage is often used as a sermon text emphasizing the unity of worship and life. It is also cited as a representative verse in discussions of the church's social responsibility and of Christian ethics.

Related Passages

• Hosea 6:1-4
• Amos 5:21-23
• Isaiah 1:16-17
• Psalm 51:16-17
• Matthew 23:23