Micah

Micah - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

A shortened form of Micaiah, who is like Jehovah? (1.) A man of Mount Ephraim, whose history so far is introduced in Judg. 17, apparently for the purpose of leading to an account of the settlement of the tribe of Dan in Northern Palestine, and for the purpose also of illustrating the lawlessness of the times in which he lived (Judg. 18; 19:1-29; 21:25).

(2.) The son of Merib-baal (Mephibosheth), 1 Chr. 8:34, 35.

(3.) The first in rank of the priests of the family of Kohathites (1 Chr. 23:20).

(4.) A descendant of Joel the Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:5).

(5.) "The Morasthite," so called to distinguish him from Micaiah, the son of Imlah (1 Kings 22:8). He was a prophet of Judah, a contemporary of Isaiah (Micah 1:1), a native of Moresheth of Gath (1:14, 15). Very little is known of the circumstances of his life (comp. Jer. 26:18, 19).

1. An Israelite whose familiar story is preserved in the 17th and 18th chapters of Judges. Micah is evidently a devout believers in Jehovah, and yet so completely ignorant is he of the law of Jehovah that the mode which he adopts of honoring him is to make a molten and graven image, teraphim or images of domestic gods, and to set up an unauthorized priesthood, first in his own family, (Judges 17:5) and then in the person of a Levite not of the priestly line. ver. (Judges 17:12) A body of 600 Danites break in upon and steal his idols from him.
2. The sixth in order of the minor prophets. He is called the Morasthite, that is, a native of Moresheth, a small village near Eleutheropolis to the east, where formerly the prophet’s tomb was shown, though in the days of Jerome it had been succeeded by a church. Micah exercised the prophetical office during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, giving thus a maximum limit of 59 years, B.C. 756-697, from the accession of Jotham to the death of Hezekiah, and a minimum limit of 16 years, B.C. 742-726, from the death of Jotham to the accession of Hezekiah. He was contemporary with Hosea and Amos during the part of their ministry in Israel, and with Isaiah in Judah.
3. A descendant of Joel the Reubenite. (1 Chronicles 5:5)
4. The son of Meribbaal or Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. (1 Chronicles 8:34,35; 9:40,41)
5. A Kohathite levite, the eldest son of Uzziel the brother of Amram. (1 Chronicles 23:30)
6. The father of Abdon, a man of high station in the reign of Josiah. (2 Chronicles 34:20)

Definition

Micah was a prophet of Judah around 700 years before Christ, when the prophet Isaiah was also ministering to Judah. Another man named Micah lived during the time of the judges.

• The book of Micah is near the end of the Old Testament.
• Micah prophesied about the destruction of Samaria by the Assyrians.
• Micah rebuked the people of Judah for disobeying God and warned them that their enemies would attack them.
• His prophecy ends with a message of hope in God, who is faithful and saves his people.
• In the book of Judges, the story is told of a man named Micah living in Ephraim who made an idol out of silver. A young Levite priest who came to live with him stole the idol and other things, and took off with a group of Danites. Eventually the Danites and the priest settled in the city of Laish and they set up that same silver idol to worship.

(Translation suggestions: Translate Names)

(See also: Assyria, Dan, Ephraim, false god, Isaiah, Judah, judge, Levite, priest, prophet, Samaria, silver)

Bible References

• Jeremiah 26:18-19
• Micah 1:1
• Micah 6:2

Word Data

• Strong’s: H4318