activity. In either case he is contemporary with Isaiah, and with the latter portion of the ministry of Amos and Hosea. We have a testimony concerning his date in Jer. xxvi. 18, where certain elders of the land appeal to the case of Micah as one who asserted unpopular trnths in the time of Hezekiah, without incurring the charge of blasphemy. "Micah the Morasthite," said they, " prophesied in the days of Hezekiah King of J adah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be ploughed like a field," etc., quoting eh. iii. 12. But this assertion need not be taken as necessarily restricting all his utterances to Hezekiah's reign. The elders had a. traditional report that his prophecies originated in that period; "He was habitually prophesying," is their expression ; but that no part of the collection was published before that time cannot be proved by this particular reference. It seems probable that the various prophecies, orally delivered on different occasions, were committed to writing and gathered into one volume in the earlier years of King Hezekiah. There really is no sufficient reason for doubting the accuracy of the superscription. The contents of the book a.re quite consistent with what we know of the eondition of the Jewish people in the reigns enumerated. The mention of "the high places " still existing, and the corruption and demoralization of the people (eh. i. 5; ii.), points to the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz as the period when the first section of the book was originally delivered (see 2 Kings xv. 85; xvi. 4; 2 Chron. xxviii. 4, 25). The prophecy of the destruction of Samaria (eh. i. 6) must have been delivered before the final capture of that city by the Assyrians, B.C. 722, in the fourth or sixth year of Hezekiah. Other allusions serve to supply an approximation to the date of different portions of the prophecy. We have seen that eh. iii. was nttered in Hezekiah's day. In eh. v. 10 Micah declaims against the chariots and horses of Judah, which were doubtless accumulated during the prosperous Teign of Uzziah, and on which his successorJotham prided himself (2 Chron. xxvi. 11-15; xxvii. 4-6; Isa. ii. 7). When he bitterly complains of "the -statutes of Omri," and" the works of the house of Ahab" (eh. vi. 16), he is denouncing the king who is expressly stated to have "walked in the ways -of the kings of Israel" (2 Kings xvi. 3). It is more likely to have been in Ahaz's time:than in J otham's that idolatrous rites were'.practised in Jerusalem itself ; for the latter is commended because he walked in the steps of his father U zziah, and "ordered his ways before the Lord his God " (2 Kings xv. 84; 2 Chron. xxvii. 2, 6); and the allusion to human sacrifice ( eh. vi. 7) •befits the time of Ahaz, who sacrificed his own sons to Maloch (2 Kings xvi. ,3 ; 2 Ohron. xxviii. 3), and whose example was probably followed by others. That half-service, too, of which Micah complains (eh. iii. 11; vi. 6), when the people, in the midst of their idolatry and wickedness, yet in some sort "leaned upon the Lord," exactly suits the character of Ahaz, who, though he copied heathen altars, resorted to the brazen altar to inquire of the Lord (2 Kinga xvi. 15), and offered thereon the lawful sacri6ce. The prophecy .~f the destruction of Jerusalem, delivered first under Jotham, was repeated T1 INTRODUCTION TO
under Hezekiab, and it is to its impressive effect at that time that the elderi, in Jeremiah allude. Doubtless, too, in those early years of Hezekiah hi& ministry came to an end. The denunciations of idolatry would not have been uttered after the .great, though partial, reformation of religion, which,. indeed, could not have been fully carried out till Samaria was destroyed; fo1· otherwise Hezel-iah's messengers would not have been able unhindered to invite all Israel to join in the celebration of the Passover (Pusey). Of the- parallel pe.ssages, eh. iv. 1-5 and Isa. ii. 2-5, it has been much debated: which is the original and which the copy; but there seems to be no valid reason for supposing that Micah received the words from Isaiah; and as th& pa.ssage in the former book occurs in close connection and contrast with what immediately precedes, while in Isaiah the connection is not obvious,: most critics believe that the words were originally delivered by Micah; or- it may be, as Ewald and others suggest, that both prophets adapted to their- own purposes an older prophecy current in their days. That there is a. close connection between Isaiah and Micah is obvious. It may be that the two prophets addressed different classes of the populace-Isaiah delivering hie messages to the higher, Micah to the lower, with which by descent hie sympathies were closely connected ; but they worked harmoniously together, strengthening the hands of Hezekiah, and confirming the faithful in their difficult course of obedience and trust. Some critics have attributed eh. vi. and vii. to another hand and a. later- date. Certainly they do not suit the time of Hezekiah; but they may have been composed earlier, under other circumstances, and placed where they are now found, not as fitting their present position chronologically, but as aiding the rhetorical arrangement of the book, enforcing the previous menaces and confirming the promised triumph. Other passages, th& genuineness of which is disputed, will be noticed in the Exposition. § IV. GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE WORK.
The style of the Book of Micah is remarkable. It is rough, as befitting- its peasant author, but it is certainly not uncultivated ; rugged, perhaps,. but pure, clear, and intelligible. It abounds in tropee,'.figures, paronomasias. It contains sudden transitions of subjects, persons, numbers, genders,- which denote in the writer a quick temper and an excitable mind, carried away by inward impulse, and restrained by no formal rules of composition. Micah is at times bold, severe; stern, uncompromising; at times tender,. sorrowful, loving, sympathetic. In him mercy rejoices against judgment. Brief and concise in his description of misery, he dilates with exuberanca on the blessings that are to follow the day of darkness. He delights in comparing God's tenderness and regard for his people with a shepherd's care for his flock. Those who should head the resistance to the great world-power are" seven shepherds" (eh. v. 5). His last prayer to God is, "Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage" (eh. vii. 14). He does not so much preach repentance as set forth God's dealings to. THE BOOK OF MIOAH. vii