Micah

Micah

Bible students often pay too much attention to the supposed meanings of biblical names. Micah's name, however, which means "Who is like the Lord?" foreshadows a crucial question in the climactic final chapter (7:18): "Who is a God like you, who par-dons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?"

Yet Micah is noted as a preacher of judgment (unlike the false prophets who sought to ingratiate themselves to the rich with words of peace; see 2:6-7,11; 3:5-11). Like Jonah, Micah appears as a prophet outside the book bearing his name. He even has the distinction of being the only prophet quoted by name by another prophet (Jer. 26:18-19, quoting Mic. 3:12). He is cited there as prophesying calamity to King Hezekiah and all Judah; but his words inspired repentance and resulted in God's postponing judgment (see 2 Chr. 29:5-11; 32:24-26).

Micah was from Moresheth Gath in Judah (see 1:14), about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem near the Philistine city of Gath. A contemporary of Isaiah, he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (1:1), who ruled Judah from about 740 (King Uzziah died that year, but Jotham his son had coreigned with him for about ten years) to 686 b.c. Between 740 and 700 the Assyrians (mentioned in Mic. 5:6 and 7:12) invaded Palestine repeatedly. In 734 northern Israel and Judah lost their independence and became vassals to Assyria. In 722 Samaria was conquered and made an Assyrian province with most of its population being sent into exile. In 716-715 Assyria put down a Philistine rebellion and laid a punishing fine on Hezekiah's Jerusalem. In 701 b.c. the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, only relenting at the last minute, placing a heavy fine on the city rather than destroying it. This long history of life-threatening conflict with Assyria served as the background for Micah's messages.

Message and Purpose. Although Micah was a prophet of Judah, he preached also to Samaria (1:1) and used the term "Israel" or "Jacob" to refer to both kingdoms as one.

Indictment: Israel was guilty of rebellious acts of idolatry. Their lead-ers—including judges, priests, and false prophets—perverted justice to prey upon the people, by extorting property and depriving women and children of their homes. They were self-serving and used violence when necessary to get what they wanted. Yet they maintained a facade of religion through ritual in the Lord's name.

Instruction: Just as Joel contains no explicit indictment message, so Micah contains no explicit instruction message. Nevertheless, instruction may be found in two ways. First, just as the indictment message is furnished from the covenant context of Joel, so Micah's instruction message is furnished: "Return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deut. 30:2,10; 4:29-30; Lev. 26:40-45; 2 Chr. 7:14). Second, Micah's expression of confidence in 7:7 may be intended as a form of exhortation: "But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me." After God's judgment had removed from Israel every reason for arrogance, the believing remnant should watch prayer-fully for the Lord's deliverance, trusting in His promises. Even in the midst of judgment Israel should not simply cry out in pain but should trust His wisdom and power and, like a woman in labor, should look for His purposes to be accomplished (4:9-10).

Judgment: As God made Samaria a "heap of rubble" during Micah's ministry, so He would bring destruction on Judah, bringing against them all the curses of the law (failure, frustration, death, destruction, derision) and would eventually carry them into exile to Babylon.

Hope: The Lord promises to gather His remnant as a shepherd gathers His sheep and lead them to freedom (2:12-13). He will forgive His people and vindicate them by vanquishing the defiant nations. He will then establish justice, peace, security, and compassion among His people through a Messianic shepherd/ruler. He will rebuild Zion and make His house into a place of worship for all the nations.

Structure. Individual messages, though delivered at various times, have been woven into a coherent whole. Micah has three parts, chapters 1-2; 3-5; and 6-7, each moving from judgment to deliverance. All three maintain a balanced message to both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The third part is the most prominent. Whereas the first two parts begin with calls to hear the prophet, the third begins with a call to hear the Lord. The third also has the most developed message of hope.

1. From Disaster to Deliverance (1:1-2:13)
2. From Predators to Shepherd (3:1-5:15)
3. From Darkness to Light (6:1-7:20)

From Disaster to Deliverance (1:1-2:13)

God's destruction of Israel for their idolatry should have been a sign to Judah, and the destruction of both should be a sign to all nations that a time of retribution is coming. Micah grieves over the terrible calamity coming upon Judah for their rebellion, a punishment which includes the foreign exile of some of their inhabitants. Sennacherib's devastation of Judah in 701 b.c. was extensive, especially at Lachish, where the idolatry of Samaria first obtained a foothold in Judah. Excavations there reveal a pit into which the Assyrians dumped about fifteen hundred bodies together with pig remains and other trash. The devastation reached up to Jerusalem's "gate," but the city was left undamaged (2 Kgs. 18:13-16; 19:31-37).

Micah 2:1-11 condemns those who hatched and carried out unscrupulous plots to steal houses and ancestral lands by perverting justice. The unavoidable penalty would be calamity, involving the loss of all their land, and more importantly exclusion of the guilty from the future assembly of God's redeemed people. Those wanting to hide or justify their wicked behavior tried to silence Micah and other true prophets. But those who evicted the helpless will be evicted by the Lord.

Micah 2:12-13 promises that Israel's divine Shepherd-King will gather and protect His people and then lead them to freedom. This probably refers most immediately to the Lord's deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib (see 2 Kgs. 19:31).

From Predators to Shepherd (3:1-5:15)

This section begins with denunciations of Israel's corrupt leaders, who preyed upon God's people. Pleas for God's aid will be of no help to them. Judges, priests, and prophets abandoned their responsibility to the truth and used their positions for personal gain. Micah, however, strengthened by God's Spirit, declared the truth, which included destruction and the ultimate darkness and silence at God's departure from them.

Juxtaposed to the message of corruption and doom in chapter 3 is the message of glorious exaltation in chapters 4-5. But even there deliverance in the near or distant future alternates with the trials of Israel's present situation. First is the promise that the Lord Himself will someday teach truth and judge righteously on the earth (see Heb. 12:22-24). Here is a picture of the restored temple on Zion to which people from many nations will come to learn of God's ways and to hear His word (see Ps. 86:9; Isa. 2:1-4; 56:6-8; 60; 66:18-21; Zech. 8:20-23; John 12:32; Rev. 21). It heralds a time of peace and security. The promise to assemble the lame, the outcast, and the afflicted uses a common symbol for the return of the exiles (Isa. 35:6; Jer. 31:8; Zeph. 3:19; Matt. 11:5; Luke 14:21). As wonderful as was the restoration led by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, it fell far short of the glory yet to be accomplished at the Lord's return.

Before this restoration Jerusalem's people will suffer greatly—invasion and even exile to Babylon (4:10). But from defeat and devastation will come victory and liberation. Their divine "king" and "counselor" (4:9) remained in their midst even in exile, working out His plan (see Isa. 9:6; 28:29; Jer. 8:19). He was using empires to tear down and destroy Israel's corruption. God was also using the empires to build His new order for His people. For the new Israel to be created, the old Israel had to die. Israel's judgment was remedial. But just as God used the stubborn pride of the exodus pharaoh to demonstrate His glory and at the same time bring judgment upon Egypt, so the nations' own pride would bring about their destruction (4:11-13; see Joel 3). Satan, too, out of pride and hatred of God, planned and executed his own downfall by inspiring the rejection and death of God's Son (1 Cor. 2:7-8).

Micah 5:1 returns to Sennacherib's siege of Jerusalem and his humiliation of King Hezekiah. Verse 3 moves further to the Babylonian exile and even until the coming of Messiah. But God was at work to turn humiliation into glorious victory through a Messianic ruler whose human origins (as far as deity is concerned He had no origin), coming not from proud Jerusalem but from insignificant Bethlehem (5:2; see Matt. 2:4-8), represented Israel's humiliation. "Bethlehem, too insignificant to be mentioned by the cartographer of the book of Joshua or in Micah's catalogue of Judah's cities of defense ..., is today incredibly the centre of pilgrimages from around the world and is universally renowned because Jesus Christ fulfilled this verse" (Waltke). It is a biblical principle, in fact, that exaltation by God must always be launched from humiliation (see 1 Cor. 1:18-31; Phil. 2:5-11).

As David's city, however (1 Sam. 17:12; Luke 2:4,11; John 7:42), Bethlehem also represented God's promise of a Davidic descendant whose throne and kingdom would be eternal and who would mediate God's blessings to all mankind (2 Sam. 7:16-19; Isa. 16:5; Jer. 33:17; Matt. 1:1; 21:9; Luke 1:32,69; Rev. 22:16). This may be the sense in which the ruler's "origins are from of old, from ancient times" (see Isa. 11:1). "David" came to be "theological shorthand for Israel's ideal future ruler" (Waltke; see Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hos. 3:5).

According to 5:7-9 the presence of the remnant of God's people among the nations would bring salvation to some ("like dew" in v. 7) and judgment to others ("like a lion" in v. 8), depending upon how their witness would be received (see 2 Cor. 2:14-16). The initial "in that day" in 5:10 echoes similar phrases in 4:1 and 4:6 and refers to God's establishing the messianic kingdom. According to 5:10-15 He will purge and protect His people from reliance on military might, magic, and idolatry, and from fear of the nations.

From Darkness to Light (6:1-7:20)

The final section begins with an indictment against Israel in the form of a lawsuit (6:1-8). Israel is charged with forgetting the Lord's righteous acts and so losing a sense of genuine devotion to Him. Although they tried to buy God's favor with ritual sacrifices, God's primary demand was for justice, mercy, and humble obedience (v. 8; see Isa. 5:7; Hos. 4:1; 6:6; 12:6; Amos 5:24). But Israel was guilty of doing the opposite. They perverted just standards and followed the standard of wicked Omri and Ahab. Their many crimes of commercial fraud and greed are declared to have brought upon Israel the covenant curses of disease, futility, destruction, and shame (see Lev. 26; Deut. 28).

In chapter 7 Micah again turns accusation and sentence into lament (vv. 1-6). One who hunts for integrity in Israel will return empty. The leaders care nothing for God and His covenant as they prey upon His people. A time of judgment would cause panic that would heighten people's selfish character so that even one's closest friend or family member cannot be trusted (see Isa. 3:4-7; Matt. 10:34-36). But in verse 7 Micah testifies to what the righteous remnant should do in the midst of God's judgment. They should resolve to pray and look expectantly for the Lord's deliverance that will be the fruit of His judgment (see Hab. 3:1-2).

The conclusion of Micah in 7:8-20 is a song of victory. It is written from the perspective of God's city, Jerusalem, and its people as they recover from judgment. It celebrates finding the light of the Lord's presence after experiencing the darkness. It also celebrates vindication before the nations who have proudly opposed God and anticipates their submission to Him. It acknowledges the justice of God's dealings with His people and expresses submission to the Lord's will as well as confidence in His faithfulness. Finally, it rejoices in wonder at the Lord's compassionate pardon. Moses' Song of the Sea in Exodus 15 has much in common with Micah's victory song, especially Exodus 15:11—"Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" As God hurled the Egyptians into the depths of the sea (Exod. 15:4-5; Neh. 9:11), so He hurls our sins.

Theological and Ethical Significance. Micah calls attention to God's hatred of unscrupulous self-seeking leaders who use their positions for gain rather than for service. But his main message is that because of God's faithfulness and mercy the darkness of judgment will give way to the light of freedom and joy. Micah's prophecy calls upon God's people to confess their sin, repent, and receive whatever punishment may come from the hands of our gracious God. Whereas His discipline lasts but for a moment, His forgiveness and peace are forever (Ps. 30:5; Isa. 54:7-8).

Questions for Reflection

1. What does God require of those committed to Him (see Mic. 6:8)? How do we shortchange God?
2. What does Micah teach about the responsible use of power (see Mic. 2:1; 3:1-3,9-12)?
3. What does Micah teach about the qualities of godly leadership (see Mic. 3:8)?
4. What does Micah teach about God's goals for history (see Mic. 4:1-4; 5:2-5)?

Sources for Further Study

McComiskey, T. E. "Micah." Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985.

Waltke, Bruce K. Micah: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1988.