A guide to Micah

Who wrote Micah, and when?

Micah of Moresheth. About 740–700 BC, under Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

Micah came from Moresheth, a small town in the lowlands of Judah about 25 miles south-west of Jerusalem, near the border with Philistine territory. The book dates his ministry to the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, roughly 740 to 700 BC, which makes him a contemporary of Isaiah. Jeremiah 26:18 later quotes him by name, showing that his words were remembered a century on. He was a countryman who spoke for farmers whose land was being seized. Most scholars accept that the core of the book is his, particularly chapters 1 to 3. Some think the hopeful passages in chapters 4 to 7 were added or edited later, while others see the whole as Micah's alternating message of judgment and hope.

Who was Micah written to?

Both Samaria and Jerusalem, especially rulers, priests and prophets who exploited the people.

Micah addressed both capitals, Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the south, but his sharpest words were for the leaders of Judah: rulers who took land from small farmers, judges who sold verdicts, priests who taught for pay, and prophets who told people what they wanted to hear for money. He spoke during the years when Assyria destroyed Samaria in 722 BC and then invaded Judah in 701 BC, so his hearers knew what national collapse looked like. Many felt safe because the temple was in their city. Micah's message reached ordinary people who were being exploited as well as the powerful who exploited them, and it still speaks to societies where the law bends toward the wealthy.

What was happening at the time?

Micah was a countryman from the Judean lowlands, a contemporary of Isaiah, prophesying while Assyria destroyed Samaria and threatened Jerusalem. He attacked land-grabbing elites, bribed judges and prophets for hire, and predicted that Zion would be ploughed like a field. Yet he also promised a shepherd-king from little Bethlehem and a God who delights in mercy.

Why was Micah written?

To indict injustice among God’s people and to promise a righteous ruler and pardoning God.

Micah indicts injustice among God's own people and warns that it will bring Jerusalem down as surely as Samaria. He then promises that God will raise a shepherd-king from small Bethlehem, gather the scattered flock, and draw the nations to Zion to learn peace. His famous summary of what the LORD requires is doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God (see chapter 6:8). The book wants readers to stop hiding behind worship and to change how they treat the weak, while trusting a God who delights in pardoning sin (see chapter 7:18-19). In the wider story of the Bible, Matthew 2 quotes Micah 5:2 to explain why the Messiah was born in Bethlehem.

How to read Micah today

Micah alternates between judgment and hope in three rounds: chapters 1 to 2, 3 to 5, and 6 to 7. Reading it that way makes the sudden changes in tone easier to follow. Start with chapter 3 for the accusation, chapter 5 for the ruler from Bethlehem, and chapter 6 for the courtroom scene where God puts his people on trial. Watch for images of shepherds and flocks, and for the contrast between prophets who speak for pay and the prophet who speaks in God's power. Do not force every promise into the immediate future; some were fulfilled in Jesus and some still wait. As you read, pray chapter 6:8 for yourself, and ask God which of the three, justice, mercy or humility, you most need to grow in.

The key verse in Micah

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Passages worth knowing in Micah

• Micah 2–3

  Woe to those who devise iniquity

  Leaders who tear the skin off the people.

• Micah 4:1-5

  Swords into ploughshares

  The nations stream to the mountain of the LORD.

• Micah 5:2

  A ruler from Bethlehem

  The prophecy quoted when the wise men asked where the Christ would be born.

• Micah 6:6-8

  What does the LORD require?

  Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly.

• Micah 7:18-20

  Who is a God like you?

  He delights in mercy and casts our sins into the sea.

The main themes of Micah

• Justice
• Corrupt leadership
• The ruler from Bethlehem
• What God requires
• Pardoning mercy

An outline of Micah