Why Study Micah?

We live in an age where many voices contend for the allegiance of the masses. Ever-competing perspectives bang around the cosmos, contradicting and challenging the voices that came before them. We are constantly told how to think and live—it seems everyone has a vision of what it would look like if all was right in the world. One man's new morality is another's abomination. One man's moral majority is another's patience to let that majority die off. The "right side of history" for one is recency bias and chronological snobbery for another. The quest to legislate morality for one is a quest to harm humanity to another. People cannot agree to a shared vision for justice, equality, or the compassionate treatment of others. We cannot agree on a definition for love, hate, judgment, justice, tolerance, or a myriad of other hot-button words. People used to talk about making the world a better place. Now, we have no idea what that even means.

Against all these perspectives, the prophet Micah enters the scene. He also has a vision of the good life and a good world, and he spelled it out in three winding oracles that start with an invitation to "hear" what he is about to say (1:2, 3:1, 6:1).

His vision is of a beautiful life led and centered upon Yahweh, where all people flow to his mountain to hear his law and live subservient to it (4:1-4). This revival atmosphere will lead to times of unparalleled peace and prosperity because Yahweh will be king.
It is a world where God's people finally live in accord with God's righteousness—the perfect meld of worship and witness, religion and right-living—doing justice and loving kindness, all while walking humbly with God (6:8). This time of true love for God and neighbor will bring such purity and goodness, a direct contrast to the pollution and unrighteousness often found among God's people.
And it is a life with God as the great shepherd who uses his staff to guide his people, blessing the flock of his inheritance as they graze upon the produce of his righteous kingdom as he forgives and cleanses them once and for all (7:14-20).

With this grand vision in mind, Micah echoes forth an invitation to live congruently with the way things will one day be. For those who hold an overly cataclysmic vision for the future world, Micah comes along and forecasts the worldwide peace that Christ's rule will produce. For those who hold to an unfounded optimism about life today, Micah comes along and rebukes the unrighteousness in the land. For those who cannot fathom the necessity of God's judgment, Micah comes along and demonstrates what his discipline can produce. And for those who think the world is a despotic place overripe for judgment, Micah comes along and holds out hope for its future while calling for better living today.

In many ways, Micah, like the God he represents, is a paradox to the modern man. He thinks like we do, but he doesn't. He feels what we feel, but he doesn't. His thoughts and prayers and feelings and actions are all subservient to Yahweh, whom he loves.

But why should Christians look at the life and words of Micah when we can jump forward a couple of millimeters in our Bibles and look at the life and words of Jesus?

Because Micah is Jesus' word—he affirmed the Old Testament and clearly allowed Micah to inform the way he lived and the his convictions about the ultimate purposes of God's kingdom.
Because Micah looks forward to Jesus—you can know Jesus alright without Micah, but you can know Jesus much better with Micah, as his oracles bring out dimensions of Jesus that we need to understand.
Because Micah explains God to us. His name means "Who is like Yahweh?" His whole book answers that question—and shows us that Jesus is God in the flesh—and this alone is worth the price of admission.
Because Micah's vision of Jesus' future kingdom is so breathtaking and astounding that astute Christians of every tribe, nation, and tongue can find hope in his oracles.
Because Micah is echoed by Jesus' apostolic messengers. He is an Old Testament Epistle of James (exhorting us to live justly), Epistle of Ephesians (exhorting us to be as we truly are in Christ), and Gospel of Matthew (telling us about the coming of a great Shepherd-King who is meant to rule our lives).

The Background

It is this Shepherd-King that will inform the way we look at this book together—I think of the book of Micah as The Call of the Shepherd-King. Throughout his prophecies, we will encounter a figure who is both king and shepherd, who will lead God's remnant flock. Micah will describe him as "the breaker" who demolishes obstacles so his people can get to his desired destination (2:13). He is a ruler who will come from the ancient of days who will "shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord" (4:8, 5:2, 4). And he will shepherd his people with his staff since they are the flock of his inheritance (7:14). Taken together, Micah envisioned a divine Shepherd; he will also be King; he will call his people to repentance, justice, and revival while extending rich mercy, grace, and forgiveness toward them. Micah envisioned Jesus—the true Shepherd-King!

And today, in Micah's first oracle, we hear the Shepherd-King saying that he is ready to act. Let's read:

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you;

pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,

and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,

the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,

and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4 And the mountains will melt under him,

and the valleys will split open,

like wax before the fire,

like waters poured down a steep place.

(Micah 1:1–4)

In this opening salvo we get a superscription that describes the historical situation Micah was in. I don't want to press the details too much, but the backdrop is helpful to understand before entering into Micah's prophecies. The broad overview of Israel's history is that after the exodus, they eventually made it to the Promised Land. They were meant to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a light that illuminated Yahweh to the world. Once in the Promised Land, after a long period of moral decay, they installed kings to lead them. Their second king, David, received a promise that one of his descendants would sit on the throne forever—that descendent is Jesus!

After David's death, his son Solomon expanded the kingdom and built a glorious temple for Yahweh. But if anyone thought he would be the one to sit on the throne forever, they were disabused of that notion when Solomon turned towards the false gods of his massive harem of wives. After Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam was such a disaster that the northern ten tribes broke off and started their own kingdom. That northern kingdom became notorious for the idolatry that emanated from their capital city of Samaria—they literally worshipped golden calves up there (1). And the Southern Kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital, was eventually infected by the idolatry in the North (1). By the time Micah comes onto the scene, the southern kingdom is on kings #12, 13, and 14, listed here as Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (1).

Dating his prophecies with these kings helps the reader place the historical context. Before Micah's time, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms both experienced a long period of economic prosperity. It was a time of expansive wealth but also expansive spiritual and moral decay. During this time, the wealth gap widened—the rich became richer, and the poor became poorer. The middle class began to evaporate as those rich in power and possessions took advantage of the populace. A total lack of justice is evident throughout Micah's prophecies and is a mainstay of Yahweh's exhortations through this man. "Thou shalt not covet" was ignored by all those who had the authority to act out on their covetous impulses (Ex. 20:17, KJV).

So Micah went to the Northern and Southern Kingdoms with a message: God is ready to act. Your idolatry and covetousness have kept you from being God's special messengers to the world. You are in a covenant with him—one that includes discipline for gross misconduct and disobedience. God has been incredibly longsuffering. But now you have forced his hand. He must act.

The way God acted is pictured by Micah as a cataclysmic shaking of the earth—mountains melting, valleys split open. History tells us how this happened—the Assyrians eventually destroyed the Northern Kingdom, and the Babylonians, over a hundred years later, subjugated the Southern Kingdom. Micah's vision was of The LORD coming out of his place to tread upon the high places of the earth, but their boots-on-the-ground experience was war and captivity, which Micah understood as God's discipline on his people.

So God will act, but we should search the rest of Micah 1 for the answers to three questions. First, why did God act? Second, what did God feel? And third, what did God want?

Why Did God Act? (1:5-7)

5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

And what is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards,

and I will pour down her stones into the valley

and uncover her foundations.

7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste,

for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,

and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

(Micah 1:5–7)

Remember, Micah prophesied against both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. When the prophets talk about Jacob, Israel, or Samaria, they are referencing the North. When they talk about Judah or Jerusalem, they are alluding to the South. Here, Micah, speaking for God, tells them both that they are guilty of idolatry, syncretism, and adultery, which is why God acted.

Their idolatry is obvious in the text. Their capital cities were like high places people would visit to worship false gods (5). God promised to beat their carved images to pieces and lay waste to all their idols (7).

Their syncretism is less obvious but is still in the text. Later in Micah, we learn that many still made sacrifices to Yahweh in his temple, but they simultaneously had all these idols. They were attempting to fuse the worship of God with other religions and philosophies that were incompatible with him.

Their adultery is implied in the text. God said they gathered their wages and idols from the fee of a prostitute (7). In their day, Canaanite cults practiced various forms of temple prostitution. Fees paid to temple prostitutes were then given to a temple, which would produce more idols—and Micah rebukes them for this.

If a building has a good foundation but rot in the walls, it must be stripped down to the studs and then rebuilt on that good foundation. God's decision to act was not made hastily, but it is important to recognize that he is willing to strip things down to the studs when it is required. Remember, Israel was meant to be on a mission for God, but they were failing in that mission. God cares too much for the lost of this world to allow his people to persist in idolatry, syncretism, and spiritual adultery that would defame his good name, so in Micah's day he addressed the issue with his hand of judgment.

In the modern church, many do not react the way God did in Micah. Seeing rot in the church, some want to pretend it does not exist and move on, while others want to throw out even the good foundations the church is built upon. As an example of what I mean, consider the purity culture the church promulgated in the 90s. Some want to respond by pretending that the obsession with virginity, purity rings, and the desire to kiss dating goodbye, along with the accompanying shame, guilt, and confusion many felt as a result, was no big deal—no rot in these walls! On the other hand, others want to respond by overturning the biblical sexual ethic God's people have stood on for thousands of years—let's destroy the building! Neither approach is wise. Micah shows us a God who is willing to strip his people down to the studs but rebuild them on the same foundations he has already provided for them.[^1]

What Did God Feel? (1:8-9)

8 For this I will lament and wail;

I will go stripped and naked;

I will make lamentation like the jackals,

and mourning like the ostriches.

9 For her wound is incurable,

and it has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

(Micah 1:8–9)

This movement shows us what God felt. Micah describes his own reaction by saying he will lament and wail, stripping himself naked because of the incurable wound of his people (8-9). Just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem's rejection on his way to the cross, Micah mourns Israel's rejection of Yahweh (Matt. 23:37). He associated himself with wilderness animals because the cities of Samaria and Jerusalem were about to become like a desolate wilderness. And he especially wept because the sin of the Northern Kingdom had infected their neighbors to the south, reaching all the way to the supposed holy city of Jerusalem (9).

This is how Micah felt, but he is merely representing how Yahweh felt. The prophets did not merely respond to a stoic God who was absent of feeling. Instead, they connected with God's pathos—God shared his feelings and thoughts with his men.

Even in our passage, Micah and Yahweh seem to blend together. Who is mourning? Is it Micah? Yes. Is it God? Yes. The prophets were active participants in a dialogue with God. This active participation means that God revealed himself to his men, and they, under the inspiration of the Spirit, responded as friends of God would.[^2]

It is here we should ask ourselves if we want to feel as God does. Jesus said there is blessing found for those who mourn over what God does (Matt. 5:4). And, as Micah looked out and saw that Israel had turned into Panem of the Hunger Games, complete with the opulent capital city oppressing his district in the valley below, he tapped into God's heart and mourned all he saw—again, not in Assyria or Babylon (or Europe or America), but among his people. God told Amos that two cannot walk together unless they agree to meet (Amos 3:3). Micah had agreed with God and was willing to walk in his heartbroken shoes.

God was not seething with rage. He was not even lamenting like one would at a funeral. God was brokenhearted because his beloved bride, whom he had done so much for, had abandoned him. He was suffering because of the betrayal of his friend, the unfaithfulness of his bride, and the shattered promise of the people he had rescued.

Micah is repeating the concept of Hosea—that God's people were guilty of spiritual adultery. They had entered into a marriage covenant with Yahweh at Mt. Sinai and confirmed it at the end of Deuteronomy, but now they had broken their marriage vows. His people had drunk a poison that now coursed through their veins. They had a wound that was open, stinking, and beyond a cure. And, as God mourned, so did his man.

What Did God Want? (1:10-16)

10 Tell it not in Gath;

weep not at all;

in Beth-le-aphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

11 Pass on your way,

inhabitants of Shaphir,

in nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come out;

the lamentation of Beth-ezel

shall take away from you its standing place.

12 For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

because disaster has come down from the LORD

to the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,

inhabitants of Lachish;

it was the beginning of sin

to the daughter of Zion,

for in you were found

the transgressions of Israel.

14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing

to the kings of Israel.

15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,

for the children of your delight;

make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they shall go from you into exile.

(Micah 1:10–16)

With heavy Hebrew poetry, Micah listed out a dozen cities and villages that were located in the valley to the west of Jerusalem—all near Micah's hometown. They are located in a region that had experienced lots of war—enemies from the south and north, and the Mediterranean Sea in the west all had to pass through their valley to get to Jerusalem. And with much wordplay, Micah declared what God wanted for his people at that time.

What I mean by wordplay is that Micah took the meaning of each city name and spun it as a declaration of God's judgment. For instance, Beth-le-aphrah means "house of dust," so Micah told them to roll in the dust as a way to mourn their condition (10). Or Shaphir, which means "beautiful," and Micah told them their beauty would be exchanged for nakedness and shame (11). Zanaan means "going out," but they would no longer be allowed to go anywhere (12). The entire oracle is a fascinating piece of Hebrew poetry, which tells us a bit about how these prophets concocted their messages. Micah isn't at an open mic freestyle session but has carefully crafted Spirit-inspired verses—and now he is dropping lyrical bombs on the towns of that region.

However, experts in ancient Hebrew also tell us there is something frenetic and chaotic about this particular outburst. Though it is a brilliant piece of literature, Micah was able to retain a near-hysterical tone. It is turbulent, intense, and sorrowful. Micah is still weeping for God's people as he derides these towns. Why? Because exile is their destiny (16). One day, decades after the Assyrians destroyed the Northern Kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar will come to Jerusalem and carry God's people away into captivity.

So what does God want? There entire passage suggests that God wanted them to repent and recenter themselves upon him. One clue that this is the case is found in the middle of the oracle where Micah spent considerable time decrying Lachish (13). Lachish was a chariot city built by King Solomon and fortified over the years—this means it was a military outpost (1 Ki. 9:19, 10:26, 2 Ch. 11:9). And it appears that Israel had come to trust in their military might or, worse, the military might of other nations instead of God. The people often hoped in the armies Lachish housed or hoped Lachish could build alliances with neighboring armies that would protect them. But these were God's people. He had overthrown the pharaoh to make them his own. They should have trusted him to defend them forever.

So what did God want? Trust. He wanted them to recenter upon him—Stop trusting your own strength. Stop trusting idols. Stop hoping for help from elsewhere. Look to me. Walk with Me. The rest of Micah will talk to us about what that walk with God looks like, but God has begun to plead with them to turn to him in these opening verses.

Conclusion

At this point, you might wonder where the Shepherd-King is in all this doom and gloom. As I said earlier, Micah is divided up into three big oracles—Micah 1-2, 3-5, and 6-7. Each oracle reveals the Shepherd-King in some straightforward ways, but he is the least obvious in this first oracle. We will see him more clearly in our next study, but Jesus is still here in this first movement.

Even in this dark passage of doom, God declares shadows of hope. The first city mentioned is the Philistine city of Gath (10). It was a place David once said, "Declare it not in Gath!" after Saul and Jonathan died (2 Sam. 1:20). And now Micah repeats that refrain. The last place mentioned is Adullam—that's the place David found a cave to hide from King Saul (15). Both places depict the true king dealing with the reality of a terrible king. And since they frame our passage, God might have been giving a clue that all hope was not lost. Yes, Israel was led by bad kings. Yes, the glory of Israel would depart for a while. But like David, it would return one day (15). And return it did, it the form of the Son of God who is the express image of God.

And the church's Shepherd-King is calling to his people today, inviting us to live consistently with our new identity in him. He will do what he must to make our lives today consistent with our past salvation—salvation won for us at the cross of Christ. But he will also do what he must to make our lives consistent with our future salvation—he wants life today to be kingdom practice. If justice will roll in his forever kingdom, he wants to help us live justly today. If neighbor love will flow in his forever kingdom, he wants to help us love our neighbors today. If we run to his mountain to hear his word in his forever kingdom, he wants to help us orient ourselves around him and his word today.

Micah's eschatological hope should be our present-day vision for life. In other words, what Micah sees for tomorrow, we want to live today.

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge, Understanding, Facts)

How does Micah contrast the visions of a good world from other perspectives with his vision centered around Yahweh?
What specific actions does God say He will take against Samaria and Jerusalem for their transgressions, and why?
Micah uses the metaphor of a Shepherd-King to describe a figure leading God's remnant. How does this metaphor encapsulate the message Micah conveys about God's relationship with His people?

Heart (Feelings, Impressions, Desires)

Reflect on the emotions conveyed when Micah speaks of God's lamentation over His people's sins. How does this affect your understanding of God's character?
Micah identifies deeply with the suffering and future of his people. How does his empathy towards their situation challenge your own feelings towards communal sin and repentance?
The sermon portrays God as being deeply moved by His people's unfaithfulness. How does this depiction influence your feelings towards repentance and spiritual revival?

Hands (Actions, Commitments, Decisions, Beliefs)

What practical steps can you take to align your life more closely with the vision of justice, kindness, and humility that Micah presents?
Considering Micah's call for hope and trust in God despite impending judgment, how can you cultivate a hopeful and trusting attitude in your spiritual life?
Micah's message is a call to action and a reminder of God's readiness to forgive. What commitments can you make to promote justice and kindness in your community?

[^1]: This illustration was inspired by Trevin Wax's excellent podcast, Reconstructing Faith, which I recommend.

[^2]: Abraham Heschel, The Prophets

Bibliography

Boice, James Montgomery. The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002.

Dempster, Stephen G. Micah. Edited by J. Gordon McConville and Craig Bartholomew. The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017.

Martin, John A. “Micah.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.

McComiskey, Thomas E., and Tremper III Longman. “Micah.” In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Daniel–Malachi (Revised Edition), edited by David E. Garland, Vol. 8. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.

Redmond, Eric, William Curtis, and Ken Fentress. Exalting Jesus in Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2016.

Smith, Gary V. Hosea, Amos, Micah. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001.

Waltke, Bruce K. A Commentary on Micah. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007.