Richard R. Crocker
Picking and Choosing
Micah 6:6-16
Church of Christ at Dartmouth
College
July 21, 2013
Those of you
who were raised, as I was, in a Bible-centric culture might be familiar with the
old practice called sword drills. We did them often in youth fellowship. The
idea was that we each held a Bible, which was our sword, and the leader called
out “attention!”, then “present swords”, at which point we held the Bible
between our hands, and then the leader called out a random verse of scripture,
such as “Micah 6:6”, and then said “Charge!”. The first person who could find
that verse stepped forward and read it.
The person who was first most often won.
The other
practice that I sometimes heard about occurred when people wanted guidance
about a problem or dilemma and sought it in the Bible. Rather than thinking
about what Jesus may have said, or pondering the ten commandments, the practice
was simply to open the Bible at random. cover your eyes, and point to a verse.
Whatever that verse said was deemed to provide the needed guidance. This
technique produced rather haphazard results.
This way of
looking at the Bible both rests upon and perpetuates a uniformly revelatory
view of scripture, where very single part is seen as equally revealing the word
of God, and those who read the Bible differently are often condemned for
“picking and choosing.” “You can’t pick
and choose”, we are told. “You have to believe the Bible from cover to cover,
every single word.”
Such a way of reading the Bible can
be extremely naïve, unhelpful, and sometimes dangerous. Every part of the Bible
is enriched when we know the context of the scripture we are reading, when we
do not pick isolated verses, but when we place passages into context, compare
them with other passages, and use our minds and spirits to discern the truths
that such serious study reveals. One
result of reading the Bible through, from beginning to end, as some of you have done, is that you may find
it very uneven in its helpfulness. Some passages stand out as more helpful,
more beautiful, truer, and more useful than other passages. Some passages seem odd, useless, or even
horrible. Christians, for example, pay little attention to the rule in Exodus
and Deuteronomy (Exodus 23:19 and Deuteronomy 14:21), which tell us that we
should not boil a kid in its mother’s milk, while Jews see this injunction as
an important part of their Kosher laws. Christians and Jews alike reject the
injunctions to stone criminal offenders, including Sabbath breakers
(Leviticus20:2 ff and Numbers 15:35). It is impossible to read the Bible
without picking and choosing.
And nowhere
is this more evident than in reading the book of Micah. I chose for our
scripture reading for today a passage in Micah that is familiar to all of us. It is perhaps one of the most familiar
passages in scripture - much quoted and much loved, and probably very helpful.
But you will have noted that the scripture reading did not end with those
familiar words. Rather, it proceeded to the next “saying”, which I would
venture to say you have rarely heard and which may not be as helpful to you.
Let us consider them both.
It would
probably be helpful today if in fact you took out one of the pew Bibles and
opened it to the book of Micah and followed along with some of the passages
that I will mention. Now, since you were probably never trained with sword
drills, you may have trouble finding the book of Micah. (Like Howard Dean, who
said that his favorite book in the new testament was the book of Job, New
Englanders are not known for their Biblical literacy). So I will tell you that
the book of Micah begins on page 866 in your pew Bibles.
But first, let us remember: Micah
prophesied in the southern kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah around 700 BC, The northern
kingdom of Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians, and the southern
kingdom, under King Hezekiah, had also been invaded by Assyria and made a
vassal state. It was a time of turmoil, confusion, anxiety and distress.
Biblical
scholars, using the tools of linguistic and historical analysis, have concluded
that the book attributed to Micah actually contains sayings from a number of
different writers from different time periods that were all collected into this
single book (or scroll). The earliest sayings are near the beginning of the
book. The passages after chapter 4 come from a variety of sourses – so that, ironically, the some of the most
well-known passages in the book may not come from Micah himself. That is really
not a problem for us, is it? It’s like my house in Lebanon. We say that it was
built in 1858. But in fact, only part of
it was built then; additions were made at a later time since they didn’t have
indoor plumbing in 1858. It’s still one
house that we live in, and Micah is still one book, - a complex house, a
complex document. Would we expect anything else? After all, most of us know very little about
how the books of the Bible were selected, put together and transmitted, do we? Most of us know very little about architecture
and how houses grew. And most of us
don’t care. We just want to have a house to inhabit and a Bible to anchor us in
our faith.
So, if you
look in Micah, chapter 6, beginning with verse 6 – the passage that was read – you see the words
that have become a watchword for what constitutes true worship – words that cut
to the essence of worship rather than the periphery. “What does the Lord
require of us?” Does God require that we bring burnt offerings? Does God
require offerings of calves or rams or oil? – Remember that these were some of
the offerings customarily made at the temple in Jerusalem. Would God even
require that we give up our firstborn child – a practice that was not unknown
in the middle east at that time – and a practice that is reflected in the story
of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. NO – we are told. God
doesn’t requires any of these things. Rather, God has told us very simply, that
what is required is simply that we do justice, love kindness (or mercy), and
that we walk humbly with God. You will note that these words make no mention of
religious ritual. What is required is an attitude of humility as well as
actions of justice and kindness. Most of us feel comforted and reassured by
these words – challenged also to examine our lives, but mainly comforted and
encouraged. But then look at the verses
that follow immediately upon this passage.
It is helpful to read them again. They are directed at the
city of Jerusalem:
9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city
(it is sound wisdom
to fear your name):
Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city!
10 Can I forget the
treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and the scant
measure that is accursed?
11 Can I tolerate wicked scales
and a bag of
dishonest weights?
12 Your wealthy are full of violence;
your inhabitants
speak lies,
with tongues of
deceit in their mouths.
13 Therefore I have begun to strike you down,
making you desolate
because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
and there shall be a
gnawing hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not save,
and what you save, I
will hand over to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but not reap;
you shall tread
olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you shall tread
grapes, but not drink wine.
16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri
and all the works of
the house of Ahab,
and you have
followed their counsels.
Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants
an object of hissing;
so you shall bear
the scorn of my people.
These words are not as familiar to
us, are they? Why? because they are not as comforting, or because they are not
as helpful? Perhaps because the earlier words are universal, applicable to all
times and places, whereas the latter passage is aimed directly at Jerusalem. Micah
is famous for having prophesied the fall of Jerusalem, which did indeed happen
in 586 BC, when the Babylonians invaded, laid the city waste, destroyed the
temple, and took the most prominent of its citizens into captivity into
Babylonia. Certainly the words of this prophecy are accurate in anticipating
and describing the devastation of that event – so accurate, in fact, that some
scholars see them as having been written after the fact. Certainly they were
preserved after the fact. But sometimes prophecies like this are seen as
applying not only to that time period, but to all. Consider, for example, those
who see this prophecy as applying not only to Jerusalem, but to New York City.
Does it accurately describe the greed and dishonesty of Wall Street and the
financial industry? Does it tell us of the certain doom that will happen unless
we repent? Some people think so. Their interpretation of biblical prophecy
allows them to do so. I think we may well see these as words of warning to any
society in which greed becomes rampant, and when the poor are ignored. That is
a proper use of prophecy, but thinking that the events of 9/11 were prophesied
in the book of Micah is probably a stretch.
Let us look at one other very famous part of the book of
Micah – the prophecy contained in chapter 5, beginning with verse 2. You have
all heard it, I am sure.
2 But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the
little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule
in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in
labour has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of
Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of
the Lord,
in the majesty of
the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the
earth;
5 and he shall be the one of peace.
Where have you heard this before? From the Gospel of Matthew,
of course; we hear it every Christmas – where it is quoted as a prophecy about
the birth of the Messiah. When the wise men are seeking Jesus, they ask King
Herod where he shall be born. Herod seeks advice from the biblical scholars,
and they quote this prophecy. Obviously,
it seems to us to refer to Jesus, the prince of peace, our messiah. It’s right
there in the Bible, isn’t it? And certainly the writer of Matthew’s gospel, and
Christians ever since have thought of it that way. Many now see it as referring
not only to the birth of Jesus, but also to the second coming of Christ.
While Christians are free to view the
prophecy this way, it is unlikely that Micah intended the prophecy to be
fulfilled 600 or 2600 years after he spoke it. Rather, he (or one of his
followers) was speaking a word of hope to a discouraged people – a word that
indicated that not all was lost, and that, just as King David was selected by
the prophet Samuel in a very unlikely setting in the little town of Bethlehem,
there would be another great king yet to come.
We Christians of course hope that Jesus’ birth will usher in a reign of
world-wide peace. At the moment, though, after 2000 years, it hasn’t happened.
I wonder why? Well, if Christians really acknowledged Jesus as the prince of
peace and as their Lord and Master, and if they refused to make war in his
name, there would be a lot less war, wouldn’t there?
This brings us back to the problem of picking and choosing
when we are reading the bible. At one end of the spectrum are those who believe
we should see every single word, every single letter of scripture as fully
revelatory, and any problems or contradictions this method produces are due to
our lack of understanding. At the other end are those who believe that we should
pay attention only to those words and verses that we happen to agree with.
Studying the prophets teaches us a different way. Some of their words and
images are limited to a time and place which is merely historical. What was
deemed acceptable human practice 3000 years ago is not deemed acceptable today.
But, at the same time, we should not see our era, and our sensibilities, as the
epitome of perfection. In some important ways, we have not advanced at all. I dare
say that greed is more fully rampant and more deeply ingrained in our society
than it was in the Jerusalem of Micah’s and Amos’s time. Their insistence that
greed, violence, and disregard for the poor would lead to the destruction of
society was true then, and it’s true now.
No doubt
Micah was right. For all time, for all people, in answering the question, “With
what shall I come before the Lord?” the answer is simple -. The Lord does not
require our material offerings. What the Lord requires is that we do justice,
love mercy (and kindness), and that we walk, every day, in humility before our
God.
Those words
are as applicable to us today as they were 2600 years ago. These words grab us.
In a way, we don’t pick and choose them; they pick and choose us. Now it’s up
to us to live by them. Amen.
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