Micah, An Introduction

Micah

An Introduction

 

The Prophet

The name “Micah” (1:1) is a shortened form of a name which is spelled in various ways in different passages in the Bible. For example, in 1 Kings 15:2, it is spelled Maacah; in 2 Chronicles 17:7, it is Micaiah; in Nehemiah 12:35 (KJV) it is Michaiah. In any spelling, the name “Who is like God (Yahweh)? It has the same meaning, but different etymology, as Michael: Who is Like God (El)? This Micah is identified as being “of Moresesheth and this town is further identified as “Moreshath Gath” (1:14) as it was a small town near the Philistine city of Gath. This designation is to distinguish our “minor prophet” from an older prophet with the same name: Micah ben Imla (1 Kings 22:7-9).

Micah was contemporary with many other prophets of the late Old Testament era. The list of kings in 1:1 dates him as contemporary with Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1-3)) who specifically references the ministry of Micah (Jeremiah 26:18) but before Ezekiel, whose ministry came after the fall of Judah (Ezekiel 1:1).

As recorded in the book of Micah, the message of the prophet cycles between punishment and salvation and between judgment and hope. The beginning passage (1:2-7) introduces the Sovereign Lord, the one who is worthy to judge, who brings a case against Israel and brings punishment upon them for their idolatry. This same God is also the one who is qualified to redeem us, and promises to come in deliverance, leading all those who will follow (2:12-13).

The second cycle does not deal directly with idolatry, but with those who pursue riches at the expense of others (6:9-14). The judgment of God is to deliver these people into their own idolatrous desires – desires that can never be satisfied because the riches of this world “leave hunger that won't pass away.” Pursuits of this world never lead to satisfaction, but only to hunger for more. As God alone is competent to bring judgment, it is God alone who gives us hope (7:7-9).

Plowshares and Pruning Hooks

The book of Micah contains three passages that are very familiar to us. The first is a passage of ultimate hope (4:2-3). There are similar passages in other settings (Isaiah 2:4, Joel 3:10). Of these passages, the one in Isaiah is most familiar to us, but the one in Micah is very similar. In all its settings, the peace that is presented is more than an absence of open hostility, but a peace in which the tools of war are no longer needed and, as Micah has it, the art of war is no longer taught. The picture is of a peace that the world has never known, and it is wonderful to imagine a generation who never learn the trade of war. But the peace presented here goes beyond even that thought. The tools of war are not left to rust, but are made into tools of basic prosperity.

In our own day we must consider what could be accomplished if we did not have the enormous burden of the cost of war. Not only would there be an end to the pain and suffering of war, which leaves its victims dead, disabled, destitute and orphaned, but there would be an enormous bounty with which we could finance the end of world hunger and the establishment of basic education and health care for everyone in the world.

We pray for peace and uppermost on our minds is our own safety; to a lesser degree we ask abstractly for the safety of others who are like us or known to us in some way; on very rare occasion we may pray for those we call our enemies. We despair of the day when we can once again feel secure. This is our idea of peace, but God's offers us so much more!

Bethlehem Ephrathah

In the second of the three familiar passages in Micah, the prophet foretells of the savior from Bethlehem Ephrathah (5:2). The term “Ephrathah” seems to identify some region which included the city of Bethlehem. The region may have been named after the second wife of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:19) or perhaps she was named after the region (1 Chronicles 2:50). It is sometimes used as though it were interchangeable with Bethlehem (Genesis 48:7).

It is Matthew who connects for use the prophecy of Micah with the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:1-6). This is the nature of prophecy. Micah's primary ministry was to the people of his time and applied to their problems and possibilities. What did this passage mean to them? How could this prophet foresee the Advent of Christ hundreds of years past his time? Are we open to the same voice that spoke to Micah, or do we believe that we know all we need to know about God? The Bible is a book like no other and is sufficient to our salvation, but can the God who is God be captured between the first chapter of Genesis and the final chapter of Revelation?

He Has Showed You, Oh Man

The final familiar passage (6:6-8) asks a question for every age: how can we even come before the Sovereign Lord? What does the presence of the Lord require of us? The speaker makes several suggestions, each of which is immediately inadequate. The first is the requirement of the law: a simple sacrifice of the fruit of his labor. From there, the speaker goes to extremes. If a simple sacrifice is good, then rivers of blood would be even better. Indeed, the pagan gods required even the firstborn child; would this great sacrifice be enough for God?

The answer that Micah gives is in harmony with with Hosea (Hosea 6:6). It is not ritual that the Lord requires, but surrender. We do not make sacrifice to save our lives, but sacrifice our lives to save our selves (Matthew 16:24-25).

Who Is like God?

In the end, Micah is true to his name, asking who is a God like our God?

Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.

(Micah 7:18 NIV)