Micah Commentary

God’s judgment was coming against false prophets, against Israel’s wayward leaders, and against the rich who oppressed the poor. God’s indictment against his people resulted in their ruin, but after ruin would come restoration. Through Micah, God’s Spirit provided a strong word of hope for Israel’s future. The Lord promised to rescue the remnant of Israel—they would return to their land as God’s renewed people. God promised to subdue their enemies and send his ruler from Bethlehem. Micah exclaims simply but powerfully that there is no God like the Lord.

Setting

Micah delivered his prophecies during the reigns of the southern kings Jotham (750–732 BC), Ahaz (743–715 BC), and Hezekiah (728–686 BC), all of whom had relatively long reigns. At that time, both Israel and Judah were characterized by moral and religious corruption, social oppression, political intrigue, economic injustice, personal vice, deception, and treachery.

Jotham was a moderately good king, but he did not remove the high places where illicit worship of idols competed with proper worship of God at the Temple in Jerusalem. Since the Lord was not entirely pleased with Jotham’s reign, he raised up King Rezin of Aram (whose capital was Damascus) and King Pekah of Israel to oppress Judah (2 Kgs 15:32-38).

Ahaz, Jotham’s son, followed the evil ways of the northern kings of Israel. He engaged in forbidden practices, including child sacrifice, pagan incense burning, and fertility worship (2 Kgs 16:1-4). When the Edomites and Philistines moved into the areas of southern Palestine conquered by Rezin and Pekah (2 Kgs 16:5-6; 2 Chr 28:18), Ahaz made an alliance with the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (744–727 BC) by paying gold from the Temple and the royal treasuries as tribute money to the Assyrians (2 Kgs 16:7-9). Ahaz corrupted Judah’s worship by bringing pagan altars into Jerusalem (2 Kgs 16:10-13), and he inhibited worship of the Lord (2 Kgs 16:14-20).

In contrast to his father Ahaz, Hezekiah was a righteous king. He witnessed the fall of Samaria (722 BC) to the Assyrians under Shalmaneser V (726–722 BC) and Sargon II (721–705 BC). During his reign, in 701 BC, God delivered Jerusalem from destruction at the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria (704–681 BC), but Sennacherib still devastated some forty-six cities in Israel and Judah (2 Kgs 18:1–19:37). God also healed Hezekiah from a serious disease. But then Hezekiah unwisely received envoys from the Babylonian king Merodach-baladan, who sought an alliance with Hezekiah against Assyria (2 Kgs 20:12-21).

During the early years of this period, before the destruction of Samaria, the northern kings of Israel were Pekah (752–732 BC) and Hoshea (732–722 BC). Under both kings, Israel strayed further in the ways of Jereboam I, who had caused Israel to turn from God (2 Kgs 15:28). During Pekah’s reign, parts of northern Israel were taken into captivity (2 Kgs 15:29). Pekah was assassinated by Hoshea, who reigned until the fall of Samaria in 722 BC (2 Kgs 15:30-31; 17:6).

As Micah had warned, the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed and its people were taken into exile. Hoshea had revolted against Assyria and had appealed to Egypt for help, but when Shalmaneser V heard of Hoshea’s treachery, he besieged Samaria, captured it, and destroyed it in 722 BC after a three-year siege. Hoshea was imprisoned, the Israelites were dispersed among Assyrian provinces and vassal kingdoms (2 Kgs 17:5-6), and people from various nations were brought into the devastated land of Israel to live (2 Kgs 17:24-41). Israel’s false worship led to its destruction and rejection by the Lord.

Summary

Following the superscription (1:1), each of three sections begins by calling Israel to “listen” (1:2–2:13; 3:1–5:15; 6:1–7:6). Judgment poured from the Lord through Micah’s prophecies against Samaria, Jerusalem, the wealthy, the corrupt, the false prophets, the oppressive leaders, and other nations. The people of Israel failed to follow God’s ways and did not respond to the messages he had given them. The Lord’s indictment was ironclad: Israel would be ruined and go into exile.

Micah’s message of judgment is interspersed with words of hope, however (see 2:12-13; 4:1-8, 13; 5:2-15; 7:7-20). In the end, judgment would be replaced by the Lord’s grace, unfailing love, faithfulness, forgiveness, pardon, and compassion. Israel would be restored and renewed, and God would fulfill his promises to Abraham and Jacob.

Authorship and Date

Micah was a native of Moresheth, a town about twenty-one miles (thirty-five kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem. Passages such as 4:6-8 and 7:8-20 suggest to some that a later editor completed the present form of the book in the early postexilic era (538–458 BC). This conclusion is not necessary, however. The prophet Micah is not the only preexilic prophet to prophesy a return (see Isa 52:4-12; Hos 11:10-11; Amos 9:11-15).

Micah used figurative language to describe events, which makes it hard to determine the exact circumstances taking place when he prophesied and wrote. Some of Micah’s prophecies were probably given before the destruction of Samaria in 722 BC (see Mic 1:1, 6; 6:16). The Assyrian march into Israel and Judah in 701 BC is reflected in 1:10-15. Micah’s prediction concerning the fall of Jerusalem (3:12) was given during the reign of Hezekiah (728–686 BC) and is referred to much later by Jeremiah (Jer 26:16-19). Micah’s ministry thus seems to have coincided closely with that of Isaiah; the similarity of Isaiah 2:2-5 and Micah 4:1-4 supports this conclusion.

Meaning and Message

Micah’s message is clear: God’s plans for his people will prevail, and the nations will come to know God through his people Israel and his chosen ruler (5:2). The Lord’s faithful promises to Abraham and Jacob will be realized.

Much like Isaiah, Micah proclaimed that Israel’s hope would not be in escaping judgment, but it would be mediated to them through judgment. The people had become so corrupt that their only hope for an extended future was through the fires of judgment. That was a very hard concept for the people of Israel to grasp.

God’s goal is to have a special people of unparalleled moral and spiritual integrity and excellence. God will accept nothing less, but only his actions on behalf of his people can create righteousness in them (see 2 Pet 3:13). Many years after Micah, God would send a “ruler of Israel,” born in Bethlehem, to lead his flock and bring peace to his people (see Mic 5:2-5).

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Prophecy of Micah

We shall have some account of this prophet in the first verse of the book of his prophecy; and therefore shall here only observe that, being contemporary with the prophet Isaiah (only that he began to prophesy a little after him), there is a near resemblance between that prophet's prophecy and this; and there is a prediction of the advancement and establishment of the gospel-church, which both of them have, almost in the same words, that out of the mouth of two such witnesses so great a word might be established. Compare Isa 2:2, Isa 2:3, with Mic 4:1, Mic 4:2. Isaiah's prophecy is said to be concerning Judah and Jerusalem, but Micah's concerning Samaria and Jerusalem; for, though this prophecy be dated only by the reigns of the kings of Judah, yet it refers to the kingdom of Israel, the approaching ruin of which, in the captivity of the ten tribes, he plainly foretels and sadly laments. What we find here in writing was but an abstract of the sermons he preached during the reigns of three kings. The scope of the whole is, I. To convince sinners of their sins, by setting them in order before them, charging both Israel and Judah with idolatry, covetousness, oppression, contempt of the word of God, and their rulers especially, both in church and state, with the abuse of their power; and also by showing them the judgments of God ready to break in upon them for their sins. II. To comfort God's people with promises of mercy and deliverance, especially with an assurance of the coming of the Messiah and of the grace of the gospel through him. It is remarkable concerning this prophecy, and confirms its authority, that we find two quotations out of it made publicly upon very solemn occasions, and both referring to very great events. 1. One is a prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem (Mic 3:12), which we find quoted in the Old Testament, by the elders of the land (Jer 26:17, Jer 26:18), in justification of Jeremiah, when he foretold the judgments of God coming upon Jerusalem, and to stay the proceedings of the court against him. "Micah (say they) foretold that Zion should be ploughed as a field, and Hezekiah did not put him to death; why then should we punish Jeremiah for saying the same?" 2. Another is a prediction of the birth of Christ (Mic 5:2) which we find quoted in the New Testament, by the chief priests and scribes of the people, in answer to Herod's enquiry, where Christ should be born (Mat 2:5, Mat 2:6); for still we find that to him bear all the prophets witness

MICAH was a native of Moresheth, not the same as Mareshah in Mic 1:15, but the town called Moresheth-gath (Mic 1:14), which lay near Eleutheropolis, west of Jerusalem, on the border of the Philistine country; so called to distinguish it from Moresheth of Judah. His full name is Micaiah (not the Micaiah mentioned Kg1 22:8, the son of Imlah), signifying, Who is like Jehovah? The time of his prophesying is stated in the introduction to be in the reigns of Jotham. Ahaz, and Hezekiah, that is, between 757 and 699 B.C. Jeremiah (Jer 26:18) quotes Mic 3:12, as delivered in the reign of Hezekiah. He was thus a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. The idolatries practised in the reign of Ahaz accord with Micah's denunciations of such gross evils, and confirm the truth of the time assigned Mic 1:1. His prophecies are partly against Israel (Samaria), partly against Judah. As Samaria, Israel's metropolis, was taken first, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah subsequently, in the introductory heading, Mic 1:1, Samaria is put first, then Jerusalem. He prophesies the capture of both; the Jews captivity and restoration; and the coming and reign of Messiah. His style is full, round, and perspicuous; his diction pure, and his parallelisms regular. His description of Jehovah (Mic 7:18-19) is not surpassed by any elsewhere in Scripture. The similarity between Isaiah and Micah in some passages (compare Mic 4:1-3, with Isa 2:2-4) is to be accounted for by their being contemporaries, acquainted with each other's inspired writings, and having the same subjects for their theme. HENGSTENBERG maintains that the passage in Micah is the original. Isaiah was somewhat the older, being a prophet in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham's predecessor, whereas Micah began his prophecies under Jotham.

The book consists of two parts: (1) the first through fifth chapters; (2) the sixth and seventh chapters, a dialogue or contestation between Jehovah and His people, in which He reproaches them with their unnatural and ungrateful conduct, and threatens judgment for their corruptions, but consoles them with the promise of restoration from captivity.

Micah stands sixth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew canon, but third in the Septuagint.

Next: Micah Chapter 1