Daily Prophets
Day 198
“Hear people, all of you, Give heed Earth and all that is in it. My Lord, God is coming as your accuser…God is coming from God’s place and will come down and walk on the high places of the earth. The mountains shall melt under God and the valleys burst open…All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. Because of this I will lament and wait; I will go stripped and naked; I will lament like jackals…(Micah1:2,3-5,9).
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and the first prophet to prophesy about the destruction of Jerusalem. In the first verse above, Micah is calling the people, all people to hear his words, to listen to his prophesy and to understand the seriousness of the problems they have caused for themselves. Micah is, possibly, using hyperbole to wake the people up, to open their ears, their eyes and their hearts/souls to be aware of what their actions have brought about and how continuing in their ways will destroy them, their cities, their families, their futures.
Pay attention, everyone, every thing that is on and in the earth- look and see what you are doing right now. God is coming and, unlike Zechariah’s experience, the accuser of the people is God, not Satan. Micah is aware that the people will not listen to mere mortals unless they believe that God is truly sending them and here he is telling the people that God is judging them, God is accusing them and God will mete out God’s justice upon them. We are the inheritors of the Prophets visions and words. We are the inheritors of their wisdom and their love for God and Humans. Yet, we continue to not pay attention! We are still stuck in being like both Israel and Judah before their exiles and, in the case of Israel, their destruction. We all need to hear better, we all need to pay attention and heed/obey the will of God better so we don’t destroy ourselves, our families, our communities, our countries and our world.
God is coming down and walking the earth, according to Micah because of the injustice, etc. Micah is letting us know that God’s forbearance is not unlimited. Micah is telling us to listen to the many messages that he and the other prophets are bringing from God and take action on them now.
I think that what Micah is missing is that God is always ‘walking’ the earth, God is always ‘hearing’ our cries, God is always ‘calling’ us back. Everything in the world melts and bursts open when God is recognized. Our anger melts, our stubbornness melts, our false pride melts, our need to be perfect melts when we realize and recognize God walking with us and, at times, against us. Our souls burst open, our hearts burst open, our compassion, kindness and divinity burst open when we recognize God’s presence within us and around us. When we heed these words of Micah and the other prophets, God is with us. When we study, learn and practice the truth of Torah and the wisdom of Torah and stop seeing it as an intellectual exercise to get all the commandments ‘right and perfect’, then we can see, recognize and engage with God to enhance God’s world and our own.
Rabbi Heschel speaks of Micah’s abhorrence to “the fall sin of moral corruption..To the soul of Micah, the taste of God’s word is bitter. In his love for Zion and his people, he is tormented by the vision of things to come:”(The Prophets pg. 98-9). He is referring to the final verse above. Micah is so distraught that he is lamenting and wailing, he is willing to debase himself by stripping and going naked so people will notice, listen and change. He is going to be as loud as jackals so people will have to hear and, hopefully heed. There have been Micah’s throughout the history of the world, the Jewish people and the USA. We are in a time where we have to hear and heed them, better than we did with the Micah’s of past years. We are willing to listen, hear and heed the authoritarian charlatans, the narcissistic preachers of doom and only they can fix it, the people who would rather see another human being suffer, be in prison, and/or die than allow for God’s word and will to be fulfilled unless they gained. We are in the ‘sin of moral corruption” today and we have to decide if our love of Freedom, Democracy, Humanity can overcome this decay.
In recovery, we are constantly reviewing our actions for moral corruption and decay. We are consistently asking God to walk with us and within us. We are seeking out Micah’s around us to help guide us to living one grain of sand better each day. We seek God so we can melt the hardness of our hearts, we seek God so our love and goodness can burst forth without fear or favor. In recovery, we heed God’s words, ways and will so we can truly live another day in joy and harmony.
I was in the sin of moral corruption prior to my recovery. My recovery has been seeking the moral high ground. I have lamented and wailed to the people who continue to use immorality to grow their wealth and power. I have walked naked and open declaring my errors and my fears of destruction for people who are not in recovery. I have been honored and beaten, my vulnerabilities used against me and I have used them for me. I have been privileged to walk with God, answer God’s accusations with T’Shuvah, and continue to carry God’s message, my words of Torah. I would rather be like Micah than like the Mark prior to my recovery! Stay Safe and God Bless, Rabbi Mark