RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mezzoi'anti Michaelis
thing except chaps, i.-iii. proceed from Micah the Morasthite. These, with the possible exception of ii. 12, 13, which have no obvious relation to the context, and contain an indefinite and unmotived promise of a return from exile, are an important supplement to the genuine discourses of Isa. i.-v., and are especially interesting as showing the bitter feeling of a small landholder in a country village arising from the treatment of the poorer classes by the rapacious nobles and office-holders of the capital. The natural climax of the prophecy, iii. 12, is quoted as a memorable saying a century later (Jer. xxvi. 18).
The remainder of the book as we now have it is apparently composed of several unclassified discourses or fragments of discourses of dates later than Micah. Chap. iv. describes a great deliverance and restoration of Israel after it has been punished for its sins with exile and disintegration, and chap. v. announces the deliverer as a descendant of the princely house of David and a native of Bethlehem, and pictures the results of the reclamation as a triumph over the national enemies followed by the abolition of all forms of idolatry. These two chapters, which form a unit, were presumably written under the influence of Isa. vii. 14 sqq., and are perhaps exilic (see the reference to Babylon in iv. 10). Chap. vi. 1-vii. 6 was composed by a great prophet living in Jerusalem, presumably in the earlier days of Manasseh. Of chap, vii. 7-20 it can only be said that it is a cento of unconnected fragments which give no clue to the time or circumstances of their author or authors. They are, if possible, still less relevant to the conditions of Micah's time than are the three preceding chapters.
For the reason that the several divisions of the book differ greatly in subject-matter, style, and outlook, it is not possible to describe it in any terms that will apply to the collection as a whole. Of most significance and permanent value are chaps, iii. and vi., the latter being especially memorable as containing the classical definition of the religion of Yahweh (verse 8). J. F. McCuedy.
Bibliography: The most thorough investigation is B. Ryssel, Untersuchungen uber die Textgestalt und die Echtheit des Buches Micha, Leipsic, 1887. Still valuable are the older commentaries by E. Pocock, Oxford, 1677; C. W. Justi, Leipsic, 1799, and A. T. Hartmann, Lemgo, 1800. More recent works are by C. P. Caspari, 2 parts, Christiania, 1851-52 (elaborate); E. B. Pusey, Oxford, 1862; C. F. Keil, Eng. transl., Edinburgh, 1868; T. Roorda, Leyden, 1869; L. Reinke, Giessen, 1874; P. Kleinert, in Lange, Eng. transl., New York, 1875; S. Clark, in Bible Commentary, London, 1876; T. K. Cheyne, in Cambridge Bible, Cambridge, 1887; H. J. Elhorst, Arnheim, 1891; C. von Orelli, Eng. transl., The Twelve Minor Prophets, New York, 1893; J. Wellhausen, Kleinen Propheten, Berlin, 1893; G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve, in Expositor's Commentary, London, 1896; J. T. Beck, Giitersloh, 1898; W. Nowack, in Handkommentar, Gottingen, 1903; M. L. Margolis, Philadelphia, 1908-09.
On questions of introduction consult: B. Stade, in ZATW. i (1881), 161 sqq.; W. Nowack, in ZATW, iv (1884), 288-290; J. Taylor, The Massoretic Text and the Ancient Versions of . . Micah, London, 1891; W. H. Kosters, in ThT, 1893, pp. 249 sqq.; V. Ermoni, in F. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, part xxv., pp. 1064- 1067, Paris, 1905; Smith, Prophets, pp. 287 sqq.; DB, iii. 358-360; EB, iii. 3067-74; JE, viii. 533-535; the pertinent sections in the works on introduction to the Old Testament, particularly those by Driver, Cornill,
W. Baudissin (Einleitung in die Bucher des Alten Testamentes, Leipsic, 1901), and Wellhausen, in Bleek (Einleitung in das Alte Testament, Berlin, 1886).
MICHAEL: One of the four (or seven) archangels of Jewish post-exilic angelology. His name occurs in the Bible only in Dan. x. 13, 21, xii. 1; Jude 9; Rev. xii. 7. The conception in Daniel is that of the guardian angel of Israel (see Angel, II., §§ 1-2), with which the New-Testament passages accord. The passage in Jude is a quotation from the Ascension of Moses (see Pseudepigeapha, Old Testament, III., 6). In the pseudepigraphic literature Michael's figure looms large, and he often appears as the first of the archangels. In rabbinical writings his part is still further expanded. From Judaism he passed over into the Christian Church as the guardian angel of all Christians, and is celebrated in the Roman calendar on Sept. 29 (see Michaelmas), and in the Greek on Nov. 9. Two military orders took his name — the French order founded in 1469 by Louis XL, and the Bavarian order founded in 1721 by Elector Joseph Clemens of Cologne — as did a number of congregations. A song said to have been sung by Michael and the good angels in triumph over Lucifer and the fallen angels and revealed to St. Amadeus is given in J. A. Fabricius, Codex pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti, i. 26-27 (Hamburg, 1723), and a partial translation is in S. Baring-Gould, Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 16 (New York, 1872).
Bibliography: A. Kohut, Judische Angelologie, Leipsic, 1866; W. Lueken, Michael, Gottingen, 1898; F. J. Peters, St. Michael und seine Verehrung, Cologne, 1902; A. Butler, Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Saints, Sept. 29, vol. ii., London, 1860.
MICHAEL, EMIL THEODOR RICHARD: Aus^ trian Roman Catholic; b. at Reichenbach (32 m. s.w. of Breslau), Prussian Silesia, Sept. 20, 1852. He was admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1874 and was educated at the universities of Innsbruck and Breslau (Ph.D., 1884; D.D., 1888). In 1888 he became privat-docent for church history at the former institution, and three years later he was appointed associate professor of the same subject, being promoted to the rank of full professor in 1895. Since 1906 he has been professor of Christian art at Innsbruck. In addition to numerous contributions to theological periodicals, he has written Salimbene und seine Chronik (Innsbruck, 1889); Rarikes Weltgeschichte, eine kritische Studie (Paderborn, 1890); Ignaz von Dbllinger (Innsbruck, 1892); Geschichte des deutschen Volkes (4 vols., Freiburg, 1897-1906); and Kritik und Antikritik in Sachen meiner Geschichte des deutschen Volkes (2 parts, 1899-1902).
MICHAELIS: A family of German Lutheran exegetes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
1. Johann Heinrich: b. at Klettenberg (20 m. s.w. of Blankenburg), Brunswick, July 26, 1668; d. at Halle Mar. 10, 1738. Educated in thee logy, philosophy, and orientalia at Frankfort-on- Che-Oder, he began to lecture in Halle in 1698, becoming successively associate professor of oriental languages (1699), full professor in the theological faculty (1709), and senior and inspector of the theological seminary (1732). He was important primarily
Michaelis Middleton