Old Testament Survey
Micah
Rick Walker
1. Introduction to Micah.
A. Micah is the fourth eight century prophet.
1. Amos and Hosea were in the North.
2. Isaiah and Micah were in the South.
a. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah.
b. Prophesied against both the North and
South during the rise of the
Assyrian empire.
"Witness" of the fall of Samaria.
B. Why were there two prophets in the South at the same time prophesying
the same message - Isaiah and Micah.
1. Isaiah concentrates on life in the city of Jerusalem.
Reflected in the opening
verses (1:21): How the faithful city has
become a prostitute.
2. Micah prophesied in rural Judea, speaking to villages,
towns and border cities
of the Philistines. Micah reflects a
rural setting.
a. (2:2) They covet fields and seize
them, and houses and take them.
b. (2:4) We are utterly ruined; he takes
away the inheritance of my people and
removes it from me;
among our captors he divides our fields.
2. The Sins of Judah.
A. Social Sins: Micah cries out against the social sins of Judah as the rich
and
powerful oppress the poor (2:2,8,9; 3:1-4).
1. Micah has been dubbed the "prophet of the
poor."
2. He cries out against the aristocracy who oppress those
without power.
a. (3:1,2) Listen you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel. Should
you not know justice?
b. In Micah 3:9-11 the leaders of Jacob
are those who despise justice, distort
what is right, build
Zion with bloodshed and take bribes.
B. Religious Sins: Micah saw corruption among prophets, priests and people.
1. The prophets were corrupt (3:5-7).
2. The priests taught for money (3:11).
3. People looked for preachers who would pander to their
fleshly desires. They
wanted preachers who were corrupt.
(2:11): If a liar and deceiver comes and
says, I will prophesy for you plenty of
wine and beer, he would be just the
prophet for this people!
4. There were false prophets who led the people astray
(3:5).
5. There were idolators and diviners in the land (5:12,
13).
3. Judgment to Fall upon Israel and Judah.
A. Judgments to come.
1. Samaria will fall under the Assyrians. (1:6, 7)
Therefore I will make
Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for
planting vineyards. I will pour
her stones into the valley and lay bare
her foundations.
2. Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed. (3:12)
Therefore because of you
Zion will be plowed like a field.
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the
temple hill a mound overgrown with
thickets.
3. People of Judah will be taken captive to Babylon and
later restored (4:10).
B. Micah's prophecy of judgment against Judah took place a century and a half
before
the coming of Nebuchadnezzar.
1. Just before the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was about to
be put to death for
prophesying the fall of the city to the
Babylonians (Jer. 26:7, 8).
2. The people came to the priests and said that Jeremiah
should not be put to death
for this prophecy because Micah, more
than a hundred years earlier, had
prophesied the same thing (Jer. 26:17,
18). Jeremiah's life was spared.
3. Micah is the only prophet quoted by name by another
prophet.
4. Message of Hope. Like the other prophets, Micah does not speak of judgment
without holding out the promise of restoration on the other side.
A. Restoration means restoration to the land.
1. (4:10) It is in Babylon that they will be rescued from
their enemies.
2. (7:11) The day for rebuilding the walls and extending
their boundaries will
come.
B. But, restoration is also spiritual.
1. Micah speaks of the coming Messiah. In 5:2 he says that
the coming Messiah would
be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah.
2. In Luke 2:3-6 when Herod asked where the Messiah was to
be born, he was told
Bethlehem Ephrathah according to Micah
5:2.
3. The Lord would establish his kingdom in Micah 4:1-5).
5. Special consideration of Micah 6:8.
A. This is often taken as a comprehensive statement of man's duty before God.
1. I.e., God requires that man to act justly, love mercy
and walk humbly
before God.
2. If such an interpretation is correct, it demeans the
place of ritual.
B. However, when read against the context of Micah's day, in which there
was plenty of ritual, but no morality, the verse reads
quite differently.
1. It is not that this is all God demands out of men, but
it is what was
lacking in the lives of men in Micah's
day.
2. The context of Micah 6:6, 7 supports this
interpretation.
3. Deut. 10:12, 13 has the same type of language, but also
requires that
men keep all the commandments of God.
4. Cp. the sin of Saul (1 Sam. 15:22).