Classic Hebraisms #1

In the Hebraic exhortations of the Prophets it was quite common to ask a question of the people being addressed and then give two answers, the absolute wrong one, and then the God breathed, correct one (this is really just a form of Antithetical Parallelism). 

One of the great examples of this is Micah 6:6-8

“6 How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Note first the question (v6). How should we approach God, how can we be right before Him so that we are not destroyed by His holiness?

Then the first (incorrect) answer. The answer to bring a sacrifice, even a great sacrifice of thousands of rams or ten thousands of rivers of oil! Note here the use of hyperbole, of over exaggerating for effect and impact (another classic Hebraism). 

But then Micah goes even further in his extreme (incorrect) answer. He says the answer is to bring your firstborn to cover you sin, to bring your child, your son or daughter to pay the price for you. But note, this is the WRONG, absolutely wrong, answer. And how much more wrong could it be than if that son was The Son, the Son of God, the Messiah Yeshua!?

Then in one of the most simple and beautiful and powerful verses in the entire Bible, Micah gives the ‘correct’ answer, the answer that involved our obedience and our striving to be like the Almighty who is One who has attributes of both justice and mercy in a perfect balance. Micah tells us to act with justice and to show mercy (loving-kindness or grace) in our actions at the same time, and to do all this while walking with our eyes and hearts attuned to God; while walking in an attitude of submission and purity of thought before Him.

This is what God calls us to be and do, and in fact, Yeshua himself endorses this approach in many places, including quite subtly in Matthew 23:23.

For a little more on the justice and mercy/grace of the Almighty see http://globaltruthinternational.com/2012/12/27/les-miserables-reconciling-gods-attribute-of-justice-with-mercy/