Micah (VII)

VII. MICAH, the Morasthite, or of Moresa, a Village near the City Eleutheropolis, in the Southern Part of Judah, is the seventh in Order of the twelve lesser Prophets. He prophesied under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, Kings of Judah, for about fifty Years¹. Some² have confounded him with Micaiah Son of Imlah, but very improperly, who lived in the Kingdom of the ten Tribes, under the Reign of Ahab. The spurious Dorotheus says, that Micah was buried in the burying Place of of the Anakim, whose Habitation had been at Hebron, and round about it. This Prophet appeared almost at the same Time as Isaiah, and has even borrowed some Expressions from him; as may appear by comparing Isaiah ii. 2. with Micah iv. 1. and Isaiah xli. 15, with Micah iv. 13.

The Prophecy of Micah contains but seven Chapters. He first foretels the Calamities of Samaria, which was taken by Salmanassar, and reduced to a Heap of Mic. i. 6, 7. Mic. i. 9,Stones. Afterwards he prophesies against Judah, and declares the Troubles that Sennacherib should bring upon it, under the Reign of Hezekiah. Then he exclaims against the Iniquities of Samaria, he foretels the Captivity of the ten Tribes, and their Return again into their Countrey. The Mic. ii. 1, 2, &c. 15.third Chapter contains a pathetic Invective against the Princes of the House of Jacob, and the Judges of the House of Israel; which in my Opinion is levelled against the Chief of the Kingdom of Judah, the Judges, the Magistrates, the Priests, the false Prophets, &c. He upbraids them with their Avarice, their Injustice and Falshood, and tells them they will be the Occasion that Jerusalem shall be reduced to a Heap of Rubbish, and the Mountain of the Temple shall be as a Forest. We are informed by JeremiahJerem. xxvi. 18, 19, &c., that this Prophecy was pronounced in the Time of Hezekiah, and that in the Days of Joachim it protected Jeremiah from Death, as was intended, for having prophesied much the same Things as Micah against Jerusalem.

After these terrible Denunciations, Micah speaks of the Reign of the Messiah, and of the Establishment of the Christian Mic. iv. 1, &c.Church. And as the peaceable Times which succeeded the Return from the Babylonish Captivity, and which was a Figure of the Reign of the Messiah, were disturbed by a Tempest of a short Continuance; Micah foretold it in such a Manner, as agrees very well with what Ezekiel says, of the War of Exek. xxxviii. xxxix.Gog against the Saints; and which we think to have Relation to the Reign of Cambyses, or the War of Holofernes. Micah speaks in Particular of the Birth of the Messiah, that he was to be born at Bethlehem, and that his Mic. v. 2, 3, &c.Dominion was to extend to the utmost Parts of the Earth. He says that God should raise seven Shepherds, who should reign by the Sword over Assyria, and in the Land of Nimrod, which we explain of Darius, Son of Hystaspes, and of the seven Confederates that killed the Magian, and who possessed the Empire of the Persians, after the Extinction of the Family of Cyrus. The fifth Chapter, from Verse 7 to the End, describes the flourishing Estate of the Jews in their own Countrey, from the Reign of Darius, and after the Maccabees: Yet in such a Manner, as that he mingles several Touches in it, that can agree only to the Church of Jesus Christ.

The two last Chapters of Micah contain first a long Invective against the Iniquities of Samaria; then he foretels the Fall of Babylon, the Re-establishment of the Cities of Israel, the Greatness of the Countrey possessed by the Israelites, their Happiness, the Graces wherewith God will favour them; and all this in such lofty Terms, that they chiefly agree with the State of the Christian Church. St. Jerome³ says, that Micah was buried at Morasthi; and Sozomenes⁴ says, that his Tomb was revealed to Zebennus Bishop of Eleutheropolis, under the Reign of Theodosius the Great. He calls the Place of his Burial Beretsate, which is probably the same as Morasthi, ten Furlongs from Eleutheropolis. The Author of the Life and Death of the Prophets, printed under the Name of Epiphanius, pretends that Micah was thrown headlong, and put to Death by Jehoram, Son of Ahab, because he could not bear that Freedom he made Use of, in reproaching him with his Vices. But we have already observed, that this Author, as also several others, has confounded Micah the Morasthite, with Micaiah Son of Imlah.

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