Social justice themes in the book of Micah

Social Justice in the Book Of Micah

Social justice is justice that is exercised within a society and in particular it is to be exercised among and by the various social classes in society. A society that is socially just is one that has advocacy and practices that are based on principles of solidarity and equality. Social justice also requires that a just society is one that understands and values human rights and upholding dignities of human beings. Most people suffer because of social injustices; wealth and resources are based on inequality, racism as well as wars. The social injustices are not just personal failings but as a result of social structures that have created losers and winners within the society. The sin of social injustice is repeated by many prophets in the Bible including Micah who emphasize on how the underclass is neglected and these are for instance widows, orphans, foreigners and so on.

This paper will therefore look at a Biblical correlation of the issue of social justice from the book of Micah as well as the interpretation of social justice on a personal application. The book of Micah specifies some sins that God rebuked his people about, these are both vertical as well as horizontal. Vertical sins are those that deal with people's direct relationship with God while horizontal sins are those that deal with how people relate to others .among the vertical sins that Micah rebuked are idolatry; the people of Samaria were rebuked for their worship of idols (Bratcher, 2011).The prophets of the time of Micah also accepted money for their oracles this was an outright indication of idol worship.

The horizontal sins were; internal corruption that was seen among the leaders of the nation, these included priests, prophets, judges and other rulers. Among their corrupt acts were lies, hypocrisy, bribery, robbery and greed. Micah also saw the people's unfaithfulness and the fact that they lacked a sense of social justice and through this fact they were prevented from hearing the message of God. The people were guilty of deceit and dishonesty; they used false weights and measures which was advantageous to them. Those who were wealthy used violence so that they could advance their plans to continue gaining unjustly. It is clearly evident from the book of Micah that God does not fail to notice how we treat one another (Garcia, 2011).

People's vertical relationship has a great impact on their horizontal relationship. God requires people to do justice this implies that they are meant to set the wrong things right and always do the right thing; they should be fair and honest between themselves. God also requires his people to practice faithful love or love kindness. People are expected by God to love others even in situations that people have done nothing to warrant them being loved. God expects people to love others just as God loves his people. God also expects his people to walk humbly with him this means that they are expected to submit to the will of God. A person that practices justice and love faithfully can walk humbly with God.

From the book of Micah we see how the people behaved and lived. Their actions all go against God's will and the covenant with them; the covenant was conditional which implied that God will directly bless those who obey him and curse those who disobey him. In the book of Micah there are reminders of the conditions that had been set by God when he made promises to Abraham, the directions he had given to Israel through Moses and finally the fact that God requires them to fear him, walk in his ways as well as serve him. Therefore their actions are a direct disobedience to what was expected to them by God (Garcia, 2011).