Micah 6:5

"O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah."

It appears that most of the commentators have missed the point here, Deane, for example, stressing that, "An these instances of God's interposition prove how faithful he is to his promises."[9] However, what the children of Israel were commanded to remember here was not merely God's blessing which had indeed included many marvelous things, even the passage of the Jordan river on dry land at flood stage, but not even mentioned here. They were commanded to remember what Balaam answered to Balak. And what was that? He had counseled Balak that Israel could be destroyed by inducing the people to worship Baal through the temptation to commit adultery with the sacred-prostitutes of that religion. The whole nation (practically) fell into the trap and "joined themselves to Baal at Baal-Peor" (Numbers 25:1ff). That was what Jehovah commanded Israel to remember here. Shittim and Gilgal, mentioned at the same time, had the same wretched significance in the history of Israel. It was when Israel was in Shittim that, "they began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab" (Numbers 25:1). Another moral disaster occurred at Gilgal. There Saul was anointed King, signaling their rejection of God that he should reign over them. We believe that it was at Gilgal and Shittim that the moral ruin of Israel became inevitable. Therefore, they were commanded here to "remember," why? "That ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah." (Last clause of this verse). In that remembrance, Israel was expected to see that God's rejection and punishment of his people was not a capricious or unjust act, but a result of his righteousness. God in justice simply could not do anything else. The blindness of most of the scholars to the tremendous significance of all this is evident in such a criticism as this: "The progress of Israel from Shittim to Gilgal cannot be part of the Balaam incident."[10] But of course, both places were intimately connected with the Balaam incident. It was in those places that the people of Israel fell into the error of Balaam. Baal-Peor of infamous connotation in Israel's history was situated precisely there. (See Numbers 25:1ff). "All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them." (Hosea 9:15, also Amos 4:4). Therefore, the mention of Shittim and Gilgal in this passage was not for stressing the wonderful blessings of God upon his people, but for the purpose of showing what an evil response Israel had made to those blessings.