A few images keep returning in this book. Whoever recognizes them hears how they carry the whole; the numbers in parentheses are the chapters.
The question
Mi kamocha, "who is like You?", sounds for the first time by the sea (2). The psalms sing it (7 to 9), the prophets take it into the courtroom (10 and 11), and at the close of Micah it rings out in full (17). In the boat and beside the paralyzed man the answer comes closer than ever (19 and 20). At the end the beast counterfeits it (24), and it is sung by the sea of glass (27).
The God who stoops
God's greatness shows itself in His descent. In the Name on the mountain He carries the guilt, nosé (5), and Micah opens his closing hymn with that same carrying (17). He stoops to the poor in the dust (7), and in the Son He descends all the way to the bottom (21 and 22).
The Name over the mountain
"YHWH, YHWH! God, compassionate and gracious, patient and rich in steadfast love and faithfulness, who keeps steadfast love for thousands, who carries iniquity, transgression, and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty [...]" (Exod 34:6–7; chapter 5). Those seven attributes return in Psalm 103 (7), in Joel, Jonah, and Nahum (14 and 15), and in Micah's closing hymn (17), sometimes as comfort, sometimes as rebuke.
The gift or the Giver
Do you seek God for what He gives, or for Who He is? Moses chooses the wilderness with God over the land without Him (4). Habakkuk rejoices when the harvest fails (16). The lost son discovers what an inheritance is worth without his father (21).
The Bridegroom and His zeal
God binds Himself to His people the way a man binds himself to his wife. At His own wedding He is betrayed (4), on the same mountain He calls Himself compassionate and Jealous (5), and like an abandoned Husband He asks what He has done wrong (11). He buys back His unfaithful wife (13) and exults over her (16); at the end heaven celebrates the wedding of the Lamb, and God Himself wipes away every tear (27). The same fire burns in His tears over an enemy (11), and many waters cannot quench it (Finale).
The song
The book follows the song, from the sea (2) and the close of the Psalter (9) to the song of Moses and the Lamb (27). In one place it turns around, and God Himself sings over His people (Zeph 3:17; chapter 16).
The Father who runs
He teaches Ephraim to walk (13) and lies awake at night over His child (18). In chapter 21 He runs to meet His lost son, and the Finale brings that image back. Wherever you supposed Him strict, look again.
The false echo
Against the question stands a counterfeit. The adversary wants to be like God, and the beast has itself sung to with "who is like the beast?" (24). Opposite him stands the angel who bears the question as his name: Michael, mi-cha-El, "who is like God?" (Prologue and 26).
A few images keep returning in this book. Whoever recognizes them hears how they carry the whole; the numbers in parentheses are the chapters.
The question
Mi kamocha, "who is like You?", sounds for the first time by the sea (2). The psalms sing it (7 to 9), the prophets take it into the courtroom (10 and 11), and at the close of Micah it rings out in full (17). In the boat and beside the paralyzed man the answer comes closer than ever (19 and 20). At the end the beast counterfeits it (24), and it is sung by the sea of glass (27).
The God who stoops
God's greatness shows itself in His descent. In the Name on the mountain He carries the guilt, nosé (5), and Micah opens his closing hymn with that same carrying (17). He stoops to the poor in the dust (7), and in the Son He descends all the way to the bottom (21 and 22).
The Name over the mountain
"YHWH, YHWH! God, compassionate and gracious, patient and rich in steadfast love and faithfulness, who keeps steadfast love for thousands, who carries iniquity, transgression, and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty [...]" (Exod 34:6–7; chapter 5). Those seven attributes return in Psalm 103 (7), in Joel, Jonah, and Nahum (14 and 15), and in Micah's closing hymn (17), sometimes as comfort, sometimes as rebuke.
The gift or the Giver
Do you seek God for what He gives, or for Who He is? Moses chooses the wilderness with God over the land without Him (4). Habakkuk rejoices when the harvest fails (16). The lost son discovers what an inheritance is worth without his father (21).
The Bridegroom and His zeal
God binds Himself to His people the way a man binds himself to his wife. At His own wedding He is betrayed (4), on the same mountain He calls Himself compassionate and Jealous (5), and like an abandoned Husband He asks what He has done wrong (11). He buys back His unfaithful wife (13) and exults over her (16); at the end heaven celebrates the wedding of the Lamb, and God Himself wipes away every tear (27). The same fire burns in His tears over an enemy (11), and many waters cannot quench it (Finale).
The song
The book follows the song, from the sea (2) and the close of the Psalter (9) to the song of Moses and the Lamb (27). In one place it turns around, and God Himself sings over His people (Zeph 3:17; chapter 16).
The Father who runs
He teaches Ephraim to walk (13) and lies awake at night over His child (18). In chapter 21 He runs to meet His lost son, and the Finale brings that image back. Wherever you supposed Him strict, look again.
The false echo
Against the question stands a counterfeit. The adversary wants to be like God, and the beast has itself sung to with "who is like the beast?" (24). Opposite him stands the angel who bears the question as his name: Michael, mi-cha-El, "who is like God?" (Prologue and 26).