Intro: Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible was about him. So each week, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in.
David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Really, thank you so much for joining us. We're excited to be with you. Seth, how are you?
Seth: Doing well. Yeah, I'm ready to end the book of Micah and talk about, um, some of the— probably the most famous— but I loved this song from John Foreman.
David: Yes.
Seth: Called Equally Skilled.
David: Yes.
Seth: Back in, I guess, college is when I listened to it.
David: Same.
Seth: And it was John Foreman and this song was one of my favorite songs all throughout college. And it's based off the prayer in Micah 7.
David: Yep.
Seth: So I'm just really excited to talk about that.
David: I mean, if you've tuned in today and this is the only thing you take away, you should listen to that song. You've never heard this song. You're welcome. John Foreman, Equally Skilled.
Seth: So good.
David: Go listen. I mean, pause the podcast.
Seth: Yeah. Go listen to that song. Go listen to it. I think I've listened to it a dozen times as I was like—
David: Oh yeah.
Seth: Studying through the book of Micah.
David: It's so good. So anyway, I weep like every time. Okay. When that keychain comes in. Anyway.
Seth: All right.
David: Okay. So we are finishing Micah.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like we've said before, it's a series of 3 court cases. We're now in the 3rd court case.
Seth: And God calls the mountain.
David: Yeah, he's going to call some witnesses against Israel and he calls the mountains as witnesses. Those must have been big witness boxes.
Seth: Very large witness boxes. Enough. I mean, it's like the whole earth is a witness box. Whoa. It's like really big. Yeah.
David: Is there anything else we need to set up? A week of people being out of Micah? That would be helpful.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Diving back in.
Seth: So the Book of Micah is addressed seeing the twin problems of corrupt leaders within Israel and the encroaching Assyrian superpower at their front doors.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And God will save Israel by getting rid and judging the corrupt leaders of Israel, instituting a new leader in its place, a shepherd leader, a shepherd king who will judge with equity, but also lead Israel out to destroy evil and set themselves up as a new nation where all nations can come and receive justice. Yeah, that's the prophecies of the Book of Micah repeating.
David: And the only way for them to get to the blessing and the mountain being raised up is to go into exile, into death, to be destroyed. Yes, they must, they must first be destroyed in order for them to be raised.
Seth: This coming kingdom comes after judgment, after death for their, for their sins.
David: Judgment after, or salvation after judgment.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Okay, great. So court case number 3. Again, third time he calls Israel to hear, to listen. Yeah. And then he asks the mountain to arise and plead their case.
Seth: Yeah. Yes. So and the idea here is that the mountains are these objective, longstanding observers to God's covenant and God's grace towards Israel.
David: Yeah, it's a, it's a really, it's a much a better way of saying, man, if these walls could talk. Yeah, it's that.
Seth: Yes, that's exactly what it is.
David: They've been watching. What's—
Seth: they've been watching.
David: And he says, hey mountains, tell us what's been happening.
Seth: The mountains were there, and he mentions a whole bunch of things the mountains saw. The mountains were there when God liberated Israel from Egypt.
David: The mountains saw when God gave them the leaders of, uh, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
Seth: And Miriam, which is funny, Miriam didn't feel like that big of a character.
David: Yes.
Seth: In the Exodus story. Right. But she is here because I think because she was one of the first prophetesses.
David: Yeah, she was.
Seth: Yeah.
Seth: And so anyway, I just— that was a new piece of— a new little piece of biblical imaginative fodder in my mind.
David: Absolutely.
Seth: The Mounds also saw how God saved them from Balak, the king of Moab, in the wilderness and got them into the promised land.
David: Right.
Seth: The mountains have seen how God in Israel's entire history have graciously given them absolutely everything.
David: You know, so he's— so what he's doing is he's calling the mountains as a character witness.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He's saying, mountains, will you come tell Israel how much I've done for them?
Seth: Yeah. The mountains are God's character witness.
David: It's like, it's like the witness that comes to the stand. They're like, I've never— he wouldn't hurt a fly.
Seth: Right.
David: He's just the best guy I've ever met. And it's like, that's the— I don't know why they have a Southern accent, but sometimes it's Atticus Finch. And that's what it is.
Seth: Kill a Mockingbird just like takes over your imagination. And that's every court case is To Kill a Mockingbird. I also think it's maybe intentional, possibly in Deuteronomy we're told, and then the book of Joshua, that there are these two mountains in the Promised Land.
David: Yes.
Seth: Called Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Right. And one is called the Mountain of Blessing and one is called the Mountain of Cursing. And Israel was supposed to stand on either mountain. And the cursings were read from one mountain, right? And the people of Israel responded by saying, "We accept these curses." All the blessings were read from the other mountain, and they were supposed to— they would— blessings would be recited, and they would say, "We agree with these blessings." And the mountains were there to hear all of it, and they were witnesses to God's covenant, the covenant ceremony. And so that means whenever you are in Israel, you could look up and you could see Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim and be reminded of God's covenant. You would see the witnesses to God's covenant.
David: That's right.
Seth: Right.
David: And so he calls them in. He's like, hey, how have they been doing upholding all those things we agreed on? Should we bless them or curse them?
Seth: So that was the idea.
David: Yeah. And so it's just a cool image.
Seth: And I think the emphasis here is not so much on Israel's obedience or disobedience, but God's character.
David: It is.
Seth: Yeah. This is God's character. He saved them. He's established a leadership for them. He's protected them. He's given them a land. And what does God require for all that?
David: Right? When, like, whenever I mean, bring it in now, right? Like, bring in the Mount of Blessing, the Mount of Cursing here.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like when God gave the covenant, when God brought you into the land of Israel, what was on the line? Like, what did he say you must do to stay in the land?
Seth: Yes.
David: Was it self-flagellate and do all kinds of crazy things? No. What was— what's the basis of the law? Like the covenant, the commands in the law? What were they? Boil them down for me. What did I require of you to— for you to stay in the land?
Seth: It was to love God and love neighbor. Right. That was Old Testament. Or the way that Micah says it here is to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Yeah, that was what the law required. But instead, what Israel has done is subverted true worship of God and justice and kindness and humility for extravagant hypocritical sacrifices, right? He says like, did I ask for just thousands of river— 10,000 rivers of oil?
David: 10,000 rivers of oil?
Seth: Did I ask for thousands of rams?
David: He's like, did I ask for you to like sacrifice to me your firstborn son? No.
Seth: And these are all things that Israel had the capacity and that they actually did. They sacrificed their firstborn son.
David: They were in a an era of economic prosperity.
Seth: So they were giving more sacrifices when they were most evil than they did when they were faithful. And then God is saying, did I ask for any of that? Or did I ask for justice, kindness, and mercy?
David: Yeah. It's like, how did you guys get here? I didn't ask for this. This is not the kind of God that I am.
Seth: Yeah. I don't—
David: I'm not the kind of God that wants all this stuff. I just want you to walk humbly with me. To like do justice in the world, to love me and love your neighbor. Yeah, I'm just, I'm reminded of, of Jesus's words on, on the Mount. Oh my goodness.
Seth: Transfiguration.
David: Sermon on the Mount.
Seth: Sorry.
David: Sermon on the Mount, where he says, you know, in that day, many will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, but I will cast them away. And they'll say, hold on, we did a bunch of extravagant things for you. Did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name? We did all this stuff. And they like, like put forward all these religious things that they did. He's like, that's not what I want. He says, away from me, I never knew you. We never walked humbly together. Yeah, we weren't in relationship. You didn't, you didn't, you weren't doing the stuff that I'm about, which is like justice and mercy, which is what I've been talking about for the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. It's like, Jesus requires of us the same thing. He's just come walk with him.
Seth: That's good.
David: Do justice. You don't have to peddle out all of these religious extravagant things that are really just hypocritical. I just think about like, especially in the West, how easy it is for us to fall prey to this, the same temptation. Like, what does God require of us, man? Giant church buildings and big programs and extravagant Easter services and crazy, you know, Christmas Eve candlelight processionals and, you know, like whatever it is. You know, big soul harvest campaigns or whatever. And I'm not saying anything, any of these things are necessarily evil. Don't hear me wrong.
Seth: No, it's just, it wouldn't— A religious show is different than heartfelt justice, kindness, and humility.
David: Yeah, John Foreman has another song called More Than a Show.
Seth: Yeah, yeah.
David: About the same idea anyway.
Seth: It's really good. We were spiritually impacted by John Foreman in very formative ways.
David: Yeah, I think he's riffing off of Isaiah 1 1 and 2 there. Anyway, I don't remember that, which was a contemporary of Micah.
Seth: Uh, he was—
David: anyway, quotes—
Seth: they quote each other.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So anyway, uh, anyway, so the mountains are called as witnesses to God's character, right? Micah asks— Micah says God has required justice and mercy and kindness and humility. You've responded with hypocritical sacrifices. So what's the verdict, right? If this is the court case, what's the verdict? Verse 9. The voice of the Lord cries to the city. So this is Jerusalem. Remember, all the way back in chapter 1, we're told this is a judgment against Jerusalem. And it is sound wisdom to fear your name. Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it. So the rod in this case is Assyria coming against Israel. Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure that is accursed? The idea here is 'Can I forget any longer how great your injustice has been and how little justice has been done to you?' Right. That's, that's the idea.
David: He's like, he's like, 'Look, I have held back long enough. I've been watching so much evil take place, so much trickery, so much bribery, so much oppression. Am I the kind of God who's just going to stand back and let that happen?
Seth: No.
David: Am I— can I let that go on?' forever? No, I must act, and I'm going to judge you with the rod of Assyria.
Seth: Yep. I— verse 13— I will strike you with a grievous blow and make you desolate because of your sins. And Israel, or Jerusalem, Israel's leadership, will be marked by this really ironic kind of justice. They will, uh, eat and never be full. They will sow but never harvest. They will make wine but never enjoy it. Jerusalem will be will— has filled herself with like self-destruction, destructive wisdom, going after the idols of military power and religious performance, and they will soon self-destruct by God's hand. Yeah, that's the judgment for Jerusalem and its leadership in the way that it's led the nation.
David: Yeah, man. I mean, we've talked about this a bunch now in Micah with like perfect justice or appropriate justice or even ironic justice that the ways that Israel sins end up being the ways that they are punished. There are these appropriate responses to sin. Yeah. You know, it's like, okay, you depend on military might instead of me, I will use military might to judge you. Right? Like stuff like that. And now it's kind of different here, but it's the same theme is kind of being played is that like, oh, you're depending on all the vineyards that you have and the wine that you can tread out. Well, guess what? You're gonna tread it all out but before it's bottled, you're gonna be overtaken. You'll never get a chance to drink it. You know, there's this—
Seth: Yeah.
David: This, I mean, what, what difference are you pulling out there? I don't know if I'm going for a difference more just like, I don't know if we've quite landed the plane all throughout Micah on the podcast of like, why is this the way God goes about justice?
Seth: Ah.
David: Um, is through, and like, I mean, a really simple way is like, man, it's just appropriate. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Is just like, God's justice is always meted out perfectly, that he's never overbearing in his, in his judgment, right? And then there's also the whole idea of him as a wise counselor, a tactician we talked about last week, right? Where he, he ends up working your own sin against you just to show that he's smarter than you. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I'm just like, why is this the way that God especially in Micah, like works this out.
Seth: I mean, it's not just in Micah, it's everywhere in scripture. And I mean, we talked about a ton on the Esther podcast, like this idea that you get back what you put in, you reap what you sow is like, I don't know why, except that it is, I think almost everyone agrees that it's just like this. It's fair. It's fair. If you trust in military, by the military you will be destroyed. If you trust in wealth, the wealth will eat you alive. If you trust in beauty and you use that to hurt others, you will get ugly. Like that— there's like, there's this like inherent justice in the thing that you trust in devouring you that I think most people accept, probably because it was— that is justice. That is God being just. God has established what justice is, and it's the perfect proportionate correction, discipline, punishment for the crime. The punishment always fits the crime.
David: I'm also thinking about it as like an indictment against idolatry.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That like when we trust something the way we're supposed to trust God, God proves to us by using it to punish us that it was untrustworthy. So like, especially like in Micah where there was idolatry, it's called out in the first in the first court case that it's like, man, they trust in military more than me. Well, I'll show them by using their military.
Seth: And it shows you who's really in charge.
David: Exactly.
Seth: If God can manipulate their idols to judge them, the idol was never God.
David: Exactly.
Seth: God is.
David: Yeah.
David: Which is like really interesting.
Seth: There's like there's a broader theological conversation that we've talked about multiple times about active and passive wrath of God. The passive wrath of God is like you getting what you deserve.
David: Sin is its own consequence and you you, you commit adultery, your marriage falls apart.
Seth: Right. And like, we see it all over here, right? So idea like you reap what you sow, right? Literally. And then the active wrath of God, which people talk about as God like actively being like sending somebody to hell or something. Right.
David: Sure.
Seth: But I don't understand why there needs to be a difference, especially in a place like the Book of Micah. Right. You have sin being its own consequence. You make political allies, those political alliances fall apart. And those political alliance cannibalize you, and who's in charge of the nations? God is.
David: Right.
Seth: And besides, how many coincidences and small little things would need to happen perfectly so that Assyria would end up finding out about the betrayal?
David: Like, yeah, it's too perfect. It's too perfect of a trap.
Seth: It's too perfect of a trap.
David: Only a perfect war tactician could have put this together.
Seth: So it's like the idea that sin is its own consequence. I think God's involved in that.
David: Like, totally.
Seth: I don't think active and passive wrath are like separate, like, separate things, separate things. And I think that's what we're seeing here. God is responding appropriately to justice always. There's never a time when God overreacts to wrongdoing.
David: Yeah.
Seth: You always get what you most desire.
David: Yeah.
Seth: In the way that you didn't expect it. Like, that's kind of like—
David: it's ironic.
Seth: It's always ironic.
David: Yeah. I'm just trying to like, even this, this might— this, this reflection, this meditation feels a little like Pardon anybody who just doesn't quite follow me here. Yeah, like a little like, I don't know, like Alexandrian in my—
Seth: I don't even follow you.
David: Like the church fathers. Yeah, there were different strands of seeing Christ in all of Scripture and different hermeneutics that they would apply.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And some of the Alexandrian fathers got a little mystical in their ways of seeing Christ in Scripture. So this might feel a little bit that. But I was just, I was just thinking about the enemies of the cross. We talked a little bit about this last week, but the enemies that came to defeat Jesus on the cross, the Romans, the Pharisees, Satan himself and his legions, right? They came out and they sought to eat a feast, but they were not satisfied, right? Like they, they, they, they sought to tread out his blood, but they did not get to drink the wine that they were expecting. Like, yeah, I'm just like, there's all this language of like, uh, what you— what they hope to expect was, was not brought.
Seth: They hoped to crucify a political revolutionary. Instead, they crowned the King of the Universe.
David: Yes.
Seth: Like, that's— yeah, they put King of the Jews ironically, but it was— God made it unironic when he rose from the dead. Like, that's true. Yeah, that ironic justice, like the cross is this interesting irony, or the reversal of irony, is the way God does justice in the world. It brings peace and establishes his rule.
David: And then the opposite in the kingdom of God is also really interesting where Jesus is like, oh, do you want to be comforted? Then mourn.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Right. It's like, do you want wine? Like, do you want wine? Well, don't spend your life treading out the grapes.
Seth: You want to live? So die.
David: Right. It's just, it's so interesting how many, how much reversal there is in this. I know we talked about this last week too, but I just can't get away from it. It's just everywhere in here in Micah.
Seth: So yeah. Yeah. Death precedes life.
David: It's, uh, it's cool. Okay. So, so he said he's called the mountains. They've, they've, given a guilty verdict because Israel did not give what God required, which was just walking with him humbly and creating justice in the world. Instead, they brought these hypocritical sacrifices. And so he says he's going to strike them on the teeth and on the cheek and the mouth and cause all these ironic punishments to come against them. Okay, so that's, that's where we are.
Seth: That's where we are. Okay. And they say it, he kind of summarized this way in verse 16, you've kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab.
David: Two evil kings.
Seth: Yeah. And kind of like the archetypical, the prototypical evil kings, like throughout the Book of Kings or Chronicles, they always refer back to the sins of Ahab.
David: He walked in the ways of his father.
Seth: They were these wrong— they were not the kings of God. So much so that when Matthew records his genealogy, he says there's 14 kings between King David and Jesus. Actually, there's 18. 4 of them are all descended from Omri, and he just excludes them because they're not the true king. Whoa. Because they're not. Yeah. So it's like you followed in the path of people that were corrupt. And remember what Ahab did? He stole a vineyard.
David: Right.
Seth: And he took it for himself. So, okay, you got a vineyard and olive presses by treachery, by murder, by deceit, by cannibalism, by conspiracy. And so because of that, you'll receive none of the rewards.
David: Doesn't he die in the vineyard? He does die in an ironic death, like the vineyard he thought he would, he would get life through. Yeah, he would enjoy it.
Seth: It would. Yeah.
David: So interesting. And he says, you've walked in all their counsels. This is the same word we picked apart last week as their, their war tacticians. He's like, you thought that the best way to go about living in my kingdom was to follow the political war advice of evil kings who said, like, you know what, let's make treaties with Egypt to get all their chariots. Let's pay off Assyria with their high taxes and we can negotiate the terms of our own peace. Yeah. And you've listened to the wrong tacticians.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: That's really interesting.
Seth: And I mean, again, we did this— talked about this last week, but 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, it talks about the wisdom of the leaders of the world is opposite to this.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like the wisdom of The counsel of the world will always tell you to pursue power and land and money in order to secure yourself some version of salvation. And Jesus— the gospel comes, the way of God comes, the kingdom of God comes and says, no, the way that you become the nation where people flock to, where justice is done, is by saying no to all those things and pursue justice, humility, and kindness.
David: You cannot serve both God and Mammon. Yeah, the false god of money. You like seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then I'll add everything else to you.
Seth: And we've glossed over this, but like we talked about idolatry, these fake sacrifices, the hypocritical sacrifices. But at the same time, all this corruption is going on. Those things are connected. The further away they get from true worship of God, the more injustice is being done. The less they actually mean it when they sacrifice a ram, the more they're paying off to Egypt. Like, they're like, the great religious observance can coincide— like, always co— like, hypocritical religious observance always coincides with increasing corruption and idolatry, or corruption and injustice in Israel. Those things are always linked together.
David: Okay. I mean, as we As we wrap up chapter 6 then, like, because there's gonna be a huge shift in chapter 7, what, like, what's the primary way you're reflecting on the cross here? I mean, we've talked about the ironic reversal of the cross, um, you know, like, I'm also trying to remember the mountains being called, uh, walking humbly with God. I'm trying to think about the God can no longer watch the wicked men use wicked scales and deceitful wages. I'm like How are you reflecting on the gospel?
Seth: One day, finally, that won't exist anymore. Yeah, the innocent will rule, the abused will be comforted, the oppressed will be liberated. Like, the evil rulers of the world will be thrown down. And I think there's like— we miss, like, for the spiritual reality, the physical reality of this. There was a whole bunch of oppressed, lame, weak, sick people in Israel, oppressed by actual leaders who were bankrupted by them. And they all got wiped out when Assyria came in. The leaders were gone. And then the faithful people re-inherited a new Israel and became who? The new leaders of it. Ezra, Nehemiah. They were the new leaders of a new Israel. They got back what they lost.
David: Yeah.
Seth: They became like— that's the good news is that they're gone and we get to be in charge, right?
David: We get to move into the ruins and rule again. Yeah. Like, that is really interesting, man.
Seth: And so that happened to Israel in history.
David: Uh-huh.
Seth: That happens with us spiritually right now. Like, we rule and reign with Jesus, right? If like our oppressors don't have the final word, our abusers don't have the final word, the corrupt don't have the final word. Who are the rich in the kingdom of God? Those who are poor. Who are those that celebrate? Those are who are mourning the death of their loved ones. That's who's celebrating. And then in the final reality, when all evil and injustice is judged, who reigns with Jesus? The innocent.
David: Yeah.
Seth: The oppressed.
David: Right.
Seth: Those who trust that evil will one day have a coming judgment. Yeah. That's the good news.
David: It's so good. I'm— now you got me thinking. Now I'm thinking about like, uh, two, two things, and they're all about like the extravagant hypocritical offerings versus the, like, humble ones of the people of God. One is like, compare the illustrious, gorgeous construction of Herod's Second Temple.
Seth: Okay.
David: The temple that was around in Jesus's day. Yeah. I mean, so much so that right after Jesus threw a tizzy in the temple and exited out of it, his disciples turned around like, man, 'Look how beautiful the temple is.' Like, you know, like, I mean, it was a gorgeous structure. Yeah. Because like Herod built it out of pride and wanted to, you know, be like, 'Look how great and benevolent—' He was compensating for something. '—of a ruler I am.' Yeah, I wonder if he was. He didn't seem to have any kind of compensation issues. Anyway, it was gorgeous. It was huge, you know. And then all of a sudden, with Jesus dying, the temple curtain being torn into, the Holy Spirit now coming to indwell new temples, where? Us. Yeah. And Paul calls us in 2 Corinthians 4 not gorgeous gilded temples. He says the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us as jars of clay. Like, we're not these huge spectacles anymore. Yeah. Like, the temple of God is no longer fragile human beings.
Seth: Yeah. Carry the power of the kingdom.
David: It's crazy. So I'm just thinking about that, you know, that comparison about the the golden age of Israel versus the humble age of the church. Yeah. Where now God's home is here inside David and Seth.
Seth: And think about the good— you just said it— the good news is that entrance into that kingdom, the inheritance of leadership and a kingdom of justice, is achieved how? By humility. Right. Not, not to the rich. Right. Not to those with power, to the humble.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Who say they don't have power and need help and they need and they want to see justice reign. That's who inherits the kingdom of God. That simple. That simple yet active faith compared to the extravagance of those in power is all that's needed to inherit the true kingdom.
David: Yeah. So that's, that's the first thing I was thinking. The second was the, the difference in both Israel's old sacrificial system and our own current, like, I don't know, ways that we sacrifice here in the West. We try to atone for our sins and everything like that through different, through different means. But for the time being, let's compare Israel's sacrifice with Jesus on the cross. I mean, Micah here is referencing thousands of rivers of oil and thousands of rams and, you know, like all of these extravagant sacrifices. I mean, just imagine the daily manpower it took to maintain the temple. Like, it was a humongous sacrificial system. And imagine, like, the weight of that, that it would have carried with the nation of Israel, like how extravagant the sacrifice must be to atone for our sins. And then all of a sudden, we're supposed to think that one meager death of a humble carpenter is better than all those extravagant sacrifices? Yeah. And Micah would say yes. Why? Because God wasn't looking for an extravagant sacrifice necessarily. He was looking for the right sacrifice, a good sacrifice. He was looking for someone who would walk humbly, do justice, love mercy, and sacrifice.
Seth: That's Jesus's death on the cross is the appropriate reaction to God's covenant. Yes, God's covenant was like, here's the land, here's all the blessings, and here's all the cursing. So what do you do, Israel? How should you have responded? And Jesus gives that response. Mm-hmm. He humbly dies so that others can receive justice, right?
David: That's the right sacrifice.
Seth: That's the right sacrifice.
David: Yeah, performed by the right kind of person.
Seth: Mm-hmm.
David: Yeah, so I was just thinking, and I just think about like the objection I've heard people bring up today. It's just like, what does one guy's death 2,000 years ago have to do with me today? It just seems like a blip on the radar. It's like, oh, you're trying to compare the extravagant sacrifice. You think the extravagant sacrifices are what God wants? I— not— yeah, something humble and lowly. Okay, so Seth, you have all of Chapter 7 figured out, so I'm just gonna let you run this ship. Yeah, this is my— that's my setup for you to help us explain.
Seth: So how— how— how— great song by John Foreman. Uh, he is— the tone of the letter shifts pretty dramatically. Yeah, we have— we just had like, you know, the prophecy of doom, and we're kind of expecting a prophecy of hope. But that's kind of how Micah's been structured so far. But in this next section, Micah takes up the prophecy, but instead of like continuing it with a prophecy of hope or another prophecy of doom for Israel or Jerusalem or for Assyria, he acts as if the prophecy is happening to him. And so there's a couple ways to read that. One is like he's just lamenting his place in a soon-to-be decimated Israel. But I think more significantly, he is acting like a representative Israelite who is mourning the lack of justice in Israel, mourning the coming judgment, and then talking to God about it as a representative for Israel. So does that make sense?
David: I think so. You interrupted yourself about the great song of John Foreman. I was curious what you were going to—
Seth: I did interrupt myself?
David: What were you going to say about that?
Seth: Well, he basically has the whole thing. Micah speaking to God. And all of chapter 7 is his talks with God. Okay. That's him talking to God.
David: That's how John Foreman in the song interprets it.
Seth: However, I think it's a little more complicated than that. Micah is acting and speaking to God. But I think different characters jump in at different points.
David: This is like, yeah, this is what I was joking about.
Seth: Because like Micah talks for a second, and then Jerusalem, the idolatrous city, responds, and then God responds, then Micah responds again. So it's like, there's characters acting and not just one person speaking. Okay. That's the most important thing. Yeah. Right. Okay.
David: So multiple characters are talking. You've got Micah in the mix. You've got Jerusalem as a corporate body in the mix. You've got God in the conversation. I mean, in a sense, you have a lot of the characters from the court cases now giving their— some concluding thoughts. Mm-hmm.
Seth: And then—
David: and now you have this idea then of a representative Israelite. That you talked about. Yeah.
Seth: Like, I mean, he's embodying the pain of Israel. He's sympathizing with the plight of Israel and he's hoping it's like— and he knows that justice is coming. And then he also embodies like the right response of Israel. So maybe like the right response is, but as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation and my God will hear me. He's mourning as a representative Israelite, but he's also being the faithful Israelite that will remain, that will be the remnant that will return.
David: To become a leader. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm hearing you. There's a lot going on. Okay, so let's talk about— let's talk about this. There's so many things. Let's talk about the, the mourning. The mourning. He's mourning as a representative Israelite. Yes. So whenever it starts in, in 7:1, woe is me, woe is me, for I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned and there's no cluster to eat. Mike is not necessarily talking about his own self. He's not all of a sudden throwing a pity party.
Seth: No,
David: he's, he's embodying the corporate pain of his people. Would this be— this is a little tongue-in-cheek, but like, I was trying to think of an analog to this. It's like, it's like Uncle Sam, the representative American. Like, oh, like, could you see like a, almost like a political cartoon of Uncle Sam? Like, yeah. Mourning something that's going on in America, right?
Seth: And the fact that it's— yeah, I think maybe you've got this mighty prophet embodying—
David: I don't know. Yeah, I was trying to find an analog for—
Seth: I think that representative— I mean, it's like if, if the president— the president is our representative, it's the American representative. So if he got on TV and mourned and wept for the injustice in the nation, that would mean a lot. And then broadcast it to the world, that would, that would say something. Yeah.
David: The wider, the wider community of the world would probably be like, oh man, I guess America, speaking corporately, right, is finally coming to terms with the injustices they're causing. Right.
Seth: And remember, Micah is a court prophet. He would have been in Jerusalem. He was part— he was a significant member of cabinet, a cabinet member. So like his representation means something to Israel. Okay. So he says, woe is me, for I become as when summer fruit has been gathered and there's nothing to be gleaned, right? Cluster to eat, no ripe fig that my soul desires. So the question is, what is he talking about? What is the fruit that he wants but can't get?
David: It's the fact that he— I mean, it's a lot of the fruit, the same fruit that Jesus talks about. It's the fruit of good people. It's specifically good leaders.
Seth: Yeah. Verse 3: All their hands are on what is evil to do it well. The prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man, the leader, utters the evil desires of his soul. Micah is, is looking in all of Israel for a good leader, and he can find none. There is no fruit of justice. There's no seed of righteousness. There is no one who can act justly on behalf of Israel. The best leader in Israel isn't like a tree bearing fruit. It's like a briar, a thorn hedge. They're an obstacle to judge. Justice, not just— not the instrument of justice. Yeah. And their confusion, he says, their judgment, their turmoil, their exile is coming quickly. Yeah, that's, that's what he's mourning the loss of. Okay. But you're right to point to Jesus, right? Because he said— and he says again, fig tree. We talked— we waxed eloquent about fig trees a little while ago. But remember, after Jesus throws over the tables in the temple. He leaves the temple in most of the gospel accounts, and he finds a fig tree bearing what?
David: No fruit. Leaves but no fruit.
Seth: Leaves but no fruit. And then he curses it, and then it withers and dies. Right. And everyone's like, why did he do that? Yeah. I mean, his disciples are confused. His disciples were confused. And the reason why he did that is the same reason Micah's warning— warning. Jesus was hoping for just leaders, good priests, good people to lead the temple. And they're all corrupt. They're all evil. Yeah. They have the signs that they should bear fruit, right? Making sacrifices. Yeah. They're doing all the right things.
David: The tree had leaves, but no fruit. And so it was hypocritical.
Seth: It was hypocritical. Yeah. And so it withers, right? Just like Jerusalem. And then just like Jerusalem. Yeah, we'll be withered here. So it's Jesus. Yeah, he fulfills it. He was a lot of Micah. Uh, and then this happens. Yeah, Jesus quotes the next passage from Micah. Micah says this: Don't put trust in a neighbor, don't have confidence in your friend. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms. So don't speak to the woman in your arms. For the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. So what he's saying is God is coming to judge Jerusalem, and in his coming, he will divide the city. Yeah, they will be confused. The leaders will be confused, and all the inhabitants will be confused. So they'll be divided on what to do next. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will disagree. Father and son won't know what to do. And Jesus says this exact same thing. Yes, when he comes, judges Jerusalem because there's no figs in the fig tree. He says, I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword, but a sword, war. And I'm going to divide people because they're not going to know what to do with the fact that I'm destroying the old religious establishment and starting a new kingdom. Right. He fulfills it. Right. Period. And I was like, what more do you do with that? Except that's what he did. He broke down a system of religious corruption. Establish a new kingdom of God. And people didn't know what to do with them and eventually killed him for it.
David: Yeah, I mean, this, this happens all the time today. You know, you have a child who grows up in an atheistic household, or maybe a Muslim household or whatever, and they want to become a Christian. They get estranged from their parents. And there, there's all this conflict and division. Because what? Because of the news of the kingdom of God has come. And like, I mean, I've heard like versions of this fight that happened. And it sounds a lot like Micah, you know, or it's just like, it's like, what? So you're saying that now that you're a Christian, that God's going to judge me? Oh, yeah. Yeah, Dad, I guess I am saying that. Well, then I don't want anything to do with you. It's like that. Those conversations happen. It's like believing in Jesus does put a division between even father and son.
Seth: I'm also thinking about the way that this happens within the believing community. Mm-hmm. Because presumably these leaders would have held, right, that God is the God of the universe, that there was a Messiah coming, that the temple was the only true place to worship. They would have been theologically orthodox, at least on the surface, right? But their lives would have been marked by a lack of justice and kindness and humility. So I have a lot of stories of people who are rejecting the religion of their parents who claimed to know Christ, but say that it's not marked by justice and mercy the way, the way that God desires. Yeah. Like that, that story still happens. Like I've met the real Christ. He's come to judge the religious establishment, not uphold the status quo that you keep saying is so good and right. Yeah. So it's like, this happens a lot. This, you're right. This is still the reality.
David: Jesus as a teacher, as a judge, as a savior. As a way of life, as a person, is divisive. Yes. And so was the judgment in Micah's day. I mean, imagine Micah's prophecy all throughout his whole book. We keep hearing tell of these other prophets who would come and be like, dude, shut up, stop prophesying. We don't talk like that here. Why are you causing division?
Seth: God said he would never judge Israel.
David: Why are you causing all this headache? Right. And being such a Debbie Downer, man, just like, kumbaya, bro, you know, like, right? He's just like, but the message, the true message of God is not necessarily one of kumbaya for everybody. Right.
Seth: I think I was reading one commentator and they thought it's like the leaders of Israel are right to presume upon God's mercy. I will slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. But I will by no means clear the guilty. Yeah, the leaders of Israel were talking about the first part without realizing they were falling afoul of the second part. And the more Micah tries to emphasize that, the more they tell him to shut up. Mm-hmm. We're not guilty of those crimes. We're okay here. God's not coming to judge us for our trust in the military, our idolatry, our whatever.
David: So yeah, man, we're going to be able to lean into that even more here in just a second. So He talks about how, woe is me, everything's terrible, representative Israel. But as for me, yeah, he's like, yeah, but as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation, and my God will hear me. So my enemies, people out there, and he's again being representative of Israel, or is this Jerusalem? Now, this is— he's—
Seth: this is Jerusalem talking or Micah talking as a representative of Israel. Jerusalem and the remnant within it.
David: Like, it's— so he's talking— Israel is talking to their enemies. Micah is talking to their enemies, and he's saying, don't rejoice over us, Assyria, Babylon, all the enemies of the Lord, because when I fall, I shall rise, which is what we've been talking about. It's only after Mount Zion, the mount— the mountain is leveled that it will be risen up again. It's when I sit in darkness, that the Lord will be a light to me. Those things are almost simultaneous. Yeah. That's in death, I will find life.
Seth: I will bear the indignation of the Lord. I will bear the guilty verdict of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he pleads my case and executes judgment for me. That's a really interesting loaded phrase. Oh, yeah. So if, so if he's talking as a representative of Jerusalem, Jerusalem will bear the indignation of the Lord, right? Because it sinned against him.
David: Right. Israel, Babylon will be, will come and wipe them out.
Seth: But then one day God will plead Jerusalem's case and execute judgment for Jerusalem. Mm-hmm. But I thought, but I thought they were this, they rightfully deserve that. Yeah. And I think this might get into like that remnant idea. Yeah. There is a people within Israel that were always innocent, right? Always faithful, always crying out to— looking to the Lord for justice. Yeah.
David: And it's these people that will be raised up. So then there's actually 4 court cases in Micah. Oh, right. There's the 3 that it's patterned around, but there's a 4th one that it expects. Interesting, right? There's a new future court case which has happened already, but not for Micah. For us, it's happened. And it's in exile. Think about like the— some of the exilic Psalms in the Bible. They are asking God to come back and bring them back into the land and respond and listen and, and awake from his slumber because they're innocent and they're pursuing him. They're the remnant crying out. And finally God will hear their case. And he will say, you're right. And now I'm going to enact justice for you and bring you back. And ultimately he does that through coming to them as this shepherd king Micah prophesied about in Jesus. Yes. That's amazing. One thing that I just like can't get away from, and I haven't said it out loud yet, so I got it. I might have to try to work through it. But I, when I was reading this today, I was really struck by this idea that the, the lie that the religious elite, the rulers of Israel in Micah's day, the lie that they believed was so potent because it had a kernel of truth into it, that God is supremely forgiving, is just dumb, like completely baffling, bafflingly kind and long-suffering, right?
Seth: Like, slow to anger, slow to anger, like so kind.
David: Mercy for 1000 generations, Exodus says, right? And that's so true. The problem is they didn't believe that, that God had any justice against his own people at all, any, any discipline for them.
Seth: They leveraged that understanding of God's love to say, well, that means there's no requirements that come with that love.
David: That's right. Yeah. And so because what Micah goes on to say is that like there will be so much forgiveness for him and there will be like all his sin will be trampled on and like it's just he goes on to just baffle my brain about the forgiveness of God to where I'm like, I'm a little offended by the end of Micah for how forgiving God is. Yeah. And so like, that's the kernel of truth that the— that these religious leaders had. The problem was they didn't believe they had to suffer first, that they didn't have to have punishment first, that God was only one thing and couldn't be two things. He couldn't be just and merciful. He could only be merciful and therefore they could turn a blind eye to justice.
Seth: Well, it's like they didn't imagine him— that he could be a father. A father disciplines the children that he loves. Right. So God could be a grandfather only giving out goodies and treats and never doing the punishment. But he couldn't be an actual loving, kind, like, father offering remedial justice, the type that cleanses them and corrects them and brings them into his image, right? Um, so he says, I'll plead my case, God will execute judgment on my behalf, Jerusalem's behalf, the remnant's behalf, and he shall bring me out of light, and I shall look upon his vindication. Now I was wondering, vindication here could mean two things, okay? It could mean the vindication of the innocent. See, I was truly innocent because now I've been restored.
David: Kind of like a Job thing. Yeah, like I've been vindicated.
Seth: Okay, see, you got like See, but it could also be God's vindication.
David: Oh, vindicating himself as both just and merciful. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's either way.
Seth: Yeah. And then he says, and then on that day when my— when I'm vindicated, I guess my enemy will see and shame will cover her head. Those who said to me, where is the Lord your God? Which again is something Sennacherib said at the gates of Israel with his 185,000 army. Yeah. And then my eyes, Jerusalem's eyes, will look upon her and she will be trampled down like mire in the streets. Which again happened in 2 Kings 18. Yeah.
David: Oh goodness. I mean, that's amazing. It's also happened in a sense when Jesus on the cross. It's like, if you, if you are the Lord, where's your God now? Yes. If you are the Lord, come on down off the cross. And then what? In his resurrection, he put to shame the powers.
Seth: Rejoice not over me, Pharisees. Roman. Just imagine Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, because when I fall, Jesus says on the cross, I will rise. When I sit in the darkness of the grave, the Lord will lead me to light. I will bear the indignation of the Lord.
David: He did.
Seth: Jesus bore our sins on the cross, not because I have sinned against him, but because he took our sins on himself, because he pled our case. Yeah. And he pleads our case and executes justice for us. Like Jesus could have— and then my enemy will see, Satan will see, the empire will see, Rome will see, and shame will cover them all who said, where is the Lord your God? And he'll trample down death and sin itself. And it's so good. It's good. It's good news.
David: It's good news. Oh man. Okay. So verse 11 then.
Seth: So A day for building your walls. That's the sentence? That's the sentence. But, uh, so if, if it's Micah speaking as representative Israelite and then Jerusalem responding, I think this is God responding to Jerusalem's faith. So Jerusalem has just admitted that even at the end of exile, we'll come back. They know, they have learned the lesson of the Lord. They learned that resurrection comes after death. And then God responds and says, There will be a day for the building of your walls. And I think that word walls isn't like strategic fortified walls. It's like the word fences, like a shepherd's fence. Ah, yeah. So he is pulling on that same imagery. And in that day, the boundary shall be far extended. In that day, they will come to you from Assyria and from the cities of Egypt and from Egypt to the river Euphrates. And so the idea is God responds to Israel's faith, say, okay, when you come, when you're resurrected, when you come back out of exile, there's going to be a day of fence building, but it won't be around Jerusalem. The boundaries will be far, far extended, room enough for the nations of the world, Assyria and Egypt, to all come in to the nation and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
David: And they will all live in peace in the kingdom. It's amazing. The reversal that's happened is that Israel thought that they could become a superpower by strategic military alliances and pursuing everything in their own power. Yeah. And they shrunk and their cities were overtaken by Assyrian attacks and they were cornered into one tiny little stronghold, right? Yeah. But it's in death and in humiliation and by naming their need and saying, woe is me, that their boundaries are extended to the ends of the earth. That's the gospel. It's so cool. Okay. Oh man. Amazing. Yeah.
Seth: I was also thinking about— you just mentioned that the irony there, there's a prophecy in Micah 2 where like God will gather Israel like sheep in a pen. Yes. Like in that tiny cramped space as all of Israel flees Sennacherib's attacks and goes to the last stronghold of Jerusalem, then God reverses it. Okay. And then Micah responds to God's response. So God says there's gonna be this day when the borders are going to be enlarged, people are gonna flow in, and then Micah responds and says, then God, please shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance who dwell, and then make us dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land. Mm-hmm.
David: That's like Garden of Eden. You put it— put us back in the Garden of Eden, please, and walk among us.
Seth: Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as they did in the days of old, which is a callback to Moses and the territory that he presided over. Okay. Um, as in the days when you came— then when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvelous things. This is now God's response. So I forgot. So that's God talking. God's saying, as in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show you marvels. I'll do another Exodus. Yep. And he's quoting here, uh, Moses's song after they crossed the Red Sea.
David: Oh, in Exodus 15.
Seth: Exodus 15. The nations then will be— see and be ashamed of all their might. They shall lay their hands on their mouth and their ears shall be deaf. Whoa.
David: I've never heard— I just, I just, I guess I read over this verse 16, that the nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might, not in their might or because of their might. They'll be ashamed. They'll look at how strong they are and be ashamed of it. Mm-hmm. This is a good— yeah, because they'll know it's the wrong qualification to be in the kingdom.
Seth: Yeah, that's exactly— that's It's like Israel trusts in its might and it downfells. And they'll look at their might and feel— they'll know that's the wrong way. Uh-huh. But it's also, I think, the other way is like, well, it's not good enough.
David: Oh, right. They'll look at how strong God actually is and be like, oh, I thought I was really strong. Right.
Seth: It's like, yeah, I'm the most powerful nation in the world and I can do nothing to move the needle towards my— in my favor when it comes to God.
David: Yeah. It'd be like, be like, doing your— you're like a personal best on bench press or something and you like put it up and then a guy next to you does like 10 times as much, like effortlessly. Yeah. And you're like, oh, I'm ashamed of my strength. I'm ashamed of my strength. That's cool. Yeah, that's better. Yeah. Yeah.
Seth: And then in that same moment that they're ashamed, they will lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth. They shall come trembling out of their stronghold and turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you, Israel.
David: So there's a— wait, hold on. Are you telling me that God's going to put them back in a garden and a shame and put shame over a serpent?
Seth: He's going to put the people of God, the people of God back in the garden, and he's going to cover their enemies with shame and crush them like the serpent.
David: This sounds familiar.
Seth: It might sound familiar. Like it's, it's Genesis 3. It's just the promise of Genesis 3:15. 17, when God crushes the head of the serpent, but then also everyone who follows the serpents— Assyria and Babylon— he crushes their head. But ultimately Satan and death and Rome and false religion is all crushed under the cross of Jesus Christ.
David: Yeah. And it's like, wait, why would God do this? Like, read all of Micah and it's just like, Israel's the worst. Like, God's people are the worst. I'm the worst, you know, like the church is sometimes the worst. Like Christians are sometimes the worst. Paul was the chief of sinners, right? You know, we're the worst. Like, what kind of God would offer salvation and kindness and, and return to Eden? And that's the question Micah asks next. He who meditates on his own name.
Seth: Yeah, we've mentioned this before, but Micah means Who is like God? That's what his name means. And so he ends with this little poem that starts with his own name. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? How can you just— who is a God like this who can look at all of our sin clearly in the eyes? The mountains have witnessed to it and say, and not retain his anger forever, but instead delights in steadfast love.
David: I mean, it's amazing. It's like the Book of Micah seems to give us one of two versions of God, and they're both false. One is the God of the leaders. Yeah. Who is like his granddad who gives out Werther's candies all day and never brings justice. Yeah. And that God's false. But like, people still ascribe that, like, that character to God today, that God is just peace, love, and pixie dust, and that's it. Yeah. He's like, no, that God is not big enough. That's, that's not— that God is like you. That God is like in your image, how you want him to be. And then there's like a version, I think, of God that we can easily come away from some of the prophetic books thinking about, which is just an angry God who just is just judging and wrathful and like And like, we don't know how to make a third in between God because he's not like something that we can conceive. He will again have compassion on us.
Seth: He will tread our iniquities under his foot. Who— what God can do both, right? He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Yeah. He will show faithfulness to Jacob. Steadfast love to Abraham, as he had sworn our fathers. It is powerful to think that God's promises to people like Abraham and David and Judah win out over their sin. Yeah. All these people were great, right? Exemplar— perfect, perfect, perfect. Or, you know, even does— like, you don't always want to mirror your life after some of the characters in the Bible that God chooses. Um, but he counts his promise to them as more significant than their sin. And there, there are, there are things that you must follow. Do justice, love mercy. And if you decide not to do those things, you will get your just reward, right? But he will never abandon those who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. With God, right? Like, there's no end to that promise. Even when a whole nation so wholeheartedly comes together in opposition to that, God will not abandon it. Yeah.
David: And it's like, I'm like, there's a corporate way to read this, I think, is kind of what you just— what you just said, that he will again have compassion on Israel. He will tread Israel's iniquities underfoot. God, you will cast all of Israel's sins into the depths of the sea so that you can finally show faithfulness to us again. You can, you can rejoin yourself with us. But man, there's a, like, in Jesus especially, there is an individual way to read this, you know, or as members of the church, if you want to keep it corporal.
Seth: Yeah, that's what I was gonna, kept thinking that. But yes, let's do both.
David: But like, man, I just like, you say like, if I, okay, if I do justice, and if I love mercy, and if I walk humbly, then God will— God has mercy for me. And I'm like, I'm going to miss that mark. And I'm just— it's just— but who's a God like you who pardons my iniquities, passes over my transgressions, right? Like, like, who doesn't just retain your anger against my sin, but delights to give me steadfast love. You have compassion on me. You, you, you crush my sin that's in me, and then you cast all my sins in the depths of the sea. Like, And that's only possible in Jesus, that, that he was able to actually pay for my sin. Yeah. Pardon my iniquity and show steadfast love to me at the same time. Like, because it's when I'm judged that I live. Mm-hmm. But how could I be judged and live at the same time? Hmm. In Christ. Mm-hmm. The church is in Christ.
Seth: How can I die and yet live forever? In Christ.
David: That's the only way. That we can both bear the punishment for our sins and live. We must be in Christ who bore the punishment for our sin on the cross and lived by being risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of God forever. Yeah, it's the only way that we can do both, both as individuals and as the church at large, who is the body of Christ. Right. We are joined with him. Man, it's so good.
Seth: Yeah. I was thinking too, as you were, you met— you started that off by saying Well, I'll fall short of that mark of loving justice and doing kindness, walking in humility. I think the way that I was thinking about that— no, that's faith. Yeah, that, that is the definition. By faith alone means do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. Like, those are not in competition with one another, which is why we have a rule behind the scenes, like, we never just say just have faith, right? We do have a rule.
David: We never say in a Spoken Gospel Devo, like, just believe God and everything will be okay, or just put your faith in Jesus, because it trivializes the cost of faith.
Seth: Which the fact that Israel's leaders were not able to do it should, like, highlight that for you. You have people who are in— given everything God could— like, they protected, liberated, given a land, like, all that's happening. God has given them everything that they need to follow the covenant well. Yeah. And their hearts do not allow them to have faith in God. And I think your, your point still stands. Yeah. How do we have faith in God when the cost is so high? We must die to ourselves, trust in the one who can resurrect us from the dead and then bring us into the life that we haven't been able to live up to yet.
David: Right. We need that. Yeah. Or another way to think about it too is whenever he talks about crushing our iniquities and casting our sins into the sea, he's not just talking about their, their courtroom penal consequences. He's talking about their power. How am I ever supposed to walk humbly with God when I'm so proud? How can I ever do justice when I'm so selfish? How can I ever love mercy when I love, you know, building myself up in comfort? How can I do that? Well, Jesus the Holy Spirit says that he will crush sin's power over you. He will crush your pride. He will crush your preference for comfort over love of neighbor. He will trample those things underfoot and defeat their power so that you can walk humbly with him, so that you will do justice and you will actually in your heart love mercy. Those things will bear out in your life. You will not be a fig tree with just leaves and no fruit. You will bear fruit. Yeah. Who is like God? Who is like God? Micah. That's what Micah means. That's so cool. Wow. Okay, well, is that Micah?
Seth: That's the book of Micah.
David: All right, what's next up for us?
Seth: Next week will be in the book of Nahum. That's appropriate because it's next. It's, it's next. The reason why we're doing it next is because next— we're also filming it next in our timeline. Yep. Um, and it's really interesting because it a partner book to the Book of Jonah in many ways, right? The Book of Jonah was about God's mercy towards Nineveh. The Book of Nahum is about God's judgment against Nineveh.
David: Well, I'll be excited to dive into that. So, all right, well, thank you guys for joining us, and we will see you next week in Nahum.
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit SpokenGospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
