The complaining God

For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Hooker's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

According to the scholarship of the mid-20th century, Micah 6:1-8 is—like similar passages in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos—a “covenant lawsuit.” The name of the literary genre is taken from the Hebrew word rib (pronounced, “reev”), frequently translated “debate” or “controversy” or, in most of these passages, “complaint” or “case.” Such language conjures up the image of God as plaintiff and Israel as defendant, gathered before some court that would (imagine this) have authority over both. Personally, I think such a literal reading of the “lawsuit” form stretches the theology farther than it will go, but my point for the moment is that a rib is the sound of God complaining.

The very idea of God complaining fascinates me. I cut my theological teeth on the great Reformed insistence on the absolute sovereignty of God. It is difficult to accept the idea that if God is not happy about us, God would not simply do something about it. Why waste the divine breath and energy on complaining?