Strong Prophet


Micah 1:1-2
1The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

The natural follow-up to a study of 1 Corinthians would be 2 Corinthians. But that idea isn’t moving me at the moment, but the Book of Micah is. (I promise to return to 2 Corinthians later.) So, we will take a few weeks to look at this minor prophet and his message to God’s people. Like Isaiah, Micah belongs to a critical period in Israel’s history, the latter half of the eighth century bc. It was a time of political instability, social injustice, and moral decay.

Here is what Martin Luther has to say about Micah.

“The prophet Micah lived at the time of Isaiah. Micah even uses the words of Isaiah 2:2–4, and thus one notes that these prophets who lived at the same time preached almost the very same word concerning Christ, as though they had consulted one another on the matter. Micah is one of the fine prophets who rebukes the people severely for their idolatry and constantly refers to the coming Christ and to his kingdom. In one respect he is unique among the prophets, in that he points with certainty to Bethlehem, naming it as the town where Christ was to be born. For this reason, he was famous under the Old Covenant, as Matthew certainly shows in chapter 2 [:3–6]. In short, he denounces, he prophesies, he preaches, etc. Ultimately, however, his meaning is that even though Israel and Judah have to go to pieces, Christ will yet come and make all things good”.
(LW 35:324f)

Micah’s message alternates between oracles of doom and oracles of hope. The theme is judgment and deliverance by God. Micah also stresses that God hates idolatry, injustice, rebellion and empty ritualism, but he delights in pardoning the repentant sinner. Finally, the prophet declares that Zion will have greater glory in the future than ever before. The Davidic kingdom, though it will seem to come to an end, will reach greater heights through the coming Messianic deliverer.

Micah does what all of the prophets do; along with calling on the people to repent and return to God, he points to the Messiah and that is what makes these 7 chapters so interesting. We all do well to examine these words for our own lives and take in what he has to say about idolatry, repentance and the love of a forgiving God.

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