Micah 6:6-8--What Does the LORD Require?

Micah 6:6-8
English Standard Version

What Does the LORD Require?
6 “With what shall I come before the LORD,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

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The prophet asks on behalf of the people if it is even possible for them to please the LORD, or are they in a relationship with someone that it is impossible to please them.  It seems like the LORD doesn't want their tithes and offerings right now because He doesn't have their hearts.  Also, it will be impossible for them to offer these things once the Temple and its Altar are destroyed.  So, what will the people be able to offer to the LORD while they are in Exile?

The pagans would offer their children as burnt offerings to their gods, but the prophet knows that child sacrifice does not please the LORD (yet, He will offer His own firstborn and only Son as the propitiation for our sins).  No, He has told men what is good and what the LORD requires of them, and this truth applies to all men in all places at all times because this was revealed to men from the time of Adam and Noah--it is not specifically part of the Mosaic Covenant given only to the Jews.  Men are to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God (and He is to be their only God).  That's it--simple, yet impossible for us to do without God's transforming work.