HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  International Setting

  IN 732 ASSYRIAN ARMIES under Tiglath-pileser III conquered Damascus along with part of Israel, and in 722 they besieged Samaria, Israel’s capital. The Philistine city Ashdod fell in 711. Under Ahaz, Judah became a vassal state of the Assyrian Empire. Under Hezekiah, Judah entered into a coalition with Phoenicia and Philistia (Ashkelon and Ekron) against Sennacherib. When Sennacherib attacked the Southern Kingdom in 701, forty-six fortified towns fell. Although Jerusalem was left unharmed, Judah remained a dominated land and a captive people.

  Structure

  THE BOOK OF MICAH IS, for the most part, well preserved. Scholars generally accept chs. 1–3, apart from 2.12–13, as authentic. The remainder of the book appears to be a compilation of later additions, though 6.1–7.6 may also be authentic. Scholars are divided over the general structure of the book, but the proclamations form an overarching thematic scheme: judgment (1.1–2.11), salvation (2.12–13), judgment (3.1–12), salvation (4.1–5.15), judgment (6.1–16), lament (7.1–7), and hope and confidence (7.8–20). The historical circumstances of Micah’s proclamations invite further study.

  The Message

  MICAH UNDERSTOOD HIS TASK to be a preacher of truth—to expose injustice and inequity, to offer a word of hope and salvation, and to make known a vision of a new and transformed way of life for his community and his world. Deeply concerned with ethical issues, Micah railed against the political and religious leaders of his day because they had abandoned their divinely ordained responsibility of exercising and maintaining justice throughout the land. The common good was being usurped by personal self-interest on the part of Judean law courts, large landowners, and merchants. Micah’s biting proclamations made clear God’s disdain for apostasy, idolatry, hypocrisy, and disregard for Torah. He condemned the break in covenant relationship that led to grave injustices and much suffering. Micah warned leaders about their self-reliant attitudes and smug spiritual pride. He foresaw the Assyrian invasion; he made known the devastation that an empire greater than Israel and Judah would bring on the community. His words were not heeded, and the inevitable invasion did occur, leaving many cities in ruins.

  Doom, however, was not Micah’s overriding message. In the midst of a long judgment speech (chs. 1–3) is a word of hope (2.12–13); this theme continues throughout chs. 4–5 and 6–7. The book ends with an expression of confidence in God, who is merciful and who will exercise justice for the sake of the salvation of all peoples. Micah makes known to his people, and to later readers of the text, that God is indeed a God of righteousness whose compassion outweighs justice and whose love for all remains steadfast. [PHILIP J. KING, revised by CAROL J. DEMPSEY]

  MICAH 1

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

  Judgment Pronounced against Samaria

  2Hear, you peoples, all of you;

  listen, O earth, and all that is in it;

  and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,

  the Lord from his holy temple.

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

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

  4Then the mountains will melt under him

  and the valleys will burst open,

  like wax near the fire,

  like waters poured down a steep place.

  5All 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 placea of Judah?

  Is it not Jerusalem?

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

  a place for planting vineyards.

  I will pour down her stones into the valley,

  and uncover her foundations.

  7All her images shall be beaten to pieces,

  all her wages shall be burned with fire,

  and all her idols I will lay waste;

  for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them,

  and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used.

  The Doom of the Cities of Judah

  8For this I will lament and wail;

  I will go barefoot and naked;

  I will make lamentation like the jackals,

  and mourning like the ostriches.

  9For her woundb is incurable.

  It has come to Judah;

  it has reached to the gate of my people,

  to Jerusalem.

  10Tell it not in Gath,

  weep not at all;

  in Beth-leaphrah

  roll yourselves in the dust.

  11Pass on your way,

  inhabitants of Shaphir,

  in nakedness and shame;

  the inhabitants of Zaanan

  do not come forth;

  Beth-ezel is wailing

  and shall remove its support from you.

  12For the inhabitants of Maroth

  wait anxiously for good,

  yet disaster has come down from the LORD

  to the gate of Jerusalem.

  13Harness the steeds to the chariots,

  inhabitants of Lachish;

  it was the beginning of sin

  to daughter Zion,

  for in you were found

  the transgressions of Israel.

  14Therefore you shall give parting gifts

  to Moresheth-gath;

  the houses of Achzib shall be a deception

  to the kings of Israel.

  15I will again bring a conqueror upon you,

  inhabitants of Mareshah;

  the glory of Israel

  shall come to Adullam.

  16Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair

  for your pampered children;

  make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

  for they have gone from you into exile.

  next chapter

  * * *

  a Heb what are the high places

  b Gk Syr Vg: Heb wounds

  1.1 Superscription. This editorial convention, written later than the time of Micah, provides information about the prophet, the period of his activity, the mode of divine revelation, and the subject matter of the prophecy. It is similar to the titles of the three other eighth-century BCE prophetic books and suggests a common editorial policy and possibly the same editorial pen. The word of the LORD, a phrase used repeatedly in the OT to denote a personal utterance of God, lending authority to the prophet’s words. This phrase stands in the same position in Hos 1.1; Joel 1.1; Zeph 1.1 and appears at a later point in Jer 1.2; Ezek 1.3; Hag 1.1; Zech 1.1; Mal 1.1. Came indicates that the prophetic word comes to the prophet as a gift. It is not something a prophet can attain through personal effort, nor is it at the disposal of a prophet. Micah means “Who is like Yahweh?” The name exists in several forms and was borne by several persons in the Bible. Moresheth, or Moresheth-gath (v. 14), Micah’s place of origin, by which he is identified (cf. mention of Hosea’s father, Hos. 1.1). Moresheth was a small village of uncertain location, but it may have been on the road linking Azekah and Lachish. The site is generally identified with the modern village Tell-el-Judeideh, two kilometers north of Eleutheropolis, ten kilometers from Lachish, and twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem. If this is correct, then the village was strategically situated on the vital north-south route that skirts the mountain country of Samaria and Judah through the Shephelah, linking the valley of Aijalon with Lachish. Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, three kings of Judah, indicating the time of Micah’s ministry (see Introduction). Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, respectively. Micah’s attention is focused on the cities but extends to Israel as a whole. King Omri (ca. 876–869 BCE) established Samaria as the capital of Israel. The region where Samaria was located was fertile, and the city its
elf was easily defensible since it was situated on a hill about three hundred feet above the valley. It was also close to trade routes. Jerusalem, about forty miles south of Samaria, became the religious and political capital of Judah after David (ca. 1000–970 BCE) captured it from the Jebusites. The Jerusalem of David, known as the City of David, occupied only the southeast section of present-day Jerusalem.

  1.2–7 Judgment speech attesting to the power and sovereignty of God. Micah calls listeners and readers to attention (v. 2), describes God’s impending coming and its effects (vv. 3–4), states God’s accusation against Israel (v. 5), and proclaims God’s forthcoming chastisement upon Samaria (vv. 6–7).

  1.2 Listen…in it, a statement of direct address whereby Micah calls all earthly creation to be attentive to his proclamation. Let the Lord…against you, a common petition in the OT. God is often called upon to act as a witness (Gen 31.50; 1 Sam 12.5; Jer 42.5). Here Micah calls on God to be a witness among the earth’s inhabitants. Holy temple, God’s heavenly dwelling place (Ps 11.4).

  1.3–4 An impending theophany—a manifestation of God—depicted in poetic language. Here the theophany highlights the transcendent nature of God, who is perceived as being beyond the created world.

  1.3 High places, artificially constructed elevations (Jer 48.35) serving as shrines, found particularly in Samaria (1 Kings 13.32; 2 Kings 19.9–11; 23.19). Associated with apostasy (2 Kings 23.5–9), they incited God’s wrath (Lev 26.30; 2 Kings 17.7–23; Ps 78.58). Here the high places of the earth refers not only to shrines where illicit religious rites were practiced, but also to Jerusalem and, by implication, to Samaria (cf. v. 5). The illicit religious rites were associated with Canaanite religious practice as well as popular Israelite religion. Only from the eighth century on were the high places condemned.

  1.5 Micah refers to Jacob eleven times. The first use here, in synonymous parallelism with Israel, refers to all of Israel, both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms; the second use, in synonymous parallelism with Samaria, refers to the Northern Kingdom, contrasting with the parallelism of Judah/Jerusalem at the end of the verse.

  1.7 A polemic against idolatry. Idolatrous worship is described as harlotry or prostitution. Sacred prostitution was sometimes practiced at religious shrines called high places (see note on 1.3).

  1.8–16 Composed of three subunits (vv. 8–9, 10–15, 16), this unit is a dirge-lament, i.e., a mourning song sung over one envisaged as already dead. For this form, see also Isa 32.9–15; Ezek 26.15–18; 32.19–32; Am 5.1–3.

  1.8 For this, a pivotal phrase that links vv. 2–7 with vv. 8–16. Barefoot and naked signifies mourning (cf. Isa 20.2–4; Ezek 24.17–23). Nakedness also functions symbolically insofar as it is associated with sin (cf. Gen 3.10; 9.20–23). Micah’s nakedness is a prophetic statement to and about his community—it is guilty of sin. Jackals, scavengers with a distinctive wailing howl that often prowl around ruins and desert like areas. Ostriches are also often associated with desert like or uninhabited areas (Job 30.29; Isa 13.21; 43.20; Jer 50.39).

  1.10–15 Micah’s dirge-lament. Resembling the form of a funeral song for one who has already died, this block of material is rich in wordplays and puns on place-names. The historical setting is most likely the Assyrian invasion by Sennacherib in 701 BCE. All the towns mentioned in this section are situated in Judah, southwest of Jerusalem, the region of the country best known to Micah. Except for those of Beth-leaphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, and Maroth, their locations have been identified in the Shephelah, the lowlands or valley region.

  1.10 Gath, one of the five Philistine cities, has not been identified with certainty, but it probably is located at Tell es-Safi (Tel Zafit), twelve miles east of the Philistine city of Ashdod. Gath was one of the places to which the ark of the covenant was taken by the Philistines (1 Sam 5.8); it was also connected with David (1 Sam 27; 1 Chr 18.1). Beth-leaphrah, Hebrew “house of dust,” may be identified with et-Taiyibeh, northwest of Hebron in the hill country of Judah. Rolling in the dust (‘aphar) was a way of expressing grief or mourning. Roll yourselves (hitpallashti) may be a pun on “Philistines.”

  1.11 Shaphir means “beautiful” by calling the inhabitants of the “Beautiful City” to roll themselves in nakedness and shame, Micah reverses the image of the city. Shaphir may be located at Khirbet el-Qom, a hill west of Hebron. The sound of the name Zaanan suggests the Hebrew word “going out,” which, ironically, the city is said not to do, contradicting its own name. Beth-ezel may be modern Deir el-Asal, in the vicinity of Hebron.

  1.12 The site of Maroth has not been identified, but the wordplay consists in the sharp contrast between Maroth, meaning “to be bitter,” and the adjective good.

  1.13 Lachish, situated thirty miles southwest of Jerusalem in the Judean hills, the most important city in Judah after Jerusalem. In the reign of Hezekiah two massive city walls fortified Lachish. Stratum III of Lachish, dating to 701 BCE, is an indisputable witness to Sennacherib’s devastation of the city. Micah reproaches the people of Lachish for relying on horses and chariots. The wordplay is on the name Lachish and the phrase (to) the steeds (Hebrew larekesh). Daughter Zion personifies Jerusalem.

  1.14 Achzib, tentatively identified with Tell el-Beida, northeast of Lachish. The pun focuses on the Hebrew root kzb (“to lie”), found both in the name Achzib and deception (’akzab).

  1.15 Mareshah, modern Tell Sandahanna, one mile southeast of Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis). Famous as an underground city because of its caves, it is known in Greek as Marisa (1 Macc 5.66; 2 Macc 12.35). The play is on the name Mareshah and the Hebrew participle yoresh, “to possess,” although not obvious in the translation conqueror. Mareshah belonged to the tribe of Judah (Josh 15.44), was settled by Calebites (1 Chr 2.42), and was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chr 11.5–10). Adullam may be located at Tell Khirbet esh-Sheikh Madkur, five miles south of Beth-shemesh. It was a fortress town (2 Chr 11.7). David took refuge from Saul in a cave near Adullam (1 Sam 22.1; 2 Sam 23.13). It was also the hometown of Judah’s friend Hirah (Gen 38.12).

  1.16 The lament concludes with a description of mourning rites. Although artificial baldness was prohibited (Lev 19.27; Deut 14.1), shaving the head was sometimes practiced as a sign of mourning.

  MICAH 2

  Social Evils Denounced

  1Alas for those who devise wickedness

  and evil deedsa on their beds!

  When the morning dawns, they perform it,

  because it is in their power.

  2They covet fields, and seize them;

  houses, and take them away;

  they oppress householder and house,

  people and their inheritance.

  3Therefore thus says the LORD:

  Now, I am devising against this family an evil

  from which you cannot remove your necks;

  and you shall not walk haughtily,

  for it will be an evil time.

  4On that day they shall take up a taunt song against you,

  and wail with bitter lamentation,

  and say, “We are utterly ruined;

  the LORDb alters the inheritance of my people;

  how he removes it from me!

  Among our captorsc he parcels out our fields.”

  5Therefore you will have no one to cast the line by lot

  in the assembly of the LORD.

  6“Do not preach”—thus they preach—

  “one should not preach of such things;

  disgrace will not overtake us.”

  7Should this be said, O house of Jacob?

  Is the LORD’s patience exhausted?

  Are these his doings?

  Do not my words do good

  to one who walks uprightly?

  8But you rise up against my peopled as an enemy;

  you strip the robe from the peaceful,e

  from those who pass by trustingly

  with no thought of war.

  9The women of my people you drive out

  from their pleasant houses;
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  from their young children you take away

  my glory forever.

  10Arise and go;

  for this is no place to rest,

  because of uncleanness that destroys

  with a grievous destruction.f

  11If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods,

  saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”

  such a one would be the preacher for this people!

  A Promise for the Remnant of Israel

  12I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob,

  I will gather the survivors of Israel;

  I will set them together

  like sheep in a fold,

  like a flock in its pasture;

  it will resound with people.

  13The one who breaks out will go up before them;

  they will break through and pass the gate,

  going out by it.

  Their king will pass on before them,

  the LORD at their head.

  next chapter

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  a Cn: Heb work evil

  b Heb he

  c Cn: Heb the rebellious

  d Cn: Heb But yesterday my people rose

  e Cn: Heb from before a garment

  f Meaning of Heb uncertain

  2.1–5 Woe proclamation announcing doom upon those Israelites who plan and carry out injustices (vv. 1–2) and presenting God’s response to the situation (vv. 3–5). The focus is on land monopoly by the greedy rich at the expense of the defenseless poor.