8.0 Introduction Studies in Micah

1. 8.0 Introduction & Studies in Micah Studies in the Scroll of the Twelve

2. 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]

3. 2. The Time of Micah �Micah 1:1 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 1:5 is directed against Samaria, Micah must have begun his work before 722, when the capital of the northern kingdom fell. Jer. 26:18 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 prophet�s activity. The title states that he spoke

4. 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 Sennacherib�s 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 II�s campaign against the Philistine cities in 712 BCE, during which Isaiah walked naked through Jerusalem (cf. Mic 1.8). Gath, the first town in Micah�s 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.

5. 2. The Time of Micah In addition sayings against Judah in chaps. 1-3 would fit quiet well the first decade of Hezekiah�s reign, though some of them may date from the reign of Ahaz or even earlier.� [Blenkinsopp, A History of Prophecy in Israel, 119-120]

6. 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 (1:7; 3:5-7,11; 5:12-14) and injustice toward others (2:1-2,8-9; 3:2-3,9-11; 7:2-6).� [Smith, WBC: Micah-Malachi, 5] Note also Micah 6:10-11 and Amos 8:5-6. 1.2 �Micah lived during a tense time. Prior to the reign of Ahaz over Judah, Micah�s 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]

7. 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. Judah�s 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

8. 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 1:10-16 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

9. 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 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.� [Smith, WBC: Micah-Malachi, 5-6]

10. 4. Micah, the Prophet 1. Name: Mikayahu = �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?�� [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

11. 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]

12. 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 Wolff�s 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�

13. 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 Wolff�s 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, Wolff�s 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]

14. 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

15. 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]

16. 4. Micah, the Prophet 3.3 Two Important Passages: 1:8 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. 3:8 Micah had to stand against the professional prophets of the official Jerusalem cult. The cult prophets� message are found in: 2:6-7a,11; 3:5-7,11c. Micah claims authority from the Spirit of Yahweh in 3:8. One cannot attempt to speak a message of correction without this support against the status quo.

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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: 2:1-2; 6:9-11,16; 3:10 1.2 Defective Authority: 3:9-12 1.3 Result: No trust even in one�s neighbors (7:1-6) 2. SOLUTIONS: 2.1 Removal of Foreign Elements: 5:10-15 2.2 Troubled Times: [The birth-pains before Messiah] 5; 4:9-10. 2.3 Reversal of Social Classes: 4:6,7a; 2:5; 3:3,5; 2:9; 6:16. 2.4 Righteous and Peaceful Ruler: 5 2.5 New Age: 4:4, etc.

20. 5. Message of Micah 1. Overall Structure:

21. 5. Message of Micah 2. Judgment: �The most prominent theme in Micah is judgment. Judgment is coming (1:2-4) and has come (7:7-20) . . . . Judgment in Micah is seen in the destruction of Samaria (1:6-7), in the coming of a an invader against Jerusalem (1:5), in the greedy land-grabbers� loss of their land (2:3-5) and in their being abandoned by Yahweh (3:4), in shame for the false prophets (3:6-7), in the siege of Jerusalem and the humiliation of their king (3:9-12; 5:1), in the cleansing of the land from idolatry and militarism (5:9-13, Eng. 5:10-14), in the removal of the wicked, the violent, the liars and cheats (6:9-16), and in the judgment on the

22. 5. Message of Micah nations (1:2; 4:13; 5:4-5, Eng. 5:5-6,8-9,15). What causes God�s judgment? The book of Micah answers quickly, �Sin brings judgment� (1:5). �Sin� HT� and �rebellion� PSH� are used as word pairs in 1:5,13; 3:8; 6:7. �Iniquity� �WN occurs in 7:18-19. Sin here takes many forms ranging from idolatry (1:7; 5:1, Eng. 5:13) to murder (7:2). Abuse of judicial and political power leads to the oppression of the poor (2:1-2). Lying (6:12), stealing (6:11), and turning to the occult (5:11, Eng 5:12) are condemned. how does God�s 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 (2:1-3). Those who snatch lands away from

23. 5. Message of Micah others will have their own lands ;and posterity taken away (2:4-5). those who turn a deaf ear to the cry of their helpless victims will find that God will not hear them when they cry (3:1-4). The reason for judgment is found in the nature of God. He is a God of anger and wrath against iniquity (5:14, Eng. 5:15). God cannot forget wickedness (6:10) nor acquit the guilty (6:11). He is a God who hides his face from disobedient people (3:4) and comes to judge them (1:2).� [Smith, 10]

24. 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 (4:1-2,7). She will be a victorious people, overcoming the enemies of the past and the countries attacking her in the future (4:10-13). She will be an extensive nation again, as she was in the golden days of King David (4:8; 5:5). After all of her trials of war, she will be a country at peace (4:3; 5:4). In that glorious time God will restore Judah as his covenant people and his law will again be central in his life (4:2). A king like David (the messiah) will come and be the shepherd of God�s people.� [Malchow, 50]

25. 6. Structure 1. Use of Lawsuit: 1:2-9; 6:1-8 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� (w[mv) 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 book�s 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]

26. 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

27. 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 Isaiah�s, 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]

28. 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)

29. 7. Content of Micah 10. The Coming Kingdom of God (4.1-5) 11. The Kingdom of the Gathered Exiles (4.6-7) 12. Zion�s 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)

30. 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)