Parents make all kinds of promises to their kids, sometimes without thinking. It can be an unintentional and spontaneous reaction in the moment, a way to get the kids to stop whining about something they want. Before you know it, Mom is glaring at Dad because he’s just told them, “Okay, yes, yes, we can go to Disneyland” without thinking it through — and Mom knows she’s the one who’s going to have to make it happen.

By contrast, some promises are planned and intentional, but may still come with conditions that have to be met first. Yes, we can go to Disneyland this summer, but only if you pull all your grades up to at least a B. Yes, we can go to the park, but only after you clean up your room. Yes, you can have dessert, but only after you eat three more Brussels sprouts. And I have to see you swallow them.

One of the themes that runs throughout the entire Old Testament is that God is a covenant God, one who makes and keeps promises to a people who have done nothing to earn his blessing, a God who takes the initiative to establish and maintain the relationship.

But there are stipulations.

Think, for example, of the Ten Commandments. God doesn’t just simply appear one day to a group of strangers who happen to be standing around Mount Sinai and hand them a set of rules. Before a single commandment is given, God says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exod 20:2, NIV). God, in other words, is reminding the people that he has already proven his faithfulness, and the commandments summarize what it means for the people to be faithful in return.

As we’ve seen, the book of Micah is filled with condemnations of the people’s faithlessness, for which they will pay a heavy price. But there are also notes of hope and salvation. Even if the people must suffer exile, God will not abandon them entirely nor forget his covenant promises. A remnant will return to the land. In the previous verses, that remnant is prophesied to be both a blessing to their neighbors and a vehicle of God’s judgment. Again, as the prophet declares in 5:9, “Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies, and all your foes will be destroyed.”

At root, the word translated as “destroyed” means “to cut.” Often, it’s used in the sense of “cutting down” — hence the translation “destroy.” But it’s also the word for the establishment of a covenant relationship. Two parties may “cut a covenant” by ritually sacrificing an animal and walking between the severed halves of the carcass, as if to say, “So may it be done to me if I don’t keep my promise and honor our agreement!” That, in fact, may be the origin of the English phrase “to cut a deal.” And more importantly, that’s the significance of the story in Genesis 15, which I encourage you to read: God appears to Abraham in a dream and makes a unilateral promise to him, passing through the pieces of the sacrificed animals while Abraham does nothing but snore.

All of this is background to what Micah says next. God has made a covenant promise; that’s why the remnant is prophesied to “destroy” their enemies. And similarly, in verse 15, God declares “I will take vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations that have not obeyed me.” But notice what has to be said first:

I will destroy your horses from among you
    and demolish your chariots.
I will destroy the cities of your land
    and tear down all your strongholds.
I will destroy your witchcraft
    and you will no longer cast spells.
I will destroy your idols
    and your sacred stones from among you;
you will no longer bow down
    to the work of your hands.
I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles
    when I demolish your cities.
I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
    on the nations that have not obeyed me. (Mic 5:10-15, NIV)

“I will destroy,” God says at the beginning of the oracle, four times. It’s the same word: “cut.” Yes, the remnant will eventually know the salvation of God when they are empowered to destroy their enemies. But first, this: God must go through his own people and destroy everything that stands in the way of their full covenant devotion to him.

Given the persistent prophetic condemnation of the people’s unjust and greedy behavior, this shouldn’t be a surprise. But at the very least, as we’ll explore further, it should challenge us to consider all the things we take for granted that may come between us and God.