Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah who wrote from 740 to 686 B.C. He also was a contemporary of fellow Minor Prophet Hosea who wrote from 792 to 715 B.C.
A Rare Referral
Only eight Old Testament authors are mentioned in Biblical books they did not write. Micah is one of these individuals, having his name recorded in Jeremiah 26.
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah . . . (Jeremiah 26:18).
New Testament References
Micah the Minor Prophet is referenced five times in the New Testament.
[Old Testament Quotes in Gospels]
Micah 5:2's prophecy of Jesus being born in Bethlehem is quoted in Matthew 2:6 and John 7:42. Micah 7:6's mention of contention amongst close family members is referred to in Matthew 10:21, 35 - 36.
Micah 7:20's declaration that God will fulfill his promise to be merciful to Abraham's descendants was quoted by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. He quoted the prophet after he named his son John (Luke 1:72 - 73).
Dating Micah
Micah 1:1 states that the prophet began to serve during the rule of Judah's King Jotham (750 to 735 B.C.). We can narrow down the date of when Micah wrote by understanding the Biblical history of Judah's kings during this time period.
Azariah (also called Uzziah), Jotham's father, started reigning as king in 792 B.C. (2Kings 15:1, 2Chronicles 26:1). In 750, after God punished him with leprosy (2Chronicles 26:16 - 21), Azariah placed his son Jotham on the throne as a co-ruler. When Azariah died in 740 his son became the sole ruler over the Kingdom of Judah.
The absence of Azariah's name in Micah 1:1 likely means that the prophet began his ministry between Azariah's demise in 740 and 735 B.C. It was in 735 that Jotham died and Ahaz took the throne.
Micah Helped Save Jeremiah!
Jeremiah, in the early part of King Jehoiakim of Judah's reign, prophesied that destruction would come unless the people repent (Jeremiah 26:1 - 7). When the people, including the priests and prophets, heard his words they were incensed to the point of calling for his death (verses 7 to 11)!
Jeremiah's response to the calls for his death was to inform Judah's princes that he was sent by God and spoke what the Lord wanted his people to hear (Jeremiah 26:12 - 15).
[Life of Jeremiah the Prophet]
Jeremiah's explanation of his ministry convinced the people and princes, in spite of what the religious leaders said, that he was not worthy of death (Jeremiah 26:16). This, however, did not seem to be enough as certain elders of Judah spoke up for the prophet.
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls (Jeremiah 26:18 - 19).
The quoting of Micah helped save Jeremiah's life (Jeremiah 26:24).
Micah's Glorious Directions
Parthian wise men (Magi), wanting to worship the prophesied King of the Jews they knew had been born, followed a miraculous light into Judea. Once in Judea they rush to Jerusalem to inquire of Herod of Great where the baby was born. Herod is then informed by Jerusalem's religious leaders where the child was foretold to be located.
In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel (Matthews 2:5 - 6).
The prophecy referenced by Jewish religious leaders, conveyed to the Magi, was given by Micah more than 700 years earlier (Micah 5:2)!
Assyrian Tribute Money
Judah's King Ahaz, during Micah's ministry, was known to have paid tribute money to Assyria's Tiglath-Pileser III (2Kings 16:7 - 8) in 732 B.C. In Israel, King Hoshea also began to pay tribute money to Assyria around the same time (2Kings 17:3).
Hoshea continued to pay tribute to Assyria even after Shalmaneser V took the throne in 727 B.C. This payment, however, went on for a short time and then stopped. Suspecting Hoshea was conspiring to free himself of Assyrian domination, Shalmaneser launched a three-year campaign against Samaria that led to Israel's demise in 723 (2Kings 17:1 - 5).
[Assyrian Empire at its Peak Map]
The above kings were not, however, the only ones in Biblical history to pay tribute money to foreign powers!
Assyrian records show that King Shalmaneser III received tribute money from Israel's King Jehu in 841 B.C. (Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, page 104). Israel's King Jehoash, who ruled from 798 to 782, also paid tribute to King Adad-nirari III of Assyria in 796 (ibid., page 112).
Israel's King Menahem paid one thousand talents (75,000 U.S. pounds or 34,300 kilograms) of silver in tribute to Assyria in 743 B.C. (2Kings 15:19 - 20, 1Chronicles 5:26). Judah's King Azariah (Uzziah), according to Assyrian records dated to about 743 (Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, page 142, 154), also gave money to the empire.
[Who Were Israel's Bloodiest Kings?]
Periods of Good Rulers
The longest period of good rulers, in either Israel or Judah, took place during the reigns of Judah's Asa (910 to 869) and Jehoshaphat (872 to 848). Together they ruled God's people for 62 years.
The second longest period occurred during the early part of Micah's prophetic ministry. King Azariah (Uzziah) reigned from 792 to 740 while Jotham (Micah 1:1) solely ruled from 740 to 735 for a total timespan of 57 years.