Micah 3:11, commentary and pictures

Micah 3:11 describes all three classes of leaders as corrupt, with rulers judging for bribes, priests teaching for pay, and prophets divining for money, turning justice, religious instruction, and prophecy into means of personal gain. Those same leaders still lean upon the Lord, insisting that He is among them and that no evil or calamity can come upon them. That confidence is self-righteous, hypocritical and false, for while practicing injustice and breaking the law they claim to keep the law, to belong to God, and to maintain the forms of worship, but such profession does not excuse sin or shield from judgment. Because of that corruption Zion built by bloodshed and wrongdoing would be plowed as a field and Jerusalem become heaps in destruction and desolation. The same warning stands over the cities and governments of today where men rule for pay and preach for pay, and it will be fulfilled universally in the last day, demanding readiness because the Son of man comes in an hour not expected.

Corrupt Leaders' False Confidence

The heads judge for reward, the priests teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money, turning judgment, religious teaching, and prophecy into means of personal gain. Yet those same leaders lean upon the Lord, claiming that He is among them and that no evil or disaster can come upon them.
Their confidence is self-righteous, hypocritical, blasphemous, and false. While practicing injustice, apostasy, and violation of the law and bringing in falsehood, they claim to observe the law, to rely on God, to belong to His people, and to keep up the forms of worship. Their profession does not excuse their sin or protect them from judgment.
In its original setting the verse exposes the religious corruption present in Judah in Ahaz's time, when apostate rulers kept the forms of worship while corrupting their offices for money. The verse also describes the Jewish leaders in Christ's day, who departed farther from the Word of the Lord and allowed neither righteousness nor equity to bear sway. They hated Christ because His holiness exposed their sin, yet considered themselves God's favored people and expected His protection even as they condemned Him. Though dependent on God for all blessings, entrusted with light and knowledge and the oracles of God, knowing the Father's will and boasting of spiritual advantages, they failed to render the choicest fruit they owed. They professed great piety but acted as ravening wolves bearing no good fruit, saying they would obey but not obeying, and would not hear God's Son sent to win them back.

Judgment Then and Now

Because of such corruption judgment is certain, for Zion would for their sake be plowed as a field and Jerusalem become heaps. No claim to divine presence protects from that sentence, since building Zion and Jerusalem through bloodshed and wrongdoing brings destruction and desolation rather than safety. The false confidence of violating the law while professing to serve God does not excuse sin or avert the threatened desolation. That warning of destruction and desolation will be fulfilled universally in the last day just as clearly as described. It will come as surely as the desolation seen at San Francisco, and therefore demands readiness because the Son of man comes in an hour not expected.

The verse applies to the present fallen world in strange hands. It describes the cities and governments of today, where men rule for pay and preach for pay. There is strife for supremacy in all business dealings and transactions. If Christ walked through their streets now, few would have interest enough to follow Him.

Applied to today, the verse means that men who take part in worldly government have no part with Christ. Rulers cannot be truly successful statesmen without learning in His school the ways and methods of the great Teacher. They need to understand the pure Word of God about duty to God and fellow men. Earnest, persevering effort is needed to win talented and influential men to Christ, so that converted men may be placed in responsible positions in God's cause. That work requires a deeper insight into the truth as it is in Jesus.