Dark times prevail, spiritually speaking, when God’s people allow themselves to become distracted and preoccupied with economic prosperity and political maneuvering. Goals and priorities become increasingly temporal in nature—tied to this present life and all the circumstantial trappings of it. Mix in military threats from surrounding enemies, and God’s people can be tempted to take matters in their own hands and forget about the power of their God. Such was the case in Micah’s day.
The Assyrian Empire was the dominant power whose shadow loomed over the Middle East during this time period. Micah prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah—kings over Judah (Mic. 1:1). Interestingly, only kings of Judah are given in the opening to his book. Micah’s ministry spanned the time which saw Samaria fall to the Assyrians, leaving intact only the kingdom of Judah. However, the southern kingdom would not be unscathed by the Assyrian war machine. Ahaz had turned to Tiglath-Pileser III for help in the Syro-Ephraimitic war. This would relieve some military pressure on Judah, especially that coming from Syria, but Assyria would ultimately prove to be no real ally at all (cf. 2 Kings 16:8-9; 2 Chron. 28:20-21). Later, after the fall of Samaria, Assyrian forces would surround Jerusalem, distressing Hezekiah and the people greatly (2 Chron. 32:1ff). Even Hezekiah, a righteous king overall, lapsed in faith at one point and attempted to appease the Assyrian enemy (2 Kings 18:13-16).
The times of Micah were turbulent politically to say the least. However, in contrast to his contemporary, Isaiah, Micah does not repeatedly address the politics of Israel, Judah, and her rulers. His prophecy denounces the ethical failures in society. The overarching lessons from Old Testament history are clear. When God’s people relied politically on those outside of covenant with God, often the religion of the outsiders came to be introduced as well. As God’s people turned toward the religious practices of the heathen, their morals and ethics suffered also. All of this proved to be a deadly mixture, and surely Old Testament Israel stands as a warning and example to spiritual Israel today.
Micah was evidently a righteous man in the midst of a society that, to large measure, had turned away from their one true God and from His standard of righteousness. God “enlisted” this man into the service of prophetic ministry. His book opens with, “The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem” (Mic. 1:1). God had a word for His worldly and rebellious people in both Israel and Judah. This word came to Micah as it did to all the Biblical prophets—through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Thus endowed, Micah was both called and qualified to denounce the sins of his own countrymen. “But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin,” (Mic. 3:8). In such a ministry, Micah stood in bold contrast to the false prophets of that time (cf. Mic. 2:6-11; 3:5-7).
Living in such a time, and called to such a work, Micah evidently battled feelings of loneliness and woe. So many of God’s faithful servants have experienced the same through the centuries. These feelings of Micah come through most clearly in chapter seven.
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first-ripe fruit. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net (Mic. 7:1-2).
It seemed that everywhere Micah looked, there was not a God-fearing person to be found! Spiritual conditions were so bad among God’s own covenant people that one could not even trust a close friend or family member (Mic. 7:5-6). Times were bleak, indeed.
Micah stands as a timeless example of what children of God are to do when they find themselves surrounded by sin and unfaithfulness. Cling tenaciously to the living God! Micah writes, “Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me” (Mic. 7:7-8). The prophet knew that he might well suffer the indignation of God himself, and he admits that he is not guiltless (Mic. 7:9), but he followed the course set forth earlier in his book. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:8). God will forgive the sins of His faithful children (cf. Mic. 7:18-19), and He will exalt in His own time them that are brought low (cf. 1 Pet. 5:6).