Mic 2:1 | KingComments | STEP | In Micah 1, Micah has listed the sins against God. In Micah 2 it is about the sins against one’s neighbor. Micah turns to those in power, the people with money and influence, who are only interested in self-enrichment, and in doing so, stop at nothing. With a “woe” he announces God’s judgment on them. The “woe” he pronounces on these people is reminiscent of the six fold “woe” Isaiah pronounces ( ). Just like Isaiah, Micah then also pronounces a ‘woe’ over himself ( ; ). Announcement of judgment to others cannot be made without judging ourselves. The people Micah is speaking to here are purebred criminals. Evil does not attack them, they devote themselves to it. They have well considered their plans for self-enrichment. They have done so in the night, when people are supposed to be asleep. And when it gets light, they start to carry out their nefarious plans. They are so shameless that they do not shy away from the light, but rather carry out their sinful business in the light. Their entire existence is devoted to it. They can think of nothing else. These wicked people use the night to plot evil ( ). This is in stark contrast to what occupies the heart of the God-fearing David. When he is in the wilderness, on the run from Saul, he does not lie down at night thinking about how to eliminate Saul. He thinks of the LORD, of Who He is ( ). And when he thinks of the iniquity that surrounds and is done to him, he wants to surrender everything in his heart to the LORD and not avenge himself ( ). Led by God’s Spirit, Micah reveals the wicked reason for their actions. They reason: ‘We have the power and therefore the right to act as we wish.’ The sentence “for it is in the power of their hands” reads literally: ‘Their hand is to them their god.’ That is to say, the power they have applies to them as god; they recognize no higher power than their hand (cf. ). They have the power to do what they want (cf. ; ). It is the fault of many, often the rich and strong, but also people with intellectual power, that they believe they are allowed to do what they are able to do. It is the kind of people who have no sense of goodness, in whom there is no fear of God ( ). There is no inner or outer limitation, nothing that prevents them from carrying out their nefarious plans. They think and do. An application for today can be seen in many writers, makers of films or inventors of computer games. They keep coming up with new methods to sin. They sell them in their latest editions. The readers, viewers and buyers are the victims who willingly allow their money to be disposed of by investing it in a purchase of the products of these inventors of evil. As they take in the fruit of these people’s thinking, their moral awareness, without being aware of it, is increasingly degraded. The evil that comes out of this is a society that becomes more and more hardened and turns more and more against God and His authority and, as a result, also more and more against his neighbor.

‏ Micah 2:1

Scheme and Work Out Evil

In Micah 1, Micah has listed the sins against God. In Micah 2 it is about the sins against one’s neighbor. Micah turns to those in power, the people with money and influence, who are only interested in self-enrichment, and in doing so, stop at nothing. With a “woe” he announces God’s judgment on them. The “woe” he pronounces on these people is reminiscent of the six fold “woe” Isaiah pronounces (Isa 5:8-30). Just like Isaiah, Micah then also pronounces a ‘woe’ over himself (Mic 7:1; Isa 6:5). Announcement of judgment to others cannot be made without judging ourselves.

The people Micah is speaking to here are purebred criminals. Evil does not attack them, they devote themselves to it. They have well considered their plans for self-enrichment. They have done so in the night, when people are supposed to be asleep. And when it gets light, they start to carry out their nefarious plans. They are so shameless that they do not shy away from the light, but rather carry out their sinful business in the light. Their entire existence is devoted to it. They can think of nothing else.

These wicked people use the night to plot evil (Psa 36:4). This is in stark contrast to what occupies the heart of the God-fearing David. When he is in the wilderness, on the run from Saul, he does not lie down at night thinking about how to eliminate Saul. He thinks of the LORD, of Who He is (Psa 63:6). And when he thinks of the iniquity that surrounds and is done to him, he wants to surrender everything in his heart to the LORD and not avenge himself (Psa 4:4).

Led by God’s Spirit, Micah reveals the wicked reason for their actions. They reason: ‘We have the power and therefore the right to act as we wish.’ The sentence “for it is in the power of their hands” reads literally: ‘Their hand is to them their god.’ That is to say, the power they have applies to them as god; they recognize no higher power than their hand (cf. Hab 1:11). They have the power to do what they want (cf. Gen 31:29; Pro 3:27).

It is the fault of many, often the rich and strong, but also people with intellectual power, that they believe they are allowed to do what they are able to do. It is the kind of people who have no sense of goodness, in whom there is no fear of God (Rom 3:18). There is no inner or outer limitation, nothing that prevents them from carrying out their nefarious plans. They think and do.

An application for today can be seen in many writers, makers of films or inventors of computer games. They keep coming up with new methods to sin. They sell them in their latest editions. The readers, viewers and buyers are the victims who willingly allow their money to be disposed of by investing it in a purchase of the products of these inventors of evil. As they take in the fruit of these people’s thinking, their moral awareness, without being aware of it, is increasingly degraded. The evil that comes out of this is a society that becomes more and more hardened and turns more and more against God and His authority and, as a result, also more and more against his neighbor.