{"id":78389,"date":"2020-08-03T18:10:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T15:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78389"},"modified":"2020-08-03T18:10:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T15:10:39","slug":"how-not-to-curry-favor-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-not-to-curry-favor-with-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How Not To Curry Favor With God"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78389","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":73524,"related_cahpter":"538","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Try benevolence, not barbecue\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

Micah begins chapter 6 by describing an imaginary courtroom dispute between God and the Jewish people. He surveys with dizzying speed from creation to Jewish history, to the people’s desire to bring more offerings (v. 6\u20137), and climaxing with an abject rejection of the people’s offer, demanding instead that they engage in ethical behavior: “He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord demands of you; but to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your God” (v. 8).<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah’s message, and the contrast between ritual performance and ethical behavior, is not unlike other prophets of his time. Amos declared, “For if you offer up to Me burnt-offerings and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them], and the peace offerings\u2026 I will not regard. \u2026And justice shall be revealed as water, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:22-24). Isaiah also begins “Of what use are your many sacrifices to Me?… I am sated with the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle\u2026 [Instead] “Wash, cleanse yourselves, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes, cease to do evil. Learn to do good, seek justice, strengthen the robbed, perform justice for the orphan, plead the case of the widow ” (Is. 1:11-17).<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah cleverly reinforces this message with mentions and allusions to two famous episodes of Jewish history, Balaam and Samuel (specifically, his valedictory address). In Numbers 22, Balak hires Balaam to curse the Jewish people. In preparation, Balaam commanded Balak to prepare seven altars for him and to offer sacrifices, hoping that the offerings would allow him to curse Israel. When he fails the first time, Balaam repeats the process twice more, each time unsuccessfully. He does not internalize the lesson that no amount of sacrifices can buy God’s favor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Samuel 1 ch. 4, the people repeated his error, believing that offering gifts and bringing the Holy Ark to battle would be enough to curry God’s favor. However, only when Samuel demanded of them to improve their internal behavior: “If with all your heart, you are returning to the Lord, remove the foreign gods from your midst, \u2026 and direct your heart toward the Lord, and serve Him alone, and He will save you from the hand of the Philistines” (1 Sam. 7:3) \u2013 were they successful in overcoming their enemies. Sadly, Samuel’s replacement Saul would lapse into the old way of thinking. When Samuel dismisses him for disobedience after the battle with Amalek (1 Samuel 15), he rebukes him as follows, ” Has the Lord (as much) desire in burnt offerings and peace-offerings, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?” (1 Sam. 15:22).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like Balaam and Saul, the Jewish people in Micah’s time relied on sacrifices to gain divine favor, demonstrating their complete misunderstanding of their covenantal responsibilities and ethical mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

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