The Bible Book

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to you? How have I burdened you?”

(6:3). He reminds them how He

brought them out of Egypt and

into the Promised Land.

The people do not know how to

respond. Should they come before

the Lord with extravagant ritual

sacrifices: burnt offerings, calves a

year old, thousands of rams, whole

rivers of olive oil? They even go as

far as to suggest child sacrifice

as a means of regaining God’s

favor. Nothing could be farther

from God’s mind, however. “He has

showed you, O man, what is good,”

Micah announces. The answer

is simple: to “act justly and to love

mercy and to walk humbly with

your God” (Micah 6:8). Sincere

internal repentance reaches God,

not empty external displays.

Scholarly interpretation

The Book of Micah is not confined

to the words of the prophet alone.

For the ancient Israelites, prophecy

was for all time. The words of a

prophet would be reflected upon,

edited, reinterpreted, and added to

over generations in the light of time

and unfolding circumstances. Key

later events that affected the text of

Micah were the fall of Jerusalem to

the Babylonians in 587–586 bce, the

Jews’ subsequent exile in Babylon,

and their return from exile 50 years

after the fall of the capital. It is thus

impossible to fully disentangle

Micah’s original prophecies from

later editing and additions.

Generally, however, it seems

that the messages of doom are

Micah’s. Many, but not all, of the

messages of hope were added later.

The experience of divine mercy in

the return from exile did not detract

from the prophet’s original stern

WISDOM AND PROPHETS

message, but provided it with

a setting. Judgment leading to a

change of heart and repentance

came to be seen as evidence of

God’s love for His people. The final

verses of Micah, almost certainly a

later addition, show this: “You will

again have compassion on us; you

will tread our sins underfoot and

hurl all our iniquities into the ...

sea. You will be faithful to Jacob,

and show love to Abraham, as you

pledged on oath to our ancestors

in days long ago” (7:19–20). ■

The Bethlehem

prophecy

Micah prophesies that the Messiah

will be born in Bethlehem. But

after Jesus’s birth, wise men, or

magi, arrive in Jerusalem from

the east asking for “the one who

has been born king of the Jews.”

They have seen his star and come

to worship him. Puzzled, Jewish

priests and scholars inform them

that, according to prophecy,

Israel’s expected savior will

be born in Bethlehem.

The magi head to Bethlehem,

where they find the baby Jesus

and his parents. While it may have

been elaborated after Micah’s

time (during the Babylonian exile

or later), the prophecy was

part of a growing expectation

among the Jews that a new

ruler would emerge to restore

the nation’s greatness. In the

Micah prophecy, he would be

a true shepherd under whom

Israel would live peacefully.

Bethlehem was significant.

It was King David’s birthplace,

suggesting a new ruler from the

same royal line, and it was small

and rural. For Micah and the

tradition he represented, that

was important. Like David, the

new ruler would be from the

fringes, not the center of society.

Who is a God like you,

who pardons sin and

forgives the transgression

of the remnant of his

inheritance? You do not

stay angry for ever but

delight to show mercy.

Micah 7:18

Your rich people are violent;

your inhabitants are

liars and their tongues

speak deceitfully.

Therefore, I have begun

to destroy you, to ruin

you because of your sins.

Micah 6:12–13

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