Micah 3: Edit history

Chapters 1–3 of Micah form the book's first section, which pronounces judgment, and chapter 3 concludes that section. Micah 2 closes with a promise that God will gather the remnant, but chapter 3 opens with "And I said" and returns to the indictment of the leaders.

Outline

• Verses 1–4: The heads of Jacob and the princes (rulers) of Israel know justice, yet they hate the good and love the evil. Micah charges them with tearing the skin from the people and the flesh from their bones, treating them like meat in a cauldron. He says that when they cry out, the LORD will hide His face from them and will not answer.
• Verses 5–7: Micah rebukes the prophets who cry "Peace" when they are given something to eat but prepare war against anyone who gives them nothing. Night and darkness will come upon them so that they see no vision, and the seers and diviners will be put to shame because there is no answer from God.
• Verse 8: Micah says that he is filled with power, judgment, and might by the Spirit of the LORD, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
• Verses 9–12: The leaders build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads judge for reward, the priests teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money. Yet they say, "Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us." Micah declares that for this reason Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house will become like the high places of the forest.

Key Verses

• Micah 3:8: "But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might" — This verse reveals the true prophet's understanding of himself, in contrast to the prophets who change their message according to payment.
• Micah 3:11: "Is not the LORD among us?" — This exposes a false confidence that treats God's presence as a guarantee of safety even while practicing injustice.
• Micah 3:12: "Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field" — This prophecy is quoted again in Jeremiah 26 (verse 18).

People and Places

• Micah: The prophet of this book and the speaker who indicts the leaders for their sins.
• Heads and princes: The rulers and judicial leadership of Israel and Judah.
• Prophets, priests, seers, and diviners: Religious leaders criticized for prophesying and teaching for payment.
• Zion and Jerusalem: The city upon which judgment is pronounced. "The mountain of the house" refers to the mount on which the Temple in Jerusalem stood.

Points for Reflection

• In Jeremiah 26:18–19, the elders recall that Micah delivered this prophecy (3:12) in the days of Hezekiah. They say that because Hezekiah feared the LORD, the disaster did not come at that time. This passage is regarded as a rare instance within the Old Testament of a prophetic book being quoted directly. Many commentators hold that the prophecy was later fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon.
• Immediately after the declaration of destruction in chapter 3, Micah 4 presents a vision of restoration in which the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established on high. For this reason the two chapters are often read together.
• In the New Testament, the scene in which Jesus foretells the destruction of the Temple (Mark 13:2) and the promise of receiving power through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) are sometimes compared with the themes of this chapter. These are, however, thematic connections; the New Testament does not directly quote this chapter.