NOTES for Mic 6:1-16

The Lord invites people to plead their case with Him. We are already ready to imagine such a trial as terrible, and it would hardly be a mistake to say that many of us are sure such a trial would be biased toward accusation. All the more striking, then, is that the Lord, with whom by definition no one can compare, intends to contend with the people on equal terms and invites them to say what claims they have against Him. He is ready to humble Himself in order to be heard, and here before us is one of those places in the Old Testament that will be disclosed in the New Testament, when the Lord humbles Himself and begins speaking with people as one of them.

The Lord Himself reminds them what He has done for the people. Precisely because He truly cared for His children, He can demand strict accountability from them. For He kept faith with the people, but it cannot be said of the whole people that they kept faith. They will have to answer for betrayal, and the apostates have punished themselves by calling down on their own heads the consequences of their own lawlessness.