Micah 7:4

"Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe. The powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together."

Key Reflection

Micah 7:4 paints a vivid picture of corruption and injustice in Micah's society, where powerful individuals and those in authority exploit their positions for personal gain. The original audience would have recognized this as describing the corrupt leaders who accepted bribes and dictated unjust laws to benefit themselves, rather than serving the common good. This critique underscores the deep-seated moral decay that pervaded the social and political structures of Micah's time, highlighting how even those in authority succumbed to wicked desires for personal profit.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The best of them is as a brier -The gentlest of them is a thorn , strong, hard, piercing, which letteth nothing unresisting pass by but it taketh from it, “robbing the fleece, and wounding the sheep.” “The most upright”, those who, in comparison of others still worse, seem so, “is sharper than a thorn hedge”, (literally, the upright, them a thorn hedge.) They are not like it only, but worse, and that in all ways; none is specified, and so none excepted; they were more crooked, more tangled, sharper. Both, as hedges, were set for protection; both, turned to injury.

More from Micah 7

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