GREEDY LAND-OWNERS The prophet Micah admonishes the greedy land-owners, who spend the whole night planning how to take away by force the fields of the poor farmers by any means; and by the morning light, they would put their plans into effect and turn the field-owners into labor workers, beggars or slaves. Our third battle would be against greed, the love of money; a sort of battle that is foreign to us, and against our nature. As far as any monk is concerned, this kind of love only develops from a corrupt mind, and a basically lukewarm love of God. All the other seductive ways of sins are planted in the human nature and appear as though have their beginnings since our birth; and their roots are deep inside our body, controlling our abilities to discern between the right and the wrong. And although they attack man very early in his life, yet it takes him a long strife to overcome them. But greed, this particular sort of ailment that attacks man from outside. Because it comes to him at a very advanced stage of his life, it is relatively easy to confront and to deal with. Yet, if he slothfully allowed it to enter into his heart, it becomes very difficult to take away and would turn into “a root of all of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10), thus leading to an increase of the seductive ways of all other sins1. St. John Cassian 1. Evil Planning 1-3. 2. Punishing the greedy 4-5. 3. Rejecting the word of prophecy 6. 4. The prophet would not keep silent 7-9. 5. Moving forward by practical repentance 10-11. 6. Opening a gate of hope 12-13. 1. EVIL PLANNING: “Woe to those who devise iniquity, and work out evil up their beds! At morning light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand” (Micah 2:1) He utters woe upon those, ho work out evil on their beds, devising ways to take by violence the possession of others, and at the morning light they selfishly practice what they have devised. Being of authority, all what preoccupies their minds, is coveting what is not theirs, justifying it by one way or another: as counting themselves more capable of managing the field they overtake, or that its owner is unable to pay back his debt together with the accumulated interests; and very shrewdly, they practice what they have planned. If oppression and greed are grave sins, they become graver when man preoccupies himself with using his shrewdness, deceit, capabilities and authority to practice them with the assumption that no one has the right to call him to account. What brings sadness to the heart is that, instead of preoccupying themselves during the night with praying and contemplating in the word of God to get up early in the morning to work to the account of the kingdom of God, the oppressors dedicate the night to devise evil then get up early by the morning light to realize what they have planned. That is why the wise Solomon advises us saying: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it 1 Cassian: Institutes, 7:1-2. 36 with your might; for there is no work or deceit or knowledge or wisdom in hell where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Whatever man thinks while lying down for his body comfort, reveal what is actually going on in his heart, mind, and intentions. When the spiritual man lies down, his soul rises up dedicating itself to joyful divine things, whereas that of the wicked, becomes immersed in evil things that would captivate and enslave him. The way the night reveals to us what we are up to during the daylight, what we contemplate during the night, we shall, sooner or later, practice in the day. The holiness of our life during the day would bring to us holy thoughts and dreams, as fitting to the children of God, at night! And the holiness of our awakening dreams will motivate us more toward spiritual growth in the Lord. “They covet fields and take them by violence, also houses and seize them. So they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his inheritance” (Micah 2:2) King Ahab has been a bad example for the abuse of authority according to the bad counsel of his wicked wife Jezebel (1 Kings 21:1-15), when he took possession of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite after planning to kill him. That sort of serious corruption then flared in Judah among the noble and those of authority. O rich man! Why are you boasting such temporary honors, as your riches, the glories of your ancestors or the beauty of your body? Beware… remember that you are mortal and that "you are dust, and to dust you will return" (Genesis 3:19). Bow your head and have a look at the graves; can you distinguish between the bones of the poor and those of the rich? Between the bones of the slaves and those of the masters? Wake up then and throw away the haughtiness, the meanness, and the hardness of your heart1! O rich man! You have become a servant of the all-merciful God and His steward before your brethren in servitude. Beware not to think that your good things are for your own belly! Consider what you have and what you enjoy in your hands as something temporary, that will soon evaporate and disappear; but on which you will have to give a detailed account2! St. Basil the Great They take possession of the fields of others and oppress man regardless of his family or the inheritance of his ancestors, not only by planning and deceit, but also by violence, oppression and against the Law. “Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks; nor shall you walk haughtily, for this is an evil time” (Micah 2:3) By “this family” He means the whole kingdom; and by the “disaster” He means the captivation that would come over them. As a pay back to those oppressors for their deeds, in place of their haughtiness, chains will bind their necks as they are led to the land of captivity. Having put heavy yoke over the poor farmers, Jehovah will allow the yoke of captivity to dwell over the rich and the leaders, which they will not be able to remove from their necks; and by which He will break down their pride and haughtiness. . 1 الأب الیاس كویتر المخلصي: القدیس باسیلیوس الكبیر، منشو ا رت المكتبة البولسیة، بیروت، 1989 ، ص 96 . 2الأب الیاس كویتر المخلصي: القدیس باسیلیوس الكبیر، منشو ا رت المكتبة البولسیة، بیروت، 1989 ، ص 115 37 2. PUNISHING THE GREEDY: “In that day one shall take up a parable against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, and say: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; how He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields’” (Micah 2:4) Having taken possession of what belong to others, they lose even their own possessions to the enemy, who will take away their fields and crops. They will be shocked by how suddenly and violently they would lose their prosperity, and the land of their inheritance. When the day of cruel chastisement comes over them, their joy would turn into lamentation, their laughs into screams, and they would become a example among their friends and neighbors. That miserably greedy soul would be devoured by the beast of greed, from whose clutches it cannot free itself; while going steady, striving to multiply the heaps of wealth, it has got through lawless and hateful ways, disasters would not rein in the greed of this soul, but would flare it more up to make it blind to everything except to race behind profit and to accumulate more wealth. It would even deprive itself of faith, for the sake of reaching that goal. He would not hesitate to utter lies, to give false testimony, to steal, to break promises or to go through uncontrollable insulting fits disregarding any limits of decency and humility. Gold and love of ugly profit would become a god to him the same way like those, who worship their bellies. All that led the blessed apostle to consider this deadly pest not only as the origin of all evil, but to call it “…covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). You can see, step by step the extent of fall, to which this foolishness may lead; that made the apostle cry out calling it nothing but vain idolatry, as man, overriding God’s image and likeness (which everyone who worship God by spirit and truth, in the depths of his soul, should keep) loved and got fond of the images engraved on gold. By such wide steps, man descends from bad to worse; and finally, he does not care to keep for himself the virtues of humility, love, obedience, or even their shadows that he becomes unsatisfied by anything. He then, having thrown away from himself, every sign of decency, he would, like a wild horse, rage away without control1. If you wish to realize the extent of such foolishness, its probable damage and destruction and the variety of sins to which it can lead if it is not carefully uprooted, just look at Judas Ischariot, who was one of the Lord’s disciples, and meditate in how, because he did not care to crush the head of this deadly beast, he perished by its poison and in how he was even seduced by it to sell the Redeemer of the world and the Savior of mankind for thirty pieces of silver. He would not have fallen into such distasteful sin to betray his Master, if he was not struck by the sin of greed; he would not have been swept to such a horrible crime to deliver his Lord, if he was not used to steal from the treasury entrusted to him2. 1 Cassian: Institutes, 7:7-8. 2 Cassian: Institutes, 7:23. 38 St. John Cassian “Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries by lot in the congregation of the Lord” (Micah 2:5) There would be no need for anyone to distribute the inheritance or to go through dissension because of it, for all will lose it altogether: the fields and the houses will fall into the hands of the greedy enemy. Everyone will become penniless and homeless, devoid of the blessing of the inheritance of his or her fathers and ancestors. God proclaims to the oppressors who unjustly stole from the poor, that they will not only lose what they have unjustly taken from the poor, but will also lose what is theirs and that they will no longer have a portion of the land that God gave to His people. 3. REJECTING THE WORD OF PROPHECY: “'Do not prattle', you say to those who prophesy, so they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame” (Micah 2:6) Having spoken of the sin of greed and what other sins it involves, like haughtiness, devising evil, oppression, and unjustly and violently taking the possessions of others, he speaks now of a more serious sin, namely, opposing the word of the Lord seeking to shut up the mouths of prophets. Here, they are not stopping at breaking the civil Laws, but they rebelling against the authority of God. Not being able to stand the word of the Lord nor to accept the rebuke of His prophets, the wicked want the prophet to keep silent and to stop prophesying, counting the word of God as shame and disgrace and seeing in it disturbance and terror to their souls. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam, the king of Israel, to forbid the prophet Amos from prophesying (Amos 7:10, etc.). And in Isaiah, it came: “… who say to the seers, ‘Do not see’” (Isaiah 30:10). This tendency will remain until the time of the antichrist, when the preaching of the word torments those who dwell on earth (Revelation 11:10). We often tend to reject frankness in directing our lives and to seek smooth words and deceiving human comforts, when we actually need the firmness originating from love. 4. THE PROPHET WOULD NOT KEEP SILENT: “You who are named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord restricted? Are those His doings? Do not My words do good to him who walks uprightly?” (Micah 2:7) By saying, “who are named the house of Jacob,” He means that they carry the name, but they do not do what is fitting to it. As the apostle Paul says: “Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the Law, and make your boast in God, and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the darkness, an instructor to the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the Law. You therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, ‘do not commit adultery,’ do you commit adultery?” (Romans 2:17-22) The prophet did not abide to their request to keep silent, but he rebuked them confirming that the secret of their disgrace was not his words, but their behavior that contradicts God’s ways. Their life does not conform to the work of the Spirit of God. If it does, they would gain His blessing. 39 The prophet Micah rebukes them, saying: “Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?” meaning: ‘Do you think yourselves capable of muting the voice of the Lord or of opposing His Spirit? If you manage, by using every authority you have, to mute the voice of the prophets, will the Spirit of God not find other ways to rebuke you for your evil ways? Will your temporal authority and your material possibilities be able to nullify the counsel of God? And by saying: “Are those His doings?”, he rebukes them, that, while they boast to be the children of Israel, the house of Jacob, from where the prophets came, their father Jacob never practiced what they are doing. They do not follow their father’s ways! In that same way the Lord Christ rebuked the Jews, who were boasting to be the children of the free Abraham, while they were plotting to kill Him, telling them that: “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father …You are of your father the devil; and the desires of your father you want to do” (John 8:39-44). It is as though the prophet says to his people: "You carry the name “the house of Jacob”, yet your deeds testify that you are actually ‘the house of the devil who opposes the Spirit of the Lord". If they choose to be referred to Jacob, who walked according to the Spirit of the Lord, they should behave as is fitting to his name. St. Hippolytus of Rome believes that the house of Jacob aroused the anger of God, and got them connected to the passion of the Lord Christ, saying: “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called ‘The Word of God’” (Revelation 19:13). The robe dipped in blood refers to the body, through which the Word of God, who is above all pain, suffered pain. That's what the prophet Micah was referring to when saying: Should this be said, O, house of Jacob? Does the Spirit of the Lord lack patience? Are these His doings? Do not my words do well to those, who walk uprightly? But you dwelled against my people like an enemy; you pulled off the robe with the garment from the man of peace1. used the Bible to invite the priest an angel and God says," thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of the people"(22: 28 LXX) 2 St. John Chrysostom Whoever truly forsakes this world, carries the yoke of Christ and learns from Him, for He is “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29), will always remain undisturbed by temptations; and, as far as he is concerned, “All things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). According to the prophet Micah the words of God do good “to him who walks uprightly” (Micah 2:7) 3. Abbot Abraham “But you rise up against My people, as an enemy; you strip the robe from the peaceful, from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war” (Micah 2:8) While boasting of being called the ‘house of Jacob’ (7), they take the play of an enemy, who destroys that house. They opposed, not only the Spirit of the Lord, but the nation or the people as well. By robbing the poor peasants they are destroying the house 1 Against Noetus, 15. 2 On Ps. 138. . LXX معناها سبعون، وتشیر إلى الترجمة السبعینیة 3 St. Cassian: Conferences, 24:24 . 40 of Jacob and are counted as opponent enemies. They are an inner enemy, more dangerous than any outer one. The Psalmist says: “For they do not speak peace; but they devise deceitful matters” (Psalm 35:20). How horrible their deeds are, is demonstrated by the fact that they are not only robbing the land, but they are even pulling off the robe with the garment from those who walk in peace and who defend them in war. “The women of My people you cast out from their pleasant houses; From their children you have taken away My glory forever” (Micah 2:9) They devour and take possession of the houses of widows (Matthew 23:14). They treat women inhumanly, the women of the people of God, who seek His protection. Their hands stretch to take away their children to make them slaves for themselves or probably sell them to the heathen nations, thus deprive them of enjoying the faith in God, and their glory in Him. The prophet here probably refers to the captivity that God allowed, because of the corruption and evil of the leaders that extended to the people. In captivity, it is not only the women who are cast away from their houses, but the children are taken away to a foreign land and would lose their right to enjoy the Hebrew nationality and to partake of the worship in the temple of God. 5. MOVING FORWARD BY PRACTICAL REPENTANCE: “Arise and depart, for this is no place to rest; because it is defiled, it shall destroy you, even with utter destruction” (Micah 2:10) He bitterly calls on them to arise and depart to captivity. As a fruit of their defilement an utter destruction and the verdict of divine chastisement has dwelt upon them. The same way they have robbed the rights of the people by their temporal authority, their own possessions would be taken from them by force. The Promised Land would not be any more for their rest. Upon them would come what had, in the past, dwelt upon their fathers, who often rebelled against God in the wilderness; “For forty years I have grieved with that generation, and said: ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest’” (Psalm 95:10-11). They would not only be expelled from the Promised Land, but, because of their defilement, they would even suffer “utter destruction”, not because of the might of the enemy who takes them into captivity, but because of their own defilement. That is why the Holy Book advises us saying: “having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4); and “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). The prophet calls on them to arise from the state of sin in order to enjoy the true rest; and to spare themselves the ultimate perdition. I wish that he, who cannot fly like an eagle, flies like a sparrow; that he, who cannot fly to heaven, flies to the mountains away from those plains that will soon be destroyed by water! While Lot, Abraham’s nephew, was saved by crossing over to the mountains of Zoar, his wife could not climb it and looked back to become a pillar of salt, losing her salvation (Genesis 19:12-29). The Lord says through His prophet Micah: ‘Come forward to the eternal mountains; arise and depart from here; it is not 41 your rest, because of the defilement.’ And He also says, “Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matthew 24:16). There, is Mount Zion; Jerusalem, the city of peace, built not of earthly stones, but of living stones, by ten thousands of angels, by the Church of the firstborns, by the spirits of those who reached perfection, and by the God of the righteous, who spoke with His blood better than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). One cried out to rebuke the sin of his brother (Genesis 14:10), while the other to forgive the sin of the world. One to proclaim the crime of his own brother; while the other to cover up the crime of the world; as it is written: “Blessed is he whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1 LXX) 1. St. Ambrose “I have resorted to the Lord; how could you say to me flee as a bird to your mountain” (Psalm 11:1 LXX). The fierce enemy, who has tempted the Savior Lord in the wilderness, is now telling the believers to depart from Judea to dwell in a wilderness barren of virtues, where he can easily manage to crush them. He is giving the believer a deceiving counsel; he advises him to take, not the wings of a turtledove - a delicate, domesticated, and simple bird said to be without any malice, a bird presented in the temple for the sake of the Lord (Luke 2:24)-, but to take the wings of a sparrow, a noisy, and a wandering bird, that deserts its mate once the young are hatched from the eggs2. St. Jerome “If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods, saying, ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,’ such a one would be a preacher for this people” (Micah 2:11) The prophet rebukes them for accepting the false prophets; and for the sake of material and social benefits they disregard the truth, flatter the opponents and cover up the faults. About which the apostle says: “If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). If somebody comes to talk to them of wine and strong drink, they would find him worthy of being a prophet for them, because he tells them what they covet. They do not seek a true prophet, who utters the word of God, which is to them shame and disgrace. They want wicked prophets who approve their evil ways; of whom it is said: “When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frame deceit” (Psalm 50:18-19). He is probably referring to the false prophets who, instead of getting preoccupied with the love of God and with the divine commandment, they preoccupy themselves with the corrupt banquets of the rich, where they get drunk, lose their balance and get diverted from their mission. Once they plunge into the abyss of extreme, and deliver themselves to become captives to the tyrant of corrupt drinking, they liken a boat with no sails to keep its balance; of which it is said: “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink” (Isaiah 5:11). They would never get satisfied or fulfilled; they would continue “running after drink”3. 1 Flight from the World 5: 31. 2 Hamilieson Ps. 60. 3 Commentary on Isaiah 28:7. 42 St. John Chrysostom 6. OPENING A GATE OF HOPE: As the prophets used to do, after threatening chastisement and before it is realized, they open a gate of hope for the exalted mercy of God, who chastens only to embrace and who grants more than what is asked, and beyond it. “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall resound by reason of the multitude of men” (Micah 2:12) Some scholars see in these two phrases a magnificent prophecy about two great events: the first is the return of Israel from the Babylonian captivity in the near future, and the second is gathering the believers together and their enjoyment of freedom from the captivity of sin, through the coming of the Messiah, the Savior of the world, who precedes them as the first of the risen, and the heavenly Head of the Church. Whereas other scholars see in them a prophecy of the false prophets, that captivity would soon come to an end, and the return would promptly be realized, which did not materialize. If, because of their evil, they were scattered, He will gather them together after their chastisement, not as two separate kingdoms, but as one people and one kingdom. He will call them all as ‘Jacob’. He will gather the holy remnant, who were attached to the Lord during captivity and returned to Him, to become His rational sheep of the fold. “It will resound by reason of the multitude of men”, because of their great number, when the Lord Christ, the good Shepherd, gathers His people from all nations; “He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad” (John 11:52); “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one Shepherd” (John 10:16). “The one who breaks open will come up before them; They will break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it; their King will pass before them, with the Lord at their head” (Micah 2:13) Who is the one who breaks open the gate and go out of it together with His people, but the Lord Christ, who broke (destroyed) death, brought it to death by His own death. He crossed together with His people through the gate of Hades and brought them over to His paradise, granting them the Spirit of conquest upon the last enemy; namely death. He became the firstborn of those who have risen bringing us up together with Him! He came out of the tomb and carried its gate; the way Samson did, when he “took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them out” (Judges 16:3). Other scholars believe that the “One who breaks open” here, is St. John the Baptist, who came with the Spirit of Elijah to prepare the way before the King of kings, the Savior of the world. He opened the gate by proclaiming repentance, and calling to encounter the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world. In the midst of the darkness, the Savior comes forward, the Light of the world, to shine with His light to scatter the darkness. Here, He is called the “Breaker open”, namely the Remover of obstacles and the Opener of the way to eternity, who opens the gate wide for every believer to find hope in Him. 43 Whoever enters is committed not to stay in the same state in which he entered; he should “go in and find pasture” (John 10:9); what a perfect grace! He, who enters, would be confined within the limits of the world, whereas he, who continues walking, would be as though he surpasses the created things counting what is seen as nothing; he would find pasture above heavens and would feed on the word of God, saying: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1 LXX). Yet Christ would only realize this entrance, as it is said: “With the Lord at their head” (Micah 2:13) 1. St. Jerome 1 Commentary on Micah 1: 2: 13. 44 AN INSPIRATION FROM THE BOOK OF MICAH 2 LET YOUR SPIRIT WORK IN ME SO I COULD WORK WITH THE SPIRIT OF LOVE AND COMPASSION Let Your fiery Spirit, the spirit of love and compassion, Work in me to make me carry the icon of Your practical love; On my bed, I get preoccupied with Your encounter. I see You transfigure in the needy and the suffering. I see You as a Father to the orphans and as a Judge for the widows. I see You encounter those cast out; Let me encounter You in them so to enjoy Your fellowship. Take away from me the heart of stone; and grant me a new heart filled with compassion. Let me not be preoccupied with wealth or honor; As You are my true treasure and glory. Take away from me the stiff neck; By Your love destroy my haughtiness; Destroy every corruption in me; Uproot in me every foreign field; Speak to me, O Lord, for Your servant hears Every word, even if it hurts, is meant for my edification. With Your sword strike to cut off all evil within me. Speak up, O Lord, Your words are all good. Grant me to walk upright. Let me walk along Your royal way. I confess my sins to You; I sinned together with my father’s house. Let us return to You, so that You return to us; Gather us from the end of the world; To become a new heaven; Where You dwell, O the true righteousness; Do not allow my ears to hear the smooth things. To enjoy the false promises of the enemy. To get my soul drunk with the corrupting wine of this world. Grant me ears to hear what the Spirit says to the Churches! Come, O Lord Jesus; Gather all believers as members of Your body. To force our way through the gates of Hades; and to us set forth to Your paradise. To take off the gate of death; and to come out together with You to resurrection; You are the Firstborn of those who all asleep; You are the Head of the holy Church.
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