When I was young, I wanted to be a writer. I think I was in high school when I first submitted a short story for publication. Being into detective fiction at the time, I wrote what I thought was a clever little whodunit for a mystery magazine. I was trying hard — too hard, really — to be the next Mickey Spillane.

I waited and waited to hear back from the publisher. When their letter finally arrived, I learned for the first time that slim little envelopes usually don’t contain good news. The rejection letter was polite, something along the lines of, “Regrettably, your manuscript does not meet our needs at this time.” I tried one more time with another story, got the same letter, then figured I’d better look for another career.

I had no idea at the time that I would spend nearly my entire adult life being paid for my words, whether as a writer, a professor, or a public speaker.

People like myself make a living with words (in fact, some writers still get paid by the word). Words can entertain, teach, and inspire. But words also carry other kinds of social and interpersonal power. In our homes, for example, words can build up relationships or tear them down. Moreover, words convey institutional authority. One little letter from a publisher tells me whether I’ve succeeded or failed. Words from the pulpit can be received as divine pronouncements of grace or judgment. The church issues decrees, a jury issues verdicts, and legislatures enact laws and statutes — all with words.

Words, therefore, have the power to heal or to hurt; they can be just or unjust. The problem is: such power can be corrupted by selfish motives.

Micah, as we’ve seen, lashes out personally against judges who render unfair judgments for their own personal gain. He then delivers a message from God accusing false prophets of a similar corruption. And in his third and final oracle of chapter 3, he brings these accusations together and builds on them. If there was any doubt about money being the prime motive for the unjust behavior of Judah’s leaders, the oracle lays them to rest:

Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;
who build Zion with bloodshed,
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.
Her leaders judge for a bribe,
    her priests teach for a price,
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money. (Mic 3:9-11a, NIV)

Micah’s opening words here echo what he’s already said in the first oracle at the beginning of the chapter. He directs his words once more to the “leaders of Jacob” and the “rulers of Israel,” accusing them again of injustice. When he says that they build Zion and Jerusalem with bloodshed and wickedness, he seems to be suggesting two things.

First, the Jerusalem elite may have had something of an “edifice complex”: they flaunted their wealth and power through what they built. Even today’s corporate skyscrapers serve a similar purpose. True, they may serve some functional purpose, like housing a company’s operations and employees. But they are also symbols of power, designed to impress.

Thus, second, he’s also suggesting that however impressive such buildings might be, they were built with tainted money. Again, on one level, tall skyscrapers and sprawling corporate campuses can be monuments to success. But on another level, they can be monuments to greed and ruthless business practices.

The oracle takes potshots at different groups of leaders, all of whom have institutional power, all of whom wield that power through words. Judges had the responsibility of deciding legal cases and rendering a just verdict. Priests were responsible to help the people learn the ways of righteousness. Prophets were supposed to help people discern God’s will when they had a decision to make. All of these leadership roles were important for the well-being of God’s people.

But then money enters the picture. It’s not that it was unusual or wrong for people to be paid for their services. The problem comes when these leaders begin pandering to the rich, giving them what they want for a fee: a judgment in their favor, whether it’s just or not; teaching a morality that’s convenient to their way of doing business; bringing a supposed word from God that allows them to feel safe and secure in their wicked ways.

How is it possible that all of these leaders could be so blind?

What Micah says next suggests one possibility: in their mutual interactions, they shared a delusion.