Micah - Introduction

Little is known about Micah, he was not one of the big city prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. He was from the town of Moresheth (Mic 1:1), a town in southern Judah. One of the most important things about Micah is that he is quoted in Jeremiah 26:18, so his words were clearly known to the Jews at the time around the fall of Jerusalem.

The text itself says that the words came to Micah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, and the reference in Jer 26 refers to Hezekiah. So there is a window from 750 to 686 in which Micah may have operated. He was around at the time of Isaiah and Hosea. Micah talked about the fall of Samaria which happened in 722-721 BC. The prophecies were probably given in the period 735-700 BC.

As well as foretelling the fall of Samaria, he also has severe words for Judah. The key events around the time of Micah were:

1. Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria led a military campaign in 734-732 BC which involved parts of Israel and Judah, among other countries. Judah paid tribute to Assyria, but Israel lost most of her territory.
2. In 722-731 BC Israel (the northern kingdom) fell to Assyria.
3. In 712 BC King Sargon II of Assyria captured Ashdod (Isaiah 20:1)
4. In 701 BC Judah rebelled against Assyria, much of the country was overrun, but Jerusalem was spared (see Isaiah 36-39).

While there is agreement on the broad date range for the writing of Micah, there is no consensus on the precise dates, and, of course, different parts may have been written at different times.

The book itself is divided into three sections.

1. 1:2-2:13 contains judgement and restoration of Israel and Judah.
2. Chapters 3-5 contains criticism of Judah’s leaders, but also future hope for the people.
3. Chapters 6 and 7 criticises the people, but also the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom.

Most of the text is given in poetic style, rather than prose, and there are some similarities with Isaiah.

Bibliography

Most of the above comes from NIV Zondervan study Bible and the Cultural Backgrounds study Bible, which will also inform some of what I write about in the comments on the text itself.