Post by professorc on Oct 24, 2015 16:20:46 GMT -5
THE BOOK OF MICAH
Micah means “Who is like Yahweh.”
Content: Alternating oracles of DOOM on Israel and Judah for their idolatry and social injustices and of FUTURE HOPE because of Yahweh’s mercies.
Prophet: Micah, a Judean prophet from Moresheth, a town about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
Date: Some length of time between the accession of Jotham (740 B.C.) and the death of Hezekiah 686.
Emphases:
• The threat of divine judgment for breaking covenant with Yahweh
• Yahweh as a God of justice and mercy who pleads the cause of the poor and requires His people to do the same.
• After Judgment Yahweh will restore Jerusalem through the promised Davidic king
• Yahweh as God of all the nations.
BACKGROUND AND SETTING
Because the northern kingdom was about to FALL to ASSYRIA during Micah’s ministry in 722 B.C., Micah dates his message with the mention of Judean kings only. While the northern kingdom of Israel was an occasional recipient of his words (cf. 1:5-7), his ministry attention was directed toward the southern kingdom in which he lived.
The economic prosperity and the absence of international crises that marked the days of Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.), during which the borders of Judah and Israel rivaled those of David and Solomon (2 Kings 14:23-27), were slipping away.
Syria and Israel invaded Judah, temporarily taking the wicked Ahaz captive.
SPECIFIC ADVICE FOR READING MICAH
4 MATTERS are crucial for a good reading of Micah.
1. The arrangement itself not only offers you a handle for reading the text but at the same time says something about Micah’s own theology, which mirrors Deuteronomy 28-30.
At the heart of things, as in Hosea, is the dynamic tension between the necessity of divine judgment (curses) because of Israel’s breaking covenant with Yahweh and Yahweh’s own longing to bless his people because they are his and because of his own character.
2. As is true for most of the prophets of Israel, the political history of the period plays an especially important role in understanding the oracles themselves.
Assyria is looming LARGE in Micah. Micah is the 4th of the 8th century prophets.
3. Notes especially the reasons for judgment on Judah. As it is with Isaiah and Amos, the issues are TWO:
a. Idolatry
b. Social Injustice
4. Micah takes Israel’s promised role in the blessing the nations (Genesis 12:3) with full seriousness. This is the oath made to Abraham (7:20). This is the ULTIMATE ROLE of the messianic king, who will be God’s agent for the peace of the nations.
Finally, you should also NOTE that 100 years later the oracle in Micah 3:12 is cited by some elders against King Jehoiakim, who wanted to take Jeremiah’s life (Jeremiah 26:17-19), a passage which also implies that Micah’s preaching was in part responsible for Hezekiah’s reforms (2 Kings 18).
The book of Micah is a marvelous prophetic representation of the essentials of the biblical story, both in its OT expression and in its anticipation of the NEW, with the promised Messiah and the restoration of his people.
Micah means “Who is like Yahweh.”
Content: Alternating oracles of DOOM on Israel and Judah for their idolatry and social injustices and of FUTURE HOPE because of Yahweh’s mercies.
Prophet: Micah, a Judean prophet from Moresheth, a town about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
Date: Some length of time between the accession of Jotham (740 B.C.) and the death of Hezekiah 686.
Emphases:
• The threat of divine judgment for breaking covenant with Yahweh
• Yahweh as a God of justice and mercy who pleads the cause of the poor and requires His people to do the same.
• After Judgment Yahweh will restore Jerusalem through the promised Davidic king
• Yahweh as God of all the nations.
BACKGROUND AND SETTING
Because the northern kingdom was about to FALL to ASSYRIA during Micah’s ministry in 722 B.C., Micah dates his message with the mention of Judean kings only. While the northern kingdom of Israel was an occasional recipient of his words (cf. 1:5-7), his ministry attention was directed toward the southern kingdom in which he lived.
The economic prosperity and the absence of international crises that marked the days of Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.), during which the borders of Judah and Israel rivaled those of David and Solomon (2 Kings 14:23-27), were slipping away.
Syria and Israel invaded Judah, temporarily taking the wicked Ahaz captive.
SPECIFIC ADVICE FOR READING MICAH
4 MATTERS are crucial for a good reading of Micah.
1. The arrangement itself not only offers you a handle for reading the text but at the same time says something about Micah’s own theology, which mirrors Deuteronomy 28-30.
At the heart of things, as in Hosea, is the dynamic tension between the necessity of divine judgment (curses) because of Israel’s breaking covenant with Yahweh and Yahweh’s own longing to bless his people because they are his and because of his own character.
2. As is true for most of the prophets of Israel, the political history of the period plays an especially important role in understanding the oracles themselves.
Assyria is looming LARGE in Micah. Micah is the 4th of the 8th century prophets.
3. Notes especially the reasons for judgment on Judah. As it is with Isaiah and Amos, the issues are TWO:
a. Idolatry
b. Social Injustice
4. Micah takes Israel’s promised role in the blessing the nations (Genesis 12:3) with full seriousness. This is the oath made to Abraham (7:20). This is the ULTIMATE ROLE of the messianic king, who will be God’s agent for the peace of the nations.
Finally, you should also NOTE that 100 years later the oracle in Micah 3:12 is cited by some elders against King Jehoiakim, who wanted to take Jeremiah’s life (Jeremiah 26:17-19), a passage which also implies that Micah’s preaching was in part responsible for Hezekiah’s reforms (2 Kings 18).
The book of Micah is a marvelous prophetic representation of the essentials of the biblical story, both in its OT expression and in its anticipation of the NEW, with the promised Messiah and the restoration of his people.