The Pulpit Commentary — Micah — Section 99

Vere. 1-5.-Man in the moral court of history. "Hear ye now "°hat the Lori\ nith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, 0 mountains, the Lord's controversy and ye strong foundations of the earth : for the Lord bath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel," etc. There are three things here very striking and deserving our solemn attention. I. HERE IS A CALL ON MAN TO GIVE AUDIENCE TO A.I.MIGHTY Goo. .. Hear ye now what the Lord saith." These are the words of the prophet who speaks in the name of Jehovah, and on his behalf. Such an audience as this is: 1. Natural. Wbat is more natural than for the child to hang on the lips and attend to the words of his parent? How much more natural for the finite intelligence to open its ears to the words of the Infinite I It is more natnral for the human soul to look up, listening, to the great Father-Spirit, and to receive communication from him, than for the earth to thirst for the sunbeam and the shower. The human soul is made for it. 2. Binding. Of all -duties it is the most primary and imperative. The great co=and of God to all is, "Hearken diligently to me; hear, and your soul shall live " (Isa. Iv. 2, 3). The con- science of every man tells him that his great duty is to hear God in all the operations of nature, in all the events of life, in all the teachinis of the Bible, in all the monitions of the soul. God is always speaking to man. Would that the human ear was ever open to his voice I 3. Indispensable. It is only as men hear, interpret, digest, ,appropriate, and incarnate God's Word that they can rise to a true, a noble, and a happy life. "Hear ye now," then, "what the Lord saith." "Now." In the scenes -of retribution whither you are hastening, you will be bound to hear his voice, whether you wish or not. II, HERE IBA SUMMONS TO INANIMATE NATUUE TO HEAB THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN GoD AND MAN. "Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, 0 mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of .the earth: for the Lord bath a controversy with his people, aud he will plead with Israel." "It is not unusual," says an eminent biblical scholar, "with the prophets to make appeals respecting the enormity of human guilt to the inanimate part of creation, as if it were impossible for it not to inspire them with life, and call them forth as 'intelligent witnesses of what had taken place in their presence (see Deut. xxxii. 1; ilsa. i. 2; Jor. ii. 12, 13). By a similar personification, the mountaius and durable •foundations of the earth arc here summoned to nrpear in the court of heaven. Jehovah, 102 THE BOOK OF MICAII. [on. TI. 1-1{;..