Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/239

Rh M I C A H 225 only in Micah i. 14. 1 The provincial prophet sees the capital and the aristocracy entirely from the side of a man of the oppressed people, and foretells the utter ruin of both. Hut this ruin does not present itself to him as involving the captivity or ruin of the nation as a whole ; the congregation of Jehovah remains in Judaea when the oppressors are cast out (ii. 5) ; Jehovah s words are still good to them that walk uprightly ; the glory of Israel is driven to take refuge in Adullam, as in the days when David s band of broken men was the true hope of the nation, but there is no hint that it is banished from the land. Thus upon the prophecy of judgment we naturally expect to follow a prophecy of the redintegration of Jehovah s kingship in a better Israel, and this we find in ii. 12, 13 and in chaps, iv., v. Both passages, however, present difficulties. The former seems to break the pointed contrast between ii. 11 and iii. 1, and is therefore regarded by Ewald as an example of the false prophecies on which the wicked rulers trusted. The thought, however, is one proper to all true prophecy (comp. Hos. i. 11 [ii. 2], Isa. xi. 11 sq., Zeph. iii. 14, Jer. xxxi. 8), and precisely in accordance with chaps, iv., v., even in the details of expres sion and imagery. 2 It is indeed possible that these verses are a separate oracle of Micah, which did not originally stand in its present connexion. The sequence of thought in chaps iv., v., on the other hand, is really difficult, and has given rise to much complicated discussion. 3 There is a growing feeling among scholars that iv. 11-13 stands in direct contradiction to iv. 9, 10, and indeed to iii. 12. The last two passages agree in speaking of the capture of Jerusalem, the first declares Zion inviolable, and its capture an impossible profanation. Such a thought can hardly be Micah s, even if we resort to the violent harmonistic process of imagining that two quite distinct sieges, separated by a renewal of the theocracy, are spoken of in consecutive verses. An interpolation, however, in the spirit of such passages as Ezek. xxxviii., xxxix., Joel iii. [iv.], Zech. xiv., is very conceivable in post-exilic times, and in connexion with the growing impulse to seek a literal harmony of all prophecy on lines very different from the pre-exilic view in Jer. xxvi., that predictions of evil may be averted by repentance. Another difficulty lies in the words &quot; and thou shalt come even to Babylon&quot; in iv. 10. Micah unquestionably looked for the destruction of Jerusalem as 1 That Micah lived in the Shephela or Jiulfean lowland near the Philistine country is clear from the local colouring of i. 10 sq., where a number of places in this quarter are mentioned together, and their names played upon in a way that could hardly have suggested itself to any but a man of the district. The paronomasia makes the verses difficult, and in i. 14 none of the ancient versions recognizes More- sheth Gatli as a proper name. The word Morasthite (Murashti) was therefore obscure to them ; but this only gives greater weight to the traditional pronunciation with fi in the first syllable, which is as old as the LXX. , and goes against the view, taken by the Targum both on Micah and on Jeremiah, and followed by some moderns (including lloorda), that Micah came from Mareshah. When Eusebius places Mo&amp;gt;pao-0ei near Eleutheropolis it is not likely that he is thinking of Mareshah (Maresa), for he speaks of the former as a village and of the 1 itter as a ruin 2 miles from Eleutheropolis. Jerome too in the Epit. Paulas (Ep. cviii. ), speaking as an eye-witness, distinguishes Morasthim, with the church of Micah s sepulchre, from Maresa. This indeed was after the pretended miraculous discovery of the relics of Micah in 385 A.D. ; but the name of the village which then existed ( Praef. in Mich. ) can hardly have been part of a pious fraud. 2 The tigure of the shepherd gathering a scattered flock certainly does not presuppose a total captivity, as Stade (Z. f. A T. W., i. 161 sq.) argues. 3 See, besides the commentaries, Noldeke in the Hibel-lex., iv. 214; a paper by Oort and two by Kuenen in Theol. Tijdich., 1872; Well- hausen-Bleek, Einleitung, p. 426; Stade. I.e., and ibid., iii. 1 sq. Stude goes so far as to make the whole of Micah iv., v. presuppose the exile, and to find still later additions in iv. 5-10., v. 5, 6 [v. 4, 5]. Giesebrecht, Thcol. LZ., 1881, col. 443 sq., rejects chap. iv. only. The arguments cannot be here cited at length, but they are tacitly kept in view in what follows. well as of Samaria in the near future and by the Assyrians (i. 9), and this was the judgment which Hezekiah s repent ance averted. If these words, therefore, belong to the original context, they mark it as not from Micah s hand ; but it is easy to see that they are really a later gloss. The prophetic thought is that the daughter (population) of Zion shall not be saved by her present rulers or defensive strength ; she must come down from her bulwarks and dwell in the open field ; there, and not within her proud ramparts, Jehovah will grant deliverance from her enemies. This thought is in precise harmony with chaps, i.-iii., and equally characteristic is what follows in chap. v. Micah s opposition to present tyranny expresses itself in recurrence to the old popular ideal of the first simple Davidic kingdom (iv. 8) to which he had already alluded in i. 15. These old days shall return once more. Again guerilla bands (&quot;tnrrn) gather to meet the foe as they did in the time of Philistine oppression. A new David, like him whose exploits in the district of Micah s home were still in the mouths of the common people, goes forth from Bethlehem to feed the flock in the strength of Jehovah. The kindred Hebrew nations are once more united to their brethren of Israel (comp. Amos ix. 12, Isa. xvi. 1 sq.). The remnant of Jacob springs up in fresh vigour, inspiring terror among the surrounding peoples, and there is no lack of chosen captains to lead them to victory against the Assyrian foe. In the rejuvenescence of the nation the old stays of that oppressive kingship which began with Solomon, the strong holds, the fortified cities, the chariots and horses so foreign to the life of ancient Israel, are no more known ; they disappear together with the divinations, the soothsayers, the idols, the ma^ebas and asheras of the high places Jehovah is king on Mount Zion, and no inventions of man come between Him and His people. The elements of this picture, drawn so largely from the most cherished memories of the Judoeans, could not fail to produce a wide impression, especially when the invasion of Sennacherib, although it spared Jerusalem, fulfilled in the most striking way a great part of Micah s predictions of judgment. Of this we have evidence, not only in Jer. xxvi., but in the political and religious ideas of the book of Deuteronomy. The picture of the right king (Deut. xvii. 14 sq.) and the condemnation of the high-places alike follow the doctrine of Micah. A difficulty still remains in the opening verses of chap. iv. Micah iv. 1-3 and Isa. ii. 2-4 are but slightly modified recensions of the same text, and as Isa. ii. is older than the prophecy of Micah, while on the other hand Micah iv. 4 seems the natural completion of the passage, it is common to suppose that both copy an older prophet. But the words have little connexion with the context in Isaiah, and may be the quotation of a copyist suggested by ver. 5. On the other hand it has been urged that the passage belongs to a later stage of prophetic thought than the 8th century B.C. There is, however, no real difficulty in the idea that foreign nations shall seek law and arbitrament at the throne of the king of Zion (comp. the old prophecy Isa. xvi.); and the mention of the temple as the seat of Jehovah s sovereignty may be illustrated by Lsa. vi., where the heavenly palace (Micah i. 3) is at least pictured in the likeness of the temple on Zion. At the same time the Jerusalem of Micah iv. 8 is the Jerusalem of David not of Solomon, the ideas of iv. 1-4 do not reappear in chap, v., and the whole prophecy would perhaps be more consecutive and homogeneous if iv. 6 (where the dispersed and the suffering are, according to chap. ii., the victims of domestic not of foreign oppression) followed directly on iii. 12. The sixth chapter of Micah presents a very different situation from chaps, i.-v. Jehovah appears to plead with his people for their sins, but the sinners are no longer a careless and oppressive aristo cracy buoyed up by deceptive assurances of Jehovah s help, by pro phecies of wine and strong drink ; they are bowed down by a religion of terror, wearied with attempts to propitiate an angry God by countless offerings, and even by the sacrifice of the first-born. Meantime the substance of true religion justice, charity, and a humble walk with God is forgotten, fraud and deceit reign in all classes, the works of the house of Ahab are observed (worship of foreign gods). Jehovah s judgments are multiplied against the land, and the issue can be nothing else than its total desolation. All XVI. 29