Listening for Echoes
In a situation of hope mingled with apprehension how do we find ‘our Micah’? One way is learning to listen for echoes — words, phrases, concepts, references and innuendoes which remind us of him. We can then listen to what Micah says with ears attuned to his message while keeping an eye on where we are.
Micah was a whistleblower with a dual mission. In a power situation, where one side is grabbing and the other is a victim, someone is needed to blow the whistle: first, to alert people to what is going on, and then to control the game and establish fair play. Micah, a fair-minded member of the general public, with a sense of balance and responsibility, in a position where what he says may be heard and may well influence others, does both. He talks, and he acts.
Most such situations have ‘a Micah’ and some people are extremely good at it. Their success depends on two things: one, being neither a grabber nor a victim (which means they probably go through life scarcely noticed) and two, having someone around to give them encouragement and moral support.
Working out just what Micah says is not easy. Vv 10-16 offer a poorly preserved Hebrew text, with lots of wordplays that don’t easily translate and a list of cities about which we know virtually nothing. What is clear is that when people in the past, especially in Samaria, followed the same policies as those now being advocated it proved to be their nemesis.
Perhaps now you hear an echo. Think of someone who has learned nothing from history or from personal experience who needs a Micah to speak the truth. Someone close, perhaps, or someone more remote, such as a newspaper columnist, TV reporter or satirist. Possibly someone you have scarcely noticed but who now strikes you see as the voice of the voiceless in the situation. And once you hear the echo you might respond by becoming the echo that every Micah needs.