The word of the Lord that
came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah,
kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

 

In verse 1 we learn the
identity of this prophet, the source of his prophecy, when he prophesied, how
we obtained this message and the recipients of his message. The prophet was
Micah.  The source of his prophecy was “the
word of the Lord”.  He prophesied during reigns of Judah’s kings
in the years 750 B.C. – 686 B.C. (the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah).  This message from the Lord
was revealed to Micah and he received it and passed it along.  The recipients were Samaria, the capital of
the northern kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem, the capital of the southern
kingdom of Judah.  By addressing this
message to the capitals, it was addressing all the people these capitals
represented: the collective people of God.

 

The message of Micah is one
of God’s disgust and hatred of the sin of His people (and, by extension, all
humanity’s sin) but also His assurance to liberate the repentant and the Lord’s
desire to save.  The message of Micah as
we have it is the collection of his prophetic speeches.  Micah has the unpleasant task of telling the
Lord’s people God’s patience is wearing thin and their punishment is
nearing.  Nevertheless, after the Lord’s
judgment on them a future would emerge that would be bright, clear, and filled with
blessing.

 

There is much to learn from
the prophecies of Micah.  The Lord still
demands holiness from His people and His punishment still will find us for our
disobedience.  Through the study of this
book, however, we will be reminded again of the incredible grace of our Lord.