- Historical Situation
- Israel and its capital Samaria were not far from being destroyed by
Assyria
- In Judah, things were going better but Judah would soon be a slave
state of Assyria
- Micah the Man
- Background
- From Moresheth, a small village in the foothills of Judah
- His rural background gave him two different perspectives that Isaiah
in Jerusalem did not have
- Micah knew and loved farmers and shepherds and considered these poor,
humble people to be the backbone of the nation
- Micah observed national affairs from a first-hand perspective - his
village was on the typical route taken by foreign invaders so he knew the threat posed by
Assyria
- Relationship to other prophets
- Isaiah
- Micah was a younger contemporary of Isaiah (Mic. 1:1, cf. Isa. 1:1) -
some speculate he might have heard Isaiah preach
- There are a number of parallels between Micah and Isaiah
- 2:1-2 is similar to Isa. 5:8-12
- 4:1-3 is almost precisely the same as Isa. 2:2-4
- The question as to who came first, Isaiah or Micah, can probably
never be answered - some suspect the same group was responsible for the final editing of
both books
- Amos
- Micah's hometown was not far from Amos' hometown
- Might be that Micah was influenced by Amos' earlier cry for justice
- Message of Micah
- Nature of people's sin
- Basic sin of the people was they had forgotten God, how He acted, and
how He wanted His people to act - this situation angered and disappointed God (6:4-5)
- Some specific sins
- Rich sought to get more at the expense of the poor and powerless
(2:1-2,8-9)
- Courts perverted justice and delighted in destroying the powerless
(3:1-3)
- Money ruled the day - bribes took the place of justice and truth,
even God's truth since prophets were being bought (3:11)
- Capitals of both Israel and Judah and what occurred within them were
representative of the sin of both nations
- God required justice, steadfast love, and walking humbly with Him
(6:8) - those words were a good summary of the messages of the other 8th
century prophets Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah respectively - acting "religious" was
not as important (6:6-7)
- Words about prophets
- People's opinions
- People did not want a prophet who nagged about God's coming judgment
(2:6)
- People preferred a prophet who could be bought and would preach about
trifles and good times (2:11, 3:5)
- Micah said he was not what the people wanted but he was what God had
sent (3:8)
- Judgment
- Punishment would be severe (6:13-16)
- Rulers would be judged (3:4,12) as would the prophets (3:6-7)
- Trust would disappear between neighbors, friends, and family members
(7:5-6) - such would be a tragic time
- Samaria (1:6-7) and Jerusalem (3:12) would be destroyed
- From Micah's description (1:3-4), one wonders how anyone could
survive the coming judgment from God
- Salvation
- God is different from mankind and would turn again to His people
(7:18-20)
- An era of peace and worship of God would begin for the world (4:1-8)
- Jerusalem would become the place of worship
- War would no longer be necessary because God would decide all
disputes
- God would gather those who had suffered judgment back to Himself
- One from Bethlehem Ephrathah (5:2)
- One would come from David's birthplace to rule over Israel - this
does not have to be someone from David's line but that is probably intended especially
since this one's origin is from of old (the days of David?)
- This one will be a ruler in Israel - the word "ruler" in
Hebrew is different from the word usually translated "king" - according to
Hebrew thought, there could be only one king in Israel and that was God - a ruler,
however, could be God's representative on the earth
- The surprise is that out of a small, insignificant place God planned
to bring a significant person - the expected place for the birth of such a ruler would be
Jerusalem, the royal city
- The New Testament writers interpreted this passage to refer to the
birth of Jesus (Matt. 2:6, cf. John 7:40-43)