Micah was a man who spent many years in faithful service to God. He lived in dangerous and significant times. Fast-moving events were foreboding doom for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Moral corruption and idolatry had gone to seed in both of them, and these brought to the nation destruction from Assyria. God raised up Micah to warn His people strongly of what He was bringing upon them.
Jeremiah 26: 18,19 refers directly to Micah's words: "Zion will be plowed up as a mere field, and Jerusalem herself will become mere heaps of ruins.(Micah 3:12) This prophecy was accurately fulfilled when the king of Babylon razed Jerusalem, so as to cause ruin. (2 Chronicles 36:19) A similar prophecy about Samaria, that it would become a heap of ruins of the field, was likewise fulfilled (Micah 1:6,7) . Samaria was ruined by the Assyrians when they took the Northern kingdom of Israel into captivity (2 Kings 17: 5,6) It was later conquered by Alexander the Great and suffered devastation by the Jews under John Hyrcanus I. Of this last destruction of Samaria, the city was almost demolish, attempting to efface all proofs that a fortified city had ever stood on the hill.
Micah was a bold man, able to tell the rulers of his nation the following words, "Listen, you rulers of Israel! You are suppose to be concerned about Justice, yet you hate what is good and love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones. You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot. The time is coming when you will cry out to the Lord, but He will not listen to your prayers, for you have done evil." (Micah 3: 1-4)
Micah was also a humble man, one giving all credit for his powerful utterances to God, by whose Spirit he spoke. He said: "My people are deceived by prophets who promise Peace to those who pay them, but threaten war for those who don't. To these prophets the Lord says, 'Prophets, your day is almost over, the sun is going down on you. Because you mislead My people, you will have no more prophetic visions, and you will not be able to predict anything.' Those who predict the future will be disgraced by their failure. They will all be humiliated because God does not answer them. But as for me, the Lord fills me with His Spirit and Power, and gives me a sense of Justice and the courage to tell the people of Israel what their sins are." (Micah 3: 5-8)
As is true for many of the prophets, very little is said concerning Micah himself in his book; it is the message that embrace its importance. The name Micah is a shortened form of Michael (meaning, "Who is Like God?"). Micah served as prophet during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, which made him a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah and Josea. The exact period of his prophetic work is uncertain. Micah was a rural prophet from the Village of Mores-Heth in the fertile She-Phelah, South West of Jerusalem. His familiarity with rural life is shown in the kind of illustrations he used to explain the points of his declarations.
Micah in 2: 11-13 says, "These people want the kind of prophet who goes around full of lies and deceit and says, 'I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.' But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people.' "
Mica in 4: 8 says, "And you, Jerusalem, where God, like a shepherd from His lookout tower, watches over His people, will once again be the capital of the kingdom that was yours."
Micah in 6: 12-16 says, "You rich people that exploit the poor, all of you are liars. So I have already begun your ruin and destruction because of your sins. You will eat, but not be satisfied -in fact you will still be hungry. You will carry things off, but you will not be able to save them; anything do you save I will destroy in war. You will sow grain, but not harvest the crop. You will press oil from olives, but never get to use it. You will make wine, but never drink it. This will happen because you have followed the evil practices ... ".
Micah in 7: 1-4 says, "It is hopeless! I am like a hungry person who finds no fruit left on the trees and no grapes on the wines. All the grapes and all the tasty figs have been picked. There is not an honest person left in the land, no one loyal to God. Everyone is waiting for a chance to commit murder. Everyone hunts down their own people. They are all experts at doing evil. Officials and judges ask for bribes. The influential people tell them what they want, and so they scheme together. Even the best and most honest of them are as worthless as weeds."
Micah in 7: 14-17 says, "Be a shepherd to Your people, Lord, the people You have chosen. Although they live apart in the wilderness, there is fertile land around them. Let them go and feed in the rich pastures ... as they did long ago. Work miracles for us, Lord, as You did in the days when You brought us out of Egypt. The nations will see this and be frustrated in spite of all their strength. In dismay they will close their mouths and cover their ears. They will crawl in the dust like snakes; they will come from their fortresses, trembling and afraid. They will turn in fear to the Lord our God."
Micah's outstanding prophecy is the one which foretells the birthplace of the Messiah, the ruler in Israel "whose origin is from early times". He will come out of Beth-Lehem Ephrathah. He will rule as a shepherd in the strength of God, and be great, not just in Israel, but as far as the ends of the earth.
(Micah 5: 2-4).
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