NOTES for Mic 7:18-20

The prophets spoke often about the sins and crimes of God's people. Yet their words contained not only rebuke but always hope as well. The time of Micah, a younger contemporary of Isaiah of Jerusalem, was a spiritually ambiguous age. King Hezekiah, who then ruled Judah, did much to combat pagan cults, prohibiting public worship of pagan gods in his country. Yahwism became popular, and the preaching of Micah, as well as Isaiah, contributed greatly to this.

But destroying pagan altars and sanctuaries proved far easier than changing people whose souls and hearts largely remained as they had been. Their sins remained as well. For the overwhelming majority of new believers, Yahwism amounted to magnificent religious ceremonies and cheerful festivals; they thought rarely and reluctantly about observing the commandments God had given, about the Torah. Religious enthusiasm by no means brought rapid spiritual change in society. The old sins did not release people. Habits were overcome slowly and with difficulty, even when people sincerely wanted to become different.

Here we see what the priestly books of the Pentateuch say so often: the consequences of a deliberately committed sin weigh upon a person even despite repentance, just as they weigh upon a people when the sin was committed by the whole nation. It was then revealed to the prophet that the situation could be changed only by a special, joint, and purposeful spiritual effort by God and His people. Micah says nothing about the trials awaiting the people, as Isaiah of Jerusalem does, but he understands that it will no longer be possible to overcome the consequences of the people's sins without an upheaval—perhaps a catastrophic one. Yet the prophet understands something else too: God does not need calamities for their own sake. He merely wants to give His people a chance to begin history with a clean slate, and for that the people themselves must become a clean slate. In the end, all historical upheavals are needed only for this—and so that in this new history the renewed people may succeed in welcoming the Messiah God promised them.