The Lord loves justice.
Micah prophesied that God would reduce the northern kingdom of Israel to ruins (Mic. 1:6), a message fulfilled when Assyrian forces captured Samaria, the capital of Israel (722 B.C.). The city’s inhabitants were killed or taken into captivity, and the nation was destroyed forever.
Judah, Micah declared, was next in line for God’s judgment. Jerusalem held off a siege by King Sennacherib of Assyria (701 B.C.) only through God’s intervention, a response to the prayers of godly King Hezekiah (2 Kin. 19:20). As Micah continued to predict catastrophe, religious leaders assumed that their pompous spirituality and the presence of the temple would protect them. But their confidence, founded on outward signs rather than inward ones, had been placed amiss. When disaster struck, even their house of worship would fall (Mic. 3:12).
Micah aimed his prophecies primarily against leaders, denouncing them for using their power and privilege to exploit the poor, mislead the people, compromise God’s Word, and persecute the prophets.
Yet in the midst of words of judgment, Micah also spoke words of hope. He named Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah (5:2) some seven hundred years before Christ’s birth (Matt. 2:1). Micah also taught God’s people how to live out their faith in a rebellious world by behaving justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Mic. 6:8). His words still offer us a simple outline for serving God in the real world.
Micah was a contemporary of four other prophets of the eighth century B.C.: Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and Jonah. His ministry extended through the reign of three kings (see “The Three Kings of Micah” at Mic. 1:1).
Key Verses in Micah
• “The mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire” (Mic. 1:4).
• “Woe to those who devise iniquity, and work out evil on their beds!” (Mic. 2:1).
• “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Mic. 4:3).
• “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice” (Mic. 6:1).
• “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?” (Mic. 6:8).