The word of the Lord that came to Micah the
Morasthite
So called, either from Mareshah, mentioned ( Micah 1:15 ) ; and was a
city in the tribe of Judah, ( Joshua 15:44
) ; as the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Zacutus F9; or
rather from Moresheth, from which Moreshethgath, ( Micah 1:14 ) ; is
distinguished; which Jerom F11 says was in his time a small
village in the land of Palestine, near Eleutheropolis. Some think
these two cities to be one and the same; but they appear to be
different from the account of Jerom F12 elsewhere. The Arabic
version reads it, Micah the son of Morathi; so Cyril, in his
commentary on this place, mentions it as the sense of some, that
Morathi was the father of the prophet; which can by no means be
assented to: in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah,
kings of Judah;
by which it appears that he was contemporary with Isaiah, Hoses,
and Amos, though they began to prophesy somewhat sooner than he,
even in the days of Uzziah; very probably he conversed with these
prophets, especially Isaiah, with whom he agrees in many things;
his style is like his, and sometimes uses the same phrases: he,
being of the tribe of Judah, only mentions the kings of that
nation most known to him; though he prophesied against Israel,
and in the days of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah,
and Hoshea: which he saw concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem;
in the vision of prophecy; Samaria was the metropolis of the ten
tribes of Israel, and is put for them all; as Jerusalem was of
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and is put for them Samaria is
mentioned first, because it was the head of the greatest body of
people; and as it was the first in transgression, it was the
first in punishment.