“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”
Walter Brueggemann, biblical scholar and author of “The Prophetic Imagination”, sets the stage for the impossible task of the prophets - then and now - including that of Micah, who preaches during the latter years of the 8th Century BCE as the kingdoms around him collapse in slow motion.
It’s not the same reality exactly but his warnings echo today with haunting accuracy.
Micah does not just call out the corrupt actions of the people in power but also their cruel consciousness, grounded in greed. In this chapter he sharpens his attack on their very thoughts -- not just their actions -- and how they breed a brutal culture of theft and abuse. His words are as painful as they must have been heard, and equally ignored by those who should have listened, all these generations ago, and must listen today:
ה֧וֹי חֹֽשְׁבֵי־אָ֛וֶן וּפֹ֥עֲלֵי רָ֖ע עַל־מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָ֑ם בְּא֤וֹר הַבֹּ֙קֶר֙ יַעֲשׂ֔וּהָ כִּ֥י יֶשׁ־לְאֵ֖ל יָדָֽם׃ וְחָמְד֤וּ שָׂדוֹת֙ וְגָזָ֔לוּ וּבָתִּ֖ים וְנָשָׂ֑אוּ וְעָֽשְׁקוּ֙ גֶּ֣בֶר וּבֵית֔וֹ וְאִ֖ישׁ וְנַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃
“Ahhh! All those who plan plunder
And design evil, while on their beds;
When morning dawns, they do it,
For they have the power.
They covet fields, and seize them;
Houses, and take them away.
They defraud men of their homes,
And people of their land.”
Micah 2:1-2
Micah mocks the rich and powerful who wake up early and while still in bed begin the scheming and the business planning for the day: Which field will they take over, what desires will they fulfill?
The key word here is ‘covet’ -- and the Hebrew verb ‘Hamdu’ is a direct reference to the tenth commandment which precisely prohibits this thinking process which leads to taking something that does not belong to you.
The prohibition in the Torah includes both sexual and property related coveting. Micah focuses on how land is taken away by those in power, who get richer at the expense of others.
For Micah it isn’t just the thought that counts, or even the theft of others’ lands but how this is a symptom of an entirely corrupt social system.
Bible scholar John Durham comments on this chapter:
“The tenth commandment… functions as a kind of summary commandment, the violation of which is a first step that can lead to the violation of any one or all of the rest of the commandments. As such, it is necessarily all embracing and descriptive of an attitude rather than a deed.”
The people in power don’t like being told that they have stolen someone else’s lands. They have excuses. They talk back to Micah and he quotes their exchanges, mocking them as they mock him:
אַל־תַּטִּ֖פוּ יַטִּיפ֑וּן לֹֽא־יַטִּ֣פוּ לָאֵ֔לֶּה לֹ֥א יִסַּ֖ג כְּלִמּֽוֹת׃
“Stop preaching!” they preach.
“That’s no way to preach;
Shame shall not overtake us.”
Micah 2:6
But Micah won’t stop preaching, raising up alternative visions for how Judah can exist and survive, how it can atone for its misdeeds and attempt to restore its commitment to virtue, including all ten commandments. The coveting that has indeed led to cruel corruption is at the root of evil, the prophet warns, but the people who should be listening, prefer to scold him for being a loud preacher.
It’s possible that the context for this specific exchange is the aftermath of the Assyrian onslaught on the Judean Kingdom around 701 BCE. Sennacherib stopped short of conquering Jerusalem but demolished many of the towns of Judah - including the one Micah comes from. Rather than support the locals who’ve been badly hit - the powerful people of Jerusalem took over lands and made vassals of the former farmers. It is this cruel injustice that the prophet names again and again.
Theft of land, the greed for more, the coveting of other people’s homes, fields, identity and integrity is indeed as old as the hills. It’s tragic that at the root of so many of the conflicts known on those holy hills is the coveting of someone else’s land, the theft and occupation of homes and homeland in ways that are not always consistent with moral truths or historical entitlement. Micah’s words echo today as a rebuke and warning -- do not covet, be satisfied with what you’ve got, and make sure everybody has enough to live on, land to call home, and dignity with which to wake up each day -not plotting more power but committing to more care.
He’ll keep on preaching. Eventually some will have to pay attention, usually when it is all too late. Perhaps it isn’t yet?
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