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Micah 6:1–2. Hear the word of the Lord: Arise, judge the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, the hills 36 are the judgment of the Lord, and the wilds of the foundations of the earth: for the judgment of the Lord is upon his people, and he shall suffer with Israel. The prophetic word shames and, as it were, exposes the insensitivity of the Jews, who valued nothing the most divine words, which were distinguished by meekness and mercy and seemed to testify to the true love of a father for his children, and made their unbridledness inexcusable. The merciful God sometimes tries to frighten sinners by predicting disasters; he does not want to leave them in bitterness and despair, but along with the disasters awaiting them, he gives them decent consolations and, as it were, preserves for them the opportunity to avoid sorrows if they wanted to turn to repentance. And He does this out of His characteristic meekness. So, “Hear,” he says, “what the Lord has spoken.” What did He command me? “Rise up and judge with the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.” Obviously, this is very similar to what was said through the mouth of Isaiah: “Hear, O heavens, and teach to the earth, what the Lord has spoken” (Is. 1:2). Maybe he calls the spiritual forces that everywhere take care of the fulfillment of the will by mountains and hills. God and deliver those living on earth from the dominion of demons. Since they, before others, know the greatness of God’s mercy, and how great His care for us, they understood from what they do for us, obeying His laws; then He commands that judgment be brought before them. It is likely, however, that the prophetic word also shows us some other meaning (of the verse being explained). Since the Israelites, having mountains and hills, performed services there and made sacrifices to idols, under oak and fir trees, therefore, judgment is declared against the hills, on which the crimes of the accused were committed with their own eyes. It is also likely that He calls the hills and foundations of the earth those who were distinguished by fame and towered above the crowd of people, who were mainly for their subordinates a path and a snare to destruction. So somewhere the prophet said to them: “There is a judgment against you: for the guard has come quickly, and like a forest is spread out on Itaviria” (Hos. 5:1). Therefore he says: O you who are placed above others, O you, the foundations of the earth, that is, those on whom the works of others rest, hear the judgment against you of the Lord of all! But the right-thinking one sings and says to the Lord of all: “Do not enter into judgment with your servant” (Ps. 142:2). He, as omniscient, will certainly win, and no one will boast that he has a pure heart; no one can be clean from sins (Proverbs 20:9). Therefore, it is scary to appear before God for judgment. But you need to know that in the edition of the Seventy it reads: “wilds”; in the Hebrew edition it speaks of the “hills” and “foundations” of the earth, so that by the hills we understand those who are exalted - the leaders of the people who have advantages over others, and they are also under the foundations; since the leaders of countries and cities, distinguished by glory, are, as it were, raised to a height, but they can also be called foundations, that is, some support and support of the state; for, as I just said, the deeds of others are based and established on them. Micah 6:3–4. My people, what shall I do to you? or how did I insult you? or why do you feel cold? Answer me. I brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you from the house of work; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. God appears at the trial, on behalf of the prophet, expressing the manner of apostasy of those who wickedly acted against Him, as well as about excessive insolence and even filled with all kinds of madness, and the enormity of madness, unusually great even for them, who are distinguished by strong ingratitude. What reason, I say, did I give them to act wickedly towards Me? Is there anything difficult or distressing in My commands? Speak out against Me and point out that I violated justice, that I freed you from the slave duty of making clay and brick and the exhausting labor involved, and armed the very creation against the offending Egyptians and saved Mine. Perhaps you will blame, along with Me, your very leader, I say, Moses, who removes you from low thoughts and clearly shows what is pleasing to God, so that you constantly lead a glorious life. Or perhaps you will make an attack and accuse the very institution of the priesthood? For I have chosen Aaron and commanded him to be a mediator between God and you. Are you really indignant at this too? And what will I say about Mary, triumphant on the occasion of the destruction of the Egyptians and directing the women who organized the choirs? Beating the tympanum, she sang about a horse and rider drowning in water (Ex. 15:20–21). But the victory of God, who gave you the opportunity to walk among the waves and made the sea impassable for enemies, is also unpleasant and has no meaning for you. So, He subtly reproaches them, reminding them of the benefits they have received and decently reproaching them for forgetting what they should most of all always remember, and for their part please the Savior of all with good obedience to Him in everything. And He freed us ourselves from spiritual Egypt, that is, from darkness and demonic dominion, from working clay and brick, obviously, from carnal passions; brought him across the sea - through the local entertainment, delivered him from the dangerous waves - the dangers inseparable from them, and inscribed divine laws in his soul. He also appointed for us a priest in the person of the Leader of our salvation. He also sent out Mariam, obviously the Church, which triumphed over the plans of the enemies, giving great glory to the Savior God; for in the church one can always hear songs of thanksgiving, praise, and praise to God for His good deeds. Therefore, we ourselves must be careful lest we fall into Jewish crimes and consider what is pleasing to God burdensome for ourselves; for Blessed John says: “His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3), and Christ Himself says: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Let us show God good obedience, because He does not require anything difficult. Micah 6:5. My people, remember now that Balak the king of Moab consulted with you, and that Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Tabernacles 37 to Gilgal, that the righteousness of the Lord might be known. Again he condemns them for the fact that they lawlessly rebelled against His authority, although they could not indicate anything that, rightly upset, could cause them to decide to deviate from God. After all, he says, I honored them with such tenderness and love that I could not even bear the words of their detractors. Thus, the accursed Balak, the tyrant of Moab, bribed Balaam, the sorcerer and bird teller, and encouraged him to curse Israel; but the God of all things created something extraordinary and supernatural, turning the tongue of the false prophet into a blessing. Blaming Balaam for this and reproaching the bird fortuneteller for this, Balak immediately took him to other hills. Then, having ordered to build an altar and sacrifice bulls, he thought that perhaps God does not have power in every place. But he must repeat the blessing everywhere, although he moved from place to place, from the so-called Tabernacles 38 (a locality in the land of Moab) to Mount Gilgal (Num. 22, 23, 24). So, remember what Balak planned and what Balaam answered. After all, I stopped the very curses against you and did not at all allow the bird fortuneteller to insult you with words; and you, forgetting about this, gave Me due glory to soulless things, calling on the golden heifers and saying: “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4). So, if God, out of His love, endows us with blessings, as it were, gives us them to drink with the greatest generosity, drives away enemies and destroys their evil intentions against us; then what should we do ourselves, having decided to have the right mood of the soul? - Without a doubt, through which we ourselves can turn out to be God-loving, that is, obey His desires, exactly fulfill what is pleasing to Him, be close to Him, as if by the presence of our thoughts, and say together with the Psalmist: “My soul clings to you” (Ps. 63:9). Micah 6:6–8. In what way will I comprehend the Lord? Shall I hide my Most High God? Shall I offer it up with a burnt offering, bullocks of the same year? Will the Lord accept food in thousands of rams, or in heaps of fat goats? Shall I give my firstborn for wickedness... 39 the fruit of my womb for the sins of my soul? Shall 40 be told to you, O man, what is good, or what the Lord seeks from you, unless you do justice and love mercy and be ready to walk with the Lord your God? After God showed the Israelites the inexcusability of their retreat and, as it were, put them on trial, and clearly revealed to them what innumerable benefits He had shown them, and they, having reached the point of immeasurable insensitivity, immeasurably offended the One who saved them, the face of one who repents and, as it were, mourning what has already happened, is immediately displayed, and trying to find out in what way the crimes can be made up for and what to do most God-pleasing deeds. So, he says: “In what way will I comprehend the Lord?” What will I bring to Him? What will I finally do, having offended Him so much? Will I really be pure by sacrificing young and tender calves? Will God really favor me if I offer a burnt offering? Will I find Him (that is, will I draw closer to Him and will I be accepted into spiritual communion with Him) if I bring a great many animals? But leaving this aside, I will take even the offspring of my womb. Will I please Him if I sacrifice to Him my best child, that is, my firstborn? While someone seems to be thinking and speaking in this way, the prophet again answers and says in the spirit: this matter is not one of the unclear and difficult. You certainly know the good will of God, you have heard what is pleasing and pleasing to Him. So what are you perplexed about, man? Does God require anything else from you, except to “do justice and love mercy and be ready to walk with the Lord your God.” And “to do justice” means to do and fulfill the truth; judgment is truth. To “love kindness” means to have the praise of mutual love and to be enriched by the glory of love for brothers. “I am ready to walk with the Lord your God” means submission and obedience to Him in everything. And Blessed Paul said that we must “put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet in preparation of the gospel of peace,” that is, Christ (Eph. 6:14–15). Moreover, he commands, saying: “Put on...the belly of generous gifts” (Col. 3:12). And the Savior himself said: “Be ye... merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). This is what constitutes a gracious and acceptable sacrifice to God. The fragrance of spiritual burnt offerings is higher than blood, smoke and incense; one was in types, the other exalts the truth itself as a fragrance to God, who through another prophet says: “I want mercy and not sacrifice, and the leading of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Pay attention to how the face of the penitent thought about fulfilling the sacrifices according to the law, and God shows how powerless and insufficient the law is for the cleansing of sins, but the power of life in Christ is much better and incomparably superior, and made what was established by the law as if unacceptable. He said that it is desirable for God that they do justice, love mercy and be ready to walk with Him. This is the dignity of life in Christ! Micah 6:9. The voice of the Lord will be called to the city, and those who fear his name will save. And in another way he explains that there is no fruit from making bloody sacrifices, while spiritual service can bring considerable benefit. “Voice” is used here instead of “name” or “calling,” as if he were saying something similar to the following: if the name of God is called upon in a city, then it will certainly be saved. Do not think, man, that I take pleasure in bloody sacrifices, that I consider a city wicked and lawless if it does not offer bulls for burnt offerings; on the contrary, I might not have saved him from danger at all, even if he sacrificed oxen, doused the altar with the blood of sheep and slaughtered flocks of rams. For his salvation, calling on the name of God will be of greater importance; for undoubtedly, such a city respects My authority and willingly does what is pleasing to Me, and has a spiritual disposition corresponding to this. Then I will save those who fear Me. So, when we talk about God, then we fear Him and are saved by Him; and such power may justly be attributed to spiritual service. God said something similar through the mouth of David: “Hear, my people, and I will tell you, Israel, and testify to you: I am your God. I will not reprove you about your sacrifices, but your burnt offerings will be taken out before me.” Then he adds to this that He does not eat the meat of yunch and does not drink the blood of goats. Then he says: “devour the sacrifice of praise to God and render your prayers to the Most High: and call me in the day of your tribulation, and wear you out, and glorify me” (Ps. 49:7-8, 13-15). Micah 6:9–10. Listen, tribe, who will decorate the city? Food is fire and the house of the wicked 41 gathering up the wealth of the wicked and with the reproach of unrighteousness? The descendants of Israel settled in Judea and Samaria by tribe and clan when Joshua, called Joshua, divided the Promised Land among them by lot. So, God addresses speech to each individual and to everyone in general. Listen, all the tribe: the city in which the name of God is called is saved; for He will never despise those who fear Him, but for those who want to do what is pleasing to God He will be an indestructible wall, an adornment and glory. If you, he says, strive for the opposite, then what will decorate the city? Is it the house of the wicked or is untruth “with reproach”? If, he says, as a result of many sins, the city is taken by enemies and destroyed by fire, can it remain beautiful and beautiful, can the house of the lawless, collecting the property of the lawless, make it famous and strong, can daring lawlessness bring it any benefit? But no one who has the right to philosophize doubts that all this brings disgrace to the city. He would not have been taken and destroyed by fire if he had not offended God with many sins. So, why, he says, neglecting what saves and adorns the city, you, on the contrary, with zeal did what usually harms it, and loved what, as a result of which it turned out to be shameful and ugly, having evil inhabitants, money-loving and unrighteous, and unlawfully hoarding treasures? Micah 6:11–12. Will food be justified in the measure of wickedness, and in sackcloth the measure of unrighteousness, from which will you fill your wealth of wickedness? and they that dwell therein speak lies, and their tongue is exalted in their mouth. Do you really think, he says, that the wicked will be justified in the scales? That is, if I judge and, as it were, weigh the life of every wicked person, then could you really believe that I, loving virtue, would ever refrain from pronouncing a righteous verdict? Have you really thought that those who have “wrong measures in sackcloth” (incorrect scales in their bags), that is, those who want to get rich from covetousness and vile covetousness, can escape My wrath? After all, from such profits they only increased the wealth of their wickedness. They were both liars and boasters, since lovers of untruth, subject to the passion of shameful gains and covetousness, are always characterized by a love of lies, and people who have already acquired wealth are characterized by grandiosity and arrogance. The inventors of wicked teachings also have false balances in their bags, perverting everything that is right and captivating the minds of the simple with deceit and deceit, and enriching themselves through the deception of many. However, those who have accumulated such wealth, filled with wickedness, do not say anything indisputably true, but counterfeit and false, and, as it were, tinted with the cunning of deception. Such people also lift up their tongues and speak untruths against God, spewing out empty words with great importance. It is to them that we should say: “Listen, tribe, who will decorate the city? food, fire, and the house of the wicked, gathering up the wealth of the wicked and with the reproach of unrighteousness?” (Micah 6:9–10). For the fire of punishment will not be for their adornment, but for judgment. Since they have become houses of repositories of iniquity, they will be cursed and judged, and subject to all kinds of evil. Micah 6:13–16. And I will begin to strike you and destroy you in your sins. You will eat and not be satisfied. And I will destroy you in you and you will suffer and not be saved 42: and if the virgins are exhausted, they will give themselves over to weapons. You have sown, but you have not reaped; you have worn out the olive oil, but you have not anointed yourself with oil: and... 43 wine, and you have not drunk: and the laws of my people will perish. And you kept the justifications of Zamri and all the affairs of the house of Ahaavl, and walked in their council, so that I would deliver you to destruction, and those who dwell in it to destruction, and you would receive the reproaches of people. Since they have become houses of the wicked, hoarding iniquity and amassing wealth from untruths, he finally threatens with retribution and says that the expected events have already begun, in the form of their extermination in accordance with their crimes. He beneficially frightens them with the fear of future disasters, as if with a bridle, directs them to the determination to do the best and to appease God with their subsequent behavior. As if he were listing and visualizing punishments; says that they will be punished by hunger and a lack of the necessities of life, that they will rise from their seats at home and begin to run, but will not run away at all. But if some are able to escape disaster this time, they will be taken captive and not much later they will become victims of the sword of others. This is the meaning, it seems to us, that the words being explained have. Quite a lot of wars arose against the descendants of Israel, or against all of Judah, but not always from enemies. They also armed themselves against each other: so, once upon a time, either Ephraim or the ten tribes rebelled against Judah, then the Jerusalemites themselves armed themselves against Ephraim; a considerable number of cities perished, so that they themselves were often persecuted at home, and thus those expelled from one city rushed to others. But later on, they too were taken captive, either when the kings of Syria and Damascus invaded, or perhaps even the Persians and Medes themselves. This, I think, is what the words mean: “I will destroy you in you and you will suffer and not be saved, and if the whites are killed, they will give themselves over to weapons.” And that they, deprived of the fertility of the fields and exhausted by the lack of the most necessary things, will lead a miserable life and bear punishment for their wicked deeds, this is clearly shown in further words: “you will sow,” he says, “and you will not reap,” because God, I think, destroys the fruits; You yourself will “banish the oil” (for the country of the Samaritans is rich in olives), but you will have such a shortage of oil that if you wanted to anoint yourself with oil, you will not find it in your place in sufficient quantity for this. Despite the fact that your country is very rich in vineyards and abounds in good wine, so that it supplies it to other cities, you yourself will not find it for your own consumption. The legal offerings that you dedicated to idols, bringing them the firstfruits of fertility, will also disappear, he says. What firstfruits will you finally dedicate to God? Or what thanksgivings and for what will you bring, having rightly fallen into a miserable state and exhausted? Then, teaching that no one else should be considered the culprit of his disaster, but that he himself, having caused harm to himself, will be subjected to captivity because he zealously followed the morals of very wicked people, he adds and says: “And you kept the excuses of Zamri and all the affairs of the house of Ahaavl, and walked in their counsel, lest I deliver you over to destruction.” Zimri was the king of Israel; he is also the father of Achaav, who, as the Holy Scripture says, walked “in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who led Israel into sin... and was more deceitful than all those who were before him” (1 Kings 16:19, 30). Therefore, he died in fire, having set his own house on fire “over himself” (1 Kings 16:18), as it is written. It seems that he mentions the house of Achaab for the sake of Jezebel, whose deeds were murder and theft, and persecution of the saints. He kept all this, he says, so that I could destroy you justly and expose you to the ridicule and shame of others. We can apply the same word to the enemies of the truth, who, boldly relying on their eloquence and gathering up the tares of pitiful thoughts, become rich, as it were, from untruth, hoarding for themselves “things that do not exist” (Hab. 2:6) and usually robbing crowds of the simple-minded like enemies, and leading them into vile error. Let them listen to what God says: “And I will begin to smite you and destroy you in your sins. You will eat and not be satisfied." Being superficially acquainted with the divine Scriptures and not saturated with the dogmas of truth, they, apparently, although they take food, are dying of hunger, and imagining that they have chosen the path of salvation, in fact they cannot find it, and sowing, as they think about themselves, however, they will not receive any reward for their labors, and squeezing the spiritual olive, that is, the Holy Scriptures, they in no way fatten by the grace of the Spirit, and, hoping to harvest grapes, they will, however, be far from spiritual joy. “Thou shalt keep the justifications of Zamri and all the works of the house of Ahaavl,” that is, they deceived, extorted and persecuted the saints. Therefore, they will be betrayed into destruction and will end with a shameful and truly damned death. So does LXX. But all other translators, according to Jerome, leave the Hebrew term “Shittim”. So kudos. ("from Sitia"), and Russian. synod (“from Shittim”). This is the name of the valley of Moab, on the eastern side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho (Joel.3:18; Num.25:1; Josh.2:1; 3:1; Mic.6:5). Valleys of Shittim, see previous note. Slav.: “about my wickedness”, as in some lists. So in some. Slav.: “lawless”. Slav.: “And it will darken in you, and you will be corrupted, and will not be saved.” Slav. adds: “plant.” You might be interested in: