Introduction

The Place in the Canon

The book of Micah is sixth in order in the Book of the Twelve in the Hebrew canon but third in the list of the Minor Prophets in the LXX, which places Micah immediately after Hosea and Amos, two of his older contemporaries.

The Prophet

Micah's name was a rather common one in ancient Israel. At least nine different individuals are called Micah or Micaiah in the OT: an Ephraimite in the time of the Judges (Judg 17–18); a descendant of Reuben (1 Chr 5:5); a grandson of Saul (1 Chr 8:34; 2 Sam 9:12); a Levite of the family of Aseph (1 Chr 9:15); a Kohathite (1 Chr 23:20); a messenger ofjosiah (2 Chr 34:20); a prophet in the time of Ahab (1 Kgs 22:8); a Levite who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh 10:11); and our prophet, who is mentioned by name in only two places in the Scriptures (Mic 1:1; Jer 26:18). Micah means "Who is like Yahweh." For Micah God was incomparable. In 7:18 there is probably a play on his name "who is a God like thee?"

The name is appropriate for a book like this because Yahweh is exalted in it. From the opening lines which announce Yahweh's coming, to the closing assertions about God's faithfulness to his covenant promise Yahweh is recognized as sovereign. He is no local or national deity here, but God of the whole world and all nations. He is a God of justice, judgment, and grace.

Some OT prophets are identified by their occupation or by their father's name. Neither Micah's occupation nor his father's name is given. He is not even called a prophet in his book. We know the name of the father of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Zephaniah, and Zechariah, but Micah's father's name is not mentioned, perhaps because his family was not prominent. Micah, like Nahum the Elkoshite and Amos from Tekoa, was known from his hometown. When a person becomes known by his place of origin two factors are usually involved: (1) the person no longer lives in his place of origin. If he did there would be nothing to distinguish him from his fellows. Micah's small town origin probably stood out because he lived and worked in Jerusalem; and (2) although Micah lived and worked in Jerusalem he was actually a citizen of the small town, Moresheth, and still identified with the people there.

The Time of Micah

The superscription suggests the time of the ministry of Micah as being during the reigns of Jotham (742–735 B.C.), Ahaz (735–715 B.C.) and Hezekiah (715–687 B.C.). These figures allow a maximum period of fifty-five years for Micah's ministry, but it is not likely that he was active as a prophet during all of that time. The references to Samaria (1:1, 6), to idols (1:7; 5:12–13, Eng. 5:13–14) and to Omri and Ahab (6:16) have led some to argue that Micah's ministry began during the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C. Other scholars have denied these references to Micah, arguing that they are the work of a later redactor. Lescow even assigns the references to Samaria to the conflict which brought about the Samaritan schism in the fourth century b.c. The evidence, however, is not strong enough to deny that Micah preached before the fall of Samaria.

There is a strong similarity between Mic 6:10–11 and Amos 8:5–6. Each accuses their wealthy listeners of cheating the poor by using false weights, small measures, and rigged scales. Such similarity would support a pre–722 B.C. date for part of Micah's ministry.

Perhaps the earliest identifiable historical reference in the book of Micah is in 1:10–16. This pericope probably describes the march of Sennacherib from Lachish to Jerusalem in 701 B.C. If this section is the work of Micah we have evidence that he prophesied at least to the end of the eighth century B.C. Jer 26:18 tells us that Micah predicted the fall of Jerusalem (3:12) during the reign of Hezekiah (715–687 B.C.)

Historical Setting

Cultural Background. Micah rails against his listeners for their apostate life style. The transgressions of the people involved two primary aspects: perversion of the worship practices (1:7; 3:5–7, 11; 5:11–13, Eng. 5:12–14) and injustice toward others (2:1–2, 8–9; 3:2–3, 9–11; 7:2–6). The former iniquity is a common complaint of the prophets, who rebuked religious leaders for earning their wealth at the expense of pure religious practice. Professional prophets and priests of local shrines behaved more like merchants than servants of God. Furthermore, the widespread practice of worshiping domestic idols revealed blatant spiritual decay. Nude goddesses with ornate hair designs have been found in Palestine archeological sites dating from 2000 to 700 B.C. This lends credence to Micah's complaint about the proliferation of Canaanite worship practices (G. Cornfeld, Archaeology of the Bible: Book by Book [New York: Harper and Row, 1976] 185).

The sin of abusing one's fellow man was a target of Micah's rebuke as well. As Israel's society shifted to a merchant economy and the use of money replaced barter as the basis for transactions, the separation between rich and poor broadened. Unethical merchants were able to increase their profits by using a light weight to balance the amount of a product they sold and a heavy weight to balance the gold they charged for the product. The laws of the jubilee year and the provisions for the helpless—the poor, the widow, the orphan, the sojourner—were all but forgotten. Because no effective system of justice was enforced, the strong were able to oppress the weak.

International Situation. The list of cities in 1:10-16 indicates the march of Sennacherib. As king of Assyria (705–681 B.C.) Sennacherib was challenged in 703 B.C. by a coalition of tribes led by Merodach-baladan. When this rival took Babylon, he sought support by sending messengers to other countries—among them Israel. While Sennacherib focused his efforts 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 Sennacherib's 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 (C. F. Pfeiffer, The Biblical World [Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1966] 516–17).

The Book—Authorship

Until the middle of the nineteenth century very little critical work was done on the book of Micah. Ewald was the first to raise serious questions about the authorship of Micah. He first argued that chaps. 4–5 were written by another prophet contemporary with Micah because of a difference in...