CHAPTER 1
Time for Micah. We
actually heard of him earlier. He was a
key part of the defense argument that saved Jeremiah from being murdered back
in his book. Jeremiah had been detained
for preaching against the Hebrew, and some priests wanted to murder him. However, others noted that once upon a time
Micah had similarly denounced the Hebrew and not been executed, so there is
precedent for allowing prophets to say stuff like that. Had it not been for Micah, maybe Jeremiah
would’ve been killed right then and there.
So now we get Micah’s own book.
And yeah – you can see how he’d be a precedent for
Jeremiah. He foretells doom. People have sinned, they are corrupt, and for
that they’ll be punished. He says of Jerusalem, “her wound is incurable.” Bummer.
The introduction notes that Micah is not from the capital
itself, but from the surrounding area.
He’s not part of the power circle, but from the lowly born. In all of these ways he is like Amos. So he’s a bridge between Amos and
Jeremiah. He has a similar message as
Amos, but says it in the southern kingdom while Amos went north. And Micah will make doom-laden prophecies
similar to Jeremiah, but he wouldn’t do it during the actual moment of doom,
which is why he doesn’t come as close to death as Jeremiah will later on.
CHAPTER 2
Micah moves from general prophecies of doom to attacks on
particular people. He has it in for the
leadership class and the powerful – again, like Amos. “Ah!
You plotters of iniquity who work out evil in your beds! In the morning light you carry it out for it
lies within your power.” It’s the people
in charge that make him want to vomit.
And they are so damn prideful – undeserved pride, at
that. They walk with their heads held
high, but they’ll get theirs: “On that day you shall be mocked and there will e
bitter lament.” Yeah, you jerks – look
what will come your way!
Some people don’t want to hear Micah’s message. He notes that some are saying that no one
should preach these things and they have no reason to feel shame. For Micah, that’s all the more reason why he
is right to say this. They are so
corrupt that they are blind to one who will point out their corruption.
CHAPTER 3
Micah again makes clear that his main problem is with the
leaders of society: “Hear, you leaders of Jacob, rulers of the house of
Israel!” You guys suck! It’s the rulers and the priests that Micah
most scorns. Sure he’s a prophet of God,
but he’s a real prophet, not some ceremonial priest. He wasn’t born into his job – God himself
called him.
Why are they so damned before God? “Because of the evil they have done.” Once again, when it comes to the prophets, ethics
matter. Just being born into the
tribe doesn’t guarantee permanent claim to the land. It means you have to re-earn God’s trust
everyday. If you fail to do that, he can
fail to help you, too. If you assume
that no evil can come to Jerusalem – which they are claiming – then that just
shows why God WILL destroy the city.
CHAPTER 4
Micah steals a line from Isaiah – one of the most famous
lines from Isaiah: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks.” That’s 2:4
in Isaiah. Actually, I guess the
question is who is ripping off whom? The
chronology in front of the Bible says that Isaiah was the prophet shortly
before Micah, but you could argue it’s the other way around. Still, it most likely came from Isaiah
first. Micah is just quoting the
previous prophet to help drive home his point.
His point here is one of salvation – but it’ll only come
after a dark, nasty period. Actually,
that’s the same as Isaiah as well.
CHAPTER 5
This is more talk of eventual salvation. This sounds very, very different from the
earlier apocalyptic Micah in that he’s talking about Hebrew successes. In fact, he says that if Assyria invades, the
Hebrew will win. God will stand with the Hebrew and destroy all those who
oppose their God. You get a more tribal
sense of God here.
It’s a little hard to make this fit in with the rest. Sure, you can make it fit in – God isn’t
breaking with his covenant. Once they
return to God, then God will return to (and fight with) them. But it just seems a bit out of place. Isaiah also combined shifts from apocalyptic
visions to beneficial ones, but it wasn’t so jarring the way he did it.
CHAPTER 6
And now we go back the other direction. Apparently, people must plead their case
before God and God has a case against his people. How many religions describe their people’s relationship
with God in legal terms? Probably not
many.
You also get some definite class antagonism here. Micah denounces, “You whose wealthy are full
of violence.” Just a reminder: Micah
isn’t from the typical high ranking class.
People treat each other unjustly, and therefore, “I will deliver you up
to ruin.” That sounds funny right after
Chapter 5. Micah needs to take
transition lessons from Isaiah.
CHAPTER 7
The first part is bemoaning the terrible future immediately
before the Hebrew. It actually begins,
“Woe is me!” Then it stays that bleak
for a half-dozen verses.
Then it transitions to a sign of confidence in the long-term
future. It’s actually a well-done
transition (maybe he was taken lessons from Isaiah after all). It has a great line that helps some up
Micah’s theology: “Though I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.” That’s nicely done. Sure, he’s a prophet of gloom for the most
part, but the Lord is still the light.
Some sunshine exists in his world, no matter how cloudy it is at the
moment.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Yeah, he’s a lesser prophet all right. You get this weird mash up of Jeremiah’s
gloom, Amos’s sense of justice for your fellow man, and Isaiah’s shifts from
immediate doom to long term glory.
I probably have less a feel for Micah than any prophet so
far. Actually, that might be his status.
He’s the guy that amplifies messages of other prophets rather than a
distinctive voice in his own right.
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