Micah 7:1-6 – Lament over Society and Family

BIBLE TEXT

Micah 7:1-6

SUMMARY

The prophet reflects on the corruption and devolution of every sector of society, including family relationships

ANALYSIS

The Book of Micah has already and for several chapters told the reader/hearer that leadership is corrupt in Israel and Judah. This section continues that thread, pointing out that leaders and judges ask for bribes, and the great ones desire the fruits of corruption. But the vision of calamity extends further. The righteous person has perished from the land. There are no innocent average people anymore. Sin and evil have spread from the top down. Now no neighbor, lover, friend, child, or in-law can be trusted. Every relationship has broken down, and no one is safe or trustworthy. Thomas Hobbes famously argued in Leviathan that in times of war, “every man is enemy to every man… and the life of man is solitary, poore [sic], nasty, brutish and short.” He could have been paraphrasing Micah 7 here, where injustice has spread to the whole of society and no one is safe from its rot.