The Cost of Prophetic Preaching (26:1-24) 295
the time of J. Jeremias (1933: 51-53) with Tell Judeideh, a site in the Shephe-
lah about 10 kilometers northeast of Lachish and 40 kilometers southwest of
Jerusalem. The site was excavated briefly in 1899-1900 by F. J. Bliss and R. A.
Macalister for the British Palestine Exploration Fund, at which time Iron II re-
mains were found (ABD 4: 904; NEAEHL 3: 837-38).
was prophesying. Hebrew haya nibba>. The LXX lacks the participle, trans-
lating only haya with en ("he lived"); Aq and Symm have "he prophesied."
Zion shall be plowed a field, and Jerusalem shall become stone heaps; And the
mountain of the House high places of a forest. See Mic 3:12. A later Psalm
(79: 1) laments that Jerusalem did in fact become "stone heaps" (<fyyfm), which
is how ruined cities looked. The "mountain of the House" is the Temple
Mount, which Micah said will be "high places" (bam6t) overgrown with trees.
There is irony in his use of "high places," for it implies a return to worship sites
that are no longer worship sites. Andersen and Freedman (2000: 385) point out
that "high places" plural balances "stone heaps" plural, which means we are
not to envision high elevations in Jerusalem's natural terrain but high places
made from heaps of ruins. The LXX has alsos drumou, "a wooded grove."
- Did Hezekiah, king ofludah, and all Judah indeed put him to death? Did
he not fear Yahweh and soften the face ofYahweh? The LXX, S, and Vg predicate
"Hezekiah" and "all Judah" with a singular verb and then follow with two plu-
ral verbs. The difference in this reading is that both the king and the nation are
said to have feared Yahweh and supplicated him, whereas in the Hebrew only
Hezekiah fears and supplicates. The speech of the elders reaches a climax with
rhetorical questions, which have even greater force than strongly worded asser-
tions. We have no independent tradition informing us about Hezekiah's treat-
ment of Micah, but we can assume that this king did not put him to death. Did
Hezekiah as a result of Micah's preaching "soften the face of Yahweh," an
anthropomorphism meaning "make supplication"? We do not know. What we
do know is that Hezekiah supplicated Yahweh when Sennacherib threatened
Jerusalem (2 Kgs 19:14-19; cf. Isa 37:14-20) and that he prayed again to Yah-
weh when he himself took sick and was told by Isaiah that he would die (2 Kgs
20: 1-3). This latter incident, as reported in 2 Chr 32:26, is cited by KimJ:ii as an
example of Hezekiah's humbling himself. And from 2 Kgs 18:3-6 we learn that
Hezekiah did institute certain religious reforms, which could have been in re-
sponse to Micah's preaching.
and soften the face of Yahweh. Hebrew wayebal )et-pene yhwh. This stark an-
thropomorphism (Peake; Cornill) means to mollify, appease, or supplicate
Yahweh (2 Kgs 13:4; Ps 119:58; Zech 7:2; 8:21-22; Mal 1:9; cf. blh Piel). Rashi
says it is an expression for prayer; Calvin the same.
And did not Yahweh repent of the evil that he spoke against them? Jeremiah
said the same would happen now if the people changed their ways ( v 13).
And we are doing great evil against ourselves! The elders confirm the verdict,
recognizing that by condemning Jeremiah they would, in fact, be condemning
themselves. The biblical expression is bringing "blood upon one's own head"
