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THE BOOK OF MICAH
Lesson 1, Introduction and Chapter 1

The Prophet Micah lived, prophesied, and wrote in the 8
th
century B.C. That
century was one of much prophetic activity. It was the century of Amos,
Hosea, Isaiah, and Jonah, with Micah living in final third of the 8
th
, and at the
very beginning of the 7
th
century. He must be among the least studied
prophets in the Church era except that part of his book which was, 1000 years
ago, designated as chapter 4 that has become of great interest in the past
half-century as Christendom awakens to the coming reality of the End Times
and Armageddon. Yet, he was much read and taken seriously by the kings of
Judah and Ephraim/Israel in his day, and was revered enough that the later
Prophet Jeremiah even quoted him.

In that era, the united Israel of David and Solomon had long ago disappeared
to be replaced by two separate kingdoms… one called Judah, and the other
called Ephraim or Ephraim/Israel. These kingdoms, though recognizing their
common heritage, were so separate that they warred with each other off and
on, and were generally thought of by their neighbors as unassociated
countries. Due to the direction and influence of Jeroboam, the first king of
Ephraim/Israel upon united Israel’s dissolution, the ancient Hebrew faith of the
Patriarchs that each country practiced had strongly diverged. The Jerusalem
centered faith of the Torah remained only for Judah. Ephraim/Israel had
established its own Temple and priesthood based in the city of Samaria. King
Jeroboam eventually went so far as to essentially prohibit the people of
Ephraim to travel to the Jerusalem Temple for holy observances. He even
erected a Golden Calf as a representation of Yehoveh, and much worship was
directed towards it.

The name Micah means “who is like Yehoveh”. He gets confused with another
prophet of a similar name: Micaiah Ben Imlah. Where an extended name for
our prophet is used, it is Micah of Moresheth or Micah of Moresheth-Gath
(because there was more than one town called Moresheth). His home town
was located around 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem, in a region called the
Shephelah… the coastal plain. We read of Micaiah Ben Imlah in the Book of 1
st

Kings, as a prophet who prophesied about a century prior to our Micah, and

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was a prophet to the Kingdom of Ephraim-Israel. There are a few similarities
between the two prophets, but the differences in writing and style are so
significant that is too much to entertain the idea that these were the same
person, even though some scholars still maintain that they are one in the
same.

Micah was a Judean. Although he had much to say about the northern
kingdom of Ephraim (for the sake of brevity most times I’ll refer to the
northern kingdom of Ephraim/Israel as just Ephraim). The Kings of Judah that
he served under were Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Quite a number of short-
lived kings ruled over Ephraim during this same time…each king murdered by
the succeeding one. This, of course, led to massive instability of Ephraim,
making it ripe for being overtaken by the unquestioned regional power of that
era: Assyria. When Micah speaks about Ephraim, it is mostly about its coming
destruction and the fall of its capital city, Samaria, which finally occurred
during the years of 723 – 721 B.C. So, Micah (like Isaiah) lived during the
time of world-shaking events that largely followed the flow of the growing
imperial ambitions of the Assyrian kings.

Without getting too specific, we can rightly say that the Middle East saw the
close of one era, and the beginning of a new, upon the death of King Uzziah of
Judah in 740 B.C. What leads up to, during, and immediately following such
great transitions and changes in geopolitics and world order are messy and
chaotic. Much territory changed hands in the 8
th
century. Formerly sovereign
nations suddenly became vassal states of Assyria. Ammon, Moab, Edom,
Philistia, and then Ephraim were included. Judah paid much tribute to Assyria
to remain a little more independent for a time, but eventually they too became
totally dominated.

When empires like Assyria’s overtakes nations and regions, they bring with
them their culture, religion and religious institutions. This had much to do with
accelerating Ephraim’s already corrupted faith, and began to greatly affect
Judah’s (although not quite as significantly as Ephraim). It was the thorough
corruption of Ephraim’s faith and faith institutions that led to God directing
Assyria to conquer them as punishment, and to scatter the 10 tribes of

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Ephraim/Israel to the wind to the point that they eventually were given the
unofficial moniker of The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel.

I find it helpful to put such events as this into the historical context of what
was going on elsewhere in the world. During Micah’s era Greece was in a
period of transformation, exiting their dark ages. It was now when the Grecian
system of city-states began. That is, large cities became their own states with
their own kings. This polis system as it was called, became the main structure
of Greek government and expansion. They expanded by colonizing along the
Mediterranean and Black Seas. This was the same timeframe in which the
renowned Greek poet Homer wrote, and when the Olympic Games were first
established.

In that same century the city of Rome was founded by Romulus. In Northern
Africa, the Kingdom of Kush was on the rise and soon would dominate Egypt.
India was in a transition, led by its religious leadership, which would go on to
shape the philosophical foundations of Ancient India. The picture we need to
see is of a dynamic world, and most of it in a time of great transitions that
would forever alter its trajectory. What was going on with Judah, Ephraim, and
the Middle East was indicative and representative of the state of known world
of the 8
th
century B.C… not at all unique to it. It is no wonder that we find so
many biblical Prophets sent by God to His people to warn, correct, and direct
during that century. Although it might not appear so, even 2800 years ago the
world was connected enough that a rebellion in one place would give rise to
rebellion in another. Ideas spread rapidly, as did moods and aspirations.

The most complete Book of Micah text that we have in Hebrew is the Masoretic
Text. The oldest complete Bible among the several texts scribed by the
Masoretes is the Leningrad Codex from 1000 A.D. The oldest fragment of
Micah is from the Dead Sea Scrolls, from the 2
nd
century B.C, and what little
we do have of it matches very well with the Masoretic Text. So, we can
confidently assume that what we have today in the Bible versions that are
based on the Hebrew Masoretic texts (versus being based on the Greek
Septuagint) is authentically very close to the original. That said, there are
other copies of it in other languages. We have it in the Greek Septuagint in
what is called Old Greek. Also, the Aramaic Targum, the Syriac Peshitta, and

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the Latin Vulgate. There are variances within the Micah text among all these,
although not so serious as to invalidate any of them. Any time a translation
from the original language to a different language occurs, a very natural
redaction happens because every language is wed to the culture from which it
came. So, it can be difficult, at best, to sometimes bring across important
nuances of meaning from one language to the next. Many more times than I’m
comfortable with, educated guesses must be used.

Bible scholars and teachers usually prefer to divide Bible books into sections
that they see as forming the literary structure of any particular book. Then
they assign names to these sections. Nothing wrong with that as long as we
don’t adhere to it too rigidly, since these are manmade divisions created
mostly for the sake of establishing some logical systematic means of study.
I’m not sure one system is any better than another.

So, I’ll just sort-of outline the book as a way to approach it. Micah consists of
seven chapters, the contents of which are (generally) as follows: chapter 1:
The idolatry of Samaria and Jerusalem are denounced. The prophet laments
their coming fall and exhorts the people to mourning to prepare for what is
soon to happen. Chapter 2: Denunciation of oppression and worship corruption
along with a prediction of the punishment of God’s people on account of it. The
eventual restoration of Israel is also foretold. Chapter 3: The prophet rebukes
first the leaders for their cruelty, then the false prophets who lie for money as
the primary causes of all the evil that has overtaken the Israelites. He
continues to reprove the leaders for their oppression, which, he says, will
cause the ruin even of Jerusalem. Chapter 4: In poetical language Micah
speaks of the restoration of Jerusalem and of the returned glory of the house
of Yehoveh. A latter days victory of Israel over the nations is foretold. Chapter
5: A prediction that a powerful king of Judah will vanquish the gentile nations,
particularly Assyria and will destroy idolatry among God’s people. Chapter 6:
All Israel is reproved for its sins, particularly its injustice. For this injustice
punishment is prophesied. Chapter 7: The lack of righteous men and the
corruption of Israel are lamented; the prophet comforts Israel, promising that
it will, in the future, be restored to its land and will triumph over its enemies.

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For the sake of using simple labels as we go along in our study, I think
Andersen’s and Freedman’s way of dividing up Micah into but 3 sections is the
most helpful. They call chapters 1 through 3 The Book of Doom. Chapters 4
and 5, The Book of Visions. And chapters 6 and 7 The Book of Contention and
Conciliation.

Although the words aren’t that challenging on the surface, nonetheless Micah’s
style of writing has caused a wide scope of differences as how to understand
and translate large sections of it. It boils down to this: as opposed to Isaiah,
for example, who goes to great lengths to explain himself in quite complete
ways, Micah is the opposite. Micah is abrupt, rough, and speaks almost a kind-
of shorthand. Prepositions are often left out. Verb genders don’t always match
with their objects. Subjects suddenly change in mid-sentence. He employs
plays on words, some of which are only recently being discovered and better
understood. He switches quickly from symbolism, to simile, to literal narrative.
He mixes poetry with narrative, so (as happens regularly in Hebrew poetry)
hyperbole elevates the tension in his statements. Sometimes it is difficult to
tell if it is Micah speaking his own words, or if He is simply relating God’s
words. Although, I think literary and text critics make far too much of that
factor because as a prophet, the message given is always assumed to be God’s
whether or not it comes from the prophet’s own mind or from the word-for-
word oracle divinely given to him.

The other result of scholarly criticisms of the book is that they think many
words have been wrongly transmitted through copyist errors, editorial
redactions over the centuries, even words or phrases entirely omitted. So, this
group of commentators and academics prefers to virtually re-write sentences,
or to re-order them, to display what they think ought to appear. Some of this
comes from a rigid Western academic way of assuming that the Bible ought to
be structured the way they would have done it, or that the biblical writers
were all following some common intellectual grammatical protocol and so it
should be consistent among all the books. Then, if we don’t find it that way
what we’re seeing are errors in transmission or textual corruption. Naturally,
since the Bible was hand copied until the invention of the printing press a little
over 500 years ago, there would always be some minor errors introduced…
many of which aren’t terribly hard to identify. However, the level of change

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that some Bible scholars propose to Micah’s book isn’t warranted. Those
ancient literary protocols did not exist in reality in any formal form that has
ever been found, and besides, over the centuries, not only styles but the
nuanced meaning of words evolved. Bottom line: for the most part, I’m going
to leave Micah alone, and take it as we find it. Although, at times I might offer
an alternative to consider if I think it warrants it.

And finally, in the Hebrew Bible Micah is the 6
th
in the order of the 12 Minor
Prophets. Who these 12 are, and in what order they appear, seems to be
original and unchanged as no other prophets and no other order of their books
in the Hebrew language has ever been found. With that as a backdrop, let’s
open up Micah chapter 1.

READ MICAH CHAPTER 1 all

Verse 1 offers the all-important superscription. That is, verse 1 is not the
beginning of the body of the prophetic message. Rather, it is there to explain
who the author is, what the mood and tone of his work is going to be, usually
it includes a time reference, and an overall context is presented to help us
discern his intent. The serious matter of a Bible book’s superscription is nearly
always jumped over by Christian Bible commentators and pastors, assuming it
is self-explanatory and nothing more needs to be said. Thus, typically, verse 1
is read, but the commentary or sermon doesn’t begin until verse 2. Micah’s
superscription is this:

CJB
Micah 1:1 This is the word of Yehoveh that came to Mikhah the
Morashti during the days of Yotam, Achaz and Y'chizkiyah, kings of
Y'hudah, which he saw concerning Shomron and Yerushalayim:

I want to remind you all of something I’ve said in my teaching of other books,
but I think is significant enough to warrant the repetition. The whole of the
Torah, and by extension the entire Bible, has a superscription that is never
thought about as such. And because it isn’t recognized for what it is, it is just
thought of as the beginning of the body of the scripture. That particular
superscription is this:

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CJB
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth.

I hope you can see how when we understand this as what it is…. a
superscription… then we get away from arguing over old earth, young earth,
gap theories and the like. The context for the Book of Genesis, and for the
Torah, and for the Hebrew Bible, and for the New Testament is set by that
fundamental superscription. It tells us that there was a beginning. The
timeframe for what we’re going to hear about starts at that beginning. God
was there at the time of the beginning, and He is the one who created the
heavens and the earth. All that follows it… all 66 books… is based upon that
context supplied by that brief superscription, and therefore is the first, and the
most important and foundational pillar of the Bible. That is the power and
importance of a superscription, including the one we find that begins the Book
of Micah. We must never just glide right by those as we come across them.

Micah’s superscription commences by connecting Yehoveh with the Prophet
Micah. That is, no one else was involved or present to receive this divine
oracle. It was a personal and intimate interchange. That method of how
prophecy is given to prophets is the standard biblical pattern as we will not
find any prophecy from God that is given to 2 or more people; it is always only
to one person. The further claim contained within the superscription is that all
that follows is the “word of Yehoveh”. This is an important characterization in
that the reader is alerted to the fact that whatever he finds in this book, it is
the authentic word of God. The authenticity was especially important during
the 8
th
century B.C. because there were scores, if not a few hundred, of false
prophets running around all proclaiming messages of abundance and security.
Yet, do not misunderstand. The “word of God” doesn’t necessarily mean “the
words of God”. That is, it is not as though Micah was a courtroom reporter that
merely wrote down every word God spoke to him and then repeated them
verbatim in his book. Some words were, some weren’t. The parts that were
not Yehoveh’s direct words were, then, Micah’s words. But as Yehoveh’s
prophet, we are to take his words as being truthfully and accurately
representative of the message he received. Micah was acting as God’s
personally authorized agent.

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The importance of which prophet, exactly, is the authorized recipient of
Yehoveh’s word is highlighted because of the inclusion of the extended identity
of Micah as “the Morashite”. Micah was not a unique name in Israelite society;
many men were named Micah. Morashite means a resident of the town of
Moresheth, so the prophet is further identified by means of connecting him to
his hometown. We must also not overlook that Micah is a man… a male. None
of the 12 Minor Prophets are females.

Next he is identified as prophesying during the reigns of the Judean Kings
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This gives us the historical timeframe. Just as
earlier in our introduction I gave you a quick overview of the goings-on in the
Middle East and in other parts of the world during Micah’s day, so for the
Israelites by citing the kings that Micah served under, it delivered that same
kind of historical information to Micah’s readers for the next few hundred years
because the Jewish people knew the sorts of things that happened during the
reigns of the different kings (a lot of it recorded in other books of the Tanakh…
the Old Testament).

And finally, that the superscription reveals that the main subjects of this
prophecy would be Samaria and Jerusalem… the capitals of the two kingdoms.
That is, both the northern and southern kingdoms… all Israel… would be dealt
with… although separately. With that context now set, the main body of the
prophetic message begins in verse 2.

CJB
Micah 1:2 Listen, peoples, all of you! Pay attention, earth, and
everything in it! Yehoveh ELOHIM will witness against you, Adonai,
from his holy temple.

Verses 2 through 7 are a poetic opening to the book. Therefore, the emotion
that poetry is meant to evoke is every bit as important as the message it
brings. So, words to heighten the tension are used. The opening word in
Hebrew is shema. It is an emphatic word that means to listen or hear that
includes a response of action. To complete the poetic parallel, the Hebrew
word to open the next stanza is qashab, and it has a more literal meaning of
incline your ears. To listen carefully. Who are the peoples that are to hear
and respond? The Hebrew word used is ammim, and it is often parallel in

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meaning to goyim, especially when used in poetry. Both terms mean nations.
So, this is God calling to all the nations and people groups on the planet to pay
attention to what He is saying since the judgment that He is going to
announce concerning Israel is going to be the cause of a planetary-wide
common experience of the greatest discomfort.

When he calls on the earth to pay attention, he means it as the planet itself…
this big ball of dirt and water that we all live upon. That is because this
physical planet is the common home to all these peoples and thus (again
poetically), it too cannot help but being involved and affected by what will
happen. That is, the planet’s geography and substance will be part of the
consequences of the coming judgment. This fact is alluded to in other books of
the Bible, but none so powerful as in Zechariah.

CJB
Zechariah 14:3-4
3
Then Yehoveh will go out and fight against
those nations, fighting as on a day of battle.
4
On that day his feet will
stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies to the east of Yerushalayim;
and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, to make
a huge valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and
half of it toward the south.

To say that God is going to witness against them means He is going to bring
accusations of wrong doing for everyone. The Hebrew phrase of le-ed means
“be witness”, but this is the technical language of a judicial trial. So, the
mental picture being formed is of God sitting in a court room to hold a hearing
and render a verdict. The place He will bring this witness from is His holy
Temple. Does this mean God’s heavenly holy temple? Or does it mean his
Temple in Jerusalem? Scholars typically choose one or the other as the correct
meaning (each making good points in their arguments); however, I think there
is an alternative.

When we study the Torah rather thoroughly, we come to realize that God’s
cosmic “temple” in heaven, the structure of Mt. Sinai into 3 distinct areas
where God came to give the Torah to Israel and establish an everlasting
covenant with them, and the design of the Temple in Jerusalem are the same,
even serving essentially the same purpose. God judges from his heavenly

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temple, He judged from Mt. Sinai, and He will judge from the place of His
presence on earth, the Temple in Jerusalem. So, the meaning of “holy temple”
in this verse is intentionally vague, and meant to be inclusive of them all.
Therefore, we need not be forced into distinguishing one from the other. We
should merely understand it as the place from which Yehoveh judges at
different times in varying circumstances.

Amidst all this in the 2
nd
verse, God is called by another title. The CJB says
“Adonai Elohim”. Other English versions say “Lord God”. None of these are
correct. Rather, it is literally “Adonai Yehoveh”… Lord Yehoveh. A title of
utmost respect that includes God’s personal name. What this means is that it
is the God named Yehoveh that is calling the earth and everyone on it to
judgment. It means that He alone is the universal god that has the authority
and power to do so. He has no territorial boundaries and no association with
“other gods”. He is sovereign over all people and all places. It is a declaration
of absolute monotheism, even if the Hebrews didn’t get that understanding
due to the beliefs among cultures that were ubiquitous in Bible times.

This is also bringing to us an image of God eventually coming to earth in a
theophany. In all His awesome power and majesty His arrival will not only
shatter peoples and nations, but the earth itself will convulse. And, as we’re
soon to find out, it all has to do with Israel. He is coming to chastise sin, as
well as to seek retribution on all those who have harmed His people. But, first,
the nations are to witness what happens to Israel… God’s set apart people…
who are being judged. Over and over in the Bible, Old and New Testaments,
the common theme threads through it from beginning to end: all will be
judged. But first, God’s own people will be judged. God’s people always mean
all those who claim, and reply upon, His covenants. So, Believers, that
includes us. Nearly all prophetic books that allude to this say it will happen at
some climactic End Time event. Verse 3 continues with this same thought.

CJB
Micah 1:3 For- look!- Yehoveh is coming out of his place, coming
down to tread on the high places of the land.

Again, the concept of theophany… an actual appearance of God on earth… is
being revealed. Therefore, the exclamatory term hinneh is the first word of

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the statement. Hinneh here means to behold, but it also adds the sense of
immediacy or (in this case) suddenness. When God’s arrival happens, it will be
least expected by anyone… Israel or the nations. Ezekiel brings this to light
and we should not be remiss to include what he says as further information
that provides a greater context for what we are reading here in Micah.

CJB
Ezekiel 38:1-12 The word of Yehoveh came to me:
2
"Human being,
turn your face toward Gog (of the land of Magog), chief prince of
Meshekh and Tuval; and prophesy against him.
3
Say that Adonai
Yehoveh says, 'I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshekh and
Tuval.
4
I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you
out with all your army, horses and horsemen, all completely equipped,
a great horde with breastplates and shields, all wielding swords.
5

Paras, Ethiopia and Put are with them, all with breastplates and
helmets;
6
Gomer with all its troops; the house of Togarmah in the far
reaches of the north, with all its troops- many peoples are with you.
7

Prepare yourself, get ready, you and all your crowd gathered around
you; and take charge of them.
8
After many days have passed, you will
be mustered for service; in later years you will invade the land which
has been brought back from the sword, gathered out of many peoples,
the mountains of Isra'el. They had been lying in ruins for a long time,
but now Isra'el has been extracted from the peoples and all of them
are living there securely.
9
You will come up like a storm, you will be
like a cloud covering the land- you and all your troops, and many other
peoples with you.'
10
"Adonai Yehoveh says: 'When that day comes,
thoughts will well up in your mind, and you will devise a sinister
scheme.
11
You will say, "I am going to invade this land of unwalled
villages; I will take by surprise these people who are at peace, living
securely, all in places without walls, bars or gates.
12
I will seize the
spoil and take the plunder." You will attack the former ruins that are
now inhabited and come against the people gathered from the nations,
who have acquired livestock and other wealth and are living in the
central parts of the land.

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Notice the unexpected nature and suddenness of what happens. This is why
we must not overlook the important emphasis that is revealed in the word
hinneh.

Since we have been previously told that God judges from His holy Temple,
then in verse 3 it means we are to picture Him coming down from His holy
heavenly Temple to earth (coming out of His place) in order to tread on the
high places of earth. Where are these high places? The CJB wording implies
the high places are in Israel. But, the Hebrew grammar used more indicates
the earth as a whole.

High places are words that mean the locations where various peoples and
leaders place their shrines, altars, and temples to worship their gods. We read
of Asherahs (fir trees) planted on high places as symbolic of the fertility
goddess. These high places could vary from natural hills, to merely piled up
earth to form a mound, or even to things such as engineering marvels like
Ziggurats of Nimrod’s era. In the modern era, while these still exist and are
used in some places, more usual are just opulent buildings, some with spires
and obelisks. So, this is just indicative of all of the special places of worship to
false gods.

When we hear of God treading on these high places, it comes from the Hebrew
darak. This is a term used largely in a military context. It means to trample
upon, to subjugate, to smash. It is violent, and it is intentional. It carries a
tone of incursion into enemy held territory. It is God coming in His wrath and
decimating those who are against Him.

CJB
Micah 1:4 Beneath him the mountains will melt, the valleys split
open like wax before fire, like water poured down a steep slope

The imagery of God’s arrival on earth continues with what happens to the
earth itself. The earth swoons and sways beneath His immense weight.
Yehoveh comes like a super-heated fire that melts mountains and causes their
molten rock to flow like wax. Can we not see that such an image comes from
volcanic eruptions and earthquakes? Continuing the poetic parallelism, the
simile changes from melting like wax to flowing like water. Even nature is

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terrified at God’s appearance. Mountains reducing to rubble, the opening of
vast fissures in the ground, fire spewing out of hilltops…this is the expected
response. What better way for people of any age to understand the unlimited,
awesome power of Yehoveh than what we’re reading here?

But then comes the cause of all that is happening. So, let’s play close
attention.

CJB
Micah 1:5 All this is because of the crime of Ya'akov and the sins
of the house of Isra'el. What is the crime of Ya'akov? Isn't it Shomron?
And what are the high places of Y'hudah? Aren't they Yerushalayim?

All of this judgment and wrath and eruptions of nature are because of the
crime of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. It is Yehoveh reacting to
this; that is the “why” of it all. As Peter said: “The time has come for judgment
to begin at the house of God”. The names Jacob (Ya’acov) and Israel as
synonymous terms. What this means is that where we read “the crime of
Jacob”, it is but the first part of a poetic parallelism, with the 2
nd
part being
“the sins of the house of Israel”. The crime is the sins they commit… the
offenses and transgressions against God’s Torah. The entire nation… both
kingdoms… were guilty and so both would feel His wrath.

To make this even clearer, the capital cities of the two kingdoms are named:
Samaria and Jerusalem. It is in the capital city Samaria, especially, where the
corruption is the greatest. Why name the capitals? Because they are
representative of their entire nation and because they are the center of
government, and of their perverse doctrines, religious leaders, and pagan
worship practices. It is little wonder that a most appropriate name for this first
part of the Book of Micah is the Book of Doom.

We’ll stop here for today and continue with this next time.