Micah uses a sarcastic exaggeration to illustrate the hardness of the people’s hearts.
What shall I bring to the LORD, the God of heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring the best calves to burn as offerings to him? 7 Will the LORD be pleased if I bring him thousands of sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins?
Micah 6:6-7 GNB
These offerings not only go far beyond what was required by the Law, but they also cross over to being sinful. To offer a child to God as a means of worship was to go against His Law. The reason Micah uses such strong language is to illustrate the severity of the people’s sins. In other words, he is asking rhetorical questions to illustrate just how ludicrous it is to try and pay for your double life of sin by offering the largest and most outlandish items to God. The goal is not to sin and then try and cover that sin will some kind of large-sum offering. The goal is to stop sinning!
No, the LORD has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.
Micah 6:8 GNB
Doing what is just, showing constant love, and living in humble fellowship would naturally lead to a holy life. But the people of Micah’s time were more content to keep sinning and paying for those sins through religious acts. It is not much different from people today who simply go to church to feel better about their lives but continue on through the week with no spiritual growth or maturity. This is the teaching we can apply to our lives today.
“True humility is thinking rightly of thyself, not meanly. When you have found out what you really are, you will be humble, for you are nothing to boast of. To be humble will make you safe. To be humble will make you happy. To be humble will make music in your heart when you go to bed. To be humble here will make you wake up in the likeness of your Master by-and-by.”
Charles Spurgeon