Micah

MICAH (Hebr. Miykayah, " Who is like Yahweh? ") : The prophet whose book is sixth among the Minor Prophets. From his home in Moreshethgath (i. 14) he is called the Morasthite (i. 1) and is so distinguished (e.g., Jer. xxvi. 18) from other men of the name, notably from Micah, son of Imlah (I Kings xxii. 8). He belonged to the southern kingdom, where he exercised his office (Jar. xxvi. 18), though the range of his prophecies covered Samaria. The superscription (i. 1) places his sotivity in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, all kings of Judah. This fact bas been questioned, and the attempt made to date his work wholly under Hezekiah. But chaps. i.-iii. echo the period of Ahaz, and if iv. 1-5 (cf. Iaa. ii. 2-5) is original with Micah, he may be placed also under Jotham. But his greatest activity is to be placed under Hezekiah.

Chap. f. deals with the imminent judgment of God first on Israel (Samaria) and then on Judah; chaps. ii.-iii. lay the blame upon the sins of the upper classes, including the false prophets; in chapsiv.-v., in which the high point of Micah's oracles is reached, the author has alternately in view an immediate and a remoter future of Judah, in which it is to be wasted by Babylon and Assyria and then restored (these alternations have led to much discussion concerning the date and genuineness of the prophecies here collected); chaps. vi.-vii. start from a new point of view, since in them the guilt of the whole people is discussed. In these last chapters the literary form of dialogue appears, in which Yahweh, the people, and the prophet are the speakers; Yahweh states his ground of action against his people (vi. 1-5) and is answered with contrition by the people (vi. 6-7), to whom the prophet replies (vi. 8); Yahweh denounces the sins of the capital (vi. 9-16); vii. 1-13 is a dialogue botween prophet and people; vii. 15 is Yahweh's encouragement continued by the prophet in verses 16-20.

The genuineness of parts of the book of Micah has been violently assailed. Thus the presence of ii. 12-13 has been justified by some only as the (quoted) words of a lying prophet like the one implied in verse 11, in which ease a connection between verses 11-12 is made by supposing a suppressed "saying" at the end of verse 11. But it is best understood as a genuine promise of restoration following the denunciation which had just been pronounced. Stade makes iv. 1-4, 11-14, v. 1-3, 6-14 exilic and iv. 5-10, v. 4-5 still later interpolations, and sees in them inconsistencies and differences of standpoint. Ryasel combats this view, assigns the whole to Micah or at least to the time of Hezekiah, and regards it as in vital connection with chaps. i.-iii. The difficulty arose in the mention of Babylon as the place of exile (iv. 10) in a time when Assyria was the world power and Nineveh the world capital. The solution is to be found in the great significance and importance of Babylon, even in the Assyrian period, as the historic seat of world empire (Gen. x. 10-11) and so essentially and typically antagonistic to the city of God. Similarly, from the time of Ewald, the genuineness of chaps. vi.-vii. has been assailed. Ewald dated them in Manasseh's time; Welihausen and Stade followed him in so.dating vi. 1-vii. 6, putting vii. 7-20 in the exile; Cornill sees in vii. 7 sqq. references to the second temple; and other scholars take positions essentially in agreement with these. But when it is noted that in vii. 7-20 the exile lies still in the future and that between this pait and chaps. L-v: there are numerous coincidences and points of contact, the conclusion will follow that this part has the same author as the rest of the book. The impression the book makes is that of a unit, with fuller reports of the deliverances in chaps. i.-ii., more condensed and fragmentary reports in the other chapters.

Chap. vi. has a special interest in that the scheme of history which it assumes as that known by those to whom it is addressed is that found in Numbers and Joshua, showing that at least the writing of J lay before the prophet. Another point of interest in this chapter has to do with Micah's position as to sacrifice (vi. 6-8). Some have inferred that Micah did not regard sacrifice as demanded by the divine law. But the words of the prophet necea. sarily imply sacrifice as a legal requirement, which is met by the people, however, in a formal manner which deprives it of its quality as a God-pleasing service.

The language is purely classical. In point of rhetorical peculiarity, Micah stands between his contemporaries, Hosea and Isaiah, but nearer to the latter than the former; for although, like the former, he is abrupt, abounding in sudden and quick changes, in depth of spirituality he is the worthy companion of Isaiah, sharing with him a mingling of mildness and strength, of gentleness and elevation, together with great vigor and an artistic turn of expression.

(W. Volck†.)

Of the prophecies placed under the name of Micah in the Hebrew test it is not certain that any-

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thing except chaps. i.-iii. proceed from Micah the Morasthite. These, with the possible exception of ii. 12, 13, which have no obvious relation to the context, and contain an indefinite and unmotived promise of a return from exile, are an important supplement to the genuine discourses of Isa. i.-v., and are especially interesting as showing the bitter feeling of a small landholder in a country village arising from the treatment of the poorer classes by the rapacious nobles and office-holders of the capital. The natural climax of the prophecy, iii. 12, is quoted as a memorable saying a century later (Jer. xxvi. 18).

The remainder of the book as we now have it is apparently composed of several unclassified discourses or fragments of discourses of dates later than Micah. Chap. iv. describes a great deliverance and restoration of Israel after it has been punished for its sins with exile and disintegration, and chap. v. announces the deliverer as a descendant of the princely house of David and a native of Bethlehem, and pictures the results of the reclamation as a triumph over the national enemies followed by the abolition of all forms of idolatry. These two chapters, which form a unit, were presumably written under the influence of Isa. vii. 14 sqq., and are perhaps exilic (see the reference to Babylon in iv. 10). Chap. vi. 1-vii. 6 was composed by a great prophet living in Jerusalem, presumably in the earlier days of Manasseh. Of chap. vii. 7-20 it can only be said that it is a cento of unconnected fragments which give no clue to the time or circumstances of their author or authors. They are, if possible, still less relevant to the conditions of Micah's time than are the three preceding chapters.

For the reason that the several divisions of the book differ greatly in subject-matter, style, and out look, it is not possible to describe it in any terms that will apply to the collection as a whole. Of most significance and permanent value are chaps. iii. and vi., the latter being especially memorable as containing the classical definition of the religion of Yahweh (verse 8).

J. F. McCurdy.

Bibliography: The most thorough investigation is B. Ryssel, Untersuchungen über die Textpesta# und die Echh heit des Buches Micha, Leipsic, 1887. Still valuable axe the older commentaries by E. Pocock, Oxford, 1677; C. W. Justi, Leipsic, 1799, and A. T. Hartmann, Lemgo, 1800. More recent works are by C. P. Caspari, 2 parts, Christiania, 1851-52 (elaborate); E. B. Pussy, Oxford, 1862; C. . Keil, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1868; T. Roorda, Leyden, 1869; L. Reinke, Giessen, 1874; P. Kleinert, in Lange, Eng. transl, New York, 1875; S. Clark, in Bible Commentary, London 1876; T. . Cheyne, m Cambridge Bible, Cambridge, 1887; H. J. Elhorst, Am-' 1891; C. won Orelli, Eng. transl., The Twelve Minor

Prophets, New York, 1893; J. Wellhausen, Kleinen Propheten, Berlin, 1893; G. A_ Smith, The Book of the Twelve, in Expositor's Commentary, London, 1896; J. T. Beek, Gütersloh 1898; W. Nowack, in Handkommentar, Göttingen, 1903; M. L. Margolis, Philadelphia, 1908-09.

On questions of introduction consult: B. Stade in ZATW, i (1881), 161 sqq.; W. Nowack, in ZATW, iv (1884), 288-290; J. Taylor, The Maasoretic Text arid the Ancient Versions of . . Micah, London, 1891; W. H. Kosters, in ThT, 1893, pp. 249 sqq.; V. Ermoni, in F. Vigourous, Dictionnaire de la Bible, part xxv., pp. 1064 1067, Paris, 1905; Smith Prophets pp. 287 sqq; D B, iii. 358-360; EB, iii. 3067-74; JR, viii. 533-535; the pertinent sections in the works on introduction to the Old Testament, particularly those by Driver, Cornill,

W. Baudissin (Einkitung in die Bacher des Allen Testament", Leipsic, 1901), and Wellhaueen in Bleek (Eirr leatung in has Alts Testament, Berlin, 1886).