The Book of Micah

Introduction:

            The  name mikaya “who is like YHWH” occurs eleven times in the OT.  The best known bearer of this name is the prophet Micha, born around 750 B.C.E., from Moresheth-Gath, a philistine town in the present day Gazea strip.  Michah is known in history as a farmer  prophet.  He stands up for the rural population against the elite of the city of Jerusalem.  This ruling class enslaves peasants when they are no longer able to pay their debts.  In rough, bold language Micah gives the exploiters a piece of his mind.  According to Micah they are those “who tear the sking from off my people, and their flesh form their bones; who ear the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces, and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a caldron”. Even king Hezekiah also is moved by the preaching of Micah.  Even a century after Micah’s appearance, people in Jerusalem remember his message.  The rest of micha’s  life is a mystery.

The book of Micah

Division

            Nowadays a division of the book of micha into chapters 1-5 and 6-7 is widely accepted.  The second part is supposed to originate not with Micah from moresheth, but with a namesake of his in the noth of Israel or considered to be an editorial mosaic of texts from post exilic times.

The main thrust of the message of the book of Micah

            The principal difference between micah and his opponents lies in the way they appropriate the YHWH traditions.  Strictly speaking Micah adversaries are not unorthodox nor do they deny any religious truth.  It is more the way they deal with the religious inheritance of Israel that pars them from Micah, Micah’s antagonists made god’s revealedtruth a static, impersonal, a historical ideology, a kind of instant religion applicable in their own favour in any way, at any time and anywhere. Micah however is convinced that the word of god has its own time and place.

Theology of the book of Micah on the basis of keywords

Theophany

            Micah is acquainted with the old Israelite tradition of theophany.  It consists of three elements

1. God’s coming
2. Cosmic reactions to this coming
3. God’s salvific intervention.

Social criticism

            Micah social criticism is primarily aimed at the abuse of power for money by rulers, especially with respect to the expropriation of peasants land and houses. Micah’s vision of the future implies that the peasants of Judah will recover their expropriated land.

True and False prophets

            Micah stants in sharp contrast to the prophets connected with the priesthood and the ruling class.  The preaching of these false prophets was based on the zion tradition that in their opinion automatically guaranteed the safety of Jerusalem and its inhabitants.  Its precisely this religious automatism, inspired by supernatural selfishness, that makes them false prophets.

Micah 4:1-4

            The present text opens the discussion on three themes

1. The future of Temple in Jerusalem(4:1-5, 9-13)
2. The future of the people of God (4:4-5)
3. The reunion of the divided kingdom under one Davidic ruler (4:6-8)

The predominantly positive oracles are intermingles with prophecies of doom on the downfall of Jerusalem and the humiliation of the Davidic king.  In contrast  to his opponent Micah maintains that the people of god will have to go through that depths of utter misery before reaching salvation.