1:1 Micah and Isaiah lived at the same time, about 750–680 B.C., and undoubtedly knew of each other. Micah directed his message mainly to Judah, the southern kingdom, but he also had some words for Israel, the northern kingdom. Judah was enjoying great prosperity at this time. Of the three kings mentioned, Jotham (750–732) and Hezekiah (715–686) had tried to follow God (2 Kings 15:32-38; 18–20), but Ahaz (735–715) was one of the most evil kings ever to reign in Judah (2 Kings 16). Micah’s hometown, Moresheth, was a Judean village near Gath, on the border with Philistia.
1:3-7 Although the 12 tribes of Israel had been united under David and Solomon, after Solomon’s death, the kingdom had divided into two parts. Two of the tribes, Judah and Benjamin, stayed loyal to David’s line and accepted Solomon’s son as their king. They became the southern kingdom, also called Judah, with Jerusalem as their capital city. The other ten tribes became the northern kingdom, also called Israel, with Samaria as their capital city. The destruction of Samaria was literally fulfilled during Micah’s lifetime, in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17:1-18), just as he had predicted.
1:5 Two sins are identified in Micah’s message: the perversion of worship (1:7; 3:5-7, 11; 5:12, 13) and injustice toward others (2:1, 2, 8, 9; 3:2, 3, 9-11; 7:2-6). Rampant in the capital cities, these sins infiltrated and infected the entire country.
1:9 Samaria’s sins were incurable, and God’s judgment on the city had already begun. This sin was not like a gash in the skin but more like a stab wound in a vital organ, causing an injury that would soon prove fatal (Samaria was, in fact, destroyed early in Micah’s ministry). Tragically, Samaria’s sin had influenced Jerusalem, and judgment would come to its very gates. This probably refers to Sennacherib’s siege in 701 B.C. (see 2 Kings 18–19).
1:10-16 Micah declared God’s judgment on city after city because of the people’s sins. The Hebrew of 1:10-13 includes a clever wordplay. Micah bitterly denounced each town by using puns. Saphir sounds like the Hebrew word for “pleasant”; Zaanan sounds like the verb meaning “come forth”; and Beth-ezel sounds like a word for “foundation.” Read 1:11 aloud, substituting the meaning for each city’s name, and you will realize the effect of Micah’s word choice. Not all these cities can be identified now, but Lachish was on the border with Philistia and took the brunt of the Assyrian invasion.
1:13 The people of Lachish had influenced many to follow their evil example. We often do the same when we sin. Regardless of whether you consider yourself a leader, your actions and words are observed by others who may choose to follow your example, whether you know it or not.
1:15 The terrain surrounding Adullam had numerous caves. Micah was warning that when the enemy approached, Judah’s proud leaders would be forced to flee and hide in these caves.
1:16 Micah pictured the devastating sorrow of parents seeing their children taken away to be slaves in a distant land. This happened frequently in both Israel and Judah, most horribly when each nation was completely conquered—Israel in 722 B.C. and Judah in 586 B.C.