Micah 6:10-11

This was a message to the people that did business in the city. It was a message about evil behaviour in business. Good business is not just about how to increase profits. That was how the people in business understood it. But when people obey God’s commands, the result is a genuinely good business.

God accuses Jerusalem’s people about their evil behaviour in business. They are using false means to measure quantities of goods. They are using false means to weigh goods. That is opposite to the way in which they should behave. They should act rightly. They should love kindness (verse 8). It was very important to measure things by the correct method. It was very important to weigh things correctly. The laws on these things were very strict in *Israel. There were laws on correct lengths, weights and quantities (Leviticus 19:35-36; Deuteronomy 25:13-16; Ezekiel 45:10). The king and his officials had decided what were the correct standards (2 Samuel 14:26).

Merchants often used too small an object to measure a particular weight. In that way, they cheated the customer. The customer would then pay more for fewer goods. Those merchants were wicked. That was how God saw it. They were wicked because they did not measure weights and quantities in an honest way.

Wicked people still use wicked methods to weigh things and to measure quantities. They still cheat people. Micah is speaking on God’s behalf. In the *Hebrew text, he asks some questions. People use baskets to measure particular quantities. Micah asks whether those baskets are still the wrong size. People used to hide the wealth that they gained by these methods. Micah asks whether they still do that. In their bags, people carry special objects to measure particular weights. But those objects still have the wrong weights. Micah then asks whether God should consider such people as innocent. Those are important questions. In business, people should be fair and kind. But those people were guilty of wicked acts. Perhaps God might have chosen not to notice those things. But then the people would say, ‘He approves of our wicked behaviour.’ When people are wicked, God cannot fail to notice it. Neither can he just forget it. He is the God who is fair. And he wants people to be fair too.

v12 Rich people in that city are still cruel. The people in that city still tell lies. Yes, those people tell their lies.