II

Micah of Moresheth

ffifffiff#,##;#fffiffiffi
A. The Book as
a Whole
 MrcAH oF MoREsHETH lZ3
what is right"'The
book's heading is once again
come ro recognize as of a type we have
feytergnomiclparticutart!
of Yahweh" and the dating i, ,".r.'lr.ertain tne ..word ex;;;,
Israerite kings).
From a, this the concrusion
tras uee, drawn that the Book
cah already included of Mi_
editors received it, T:st of .f,r. i_S, ., the point its Deuteronomic
and that they are th-e ones
& who appended chs. 6 and
&
Bi:
s: l":: [J;:rheopening purr"s.r-i;'i,i _a o:r_sirrat no* i"uo up
Mays (Micaftcommentary) thinks these
sponsible for adding the suppl#"nrury same editors were re-
F nor. to_the heading that speci_
fies that Micah's oracres naa
to ai *in'mn ind
E
(l:lb)' when in point o-f fact
Jerusarem samaia
1as *;ri'i" r""d
berow) they were more
Iikely direcred onrv to rudah-ierus"i"*
F after the northern lingdom shourd be daied to a time
&:
tr
m other reasons the one passage
*9 *"J;
"ra
iuft", 1in ,Zt). Forthese and
in the book that predicts the
of Samaria (r:5F-7) sirourglgrrii*r;r" destruction
gloss added to make be viewed as an editorial
tr sure that irr *uo..Jid
E' the sins of Jerusarem and not overrook the fact thar
&
the dir"r;;;r
befell the north a..ntr.r."rii".
;;ri*"
upon # were nor unrike
,'n:$:t (,r,", ,n^r",r,i, ,r,i" prir,
may summarize our analysis
tr lo*r,W" of the book to this point as
fol-
6
F "Listen, you peoples,, (l:2)
F

Section I Section 2
Section 3
The crimes and
The rcmnant of Israel
F punishment of Jacob (the Further reflections on
becomes.a ,.mighty
prophecy against Sarnaria. Israel's judgment and
nation" on Mount Zion
l:5b-7, may be from an (4:7) over many nations
vindication (7:lll7)
editor)
(4:I I-13)
Chapters I-3 Chaprers 4-5 Chapters 6-7

which texts in this rather diverse

corection come from Micah
Moresheth, rhe prophet ril;;;.ffiinu
oe artributed to his discipl"r (t:l), and which are to
of
o.
ing, the porrrait "Jiair;";.
dMlg;;;;;')iiurrshourd suggesrs that in answer-
be kept in mind.
#f U"ff:i'jl}::Micah*."i",,,"-i,u","auy"e,ai,,-oir.,t""orn-
prophesiedotn;;;";H,:i,i!::f
consistent' furthermore,
wittr Micahl,
#iffi,ffi?f if,:.$:illl:
o*n pronouncement
""t"gorical
 124 MEET TlrE pRopHETs

regarding himself and his mission, in Micah 3:g, where he stresses

that
his calling was "to accuse Jacob of his crime and Israel of
his sin.,,
This would point to the accusations and warnings in chs. l-3 as
-
the primary collection of Micah's oracles, and raise qu-estions
regarding
his authorship of the oracles of promise in the rernaining
These lafter, for the most part, are expectations of a kind
thlt "liupr".r.
we tnow
from other sources were in vogue among certain Israelite groups
in the
period after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylon"ians,
in 5g6
(see our discussion of Haggai and kchariah),
not the kind of hopes
Micah or his contemporaries wourd have had at a point where Jerusa-
lem-zion was still intact (note the actual reference to the Babylonian
caprivity in 4:10).
In our study of Micah we will concentrate therefore on chs.
l_3
only. The messages here (with the exceptionof r:2,5-7;2:r2-r3)
ue
remarkably coherent in sryre, content and historicar
background.

" B. The Man Behind the Book

However, before turning to these it wilr be worth our while,
once
lgain, to pause and reflect on what can be known about Micah himself.
From the few hints regarding him which the editors of his
book have
provided in its heading, together with a few impressions
derived from
other sources (incruding his own words), a remarkably
vivid picture of
Micah himself begins to take shape.

1. Name
It is of some significance perhaps that he was remembered
as Mi-
Moresheth being
(further to this
shortened form
of Micaiah (see I Kgs 22:9), meaning ''
iltgt ry!",
Yatr {or yah_wehl ?,,
2. Where He Lived
Mqr.$"th is probabry the "Moresheth-gath" mentioned in
, .,
l:14' a vilage some twenty-five miles southwest
Micah
of Jerusarem, on the
slopes leading down torhc coastar plain.
It is arsopo,,iut;;iii"n,,
referred to inz chronicles lr:g. This latter
was one of six cities of
that region which Rehoboam son of soromon
is said to have fortified
during- his reign (93r-gr3) to s@ure access
to Jerusalem from the
coastal road, and defend it against enemy
attack (see worff, Micah the
Prophet, p. zo). For this reason soldiers r-ro i"*rut"*
"rilii ,r"il
L-
 MICAH OF MORESHETH 125

have been stationed in his vicinity, and connections between the two
regions must have been close (see 2 Chronicles 11:l l-12).
While a Judean then, like his near contemporaries Amos and [sa-
iah, Micah's background was unique. His world was not that of the
sheep-herding bedouin, like Amos, nor was he a resident of Jerusalem,
like Isaiah. He lived rather in a heavily fortified region that Jerusalem
depended on for its security and well-being.

3. Occupation
We are nowhere told what occupational group Micah might have
belonged to, but Wolff has suggested that the fact that Jerusalem elders
remembered him a century later not as Micah Son of So-and-so (the
traditional way of naming), but as Micah of Moresheth (see Jer 26:17-
19) points to the possibility that he too may have been an elder, and of
that village in particular-perhaps even its chief elder (see Wolff's Mi-
cah the Prophet).
Such elders and their role in the affairs of the nation are allude.i to
in a numtrer of biblical passages: notably, Dt 19:12;21:14, 6, 19-20;
Ru 4:l-12; I Sam 30:26;1 Kgs 8:1;2 Kgs 23:l;2 Chr 19:5-8. One of
their chief duties was to see to it that justice was carried out in their
respective cities (2 Chr 19:l-11). It is therefore no accident, perhaps,
that this was what Micah was supremely concerned about as well.
It is possible then that, like Isaiatr, Micah may have played a prom-
inent role in the life of his village as a respected leader, counselor and
judge. As an elder of Moresheth, however, his would have been a mark-
edly different background. Theologically, Micah appears to be much
closer to Amos in his almost total disregard for those'sacral traditions
that were unique to Jenrsalem (those having to do with temple and king-
ship especially). From his point of view Yahweh does not dwell on
Mount Zion (as Isaiah believed he did; see Is 8:11), but in his cosmic
"home" above the earth. It is from there that he "comes dowh" to
tread "the heights of earth" and punish his people for their sins (see
Mi l:L5a). His prophecies are also devoid of any references to the dy-
nasry of David.

4. Prophetic Call
In3:5-7 Micah accuses the prophets of his time of being motivated
by greed and greed only in speaking or not speaking as they do. He then
concludes this accusation with one of the rare self-revelations of his
book. "Not so with me," he declares vigorously. That is not what mo-
tivated him in his prophetic mission. What motivated him, he asserts is
 126 MEET THE pRopHETS

that 'I am full of strength (full of yahweh's spirit) of the sense of right,
'
of energy to accuse Jacob of his crime and Israel of his sin.,,
This is his only ailusion to a prophetic commissioning or call.
And
yet on this basis alone we may conclude that he too, tike
the other
prophets we have studied, was summoned to his prophetic
mission by
a quite tangible life-transforming experience. In
hii case, however, this
took the form not of an audition or vision, but quite simply
of a sudden
tangible infusion of moral energy and courage. This alone
is what set
him apart from his felrow erders and joined him to the
ranks of the
prophets: the Yahweh-inspired impurse to remain
silent no longer, but
"full of strength . the sensi of right" to get up and speik what
9{
had to be said in this critical moment oflis peopl",,
hirto.y.
5. Historical Setting
What was this moment? The heading ofhis book (l:1)
alludes to
a prophetic career that spanned the reigns of three Judean
kings:
Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah, Jhis could be interpreted
to mean that he
was active as a prophet during some four decades,
from as early as 640
to as late as 700. The very brevity of his prophetic legacy
contradicts
this supposition.
germane to establishing a date for Micah's
mission is the
allusion in Jeremiah 26:lg- to tris-being active in
the ..o"yr-or u"r-
:kiuh,' only. suggestive arso is the viiid, emotionar aepiciion or an
invasion that will reach right down to the very ,,gate,,
of Jerusalem, in
Micah 1:8-16. The cities referred to here as about
to suffer humiliation
are precisery those that the Assyrian sennacherib
had to
did destroy) in his devastating invasion of Judatr "ooqro r*ro
in ioi tr"i'rrriou,
chapter). Both the breliry_and inrensity of
the book, ,og",hir*i,tr,h.r.
quite specific historical allusions, alr suggest
that Micaf,,s propt *"-
tivity may have been concentrated on thi, quite specifi" "ri"r.*-
elite history, fo,owing_the death of sargon tr i,
in 705,"ri.i,
when Judah
(under the leadership ofxing Hezckiatr)
itrougtrt i, *gil, a*
syrian control, but was ahoJt annihilated ".""p"
instead.
assumption (of the book,s editors) that
-The Micah was active as a
prophet earlier than thil (perhaps even
as earry as ae reigns of Jotham
and Ahaz) may have arisln u
"r "or,r"qrence of the addition to his book
:f prophecy
t" against samaria, in t:su-2. This rcquireJ,r,"r-in""r,
of as begrnr.ung his prophetic mission prior
in 9rlg!'
F to samaria's far,
721. But, as already noteo- (s"" the discussion
whole" a!ove), apart from L:sb-r,there is not
of ..the book as a
a singre additionar ref-
erence to samaria in the rest of the book (even
the nimeless .iry ,,ao-
 MICAH OF MORII5HETH I27

tioned in 6:l is in all Iikelihood Jerusalem, not sanxu,a). It seems

likely, therefore, that Micah's mission was confined to a relatively short
period, just prior to the Assyrian invasion of Judah in 701.
In our study of his messages in the chapter that follows we will
assume this to have been the case.

Questions for Review

1. characterize the Book of Micah in terms of its contents. what
features distinguish the opening three chapters from those that follow?
why is it thought that Micah's prophecies are all to be found in these
opening chapters? what indications are there of Deuteronomic editing?

2. why is Micah thought ro have been a leading elder of Moresh-

eth? If this were true, how might this distinguish him, so far as back-
ground influences are concerned, from Amos or Isaiah who were also
Judeans? what were city elders in that time primarily responsible for
doing?

3. what evidence is there of how Micah might have become a

prophet? what does this tell us regarding the kind of prophet
he might
have. been? During what specific crisis in Judean hirio.y was he pro-
phetically active?
 12

His Message and Its Relevance

As pointed out in the previous chapter, only the words in chs. l-

3 of Micah can be confidently attributed to the eighth century Micah of
Moresheth, and even here there may be a few supplements from the
hands of later readers and editors (such as r:l-2,5b--7 and possibly
2:12-13). What do we learn from the remaining oracles, laments, woes
and reports in this section regarding Micah's message for his contem-
poraries?

A. Message
l. Disaster Coming!
The basic theme of his prophetic mission is struck in the very first
oracle, l:!5a. In words reminiscent of the ancient hymn of Deboratr,
in Judges 5:15, Yahweh is here pormyed as coming down from his
holy place in the heavens to tread the heights of the earth. In this in-
stance, however, Yahweh's coming is not to rescue his people (as in
the days of Deborah), but to strike a "blow" that will reach right into
Judah, "on Jerusalem itself ' (l:9). '.This is why I shall howl and
wail," he laments, "why I shall go barefoot and naked, why I shall
howl like the jackals, why I shall shriek like the owls . ." (l,g;.
There follows a passionate outpouring of alliterative speech, in
l:1116, in which twelve cities are summoned to join him in a wailing
death-lament (1:16). AII lie in the vicinity of Micah's own city. This is
the region through which armies travered that are bent upon iapturing
Jerusalem (see our discussion of this point in the previoui ctraptlr). rn-
deed, it was precisely this corridor of fortified towns that the Assyrians
ravaged in their invasion of Judah, in 701 (as we learn from sennach-
erib's Annals). It is possible that this shrill cry of warning was written
on the very brink of this catastrophe.
what gives added force and poignancy to the words of this prophet
is his astonishing prediction that not even rerusalem will escape the

t19
 HIS MESSAGE AND TTS RELEVANCE I29

terrors now befalling his people. "For there is no cure for the wounds
that Yahweh inflicts: the blow falls on Judah, it falls on the gateway of
my people, on Jerusalem itself ' (1:9). what is only mysteriously al-
tuieO to here is made absolutely clear in the final oracle of his collec-
tion, in 3:9-12:

Zion will become Ploughland

Jerusalem a heap of rubble,
and the Temple Mount a wooded height.

How shocked his contemporaries were by this message can be

gauged by the fact that it was remembered verbatim by the elders of
jerusalem a century later (Jer 26:18-19). This is the fust time, so far
as we know, that an Israelite prophet unequivocally contradicted the
prevailing Jerusalem theology. Davidic kingship and sacred temple are
no guarantee against the impending Assyrian invasion, these words im-
ply. A century later another prophet (Ieremiah) will utter the same her-
esy, and almost lose his life as a result (see Jer 7:t-15; ch. 26). Even
Jerusalem will not escape the dreadful "wounds" which Yahweh is
now inflicting upon the whole of Judah.

2. Why?
Why is this tenible thing happening? "All this is because of the
crime of Jacob, the sin of the House of Israel" (1:5). Like Amos, Hosea
and Isaiah before him, Micah believes that this massive invasion is
Yahweh's response to certain flagrant crimes and sins. What these
were, mone specifically, is alluded to in the remaining oracles and re-
ports of chs. 2 and 3 . Three distirrct groups are being addressed in these
chapters (WolfPs suggestion):
o military officers, in 2:1-11;
j crU elders, n3:14,9-12;
o prophets, in 3:5-E.
Theform of these passages is reportorial. In them we are informed, at
points, not only of what Micah had to say, but of the reactions of his
audience (2:6-7), and of Micah's reactions to them (3:1, 8). As such
thry constitute an extraordinarily vivid, first-hand account of a prophet
at work.
Lrt us note briefly the nature of Micatr's encounter with each of
those groups.

i.
 130 MEET THE PRoPHETS

(a) Exploitative Military Officers (2:l-ll)

The people to whom Micah was speaking in 2:1-ll are excep-
tionally powerful, for it is said conceming them that what they plan to
do as they lie awake at night, their hands have the strength to execute
in the morning (2:l). They can also give orders that Micah be silenced
(2:6). Who might they have been?
It was noted above (and in the previous chapter) that Moresheth
was a fortified town within a cluster of fortified towns that made up the
first line ofdefense forJerusalem against invaders from the coast. For
this reason it is not unlikely that military troops from Jerusalem'(and
other regions of the country) would have been garrisoned there on a
relatively permanent basis. Are men of this type the ones to whom Mi-
cah's words are specifically directed in2l-1fl
If so, why would these men be coveting fields and seizing them?
The climate of Moresheth is exceptionally pleasant, Wolff points out,
especially in winter, since it is some 1,200 feet lower than Jerusalem.
It must therefore have been tempting for soldiers stationed there from
the centrai highlands to want to buy property in this region, perhaps as
a second home for their families. However, property available for pur-
chase would have been scarce, for most of the land was occupied by
families who had lived on it for generations. Nor would these families
want to sell, for to do so would render them homeless and vulnerable
to losing theii stanrs as free citizens. Without property a man had no
alternative but to hire himself out, or become a slave.
Thus, a class conflict may be simmering in the background of this
passage. A relatively well-to-do military elite eager to buy proprty was
stymied in their acquisitive ambitions by a more ftaditional, relatively
poor landholding group who wanted desperately to retain their ancestral
heritage.
The farnous story of Naboth's vineyard, in 1 Kings 21, is a dra-
matic example of how such a conflict mig-ht be resolved. In this instance
it was a king, King Ahab of Israel, who had set his heart on purchasing
a vineyard adjoining his winter palace in Jezreel for use as a vegetable
garden. Its owner, however, refused to sell, saying, "Yahweh forbid
that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors!" (l Kgs 21:3).
Though geatly disappointed, Ahab was apparently ready to let the mat-
ter rest at that point, when his Sidonian born wife, lez.ebel, schooled_in
a different tradition, hit upon a solution. Irtters were sent to the city
elders instmcting them to have Naboth executed on contrived charges.
That accomplished, the vineyard was quickly appropriated.
It was this type of criminal behavior, precisely, that Micah must
 HIS MESSAGE AND ITS RELEVANCE 131

have had in mind when he pronounced "disaster for those rvho plot evil,
who lie in bed planning mischief," and then "no soonei is it dawn than
they do it.. . Seizing the fields that they covet, they talie over houses
as well, owner and house they seize, the man himself as well as his
inheritance" (2:l-2). Actions of this type were explicitly prohibited in
Israelite law (see Ex20 L7; Lev 19:13; Prov 14:31;28:3), but those
perpetrating these deeds were apparently unaware of this or totally in-
sensitive to the criminal nature of their deeds. Their punishment would
be in kind. What they had seized from others would be "stripped" from
them in the approaching invasion (2:4).
The response of the military elite (to whom Micah was speaking)
to this fierce criticism and warning is recorded in 2:6-11. From this
report of their words we are surprised to learn that they were not only
powerful but exceptionally religious. lndignantly they order Micah to
stop "driveling" (like a madman), not because of what he has said re-
garding them, but because his words are an offense to their theology
and piety! l'Can the House of Jacob be accursed? Has Yahweh grov.'n
short-tempered? Is that his way of going to work? His prophecies can
only be favorable for his people Israel!" (2:7).lt was not apostates,
then, to whom Micah was addressing his sharp words, but loyal [sra-
elites who were confident that because the kindly Yahweh was among
them (3:1lb) "disgrace will not overtake us!" (2:6b).
In responding to this response (in the verses that follow in 2:8-
t 1), Micah tries to shatter this shell of complacency by trying to make
even more specific the crimes he had earlier charged them with:
. you violate and rob innocent pedestrians of their clothing, he
declares (2:8);
o you evict women (whose husbands were apparently away in
forced-labor brigades in Jerusalem) from their ancestral homes (2:9a)
and thereby deprive their children also of the birthright and honor due
them as free citizens in Israel (2:9b);
o you impose ruthless fines or collatoral for trifling misdemeanors
rur debts (2:10).
This passage ends with Micah commenting ironically that the
prophet for such an audience would be someone who could preach
lbout wine and whiskey (2:llFthat would really captivate them and
win their approval!

(h) Uncaring Elders (j:14,9-12)

The audience addressed in 3:1-4 and 3:F12 is not the same as
the one referred to in 2:1. Here (in 3:14,9-12) Miclh is speaking
 132 MEET Tr{E pRopHETS

to certain "leaders" of the House of Israel. For Micah, as for Amos

and Hosea, Israel was a single people, a single "house," under the
leadership of certain "heads" (not "princes" as in the New Jeru-
salem Bible) whose duty it was to meet periodically to see that .,jus-
tice" (mishpat) was done in the various towns and villages (3:l). If
Wolff is right in suggesting that Micah was himself such a ..head',
(or town elder), then in the words of this section he would be ad-
dressing fellow elders on the occasion, perhaps, of an important as-
sembly of elders in Jerusalem (see our discussion of this possibility
in the previous chapter).
Micah's accusations against them were twofold. First, they were,
he says, "skinning people alive, pulling the flesh off their bones, eat-
ing my people's flesh, stripping off their skin, breaking up their
bones, chopping them up srnall like flesh for the pot, like meat in the
stew-pan" (3:2-3). The reference here may be to indignities his own
fellow citizens in Moresheth werc suffering (,.my people's flesh',) at
the hands of taskmasters in the forced labor canips of Jerusalem
(wolff). Forced labor of -this L:inci was a bone of contention in Judah
from the time of Solomon onward (see 1 Kgs 9:l!24; 12:Gl6). Just
prior to Micah's tenure as city elder this practice may have been re-
vived by King uzziah as a means of refortifying his nation (see 2 chr
26:l-15). Micah's contemporary, King Hezekiah, might well have
resorted to it alse-in excavating that famous 1,700 foot water tunnel,
for example, that can be still seen in use in Jerusalem today (see 2
Kgs 20:20; 2 Chr 32:24,30).
seen in this light, the first criticism Micah brought against his fel-
low elders was that, even though knowing better, they took no lpad-
ership in stemming the tide of arocities those were suffering who werc
forced against their will to work on these brigades. As a consequence
his people were being chopped up like meat in a pot (3:3).
The motive behind this bratant disregard for the welfare of ,.my
people" is the target of a second charge against this group, in 3:L12.
Every level of govemrnent , every leadership elite appears to be grasp
ing for one thing, Micah declares: money and more money (3: I li. It is
this that blinds them to their moral responsibilities and p"..it. them to
acquiesce to the building of zion "with blood" and Jerusalem ..with
ioiqrity" (3:10). Their banal confidence that ..yahweh is among us,,
and therefore "no disaster is going to overtake us,' (3:lt;, tre UolOy
prophosies, will soon be proven tragically mistaken when .,zon will
become ploughland, Jerusalem a heap of rubble and the Temple Mount
a wooded height" (3:lZ).
 HIS MESSAGE AND ITS RELEVANCE I33

(c) Compromised Prophets

A third group is addressed in 3:5-8: the prophets. Micah's words
regarding them are dripping with satire. To those who give them some-
thing to eat these prophets cry, "Peace,'' he says, but "on anyone who
puts nothing into their mouths they declare war" (3:5). Just like every-
one else they are motivated by money. This is why they are so insen-
sitive to the evils all around, with the result that they "lead my people
astray" (3:5).
Once again, their punishment will fit their crime, Micah intimates.
Having compromised themselves in this manner, their capacity to hear
Yahweh's "answer'! to their inquiries will grow weaker and weaker
(3:7). From this we can sense how much Micah respected the prophetic
office as such. Prophets can be a genuine source ofguidance, but only
r/Yahweh truly inspires them, not when they are forsaken by him as
these prophets now are, due to their comrption.
It may trouble us to note how scathingly critical were all of Mi-
cah's words, and how bleak his expectations. Were,conditions in Israel
really this bad? If sol it would not be the fust or the iast time in history
when conditions such as these had become predominant in the life of a
people. Certainly, the disasters Micah spoke of as Yahweh's response
to these conditions were no illusion. Even as he prophesied, the As-
syrian armies were on the march, and their invasion of Judah was in-
deed catastrophic, although not ds catastrophic as he had predicted.
This time Jerusalem iself was spared, not annihilated as he had pre-
dicted it would be (see our further comments on this and other unful-
tilled prophecies of the eighth century prophets in the following
chapter).
Most commentators agree that Micah has left us no hint of what
he thought might happen after the invasion of Judah had run its course.
However, the courage and "energy" (3:8) with which he stood up and
accused the leadership groups of his time for their crimes testifies to his
love for his people ("my people," as he calls them). It is doubtful that
someone would endangerhimself in this manner for a people he thought
was hopeless. We may assume therefore that Micah too, like several of
his contemporaries, :did foresee a longer range future for his people,
cven though it was not ftis task to speak of it.

I B. Ongoing Relevance

Precisely that which Micah left unspoken, however, is what con-

{:erned those most, it seems, who first edited his book. Zion's future
 l .l.l Mrrr,: t't ui plt()pHu rs

beyond judgment, in any case, is the subject of the great majority of

the
passages that now make up the second half of his book (clis.
a-D. At
the head of this supplementary collection, in 4:l-5, is a visionary
sketch similar to the one in Isaiah 2:l-5 in which Jenrsalem is
envi_
sioned notjust as restored and renewed, but as a center for international
consultation and peace.
other futuristic sketches in this section appear to be more narrowly
nationalistic in tone. In these the hope is expressed that the dynasty
of
David will be restored and with it a reunitedisrael whose greainess
and
power will extend to "the most distant parts of the .ou.rtry; (3:3).
Then
Israel will once agai-n be a "mighty nation', (4:7) asin tne
aays of King
David (4:8;7:ll-12).
Among these supplements there are a few, however, that restate
and reapply the sociar critique that is such a preeminent
feature of Mi-
cah's legacy. Such, for exampre, are the warnings directed
to a certain
city, in 6:9*14, and to samaria, in l:G-7 and 6:16. of these
the most
insightful is the wonderfur summary of prophetic teaching,
in 6:1-g.
As earlier noted (see previous chapter), this passage .ry"i"
Deuter-
onomic in origin. Its authors appear to be rooking
lact on trre eighth
century prophets as a group. The literary form chosen for their
reflec_
tions is that of a judgment triar in whictr yahweh porrayed
is as ac-
cusing his people of having forsaken him despite his
iraving so
repeatedly helped them (6:1-5).
people respond by feigning uncertainty as to what yahweh
.-The
rlally wants (6:6-7). The trial ends with a voiie declaring
that such
doubts are inexcusable, since "you have arready
ueen tio what is
right," and it is this: "onry this, tL do what is righi, t r,or" royJqv
and
walk humbly with your God" (6:g). "To dL what is
1o rigrrt 1or act
justly]" was the central theme of Amos, ,,to love
loyalty,;?as a tey
concept of Hosea, anj ..to walk humbly with your
God,,-wu, th" ,"ry
essence of what Isaiah proclaimed.

. Micah's own speciar contribution to the prophetic tradition, per-

haps, was the "energy" (3:g) with which he
confronted the greed, hy-
pocrisy and cruelty b3dr"g groups of his sociery. ftroigfr'pious
to the core and sure"fofF: God's p.er"n.i in their mids; trref w-ere rrc
cannibals in cruerty, he declared. This combination
of character traits
is unfortunately not.Tr,.."r", today Religious faith
is oot or."rr*if,
a good thing. When God,s grace alone is
itressed (see Mi 2:7), it can
become an opiate. Then like the people of Micah,s
time we feet sare
on the brink of disaster. wourd that within the governing
corr.rcil" of
every village, town, city and nation of our worrd
there wer! at reast one
 tr
,r
. ttrS MESSAGE AND ITS RELEVANCE 135
t
t
!
energized
i elder like Micah, responsible yet bold, wise yet courageous'
our
i
I by God to stay awake and help us see what the consequences of
)l
,i most blatant sins and hypocrisies might be'
i:

i
Questions for Review
judg-
:
l.Compare and contrast Micah's view of the approaching
i
ment through Assyria with that of Isaiah's. [n what sense might his
prophecies of *tut was about to happen be regarded as a heresy by
.

those who espoused Jerusalem theology?

2. What groups in Judah did Micah see to be primarily responsible

for the devastition about to take place? What kinds of crimes does he
accuse them of, How would you characterize these people religiously?
Were they apostate? Did they adhere to one or another of the prevailing
*firhat does he regard as the root problem of his
Yahwistil theologies?
time?
:

3. Characterize the supplements to the Book of Micah in chs. 4-

7. In what sense might Micah 6:l-8 be regarded as a summary of the
:.

messages of the eighth century prophets we have been studying? What

impreJses you as the chief relevance of Micah's messages for today?