“They will lick the dust like a serpent, like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses; to the LORD our God they will come in dread and they will be afraid before You. Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which You swore to our forefathers from the days of old” (Mic 7:17-20).
The book of Micah ends with a rapid burst of allusions and citations of key passages from the Torah, the purpose of which is to rekindle the reader’s faith in the fulfillment of God’s promises. The promised seed of Eve, whom Micah tells us will be born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2), will defeat the serpent (Mic 7:17; see Gen 3:14-15). No matter how grim Israel’s spiritual condition may appear, God will indeed pardon the iniquity of his people, just as he did when Moses interceded on their behalf after the sin of the golden calf (Mic 7:18; see Exod 34:5-10). God will completely cast the sins of his people into the depths of the sea, just as he had buried the Egyptians under the waters of the Reed Sea (Mic 7:19; see Exod 15:5). And the people can never undo God’s election nor outdo God’s faithfulness, because of his unchanging oath, which he swore to the patriarchs (Mic 7:20; see Deut 7:7-8).
…Israel’s hope, and ours, does not depend on the gifts and offerings we bring to God at the temple in Jerusalem, but on the gift and the offering God has given to us in Bethlehem.
What I find most remarkable is Micah’s profoundly new-covenant reading of the Torah. He relates to it far more as a book of eschatological promises that must be fulfilled than as a book of laws that must be kept (see Matt 5:17). This is not to say that Micah negates the necessity of obedience, but rather that he does not place the burden of the final outcome upon our religious performance.
For in the end, Israel’s hope, and ours, does not depend on the gifts and offerings we bring to God at the temple in Jerusalem, but on the gift and the offering God has given to us in Bethlehem.
