Dan Olinger

"If the Bible is true, then none of our fears are legitimate, none of our frustrations are permanent, and none of our opposition is significant."

Dan Olinger

 

Retired Bible Professor,

Bob Jones University

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On Good Demands, Part 1: Introduction

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When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment in the law, we all know that he went to Deuteronomy 6.4-5. Perhaps you’ve heard why he was asked about that: among the rabbis there was a long discussion about what was the greatest commandment in the law. You can read in the literature of the time that Micah 6.8 is one of the verses that had been nominated for that standing.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; And what doth the LORD require of thee, But to do justly, and to love mercy, And to walk humbly with thy God?

Christ directed us to the Deuteronomy passage, but this statement in Micah has always been a favorite of the rabbis–and it is, after all, the word of God. I’d like to spend a few posts mining the wealth that is here.

A key to understanding this verse is understanding its larger context in Micah.

Micah writes to the nation of Israel, both the northern and the southern kingdoms. In the last days of the northern kingdom, in the 700s BC, it went into captivity into Assyria; and about 150 years later, the southern kingdom went into captivity as well. Micah is writing during the last days of the northern kingdom before Assyria moves in. And he’s writing to both halves of the nation.

In the early part of the book, he condemns the northern kingdom of Israel for its sin: in chapter 1, for idolatry; Israel had an ongoing problem with idolatry, which God calls spiritual adultery, seeking other gods. In chapter 2, he condemns them for their violence, particularly by the leadership of the country; and in chapter 3, for corruption in government.

On the basis of this, he says that the northern kingdom is going to be punished by this nation of Assyria. But he says that Assyria shouldn’t get a swelled head, because it’s an instrument of God in this case. He’s going to deal with Assyria as well. In chapter 4 he talks about the southern kingdom, Judah, and the fact that it will have a future. But first it’s to be judged by a nation called Babylon (Mic 4.10).

This is a remarkable evidence of inspiration. At this time Babylon was a has-been. Once regionally dominant, it had just been conquered by Assyria and reduced to having no political influence. And Micah says, one day Babylon is going to bring God’s judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah.

In chapter 5 he describes the coming Babylonian king. But for the meantime, in chapter 6, he talks about the judgment that’s coming, even on the southern kingdom. He recalls Balaam’s prophecy of judgment from centuries before (Mic 6.5).

Remember the sins of your fathers, he says, and don’t continue in those sins. Don’t reject God. Don’t turn away from his plan for you.

An indication of how godless this nation was appears in Micah 6.6-7. They respond to God’s gentle plea with what is probably the most blasphemous couple of verses in all of the scripture:

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

The people of Judah ask the same question that man in rebellion against God has always asked:

What do you want from me?

You want me to kill 10,000 rams? How about if I sacrifice my firstborn son? Will that make you happy?

This is a statement of rebellion and arrogance that is almost without parallel in the scripture.

Normally, when you go to someone who’s a lot bigger than you are, and you talk like that to him, something very bad is going to happen to you.

It is a measure of the goodness and grace and tenderness and love of God that a lightning bolt doesn’t descend from heaven on those rebels and leave them all dying in the dirt. God doesn’t answer them in anger or with violence. He answers them softly, gently.

You don’t have to ask that question, he says. I’ve told you what I want, and it’s nothing like offering your son. (The irony here is marked.)

It’s just three simple things:

  • do justly
  • love mercy
  • walk humbly with me

This is a verse that’s filled with tenderness, with relationship. I think it’s remarkable the tenderness with which God answers this act of blasphemy.

It’s almost as though he realizes that he needs to calm this petulant child down. He lowers his voice, and he speaks softly and gently.

It doesn’t do any good to shout at somebody who’s shouting at you. You let them speak and drain their energy. And then when you speak, you speak quietly and tenderly and measuredly. And you try to restore calmness to that very tense situation.

It’s almost as though that’s what God is doing here.

He says, You don’t have to ask me what I want. You don’t have to attack me by suggesting that I want you to murder your children for me. That’s not the kind of God I am. He says, I’ve shown you what I want.

And he says, They’re good things. Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God. Three very important principles. And they’re not the caricature that you painted in verses 6 and 7. They’re not nutty; they’re not burdensome. They’re things that will bless you, help you, make your life better. I’m not asking you to hurt yourself.

Next time, we’ll begin to delve into these good expectations.

Photo by Biegun Wschodni on Unsplash

“What Do You want from Me, God?” Part 3: Mercy

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Justice

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6.8)

Love mercy.

This is a big word.

You can tell that because the English versions translate it with different English words:

  • Mercy (KJV, NKJV, GW, NLT)
  • Kindness (ASV, NASB95, ESV, NIV, LEB, RSV)
  • Compassion (AMP)
  • Faithfulness (CSB, NET)
  • Love (GNT)
  • “Be compassionate and loyal in your love” (MSG)

In the OT, it’s a significant character trait of God, which the KJV translates multiple ways in its 231 occurrences:

  • Favor
  • Goodliness
  • Goodness
  • Kindness
  • Lovingkindness
  • Marvellous
  • Mercy
  • Pity

In fact, it’s the most common biblical statement about God: “His mercy endures forever.” 

One scholar defined the Hebrew word this way:

“A beneficent action performed, in the context of a deep and enduring commitment between two persons or parties, by one who is able to render assistance to the needy party who in the circumstances is unable to help him—or herself.”

One of my theology professors put it more concisely:

“Steadfast, loving loyalty.”

Several concepts going on here:

  • There’s a relationship between the two parties.
  • This relationship is grounded in love.
  • The person showing “mercy” is fiercely devoted to being loyal to the relationship, no matter what.
  • This loyalty issues in action that benefits the person in need.

Looks like the way The Message renders it, as noted above, is the best of the bunch: “Be compassionate and loyal in your love.”

I suppose that you could say, then, that “mercy” is the opposite of apathy.

  • It’s the opposite of saying, “Sorry, but I have other things to do right now.”
  • It’s the opposite of saying, “It’s your own fault.”
  • It’s the opposite of saying, “I told you so.”

It’s living out James 2:15-17—

15  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

We’re to love mercy.

We’re to look for problems that others are facing, and to commit ourselves to helping them solve those problems, no matter how much time and energy and money it takes, because we love them.

I’m not naturally like that, and I suspect you aren’t either.

I find it helpful to meditate on the ways God has shown this kind of loving commitment to me.

Someone has said that the fact that God has forgiven us obligates us to forgive others—for how could anyone have sinned against us more grievously than we have sinned against God?

Indeed.

How could we possibly show “mercy” to someone else more purely and deeply and intensely and completely than God has shown mercy to us?

May we all pay attention—on the prowl, searching, seeking for people who need help—and render help in ways that are sacrificial and truly effective.

And may we love it.

Part 4: A Humble Walk

Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash

“What Do You want from Me, God?” Part 2: Justice

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Part 1: Introduction

He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6.8)

Do justice.

Justice is one of those things that’s hard to define. I suspect that’s because there are lots of situations where we have trouble coming up with the right response, but we know instinctively when the right thing hasn’t been done.

  • Can we right the deep wrong of the American practice of slavery by doing something today? Well-intentioned people will argue all day about how to do that.
  • But the family that poured their life savings and sweat equity into a small business only to have it burned to the ground by rioters? That’s just not right.

The core of our problem in defining justice is that we are broken people living in a broken world. Human culture is indeed systemically defective, and our evaluations of the resulting problems, as well as our proposed solutions, are broken as well because our moral compasses don’t point north, and our logical processes can’t be trusted as authoritative.

How then are we to do justice?

In the mists of the past some old saint once observed that “what God orders, he pays for.” The words aren’t directly biblical, but the thought surely is. In the broadest sense, an omnipotent God will certainly accomplish all his holy will, or his Son wouldn’t have instructed us to pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6.10; Lk 11.2). As to the specific issue of justice, Peter assures us that God’s “divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2P 1.3)—an astonishing truth indeed. On the individual level, certainly, the believer can expect that God will enlighten and enable him to do whatever God has commanded. Including Justice.

But how?

Peter’s sentence continues: “through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

The better we know God, the more clearly we’ll understand justice, and the more accurately we’ll be able to apply it.

How do we get to know God?

Through his Word.

We dive into its deep waters, and we spend time there, soaking, swimming, observing, immersed in truth and seeking the pearls that are certainly there. Over time, we begin to think the way God teaches us to think, to love what he loves and to hate what he hates. We begin not only to see with clarity that a given situation “just isn’t right,” but to see how it can best be remedied in ways consistent with God’s.

The longer I live, the more I’m inclined to think that justice is not most effectively imposed from the top down, or the outside in. You can tell people that racial discrimination, for example, is wrong, and you can make laws against it, but people inclined to engage in racial discrimination will find ways to do it out of public view, ways that can’t be effectively prosecuted. And what do you call it when lots of people like that live together?

You call that systemic racism.

Laws can’t fix that. Of course societies should seek to make injustice difficult, and laws are a part of that. But they can’t fix the underlying problem.

This old guy has come to believe that justice—real, lasting justice—has to come from the inside out. It has to come from the heart, from individual people who are determined to want justice and to act within their sphere of influence to do justly and to encourage others to do the same.

In other words, to follow the biblical pattern: regenerated sinners, indwelt by the Spirit of God, illuminated to understand His Word, and imbued with that Word by long hours of study and meditation, begin to think about justice as God thinks, consequently seeing the wrong and seeing the path to making it right.

Doing justly, one person, one home, one block, one neighborhood at a time.

Until the day when “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Am 5.24).

Part 3: Mercy | Part 4: A Humble Walk

Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash

“What Do You Want from Me, God?” Part 1

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One of the most well-known passages in the Old Testament springs from an argument between God and his people. The prophet Micah writes to the people of Israel—there’s some in there for the Northern Kingdom, but primarily he focuses on Jerusalem—and brings a word of judgment: “the mountains will melt,” he says (Mic 1.4).

And why?

For rebellion—and specifically, for idolatry (Mic 1.5) and for abuse of fellow Israelites through fraud (Mic 2.1-2).

For three chapters the warning continues, alternating between a catalog of Israel’s sins and a catalog of the judgments that are coming.

Then, suddenly, the tone shifts. God’s looks beyond the judgment to the days that will follow. God will establish his kingdom in Jerusalem for a time of peace, prosperity, unity, and true worship (Mic 4.1-8). Even in the face of judgment, God’s people can look forward to his mercy (Mic 4.9-13). He will send a deliverer, born in Bethlehem (Mic 5.2), who “will arise and shepherd his flock” (Mic 5.4). The rest of chapter 5 eagerly anticipates the day of blessing.

But with chapter 6 the tone returns to the earlier chastisement. God has an indictment against Israel (Mic 6.2), and justice must be done.

You would think that God’s people would respond to all this with repentance, either out of fear or out of eagerness for the blessing. On the contrary, though, their response is shocking.*

What do you want from me?! Do you want all my animals, my entire flock, in sacrifice? Would that make you happy? How about if I slaughter my firstborn son for you? Will that be enough?!

What do you want, anyway?!

You can practically see the veins popping out on Israel’s neck.

If you and I were God, there would be a smoking crater where Israel was standing.

But we’re not God—and all the universe is infinitely better for that. God’s response to his insolent children is as shocking as their insolence. In calm, measured tones, he surprisingly de-escalates the confrontation with words of invitation and reconciliation.

You know what I want; I’ve told you before. I don’t want anything unreasonable or destructive or confiscatory.

I want you to do justice. I want you to love mercy. And I want you to walk humbly with me, your God.

In Jesus’ time, the rabbis argued about which of the 635 commandments in the Scripture was the greatest. One of the favorite candidates was this passage. (As we know, Jesus chose another, Deuteronomy 6.4.) It’s easy to understand why some of the rabbis argued for this one. It’s theologically, logically, and rhetorically deep, and brilliant, and pleasant to the soul.

I think it’s worth spending a little time on. I plan to spend the next 3 posts meditating on the 3 things that God kindly and patiently requested from his estranged people.

* Scholars disagree on the tone of Micah 6.6-7. I think the context justifies the tone I’ve ascribed to it here.

Part 2: Justice | Part 3: Mercy | Part 4: A Humble Walk

Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash