Hating Good and Loving Evil Micah 3:2

As Micah the prophet began to describe the judgment that was to fall upon Samaria and Jerusalem, he began by addressing the leaders or “heads” and “princes” which were there. He asked, “Is it not for you to know judgment?” of which they should have been very familiar just by the nature of their positions. However, in chapter three and verse two of his prophecy, Micah wrote concerning their distorted view of justice when he wrote how they hated good and loved evil. We read:

Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them,

and their flesh from off their bones;

The verse begins, “Who hate the good, and love the evil;” Micah began with “Who hate the good” which means they hated “pleasant, agreeable, valuable and right” things, and he added, “and love the evil” or “bad, disagreeable, malignant, displeasing and unpleasant” things. Isaiah the prophet wrote a similar appraisal of these leaders in chapter five and verse twenty of his prophecy:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

This distorted view of “good” and “evil” was prevalent throughout Israel and Judah, and therefore judgment was to fall upon them.

The verse continues, “who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;” In addition to “hating good” and “loving evil”, Micah described these leaders as those, “who pluck off” which means “to tear away, seize, plunder, tear off, pull off, rob, or take away by force” “their skin” or “hide” “from off them, and their flesh” or “food, body, near kin, or near kinswoman” “from off their bones” or “essence or substance”. The idea is that they rob their own kinsmen of everything they have, even all of their substance down to the bone.

When we stop to think about the depth of the evil which is exalted by these horrible leaders within Samaria and Jerusalem, we may wonder why judgment didn't come upon them sooner than it did. Micah tried to address their apostasy and evil before judgment fell, however, these stubborn and wicked leaders would not listen. As we noted in previous studies, these evil minded leaders would rather Godly prophets be silenced so they could continue in their evil. Isaiah the prophet employed the phrase “Woe unto them” as he described this wickedness, and perhaps that should be the warning given to leadership that promotes evil, thereby loving it, and extinguishes good, thereby hating it, today. May the Lord Jesus Christ bring us all to His understanding of what we should hate and what we should love in this world.

Next time Micah shares more horrible atrocities which will happen to the people, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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