With what shall I come to the LORD
And bow myself before the God on high?...
Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
(Mic. 6:6-8)

One of the most frequently quoted Old Testament passages is this: “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” I had memorized it years before I wrestled with its deeper meaning, especially with what it means to “do justice.” I had always thought of justice as something related to making judgments about one’s guilt or innocence, or about the appropriate retribution due as a consequence of causing harm. I did not realize that doing justice was usually synonymous with the idea of righteousness in the Scripture – doing what the Lord wants in the manner He wants it done. In fact, justice and righteousness come from the same root word in the Hebrew. So, the first thing the Lord requires of us is to do what is right (godly) in the marketplace.

Yes, in the marketplace! The prophet Micah is speaking explicitly to people involved in the marketplace. Through Micah, God addressed the injus­tices He saw as men and women went about their daily commercial tasks. For example,

Woe to those who scheme iniquity,
Who work out evil on their beds!
When morning comes, they do it,
For it is in the power of their hands [financial strength].
They covet fields [acquire corporations – unfriendly LBOs, etc.] and then seize them,
And houses [HUD scandals], and take them away.
They rob a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance. (Mic. 2:1-2, emphasis added)

The very context of the Micah 6:6-8 passage is concerned with economic justice. God asks, “Can I justify wicked scales and a bag of deceptive weights?” (v. 11). And the seventh chapter begins,

Woe is me! For I am
Like the fruit pickers and the grape gatherers.
There is not a cluster of grapes [for the grape pickers] to eat,
Or a first-ripe fig which I crave.

Malachi also cries out in God’s name “against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages” (Mal. 3:5). The reference is not to the unemployed but to those being paid the competitive market rate yet are still in poverty after receiving their wages (while the owners grow wealthy). Amos is burdened with the same concerns when he reports,

Thus says the LORD,
“For three transgressions of Israel and for four
I will not revoke its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for money
And the needy for a pair of sandals.
Those who pant after the very dust of the earth
   on the head of the helpless…
Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
…who turn justice into wormwood
And cast righteousness down to the earth
…impose heavy rent on the poor
And exact a tribute of grain from them
…trample the needy…, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over,
So that we may buy grain,
And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market,
To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger,
And to cheat with dishonest scales,
So as to buy the helpless for money
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?’”
(Amos 2:6-7; 4:1; 5:7, 11; 8:4-6)

Over four hundred times Scripture speaks of justice and righteousness and frequently calls for them in the context of the marketplace. The character and behavior embodied in the concepts of justice and righteousness are obviously extremely important to God…

…we should remember that true righteousness (doing justice) will frequently cause those with whom we work to have mixed reactions regarding us. On the one hand, our superiors will frequently admire and respect us for righteous conduct. On the other hand, our peers may come to dislike us because of the very standards we set and uphold through our conduct, which convicts them of their own sub­standard conduct. This is precisely why Cain slew Abel and is one of the primary reasons the world hates God’s children (see 1 John 3:11-13).

Excerpted from Richard C. Chewning (ed.), Biblical Principles and Business: The Practice (NavPress, Colorado Springs, 1990).  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.  Content distributed by WorkLife.org > Used for non-profit teaching purposes only.

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