Bible Overview: Micah
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Author: Micah of Moresheth (1:1)
Author: Micah of Moresheth (1:1)
The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Name means “Who is like Yahweh?”
From the Southern Kingdom town of Moresheth, perhaps Moresheth-gath
His ministry overlapped with Isaiah and shares many themes and even phrases; also overlaps with Hosea (see Isaiah 1:1 and Hosea 1:1
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
He was mentioned by the later prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “ ‘Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’
Date: 735 B.C.
Date: 735 B.C.
His ministry spanned the reigns of 3 kings of Judah: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who together reigned from 750 B.C. – 687 B.C.
He was prophesying at the time when the northern kingdom fell to Assyria in 722 B.C. (see 1 Kings 17)
Audience: Northern kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem, and especially the leaders
Audience: Northern kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem, and especially the leaders
Purpose: to call for repentance and a return to righteous living before God.
Purpose: to call for repentance and a return to righteous living before God.
Themes: Judgment for sin; Future restoration under the Messiah; Right living before God; Hope for restoration because of God’s character and promises
Themes: Judgment for sin; Future restoration under the Messiah; Right living before God; Hope for restoration because of God’s character and promises
3 Sections all start with “Hear” or “Listen” or “Pay attention” (שִׁמְעוּ)
Wordplay in Micah 1 (from The Message):
Wordplay in Micah 1 (from The Message):
10 Don’t gossip about this in Telltown[Gath]. Don’t waste your tears. In Dustville [Beth-leaphrah], roll in the dust.
10 Don’t gossip about this in Telltown[Gath]. Don’t waste your tears. In Dustville [Beth-leaphrah], roll in the dust.
11 In Alarmtown [Shaphir], the alarmis sounded. The citizens of Exitburgh [Zaanan] will never get out alive. Lament, Last-Stand City [Beth-ezel]: There’s nothing in you left standing.
11 In Alarmtown [Shaphir], the alarmis sounded. The citizens of Exitburgh [Zaanan] will never get out alive. Lament, Last-Stand City [Beth-ezel]: There’s nothing in you left standing.
12 The villagers of Bittertown [Maroth] wait in vain for sweet peace. Harsh judgment has come from God and entered Peace City[Jerusalem].
12 The villagers of Bittertown [Maroth] wait in vain for sweet peace. Harsh judgment has come from God and entered Peace City[Jerusalem].
13 All you who live in Chariotville[Lachish], get in your chariots for flight. You led the daughter of Zion into trusting not God but chariots. Similar sins in Israel also got their start in you.
13 All you who live in Chariotville[Lachish], get in your chariots for flight. You led the daughter of Zion into trusting not God but chariots. Similar sins in Israel also got their start in you.
14 Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts to Good-byeville [Moresheth-gath]. Miragetown [Aczib] beckoned but disappointedIsrael’s kings.
14 Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts to Good-byeville [Moresheth-gath]. Miragetown [Aczib] beckoned but disappointedIsrael’s kings.
15 Inheritance City [Mareshah] has lost its inheritance. Glorytown [Adullam] has seen its last of glory.[1]
15 Inheritance City [Mareshah] has lost its inheritance. Glorytown [Adullam] has seen its last of glory.[1]
[1] Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language (Mic 1:10–15). NavPress.
Key Verses:
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?—
Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.
But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men;
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
Applications:
God wants his people to live in a right relationship with Him and others. We must do justly, love mercy [loyal love, lovingkindness], and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).
God wants his people to live in a right relationship with Him and others. We must do justly, love mercy [loyal love, lovingkindness], and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
There is always hope for those who trust God, because God is merciful and compassionate and he never changes; he always keeps his promises, so we can trust him.
There is always hope for those who trust God, because God is merciful and compassionate and he never changes; he always keeps his promises, so we can trust him.