TEXT [Commentary]

  B.   Judgment against Wealthy Oppressors (2:1-5)

1 What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night,

thinking up evil plans.

You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out,

simply because you have the power to do so.

2 When you want a piece of land,

you find a way to seize it.

When you want someone’s house,

you take it by fraud and violence.

You cheat a man of his property,

stealing his family’s inheritance.

3 But this is what the LORD says:

“I will reward your evil with evil;

you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the noose.

You will no longer walk around proudly,

for it will be a terrible time.”

4 In that day your enemies will make fun of you

by singing this song of despair about you:

“We are finished,

completely ruined!

God has confiscated our land,

taking it from us.

He has given our fields

to those who betrayed us.[*]”

5 Others will set your boundaries then,

and the LORD’s people will have no say

in how the land is divided.

NOTES

2:1 What sorrow. The interjection is literally rendered “woe” (hoy [TH1945, ZH2098]) and “to pronounce a ‘woe’ on someone meant to announce their funeral” (Limburg 1988:169). Three different sources have been suggested as the background for the literary form of the woe oracle: the curse of the prophetic judgment speech, the funeral lament, and the instruction of the Hebrew wisdom tradition (perhaps as a foil to the word “blessed”). Since the woe oracle signifies a divine curse that precludes any further opportunity for repentance, it seems best to understand the literary form as a variation of the prophetic judgment-speech (cf. Westermann 1991:189-194). Jesus used the woe oracle as a form of prophetic judgment-speech against the Pharisees (Matt 23).

2:2 seize. The verb (gazal [TH1497, ZH1608]) means to take by force (NIDOTTE 1.844-845). Hebrew wisdom tradition warned against robbing the poor because God is their protector (Prov 22:22; cf. Ps 35:10). This kind of robbery is one of the curses God would inflict upon the Israelites as punishment for their covenant disobedience (Deut 28:29).

violence. The word “violence” (or “oppression,” ‘ashaq [TH6231, ZH6943]) describes the intimidation and exploitation (with overtones of extortion and violence) of weaker members of the community by those who are stronger (NIDOTTE 3.557). This kind of oppression is one of the curses God would inflict upon the Israelites as punishment for their covenant disobedience (Deut 28:29).

family’s inheritance. The term (nakhalah [TH5159, ZH5709]) refers to the land allotted to the families of each Hebrew tribe when priests parceled territory during the days of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan (Josh 11:23). “At the forefront of Israelite economic theory stood the principle that the land was Yahweh’s and that the people received it from him as a sacred trust which was handed down from generation to generation, from heir to heir” (Allen 1976:288-289). The family inheritance of land was inalienable (Lev 25:23). Robbing people of their family property struck at the very core of the covenant relationship with Yahweh because the land was a family’s social security—loss of the family inheritance usually meant poverty for families so affected.

2:3 reward. Earlier the prophet condemned those who “planned” (khashab [TH2803, ZH3108]) evil while lying awake at night (2:1). Now with a twist of irony, Micah declares that Yahweh is “planning” (khashab) evil against the robbers and extortionists. Their “reward” will be inescapable punishment, like the hangman’s noose already tightening around the neck.

2:4 make fun of you . . . song of despair. The combination of words underlying the translation here, “proverb” (mashal [TH4912, ZH5442]), “lament” (nahah [TH5091, ZH5629], found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 32:18), “lamentation” (nehi [TH5092, ZH5631]), and “mournful” (nihyah [TH5093, ZH5632]), conveys the idea of a “taunt-song” embodying an example or object lesson. “The fallen are made to serve as an example to be shunned, a lesson to others not to travel the path that leads to this disastrous end” (Allen 1976:290).

2:5 set your boundaries. Lit., “casting (the) rope by lot” (mashlik khebel begoral [TH1486, ZH1598]; see further the discussion in Andersen and Freedman 2000:289-290). The expression hearkens back to the division of the land of Canaan under Joshua (Josh 18:8) and ultimately to the Song of Moses, in which God is identified as the one who establishes the boundaries of the peoples (Deut 32:8).

COMMENTARY [Text]

The first chapter of Micah’s book is a warning of divine judgment and destruction (1:2-16). The second chapter of the book is an indictment listing prominent violations of Yahweh’s covenant by his people. It contains three oracles in the prophet’s larger book of doom addressed to the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah (1:2–3:12). The first message pronounces divine judgment against the wealthy oppressors of the middle class and poor (2:1-5). The second message is a dispute between the false prophets (perhaps representing wealthy land-grabbers trying to silence Micah) and Micah, God’s true prophet (2:6-11). The third message shifts abruptly from the theme of judgment to a word of hope promising God’s deliverance and future restoration for a remnant of Israel (2:12-13). This is in keeping with the kaleidoscopic pattern of the oracle structure in the book.

Micah used a word in his oracle against those who “grab” and “do violence” in accumulating their possessions (2:2) that occurs in the Decalogue and is usually rendered “covet” (khamad [TH2530, ZH2773], 2:2; “want,” NLT). The tenth commandment explicitly prohibits coveting a neighbor’s house, spouse, or property of any kind (Exod 20:17; Deut 5:21). Like Isaiah, Micah confronted greedy “land-grabbers” who “buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land” (Isa 5:8). Coveting is a theme that runs through the Bible. Limburg (1988:172) has defined it as “self-centered greed which longs for that which belongs to another.”

A certain destructive pattern may be observed in coveting, whether David’s lust for Uriah’s wife (2 Sam 11) or Ahab’s obsession with Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kgs 21). Typically, greedy desires lead to scheming, scheming results in the implementation of devious plans, and devious plans enacted leave human wreckage in their wake (cf. Jas 4:1-2).

God hates coveting, and his prophets decry this sin because it denies God’s ownership of all creation (Job 41:11). It subverts the principle of human stewardship of all of God’s resources, which were created good (Gen 1:28; 2:15), and it injures (or even kills) innocent people (e.g., Josh 7:20-21, 25; 1 Kgs 21:11-14). In fact, the New Testament equates coveting with idolatry (Col 3:5-6; cf. Eph 5:5)—bringing the first and the tenth commandments full circle. The sin of coveting, like idolatry, is not restricted to the biblical world. Numerous contemporary idolatries associated with coveting may be identified, including the idolatry of choice, the idolatry of success, and the idolatry of money. (On contemporary idolatries, see Dawn 1995:41-56.) How much more do we need contemporary prophets reminding us of Jesus’ teaching about our attempts to serve both God and money (Matt 6:24) or Paul’s exhortation to practice true religion with contentment, since we carry nothing with us when we die (1 Tim 6:6-7)? When is the last time you saw a hearse en route to the cemetery with a U-Haul trailer in tow?