Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet
is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the
helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according
to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not,
however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to
assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On
the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At the
termination of his prophetic ministry, under Hezekiah, the prophet
committed to writing everything which was of importance for all coming
time that had been revealed to him during the whole duration of that
ministry. He collected into one comprehensive picture all the detached
visions which had been granted to him in manifold repetition; giving us
the sum and substance (of which nothing has been lost in the case of
any of the men inspired by God) of what was spoken at different times,
and omitting all which was accidental, and purely local and temporary.
This view, which alone is the correct one, and which contributes so
largely to the right understanding of the prophet, has been already
advanced by several of the older scholars. Thus _Lightfoot_ (_Ordo
temporum_, opp. i. p. 99) remarks: "It is easier to conceive that the
matter of this whole book represents the substance of the prophecy
which he uttered under these various kings, than to determine which of
the chapters of this book were uttered under the particular reign of
each of these kings." _Majus_ also (_Economia temporum_, p. 898) says:
"He repeated, at a subsequent period, what he had spoken at different
[Pg 414] times, and under different kings." In modern times, however,
this view had been generally abandoned; and although, at present, many
critics are disposed to return to it, _Hitzig_ and _Maurer_ still
assert, that the book was composed at different periods.
We shall now endeavour to prove the unity of the book, _first_, from
the prophecies themselves. If we were entitled to separate them at all,
according to time and circumstances, we could form a division into
three discourses only; viz., chap. i. and ii.; chap. iii.-v.; and chap.
vi. and vii. For, 1. Each of these discourses forms a whole, complete
in itself, and in which the various elements of the prophetic
discourse--reproof, threatening, promise--are repeated. If these
discourses be torn asunder, we get only the _lacera membra_ of a
prophetic discourse. 2. Each of these three discourses, forming an
harmonious whole, begins with שמעו, _hear_. That this is not merely
accidental, appears from the beginning of the first discourse, שמעו
עמים כלם, "Hear, all ye people." These words literally agree with those
which were uttered by the prophet's elder namesake, when, according to
1 Kings xxii. 28, he called upon the whole world to attend to the
remarkable struggle betwixt the true and false prophets. It is
evidently on purpose that the prophet begins with the same words as
those with which the elder Micah had closed his discourse to Ahab, and,
it may be, his whole prophetic ministry. By this very circumstance he
gives intimation of what may be expected from him, shows that his
activity is to be considered as a continuation of that of his
predecessor, who was so jealous for God, and that he had more in common
with him than the mere name. _Rosenmüller_ (_Prol. ad Mich._ p. 8) has
asserted, indeed, that these words are only put into the mouth of the
elder Micah, and that they are taken from the passage under
consideration. But the reason which he adduces in support of this
assertion, viz., that it cannot be conceived how it could ever have
entered the mind of that elder Micah to call upon all people to be
witnesses of an announcement which concerned Ahab only, needs no
detailed refutation. Why then is it that in Deut. xxxii. 1, Is. i. 2,
heaven and earth are called upon to be witnesses of an announcement
which concerned the Jewish people only? Who does not see that, to the
prophet, Israel appears as too small an audience [Pg 415] for the
announcement of the great decision which he has just uttered; in the
same manner as the Psalmist (compare, _e.g._, Ps. xcvi. 3) exhorts to
proclaim to the Gentiles the great deeds of the Lord, because Palestine
is too narrow for them?--But now, if it be established that it was with
a distinct object that the prophet employed the words, "Hear ye," does
not the circumstance that they are found at the commencement of the
three discourses, which are complete in themselves, afford sufficient
ground for the assumption, that it was the intention of the prophet,
not indeed absolutely to limit them to the beginning of a new discourse
(compare, on the contrary, iii. 9[1]), but yet, not to commence a new
discourse without them; so that the want of them is decisive against
the supposition of a new section? 3. As soon as an attempt is made to
break up any of these three discourses, many particular circumstances
are at once found, upon a careful examination, to prove a connection of
the sections so close, as not to admit of a separation without
mutilating them. Thus chap. i. and ii. cannot be separated from each
other, for the reason that the promise in ii. 12, 13, refers to the
threatening in i. 5. That promise refers to all Israel, just as does
the threatening in chap. i.; whilst in the threatening and reproof in
chap. ii. the eye of the prophet is directed only to the main object of
his ministry, viz., to Judah.
But even these three divisions, which hitherto we have proved to be the
only divisions that do exist,[2] can be considered as such, in so far
only as in them the discourse takes a fresh start, and enters upon a
new sphere. They cannot be considered as complete in themselves, and
separated from one another by the [Pg 416] difference of the periods of
their composition; for even in them there are found traces of a close
connection. Even the uniform beginning by "Hear" may be considered as
such. The second discourse in iii. 1 begins with ואמר; but the _Fut._
with _Vav convers._ always, and without exception, connects a new
action with a preceding one, and can never be used where there is an
absolutely new commencement. Its significance here, where it is used in
the transition from the promise to a new reproof and threatening, has
been very strikingly brought out thus, by _Ch. Bened. Michaelis_: "But
while we are yet but too far away from those longed-for times, which
have just been promised, I _say_ in the meanwhile, viz., in order to
complete the list of the iniquities of evil princes and teachers, begun
in chap. ii." The words of iii. 1, "Hear, I pray you, ye heads of
Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel," have an evident
reference to ii. 12: "I will assemble Jacob all of thee, I will gather
the remnant of Israel." In the new threatening, the prophet chooses
quite the same designation as in the preceding promise, in order to
prevent the latter from giving support to false security. It is not by
any means Samaria alone, but all Israel, which is the object of divine
punishment. It is only a remnant of Israel that shall be gathered. But
the reference to the preceding discourse is still more obvious in ver.
4: "Then they shall cry unto the Lord, and He will not answer; and may
He hide[3] His face from them at this time, as they have behaved
themselves ill towards Him in their doings." Now, as in vers. 1-3
divine judgments had not yet been spoken of, the terms "then," and "at
this time," can refer only to the threatenings of punishment in ii. 3
ff., which have a special reference to the ungodly nobles.
Thus the result presented at the beginning, is confirmed to us by
internal reasons. The inscription[4] announces the oracles [Pg 417] of
God which came to Micah under the reign of three kings; while the
examination of the contents proves that the collection forms a
connected whole, written _uno tenore_. How, now, can these two facts be
reconciled in any other way than by supposing that we have here before
us a comprehensive picture of the prophetic ministry of Micah, the
single component parts of which are at once contemporaneous, and yet
belonging to different periods? This supposition, moreover, affords us
the advantage of being allowed to maintain all the historical
references in their fullest import, without being led to disregard the
one, while we give attention to the other; for nothing is, in this
case, more natural, than that the prophet connects with one another
different prophecies uttered at different times.
The weight of these internal reasons is increased, however, by external
reasons which are equally strong. When Jeremiah was called to account
for his prophecy concerning the destruction of the city, the elders,
for his justification, appealed to the [Pg 418] entirely similar
prophecy of Micah in iii. 12: "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be
ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the
mountain of the house as the high places of the forest." In Jer. xxvi.
18, 19, it is said, "Micah prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of
Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, etc. Did Hezekiah, king of
Judah, and all Judah, put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord, and
besought the Lord, and the Lord repented Him of the evil which He had
pronounced against them?" All interpreters admit that this passage
forms an authority for the composition of the discourse in iii.-v.
under Hezekiah; but we cannot well limit it in this way, we must extend
it to the whole collection. For, even apart from the reasons by which
we proved that the entire book forms one closely connected whole, it is
most improbable that the elders should have known, by an oral
tradition, the exact time of the composition of one single discourse,
which has no special date at the head of it. Is it not a far more
natural supposition, that they considered the collection as a whole, of
which the component parts had, indeed, been delivered by the prophet at
a former period, but had been repeated, and united into one description
under Hezekiah; and that they mentioned Hezekiah, partly because it
could not be determined with certainty whether this special prediction
had already been uttered under one of his predecessors, and, if so,
under which of them; and partly, because among the three kings
mentioned in the inscription, Hezekiah alone formed an ecclesiastical
authority?
But just as that quotation in Jeremiah furnishes us with a proof that
all the prophecies of Micah, which have been preserved to us, were
committed to writing under Hezekiah, so we can, in a similar manner,
prove from Isaiah, chap. ii., that they were, at least in part, uttered
at a previous period. The problem of the relation of Is. ii. 2-4 to
Micah iv. 1-3, cannot be solved in any other way than by supposing,
that this portion of a prophecy which, in Jeremiah, is assigned to the
reign of Hezekiah, was uttered by Micah as early as under the reign of
Jotham, and that soon after it Isaiah, by placing the words of Micah at
the head of his own prophecies, expressed that which had come to him
also in inward vision; for, being already known to the people, they
could not fail to produce their impression. [Pg 419] Every other
solution can be proved to be untenable. 1. Least of all is there any
refutation needed of the hypothesis which is now generally abandoned,
viz., that the passage in Isaiah is the original one; compare, against
this hypothesis, _Kleinert_, _Aechtheit des Jes._ S. 356; _Caspari_, S.
444. 2. Equally objectionable is another supposition, that both the
prophets had made use of some older prophecy--one uttered by Joel, as
_Hitzig_ and _Ewald_ have maintained. The connection in which these
verses stand in Micah, is by far too close for such a supposition. We
could not, indeed, so confidently advance this argument, if the
connection consisted only in what is commonly brought forward, viz.,
that upon the monitory announcement of punishment in chap. iii., there
follows, in chap. iv. 1 ff., the _consolatory_ promise of a glorious
future for the godly, and that the ו in ver. 1 evidently connects it
with what immediately precedes. But the reference and connection are
far more close. The promise in iv. 1, 2, is, throughout, contrasted
with the threatening in iii. 12. "The mountain of the house shall
become as the high places of the forest,"--hence, despised, solitary,
and desolate. In iv. 1, there is opposed to it, "The mountain of the
house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains, and
it shall be exalted above the hills, and upon it people shall flee
together." "Zion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem become
a heap of ruins." Contrasted with this, there is in iv. 2 the
declaration: "For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the
Lord of Jerusalem." The desolate and despised place now becomes the
residence of the Lord, from which He sends His commands over the whole
earth, and of which the brilliant centre now is Jerusalem. In order to
make this contrast so much the more obvious, the prophet begins, in
the promise, with just the mountain of the temple, which, in the
threatening, had occupied the last place; so that the opposites
are brought into immediate connection. Nor is it certainly merely
accidental that, in the threatening, he speaks of the mountain of the
house only, while, in the promise, he speaks of the mountain of the
house of the Lord; compare Matt. xxiii. 38, where "your house,"
according to _Bengel_, "is the house which, in other passages, is
called the house of the Lord," just as the Lord, in Exod. xxxii. 7,
says to Moses, "_Thy people._" The temple must have ceased to be the
house of the Lord, before it would be destroyed; for [Pg 420] which
reason, as we are told In Ezekiel, the Shechinah removed from it before
the Babylonish destruction. And in point of form, the יהיה in iv. 1 so
much the more corresponds with the תהיה in iii. 12, as from the latter
יהיה must be supplied for the last clause of the verse; compare
_Caspari_, S. 445. That ver. 5 must not be separated from the prophecy
which Isaiah had before him, is seen from a comparison of Is. ii. 5: "O
house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord."
According to the true interpretation, "the light of the Lord" signifies
His grace, and the blessings which, according to what precedes, are to
be bestowed by it; and "to walk in the light of the Lord," means to
participate in the enjoyment of grace. These words, accordingly, are
closely related to those in Mic. iv. 5: "For all the people shall walk,
every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the
Lord our God for ever and ever:" _i.e._, the fate of the people in the
heathen world corresponds to the nature of their gods; because these
are nothing, they too shall sink down into nothingness, while Israel
shall partake in the glory of his God. There is the same thought, and
in essentially the same dress, both in Isaiah and Micah,--only that the
words which in Micah embody a pure promise, are transformed by Isaiah
into an exhortation that Israel should not, by their own fault, forfeit
this preference over the heathen nations, that they should not wantonly
wander away into dark solitudes, from the path of light which the Lord
had opened up before them. This transformation in Isaiah, however, may
be accounted for by the consideration, that he was anxious to prepare
the way for the reproofs which now follow from ver. 6; whilst Micah,
who had already premised them, could continue in the promise. It is
also in favour of the originality of the passage in Micah, that the
text which, in Isaiah, appears as a variation, appears as original in
Micah; so that both cannot be equally dependent upon a third writer. 3.
There now remains only the view of _Kleinert_, according to which the
prophecy of Micah, in chap. iii.-v., was first uttered under the reign
of Hezekiah; and, under the reign of the same king, but somewhat later,
the prophecy, in chap. ii.-iv. of Isaiah, who avails himself of it.
But, upon a closer examination, this view also proves untenable.
Isaiah's description of the condition of the people in a moral point of
view, the general spread of idolatry [Pg 421] and vice, exclude every
other period in the reign of Hezekiah except the first beginning of it,
when the effect and influence of the time of Ahaz were still felt; so
that even _Kleinert_ (p. 364) is obliged to assume, that not only the
prophecy of Micah, but also that of Isaiah, were uttered in the first
months of the reign of this king. But other difficulties--and these
altogether insuperable--stand in the way of this assumption. In the
whole section of Isaiah, the nation appears as rich, flourishing, and
powerful. This is most strongly expressed in chap. ii. 7: "His land is
full of silver and gold, there is no end to his treasure; his land is
full of horses, and there is no end to his chariots." To this may be
added the description of the consequences of wealth, and of the
unbounded luxury, in iii. 16 ff.; and the threatening of the withdrawal
of all power, and all riches, as a strong contrast with their present
condition, upon which they, in their blindness, rested the hope of
their security, and hence imagined that they stood in no need of the
assistance of the Lord, iii. 1 ff. Now this description is so
inapplicable to the commencement of Hezekiah's reign, that the very
opposite of it should rather be expected. The invasion by the allied
Syrians and Israelites, the oppression by the Assyrians, and the
tribute which they had to pay to them, the internal administration,
which was bad beyond example, and the curse of God resting on all their
enterprises and efforts, had exhausted, during the reign of the ungodly
Ahaz, the treasures which had been collected under Uzziah and Jotham,
and had dried up the sources of prosperity. He had left the kingdom to
his successors in a condition of utter decay. To these, other reasons
still may be added, which are in favour of the composition of it under
Jotham, while they are against its composition under Hezekiah;
especially the circumstance of their standing at the beginning of the
collection of the first twelve chapters (a circumstance which is of
great weight, inasmuch as these chapters are, beyond any doubt,
arranged chronologically), but still more, the indefiniteness and
generality in the threatening of the divine judgments, which the
prophecy of Micah has in common with the nearly contemporaneous
chapters i. and v. of Isaiah, whilst the threatenings out of the first
period of the reign of Ahaz have at once a far more definite character.
By these considerations we are involuntarily led back to a period when
Isaiah still [Pg 422] pre-eminently exercised the office of exhorting
and reproving, and had not yet been favoured with special revelations
concerning the events of a future which, at that time, was as yet
rather distant,--perhaps as far as the time when Jotham administered
the government for his father, who was at that time still alive;
compare 2 Kings xv. 5. By this hypothesis. Is. iii. 12 is more
satisfactorily explained than by any other; and we are no longer under
the necessity of asserting, that the chronological order is interrupted
by chap. vi.; for this certainly could not have been intended by the
collector. The solemn call and consecration of the prophet to his
office, accompanied by an increased bestowal of grace, must be
carefully distinguished from the ordinary ones which were common to him
with all the other prophets. But if the prophecy of Isaiah was uttered
as early as under Jotham (which has lately been most satisfactorily
proved by _Caspari_ in his _Beiträge zur Einl. in das Buch Jesaias_, S.
234 ff.), that of Micah also must have existed at that time, and must
have been in the mouths of the people. And since its composition is
assigned to the reign of Hezekiah, it follows that the prophet
delivered anew, under the reign of this king, the revelations which he
had already received at an earlier period.
It will not be possible to infer with certainty from vers. 6, 7, as
_Caspari_ does, that the book was committed to writing before the
destruction of Samaria, and hence, before the sixth year of Hezekiah.
Since the book gives the sum and substance of what was prophesied under
three kings, all that is implied in vers. 6, 7, is, that the
destruction of Samaria was foretold by Micah; but the prophecy itself
may have been committed to writing even after the fulfilment had taken
place. But, on the other hand, according to the analogy of Is. xxxix.,
and xiii. and xiv., we are led by iv. 9, 10, to the time of
Sennacherib's invasion of Judea, in which the prophetic spirit of
Isaiah likewise most richly displayed itself, and in which he was
privileged with a glance into the far distant future.
The exordium in chap. i. and ii., and the close in vi. and vii., are
distinguished by the generality of the threatening and promise which
prevails in them. They have this in common with the first five chapters
of Isaiah, and thus certainly afford us pre-eminently an image of the
prophetic ministry of Micah, in the time previous to the Assyrian
invasion; whilst the main [Pg 423] body (especially from iv. 8)
represents to us particularly the character of the prophecy during the
Assyrian period.
We shall now attempt to give a survey of the contents of Micah's
prophecy.
Upon Samaria and Jerusalem--the kingdom of the ten tribes, and Judah--a
judgment by foreign enemies is to come. Total destruction, and the
carrying away of the inhabitants, will be the issue of this judgment,
and, as regards Judah more particularly, the total overthrow of the
dominion of the Davidic dynasty.
Samaria is first visited by this judgment. This is indicated by the
fact that it is first mentioned in the inscription, and that in i. 6,
7, the judgment upon Samaria is, first of all, described; but
especially by the circumstance that Samaria, in i. 5, appears as the
chief seat of corruption for the whole people, whence it flowed upon
Judah also, i. 14, and particularly, vi. 16. We expect that where the
carcases first were, there the eagles would first be gathered together.
As the first, and principal instrument of the destructive judgment upon
Judah, Babylon is mentioned in iv. 10.
As the representative of the world's power, at the time then present,
Asshur appears in v. 4, 5. If destruction is to fall upon the kingdom
of the ten tribes _before_ it falls upon Judah--which is most
distinctly foretold by Hosea in i. 4-7--then, nothing was more obvious
than to think of Asshur as the instrument of the judgment. That to
which Micah, on this point, only alludes, is more fully expanded by
Isaiah.
Judah is delivered from Babylon, but without a restoration of the
kingdom, iv. 10, compared with ver. 14 (v. 1).
But a second catastrophe comes upon Judah, inasmuch as many heathens
gather themselves against Jerusalem, with the intention of desecrating
it, but yet in such a manner that, by the assistance of the Lord, it
comes forth victoriously from this severe attack, chap. iv. 11-13. Then
follows a third catastrophe, in which Judah becomes anew and totally
subject to the world's power, iv. 14 (v. 1).
From the deepest abasement, however, the Congregation of the Lord rises
to the highest glory, inasmuch as the dominion returns to the old
Davidic race, iv. 8. From the little Bethlehem, the native place of
David, where his race, sunk back again into [Pg 424] the lowliness of
private life, has resumed its seat, a new and glorious Ruler proceeds,
born, and at the same time eternal, and clothed with the fulness of the
glory of the Lord, v. 1, 3 (2, 4), by whom Jacob obtains truth, and
Abraham mercy, vii. 20, compared with John i. 17; by whom the
Congregation is placed in the centre of the world, and becomes the
object of the longing of all nations, iv. 1-3, delivered from the
servitude of the world, and conquering the world, v. 4, 5 (5, 6), vii.
11, 12; and at the same time lowly, and inspiring the nations with
fear, v. 6-8 (7-9). To such a height, however, she shall attain after,
by means of the judgment preceding the mercy, all that has been taken
from her upon which she in the present founded the hope of her
salvation, v. 9-14 (10-15).
Footnote 1: It must not, however, be overlooked, that there the term
"hear" is only a resumption of "hear" in iii. 1 (and, to a certain
extent, even of that in i. 2), intimating, that that which they are
about to hear, will concentrate itself in a distinct and powerful
expression,--the acme of the whole threatening in iii. 12.
Footnote 2: Besides the division into three sections, there is, to a
certain extent, a division also into two. By ואמר in iii. 1, the first
and second discourses, or the exordium and principal part, are brought
into a still closer connection,--a connection founded upon the
circumstance that the reproof and threatening of the first part are to
be here resumed, in order that thus a comprehensive representation may
be given. It is only in iii. 12 that the threatening reaches its
height. But yet the tripartition remains the prominent one. This cannot
be denied without forcing a false sense and a false position upon ii.
12, 13.
Footnote 3: The _Fut. apoc._ forbids us to translate: "He will hide."
In order to express his own delight in the doings of divine justice,
the prophet changes the prediction into a wish, just as is the case in
Is. ii. 9, where the greater number of interpreters assume, in
opposition to the rules of grammar, that אל stands for לא.
Footnote 4: Against the genuineness of the inscription, doubts have
been raised by many, after the example of _Hartmann_, and last of all
by _Ewald_ and _Hitzig_; but it is established by the striking
allusions to, and coincidences with it, in the text. With the mention
of Micah's name in the former, the allusion to this name in the _close_
of the book, in chap. vii. 18, corresponds. The circumstance of Micah
being called the Morasthite, accounts for the fact that, in this
threatening against the cities of Judah, in i. 14, it is Moresheth
alone which is mentioned. In the inscription, Samaria and Jerusalem
are pointed out as the objects of the prophet's predictions; and
it is in harmony with this, that in i. 6, 7, the judgment upon
Samaria is first described, and then the judgment upon Judah; that
the prophet--although, indeed, he has Judah chiefly in view--frequently
gives attention to the ten tribes also, and includes them,--as in the
promise in ii. 12, 13, v. 1 (2), where the Messiah appears as the Ruler
in Israel, and vers. 6, 7 (7, 8), of the same chapter; and that in iii.
8, 9, Judah is represented as a particular part only of the great
whole. _Finally_--It is peculiar to Micah, that he thus views so
specially the two _capitals_; and this again is in harmony with the
inscription, where just these, and not Israel and Judah, appear
as the subjects of the prophecy. It is in the capitals that Micah
beholds the concentration of the corruption (i. 5); and to them
the threatening also is chiefly addressed, i. 6, 7, iii. 12. Of
the promise, also, Jerusalem forms the centre.--The statement,
too, in the inscription--that Micah uttered the contents of his
book under various kings--likewise receives a confirmation from the
prophecy. The mention of the high places of Judah in i. 5, and of the
walking in the statutes of Omri, and in all the works of the house of
Ahab, refers especially to the time of Ahaz; compare 2 Kings xvi. 4; 2
Chron. xxviii. 4, 25; further, 2 Kings xvi. 3; 2 Chron. xxviii. 2; and
_Caspari_ on Micah, S. 74. On the other hand, the time of Hezekiah is
suggested by v. 4, 6 (5, 6), which implies that already, at that time,
Asshur had appeared as the enemy of the people of God,--and so likewise
by the prophecy in iv. 9-14.