Micah 1

• Micah is likely a short form of Micaiah, which means “Who is like the Lord?”

• Moresheth was a fortress city located southeast of Gath in the low hills of southwestern Judah.

• Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (see Micah Book Introduction, “Setting”): These three kings ruled for about 65 years in total, from about 750 to 686 BC.

• God gave his message to the prophet Micah through visions (special scenes or messages God showed him).

• Samaria and Jerusalem were the capitals of northern Israel and Judah. Sometimes these city names refer to the entire countries.

• Hear!: This word translates the same Hebrew term used in the Shema, which begins with the command “Hear” in Deuteronomy 6:4. It is a call to listen carefully and respond with obedience.

• His holy temple: This refers to the Lord’s dwelling place in heaven, not to the corrupt temple in Jerusalem (Micah 1:2–3).

This oracle speaks about Samaria before 722 BC. In that year, Samaria was destroyed and its people were taken away into exile. The Sovereign Lord was coming to judge his people.

This message of judgment focuses on key themes in Micah's prophecies. It shows God's decision to judge his people and send them into exile (Micah 1:16; 2:4–5). However, it ends with the Lord's promise to save a small group from exile (Micah 2:12–13).

Tread on the high places suggests a theophany, which is an appearance of God. This God is behind the upcoming historical events affecting Samaria (see Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 108:13; Amos 4:13). God rules over nations and nature. People also believed the Canaanite god Baal acted in this way. Descriptions like this highlight that the Lord, not Baal, is truly in control.

The strong and seemingly unmovable mountains will melt in the presence of the Lord (see Psalm 97:5). Nothing can stand against him.

• Transgression is the same as sins. These two words describe Israel's failure in the Old Testament.

• What is … what it: The capital cities of God's people should have been holy places, but they became sources of corruption instead. Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, was built by Omri, who ruled from 885 to 874 BC. It was a political, military, and economic crossroads of the ancient Near East (1 Kings 16:24). Omri was an evil king, so his city was evil (compare Micah 6:16, 1 Kings 16:25).

• Jerusalem: The prophet did not allow the people of Judah to feel superior about the northern kingdom’s coming destruction. Judah’s beautiful temple was no different from a Canaanite center of idol worship (high place).

• a heap of rubble: The Lord warned that he would completely destroy his treasured cities. Assyria almost completely destroyed Samaria in a brutal three-year siege from 724 to 722 BC.

• Samaria, like many ancient cities, was built on a hill. When the city was destroyed, soldiers pushed the stones of its walls down into the valley below. Ancient armies often tore down city walls stone by stone, all the way to the foundation.

• Samaria and Jerusalem were filled with carved images and sacred treasures placed by worshipers or taken as war loot.

• Prostitution symbolizes Israel’s ongoing spiritual and physical unfaithfulness. Israelite prophets often used this metaphor to show Israel’s abandonment of the Lord, her true husband, to seek blessings from pagan gods. The worship of those gods often involved sexual activity.

• Again refers to the exile of Samaria into Assyria and its various provinces and conquered vassal states, which happened in 722 BC. The same fate was predicted for Jerusalem (Micah 3:12; Jeremiah 26:18).

• In response to the Lord’s predicted judgment, Micah walked barefoot and naked to show mourning (see Isaiah 20:2; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 24:17). This act vividly showed what would happen to Samaria (Israel) and Jerusalem (Judah). They would lose their wealth, power, and population.

• A jackal and an owl make sad sounds and live in deserted wilderness areas (see Isaiah 34:13; Jeremiah 50:39).

Judah … Jerusalem: The corruption spread throughout the entire nation, from north to south.

The cities listed were in the lowlands of southwestern Judah's coastal areas. This sequence might show the Assyrian army's march down the coastal plain and then into Judah's heartland in 703 to 701 BC.

Exile was the worst and most devastating punishment (Deuteronomy 4:29; 28:37, 48; Jeremiah 25:7–11).

even to … Jerusalem: God's judgment reaches everywhere corruption has spread (compare Micah 1:9).

Lachish was the second most important city in Judah, after Jerusalem. It served as Judah's main defense center against enemies. Today, a large tell (or mound) over 46 meters (150 feet) high still exists. Lachish fell in 701 BC after being besieged, terrified, starved, and destroyed by Sennacherib's war machines. Sennacherib celebrated the fall of Lachish as one of his greatest victories and featured the event in large carvings on his palace walls.

Farewell gifts marked the end for the people of Moresheth-gath, as the Assyrians took control of the city.

• The glory: The leaders of Israel were supposed to be the nation's "glory" by showing moral excellence and wise, caring leadership. Instead, God's shepherds corrupted their nation.

• Assyria destroyed Adullam in 701 BC.

• The people of Judah, including those from Jerusalem, were exiled to faraway lands in Babylonia in 605, 597, and 586 BC. Babylon was about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Jerusalem.

• Shave yourselves: This was an act of mourning and despair (see also Jeremiah 41:5). It could also mean purification (Leviticus 14:7–10; Numbers 6:10–11).