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We have discussed the likely time frame for these prophecies in the introduction. Micah means “Who is like the Lord?”. Moresheth was south west of Jerusalem and north east of Lachish. Samaria and Jerusalem were the capitals of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom). Samaria was destroyed in 722 BC by the Assyrians, so the date of this part of the book is probably just before that event.
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While the message concerned Israel and Judah, Micah calls on all the earth to hear it. In the Bible God is seen very much as the Lord of all the earth, this is in stark contrast to most of the “gods” of other nations, who generally had strictly limited domains. The language used is that of a law court, with the Lord a witness against Israel and Judah. This is a feature that is common to all of the Bible. The Old Testament is the book of the Jews, yet it is fair to say that they do not come out of it well! It would be reasonable to sum up the Old Testament as the record of the sins of Israel and God’s judgement against them. Of course, there are numerous promises of blessing as well and many other things, but the point stands that if this was a man-made book, put together for Israel’s benefit it would not look anything like it does!
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