Old Testament Prophets

Class 10 – Micah Overview

1. Review last week – questions?

1. Amos –
   
   

2. Micah – “The prophets have a queer way of talking, like people who instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at”. (Martin Luther)
   
   It is easy to become lost in Micah’s mix of judgment and salvation speeches.
   
   However – Micah is also full of rhetorical eloquence and power.
   
   Micah 4:3-5 (King James Version)
   
   3And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. 5For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
   
   Micah 5:1-4
   
   1Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. 2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 3Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.  4And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

3. Overview and Historical

1. Micah is another prophet from the south. His hometown – Moresheth – is @ 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.

2. He is the first whose prophecies are directed towards Judah

3. Micah lists three Kings – Jotham, Ahaz and Hesekiah; thus we can date his ministry to @ 750-686 BC – Micah overlapped with (and was overshadowed) Isaiah.

4. Through much – if not all – of his ministry the Northern Kingdom is gone (by the Assyrians).

5. Many critical, modern scholars maintain that only the first three chapters are original to Micah with the rest from the post-exilic period. This is based primarily on the assumption that predictive prophecy is not possible.
   
   

4. Structure

1. Almost certainly an anthology of oracles and not a single sermon.

2. It may not be chronological and the order should not be considered too heavily.

3. The structure includes alternating messages of threat and hope.
   
   1:1       Superscriptions
   I  1.2-5 First Round of Judgment and Salvation 
             A.  1:2-3:12     God’s Judgment of Apostasy and Social Samaria and Judah
             B   4-5             God’s Word of Hope to Israel
   
   II   6-7  Second Round of Judgment and Salvation       
             A. 6:1-8    God’s Dispute with Israel
             B. 6:9-16  God’s reproach for Israel’s social sins
             C. 7:1-7    The Prophet laments Israel’s Condition
             D. 7:8-20  Psalms of Hope and Praise

4. Stylistically the book is beautifully written although this doesn’t always translate itself from Hebrew to English.

                                                               i.      Example – vs 1:10-16 and a paraphrase by Moffatt:

Tell it not in Tellington!
Wail not in Wailing!
Dust Manor will eat dirt,
Dressy Town flee naked.
Safefold will not save,
Wallchester’s walls are down,
a bitter dose drinks Bitterton.
(Towards Jerusalem, City of Peace,
The Lord sends war.)
Harness the war-steeds,
O men of Barstead!
(Zion’s beginning of sinning,
Equal to Israel’s crimes.
To Welfare a last farewell! For Trapping trapped Israel’s Kings.

5. Theological Message

1. Divine judgment against sin

2. While judgment against sin is a dominant theme, the book is not without hope.

                                                               i.      2:12-13 – Yahweh speaks in comforting tones

                                                             ii.      7:18-20 – God is shown to be full of grace and to keep his covenant promise

                                                            iii.      5:1-2The promises to David will also be fulfilled in the future.

3. Read 6:6-8

                                                               i.      Some commentators have taken this as an argument against all priestly religion; however others rightly point out that it is really a correction to unhealthy emphasis on external religion.

6. Approaching the New Testament

1. Matthew sites Micah 4:2 on the reference about Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (Matt 2:5).