What Does Yahweh Seek From You

1
What Does Yahweh Seek From You?
Micah 6.1-8
2
Presence of the Lord

• I have finally found a way to live,
• Just like I never could before.
• I know that I don't have much to give,
• But I can open any door.
• Everybody knows the secret,
• Everybody knows the score.
• I have finally found a way to live.
• In the color of the Lord.

Blind Faith
3
I have finally found a place to live, Just like I
never could before. And I know that I don't have
much to give, But soon I'll open any
door Everybody knows the secret, Everybody knows
the score. I have finally found a place to
live. In the presence of the Lord.
4
Everybody Knows the Secret!

• To do justice,
• To love hesed,
• To walk attentively with your God.

5
Micah 6.1

• Listen (pl) please to what Yahweh is saying
• Rise up (sg)! Dispute (sg) with the mountains!
• So that the hills hear your (sg) voice!

6
Micah 6.2

• Listen, O mountains to Yahweh's lawsuit,
• and everlasting foundations of the earth.
• For Yahweh has a lawsuit with his people
• and with Israel he will argue.

7
Micah 6.3

• My people, what have I done to you,
• and how have I wearied you?
• Answer me!

8
Micah 6.4

• For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
• and from the house of bondage, I redeemed you,
• And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

9
Micah 6.5

• My people, please remember what Balak the king of
  Moab schemed,
• and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him.
• From Shittim to Gilgal . . .
• so as to know the righteous acts of Yahweh.

10
Micah 6.6

• With what shall I approach Yahweh?
• Shall I bow to God on high?
• Shall I approach with burnt offerings,
• with calves a year old?

11
Micah 6.7

• Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams,
• with ten thousands of torrents of oil?
• Shall I give my firstborn for my rebellion,
• the fruit of my belly for my unclean life?

12
Micah 6.8

• It has been told you, O mortal
• What is good?
• And what does Yahweh seek from you?
• To do justice,
• To love hesed,
• To walk attentively with your God.

13
Micah of Moresheth

• Moresheth a border town between Judah and the
  Philistine cities.
• An 8th century BCE Prophet overshadowed by
  Isaiah.

14
Revolutionary?

• Some scholars have painted Micah as a
  revolutionary the first to threaten the
  destruction of Jerusalem.

15
Lawsuit as Judgment Oracle

• The prophets like Hosea, Amos, Isaiah and others
  used the metaphor of a lawsuit (riv) to judge the
  Israelites that had turned away from Yahweh.
• Job reverses the metaphor and brings God to a
  trial.

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Yahweh's Lawsuit

• Although Yahweh commissions Micah to prepare a
  lawsuit in 6.1-2 it never materializes.
• There is no indictment!

17
Yahweh Indicts Himself

• Micah 6.3 My people, what have I done to you,
  and how have I wearied you? Answer me!

18
Yahweh Indicts Himself

• The God of Israel is not a prisoner of His own
  exalted status. Karl Barth

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Yahweh's Righteous Acts

• Deliverance from Egypt/house of bondage
• Leadership of Moses, Aaron and Miriam
• Balak/curse verses Balaam/blessing
• The conquest

20
Entrance Liturgy

• It is argued that a series of antiphonal
  questions and answers were used as a worshipper
  would enter the temple precincts.
• Ps 15 24 are two proposed examples

21
Psalms 15.1

• O Yahweh, who may sojourn in your tent?
• Who may settle on your holy hill?

22
Psalms 15.2-3

• The one who walks without blame,
• who speaks truth in his heart.
• Who does not slander,
• He does not do evil to a neighbor,
• nor take up reproach against one who is near him.

23
Psalms 15.4-5

• In his eyes a reproacher is hated,
• But who honors those who revere Yahweh,
• Who stands by his oath even to his own hurt.
• He does not lend money at interest,
• nor accept a bribe against the innocent.
• He who does these things, shall never be moved.

24
Psalms 24.3-6

• He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
• Who does not lift up himself to lies and does not
  swear deceitfully.
• He will receive blessing from Yahweh and
  righteousness from God his deliverer.
• This is the generation of those who seek him,
• who seek your presence . . . O Jacob, Selah.

• Who may ascend the hill of Yahweh?
• Who may arise in his holy place?

25
With What Shall I Approach Yahweh?

• The Qualitative Answer Shall I bow to God on
  high? Shall I approach with burnt offerings, with
  calves a year old?
• Quality as a relative subjective idea.

26
With What Shall I Approach Yahweh?

• Quantitative Answer Will Yahweh be pleased with
  thousands of rams, with ten thousands of torrents
  of oil?
• Exceeding rational ability.

27
With What Shall I Approach Yahweh?

• Extreme Sacrifice Shall I give my firstborn for
  my rebellion, the fruit of my belly for my
  unclean life?
• . . . hypocrites inquire how God is to be
  pacified. John Calvin

28
Yahweh's Entrance Liturgy

• It has been told you, O mortal
• What is good?
• And what does Yahweh seek from you?

29
To Do Justice

• Justice in the OT is a legal term that includes
  hearing a case, the decision, the pronouncement
  of the verdict and carrying it out.
• The individual and the community is involved.

30
To Do Justice

• Justice discards party, friendship, kindred, and
  is always, therefore, represented as blind.
  Joseph Addison

31
To Love Hesed

• Hesed always deals with interpersonal
  relationships that are close not distant.
• Hesed involves action that is un-coerced.

32
To Love Hesed

• Although Hesed is a common and important element
  in OT Theology, to love Hesed is only found
  here.

33
To Walk Attentively with your God

• To walk with God means to live in communion with
  God.
• The difficult root tsana' involves being careful
  along with a cognitive element.

34
What Does Yahweh Seek from You?

• To do justice,
• To love hesed,
• To walk attentively with your God.

35

• What life have you, if you have not life
  together?
• There is no life that is not community.
• And no community not lived in praise of God.
• T. S. Eliot