8.0 Introduction

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8.0 Introduction Studies in Micah

• Studies in the Scroll of the Twelve

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1. General Introduction

• The book of Micah is a complex collection of
  prophetic texts which has a long history behind
  it. It is stamped in particular by the
  combination of judgment and salvation which also
  appears in other prophetic books. Rendtorff,
  The Old Testament An Introduction, 228

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2. The Time of Micah

• Micah 11 places the prophet in the reigns of
  the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This
  period extends from 742 to 687 BC. Although Micah
  probably did not prophesy during this entire
  period, his message fits well within it. Since
  15 is directed against Samaria, Micah must have
  begun his work before 722, when the capital of
  the northern kingdom fell. Jer. 2618
  corroborates that he prophesied in the time of
  Hezekiah. Malchow, The Rural Prophet Micah,
  The Bible Today, 48
• The Deuteronomic title to Micah puts him within
  much the same time span as Isaiah, that is, the
  second half of the eighth century B.C.E. . . .
  The book itself offers few clues to the date of
  the prophets activity. The title states that he
  spoke

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2. The Time of Micah

• against Samaria (Mic 1.1) and his prediction of
  the destruction of that city (1.5-7) must be
  earlier than 722 BCE. The lament over towns in
  the Lachish area (1.8-16) assumes the reality or
  prospect of military conquest. It is generally
  referred to Sennacheribs campaign in 701, during
  which . . . Isaiah played a leading role in
  Jerusalem. This, however, is not the only
  possibility. One could think, for example, of
  Sargon IIs campaign against the Philistine
  cities in 712 BCE, during which Isaiah walked
  naked through Jerusalem (cf. Mic 1.8). Gath, the
  first town in Micahs list, about six miles as
  the crow flies from Moresheth-gath, was occupied
  by the Assyrians during the campaign (ANET, 286),
  which must have made a deep impression in
  Jerusalem and the Judean countryside.

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2. The Time of Micah

• In addition sayings against Judah in chaps. 1-3
  would fit quiet well the first decade of
  Hezekiahs reign, though some of them may date
  from the reign of Ahaz or even earlier.
  Blenkinsopp, A History of Prophecy in Israel,
  119-120

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3. Historical Setting

• 1. Local Setting
• 1.1 Micah rails against his listeners for their
  apostate life style. The transgressions of the
  people involved two primary aspects perversion
  of the worship practices (17 35-7,11 512-14)
  and injustice toward others (21-2,8-9
  32-3,9-11 72-6). Smith, WBC Micah-Malachi,
  5 Note also Micah 610-11 and Amos 85-6.
• 1.2 Micah lived during a tense time. Prior to
  the reign of Ahaz over Judah, Micahs homeland
  had prospered, but the wealth had been
  concentrated in the hands of a few. Particularly
  the poor farmers were often oppressed and
  unjustly treated. Malchow, 48

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3. Historical Setting

• 2. International Setting
• 2.1 During the reign of Ahaz (735-715),
  conditions worsened in Judah. Ahaz became an ally
  of Tiglath-pileser, the Assyrian emperor, at the
  price of an enormous tribute. Tiglath-pileser
  conquered Syria in 732, and his successors
  destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 722.
  Judah felt insecure knowing that she might be the
  next victim. In addition, idolatry became
  widespread in the country and economic problems
  were increasing. Judahs next king, Hezekiah, was
  one of its best rulers, He carried on a gradual
  reform of the nation, combating the idolatry
  which Ahaz had encouraged, including the worship
  of the Assyrian

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3. Historical Setting

• gods. In the eyes of the Assyrians, repudiation
  of their gods was political revolt - precisely
  what Hezekiah intended. The Assyrians could not
  let this revolt go unrequited. In 701 and
  possibly again in 688, Sennacherib attacked
  Judah. On one of these occasions, the Assyrian
  army was stopped miraculously, possibly by an
  epidemic, and it returned home. Malchow, 48
• 2.2 The list of cities in 110-16 indicates the
  march of Sennacherib. As king of Assyria (705-681
  BC) Sennacherib was challenged in 703 BC by a
  coalition of tribes led by Merodach-Baladan. When
  his rival took Babylon, he sought support by
  sending messengers to other countries - among
  them Israel. While Sennacherib focused his efforts

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3. Historical Setting

• on regaining Babylon, Hezekiah seized the
  Assyrian envoy and joined Tyre and Sidon in
  withholding tribute. After a successful campaign
  in the East, Sennacherib turned to the other end
  of his empire and defeated the armies of Egypt
  and the Philistines. Finally from the defeated
  city of Lachish he demanded surrender and tribute
  from Hezekiah. According to Sennacheribs records
  he defeated forty-six Israelite cities and laid
  siege to Jerusalem. This siege is recorded in 2
  Kgs 18. The march from Lachish to Jerusalem is
  depicted in Mic 1. Smith, WBC Micah-Malachi,
  5-6

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• 1. Name
• Mikayahu Who is like Yahweh For Micah God
  was incomparable. In 718 there is probably a
  play on his name who is a God like thee?
  Smith, 4 It should be noted that Micah was a
  common name in Israel, the OT cites at least 9.
• 2. HOMETOWN Moresheth-Gath
• 2.1 His hometown, designated Moresheth-Gath in
  1.14 because of its location within the area of
  Gath, has been identified with present-day Tell
  el-Judeideh, about twenty-five miles southwest of
  Jerusalem, about twenty miles west of the
  Mediterranean coast, and approximately twelve
  miles northeast of the ancient city of Lachish.
  It is

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• situated about one thousand feet above sea
  level, over-looking the coastal highway in the
  plain, over which countless armies and commercial
  caravans had traversed the distance between Egypt
  and Mesopotamia. Bullock, An Introduction to
  the Old Testament Prophetic Books, 104
• 2.2 We therefore at least know that he was a
  provincial, and this information may help to
  explain his sharp criticism of the capital (1.5,
  9 3.9-12). Micah is a fierce defender of the
  rights of the small farmers whose ancestors had
  been working the same plot of land, distributed
  and guaranteed by ancient custom (2.5), for
  centuries. Blenkinsopp, ibid., 121

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• 3. Reconstructing Micah's Ministry
• 3.1 Jeremiah 26 esp. vv17-19
• Hans W. Wolff proposes the interesting
  hypothesis that the elders appeal to Micah in
  Jeremiah 26 suggests that Micah himself belonged
  to that group called the elders of the land.
  That would have involved the prophet in visits to
  Jerusalem during the great festivals, perhaps at
  the direction of the king (1 Kgs 8.1 2 Kgs
  23.1). That, in Wolffs view, would explain many
  unusual features of the book, such as his virtual
  preoccupation with the inequities perpetrated by
  the heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of
  Israel. It would also explain the use of my
  people

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• (1.9 2.4, 8, 9 3.3, 5 6.3, 5), which he
  interprets to be the country population that
  Micah represented. Further, according to Wolffs
  view, Micah adopted the kind of wisdom cultivated
  by the elders who judged the people at the gate.
  Even though the hypothesis has certain features
  to commend it, Wolffs resulting criterion for
  judging the authenticity of disputed passages,
  that is, whether they can be explained as having
  originated with an elder in a Judean country town
  in the last third of the eighth century, subjects
  Micah to a critical hypotheses that is both
  tenuous and presumptive. Actually, our knowledge
  of speech and literary form in Judean country
  towns is minimal. Bullock, An Introduction to
  the Old Testament Prophetic Book, 104

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• 3.2 Place of Ministry
• It is very likely that he, like Isaiah his
  contemporary, prophesied in Jerusalem. Perhaps,
  as James Luther Mays suggests, the inference to
  be drawn from the name-type that included his
  place of origin (also Amos of Tekoa and Nahum
  the Elkoshite) is that he acquired the name away
  from home. Whereas Micah addressed the house of
  Jacob (2.7) and heads of Jacob and rulers of
  the house of Israel (3.1, 9), the evidence in
  4.1-2 seems to confirm his use of Jacob as an
  epithet for Judah. There he refers to the Temple
  as the

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• house of the God of Jacob Even though he
  prophesied the destruction of Samaria in 1.6-7,
  his concerns in the rest of the book do not focus
  on the Northern Kingdom but on Judah. Therefore,
  Jerusalem would be the logical place for him to
  carry on his prophetic career. In further support
  of that, Micah gave Jerusalem and the Temple a
  high profile in the book (1.2, 5 3.10-4.4 4.8,
  10, 13, 7.8-11). Moreover, he was well
  acquainted with the activities of her leaders,
  prophets, and priests (3.1-4, 5-7, 9-11).
  Bullock, An Introduction to the Old Testament
  Prophetic Books, 104

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• 3.3 Two Important Passages
• 18 Here Micah is shown responding to the message
  of destruction on Samaria and judgment on Judah
  by weeping and wailing, etc. Note the
  similarities with Jeremiah as the weeping prophet
  and Isaiah who had to go barefoot and naked for
  three years.
• 38 Micah had to stand against the professional
  prophets of the official Jerusalem cult. The cult
  prophets message are found in 26-7a,11
  35-7,11c. Micah claims authority from the Spirit
  of Yahweh in 38. One cannot attempt to speak a
  message of correction without this support
  against the status quo.

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• 3.4 Micah as an Independent landowner
• . . . he belonged to those known during the
  monarchy as the people of the land (rah ),
  that is, independent landowners outside the
  capital who, typical of this social stratum
  everywhere, were conservative, traditionalist,
  and suspicious of the civil and religious
  bureaucracy that controlled their lives. In the
  ninth century these people had played a leading
  role in the overthrow of the Baalist queen
  Athaliah and the subsequent accession of the
  Davidide Jehoash (2 Kgs 11.18-20). About a half
  century later it was again the people of the
  land who secured the accession of Uzziah after
  his predecessor had been assassinated in Lachish,
  whither he had no doubt fled in the hope

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• of finding protection and support (2 Kgs 14.21).
  And once again, in 640, they were to play a
  leading part in punishing the Jerusalemite
  assassins of Amon and putting the child Josiah on
  the throne (2 Kgs 21.24). It is noteworthy that
  it was the elders of the land who, a century
  later, were able to remember and quote a saying
  of Micah (Jer 26.17-19), a circumstance that may
  be significant for the transmission of his
  sayings in general. Blenkinsopp, ibid., 122
• The fact that, unlike other prophets, Micah does
  not attach the monarchy can be explained by the
  attachment of the rah to the dynasty, and it
  links up with the Deuteronomic ideal of a

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4. Micah, the Prophet

• constitutional monarchy (Deut 17.14-20).
  Blenkinsopp, ibid., 122
• 3.5 Micah as a Revitalization Movement (Hiller)
• 1. PROBLEM
• 1.1 Deprivation of the People 21-2 69-11,16
  310
• 1.2 Defective Authority 39-12
• 1.3 Result No trust even in ones neighbors
  (71-6)
• 2. SOLUTIONS
• 2.1 Removal of Foreign Elements 510-15
• 2.2 Troubled Times The birth-pains before
  Messiah 5 49-10.
• 2.3 Reversal of Social Classes 46,7a 25
  33,5 29 616.
• 2.4 Righteous and Peaceful Ruler 5
• 2.5 New Age 44, etc.

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5. Message of Micah

• 1. Overall Structure

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5. Message of Micah

• 2. Judgment
• The most prominent theme in Micah is judgment.
  Judgment is coming (12-4) and has come (77-20)
  . . . . Judgment in Micah is seen in the
  destruction of Samaria (16-7), in the coming of
  a an invader against Jerusalem (15), in the
  greedy land-grabbers loss of their land (23-5)
  and in their being abandoned by Yahweh (34), in
  shame for the false prophets (36-7), in the
  siege of Jerusalem and the humiliation of their
  king (39-12 51), in the cleansing of the land
  from idolatry and militarism (59-13, Eng.
  510-14), in the removal of the wicked, the
  violent, the liars and cheats (69-16), and in
  the judgment on the

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5. Message of Micah

• nations (12 413 54-5, Eng. 55-6,8-9,15).
  What causes Gods judgment? The book of Micah
  answers quickly, Sin brings judgment (15).
  Sin HT and rebellion PSH are used as word
  pairs in 15,13 38 67. Iniquity WN occurs
  in 718-19. Sin here takes many forms ranging
  from idolatry (17 51, Eng. 513) to murder
  (72). Abuse of judicial and political power
  leads to the oppression of the poor (21-2).
  Lying (612), stealing (611), and turning to the
  occult (511, Eng 512) are condemned. how does
  Gods judgment work? The basic principle by which
  judgment is meted out in the book of Micah is the
  law of retaliation. Judgment is related to the
  crime. Those who plan evil will find Yahweh
  planning evil against them (21-3). Those who
  snatch lands away from

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5. Message of Micah

• others will have their own lands and posterity
  taken away (24-5). those who turn a deaf ear to
  the cry of their helpless victims will find that
  God will not hear them when they cry (31-4). The
  reason for judgment is found in the nature of
  God. He is a God of anger and wrath against
  iniquity (514, Eng. 515). God cannot forget
  wickedness (610) nor acquit the guilty (611).
  He is a God who hides his face from disobedient
  people (34) and comes to judge them (12).
  Smith, 10

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5. Message of Micah

• 2. Promises
• The promise sections assume that Judah has been
  punished, as Micah predicted. Once the punishment
  is over, there is hope of good for the future.
  Judah will dwell in her own land with Mount Zion
  as the center of her life (41-2,7). She will be
  a victorious people, overcoming the enemies of
  the past and the countries attacking her in the
  future (410-13). She will be an extensive nation
  again, as she was in the golden days of King
  David (48 55). After all of her trials of war,
  she will be a country at peace (43 54). In
  that glorious time God will restore Judah as his
  covenant people and his law will again be central
  in his life (42). A king like David (the
  messiah) will come and be the shepherd of Gods
  people. Malchow, 50

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6. Structure

• 1. Use of Lawsuit 12-9 61-8
• 2. Judgment Salvation
• The book of Micah give every evidence of being
  arranged in a clear pattern of alternating
  sections of judgment and salvation. Thus, oracles
  of judgment occur in 1.2-2.11 followed by
  salvation in 2.12-13. The same pattern repeats
  itself twice more 3.1-12 followed by 4.1-5.4
  (EVV 5.5) 6.1-7.7 followed by 7.8-20. The
  occurrence of the lead word hear (wmv) in 1.2,
  3.1, and 6.1 tends to support this analysis (but
  cf. 3.9). The more usual division of the books
  into sections 1-3, 4-5 and 6-7 arises clearly
  from a historical critical evaluation of the
  history of the books composition - 2.11f. is
  eliminated as misplaced later interpolation - and
  does not do justice to the present shape of the
  book. Childs, Introduction to the OT as
  Scripture, 431

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6. Style

• The literary style of Micah has been
  characterized as rough and rugged. That, of
  course, is a judgment made in comparison to the
  style of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah. The specific
  observations include his abrupt transitions from
  threat to promise (2.1-11, 12, 13 3.9-12 4.1-5,
  etc.), from one subject to another (7l.1-7 and
  11-13), and sudden changes in grammatical person
  and gender (1.10 2.12 6.16 7.15-19). Yet
  judging from the use of paronomasia and
  alliterations in the Hebrew prophets, we are
  given the impression that a skillful use of those
  forms marked a good writer. In that case, Micah
  would be classified as adept in his literary
  style, for he used paronomasia cleverly (1.10-16)
  and used alliteration to a limited extent (1.16).
  Moreover, his imagery I

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6. Style

• impressively arresting and serves as a clear
  vehicle for his message (e.g., 1.3-4, 8 3.2-3
  4.13 7.1). So although his impetuous style would
  not be applauded by our literary standards, we
  should not depreciate the quality of his literary
  form by that kind of comparison. In fact, one can
  hardly evaluate his literary competence to be any
  less than Isaiahs, although in the case of
  Isaiah we have much more material upon which to
  make a judgment. Bullock, An Introduction to
  the Old Testament Prophetic Books, 108

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7. Content of Micah

• 1. The Heading (1.1)
• 2. Punishment for Samaria (1.2-7)
• 3. A Transitional Lament (1.8-9)
• 4. A Taunt or Lament over Judah (1.10-16)
• 5. Two Successive Doom-Speech (2.1-5 6-11)
• 6. The Divine Shepherd-King (2.12-13)
• 7. A Speech Against the Courts (3.1-4)
• 8. A Speech Against the Prophets (3.5-8)
• 9. A Climatic Speech about Zion (3.9-12)

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7. Content of Micah

• 10. The Coming Kingdom of God (4.1-5)
• 11. The Kingdom of the Gathered Exiles (4.6-7)
• 12. Zions Rule Restored (4.8)
• 13. Deliverance from Distress in Babylon (4.9-10)
• 14. The Threshing of the Enemies (4.11-13)
• 15. The Humiliation of the King (4.14)
• 16. The Return of the Great Ruler from Bethlehem
  (5.1-4)
• 17. Assyria Eliminated (5.4-5)

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7. Content of Micah

• 18. The Irresistible Might of Jacob (5.6-8)
• 19. The Purified Nation (5.9-14)
• 20. A Covenant Lawsuit (6.1-8)
• 21. The City as a Cheat (6.9-16)
• 22. A Disintegrated Society (7.1-7)
• 23. A Prophetic Liturgy (7.8-20)