Micah 1
1. What is a Morasthite? Answer
2. When did Jothan, Ahaz and Hezekiah rule over the Kingdom of Judah? Answer
3. Who was ruling over the Kingdom of Israel when Micah wrote? Answer
4. What was the chief sin that would lead to the destruction of Samaria (Kingdom of Israel)? Answer
5. How bad were Israel's sins? Answer
6. How severe would be Israel's punishment? Answer
Micah 2
7. What is Micah condemning in verses 1 and 2? Answer
8. Why were God's prophets like Micah told to shut up? Answer
9. What kind of prophets were the people willing to accept? Answer
Micah 3
10. How bad was the character of Israel's leaders? Answer
Micah 4
11. When will the prophecy of verses 1 to 8 take place? What will happen at that time? Answer
12. What is the prophecy of Micah 4:9 - 10? Answer
Micah 5
13. What is predicted in verse 2? Answer
14. What is the warning in verses 10 to 15? Answer
Micah 6
15. What is the controversy God has with his people? Answer
16. What is the point being made by God in verses 6 to 8? Answer
17. Who was Omri and Ahab, and what were their statutes? Answer
Micah 7
18. What is Micah's lament in verses 1 to 6? Answer
19. What does God promise in verses 11 and 12? Answer
20. How great is God's love and forgiveness toward his people? Answer
Micah 1 Answers
1. Micah refers to himself as a Morasthite. A Morasthite was a person who lived in the village of Moresheth, which is also called Moresheth-gath (Micah 1:14).
Moresheth-gath, so called because it existed close to the Philistine city of Gath, was a small village roughly 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem.
2. King Jotham ruled over Judah from 750 to 735 B.C., followed by Ahaz (735 to 715) and Hezekiah (715 to 686). Micah's ministry during a part of Jotham's reign means that his words were given prior to Israel being conquered and going into Assyrian captivity in 723 B.C.
3. Israel was actually ruled by two kings at the same time for part of 740 B.C.!
Pekahiah, the son of King Menahem, came to power in 742 B.C. He ruled, from the capital of Samaria, part of Israel. Pekah, who in Gilead (east of the Jordan River) maintained a rival throne, began his reign in 752. In 740, after Pekah assassinated Pekahiah, he moved his throne to Samaria (2Kings 15:23 - 28).
Pekah ruled the Kingdom of Israel until 732 B.C. He was followed by Hoshea who would become the last ruler over the northern ten tribes. In 723 B.C., after a three year campaign, Assyrian King Shalmaneser III conquered Samaria and took the Israelites into captivity (2Kings 17:4 - 6).
4. Israel chief sin, but certainly not its only one, was the abandonment of worshipping the true God and the adopting of false gods through idolatry (Micah 1:7, see also 2Kings 17:7 - 18).
[Geneology of Israel's Rulers]
Israel's idolatry led to a complete rejection of God's commandments. These sins, by the time of Micah's ministry, had gone on in Israel since the days of King Jeroboam who ruled from 930 to 909 B.C. (1Kings 12:26 - 33).
[Ten Commandments in New Testament]
5. Israel's sins were so bad that the prophet stated, "For her wound is incurable" (Micah 1:9). This means that the Israelites had so hardened their hearts against God that they refused to repent of their sins. This refusal would ultimately lead to its severest punishment.
6. Israel's punishment would be so bad that they would mourn by cutting off all their hair. This visible act of mourning would be carried out to lament that their children, whom they loved dearly, were taken into captivity (Micah 1:16).
Micah 2 Answers
7. Micah is condemning those who lie awake at night devising ways in which to indulge in sin. These sinful people greatly covet other people's land and houses. Their selfish desire for gain and wealth is such that they will even resort to violence to take away a person's possessions and inheritance!
[What Are the Seven Deadly Sins?]
8. False prophets were known to tell the people exactly what they wanted to hear. They, and the people in the land, did not want to hear the painful truth that they were sinning and needed to repent. They rejected the argument that God disapproved of their behavior and that the disgrace of his judgment would come upon them.
God's response to the false prophets is that his words, though they contain correction, are always for the benefit of those who hear them.
[Are There Modern Day Prophets?]
Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly (Micah 2:7)?
9. The people were willing to accept any deceiving liar who spoke not about punishment for their sins but promised prosperity. This prosperity included plenty of wine and beer (Micah 2:11)!
Micah 3 Answers
10. Micah first points out that it is the duty of those who are leaders to know and execute equitable judgment (Micah 3:1). They had, however, chosen to pervert justice. Those who were leaders pursued stripping people of all they had so they could have it themselves (verses 2 to 3).
[Justice in the Book of Proverbs]
The leaders such as judges, prophets and priests made making money their most important goal. They were willing to be bribed in order to render unjust judgments or be paid to tell people what they wanted to hear (Micah 3:9 - 11).
The penalty for such sins was that the land would be destroyed and Jerusalem's temple would no longer exist (Micah 3:12).
Micah 4 Answers
11. The prophecy of Micah 4:1 - 8 will begin to take place in the "last days" when Jesus returns to rule the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:11 - 16). Those whom the Lord brings back to life in the first resurrection of the dead will aid him in establishing the Kingdom of God on earth (Micah 4:1, Revelation 20:4).
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[Why Does God Make New Jerusalem?]
Jesus' millennial rule will be based in Jerusalem which will become the physical and spiritual capital of the planet. God's righteous law, which has never been abolished, will spread to all people (Micah 4:2). Those living at the time will flock to Jerusalem to learn God's righteous way of life (verses 1 and 2).
The Lord, during the Millennium, will also settle disputes between peoples and nations based on his righteous judgments. His rule, which will guarantee global peace, will mean nations will no longer have to expend vast resources to prepare for and fight wars (Micah 4:3).
[Who Are the Least in God's Kingdom?]
God's kingdom will bring an unprecedented time of peace and prosperity to mankind. Humans will finally be able to reap the full benefits of their labors without fear of it being taken away (Micah 4:4).
12. Micah 4:9 - 10 predicts the eventually captivity of the Kingdom of Judah by the Babylonians. This prophecy was especially amazing as, during Micah's ministry, it was the Assyrians, not the Babylonians, who were the dominant power.
Micah wrote between 740 and 711 B.C. Assyria would not reach its peak of power and influence until the reign of Ashurbanipal from 668 to 627! Babylon does not rise to the status of world power until it conquers the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 B.C.
Micah 5 Answers
13. Micah 5:2 is a wonderful prophecy that predicts the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would be born more than 700 years later in the small town of Bethlehem (see Matthew 2:5 - 6)!
[Timeline of Jesus' Conception, Birth!]
Micah 5:2's phrase, "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" is one of many proofs that Jesus was a member of the Godhead before his human birth.
14. When Micah 5:10 states, "and it shall come to pass in that day," the words that follow will occur in the prophetic "last days" just ahead of us.
[The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!]
In the last days the Lord will destroy Israel's horses and chariots used to wage war (see Zechariah 9:10). God had originally prohibited his people from gathering horses to protect itself (Deuteronomy 17:16). He will also purge his people of the witchcraft, occultic and idolatrous practices that they had indulged in (Micah 5:12 - 14).
Those nations who do not heed the Lord's warnings will be punished (Micah 5:15).
Micah 6 Answers
15. The Lord, in Micah 6:1 - 5, challenges Israel to name a single unrighteous burden he ever placed on them. Although they often complained, their complaints were never justified. In these verses the Lord asserts his perfect innocence in regard to how he has treated his people.
[The Best Bible Verses on Love]
God reminds his people that he has always perfectly loved them. It was this love that moved him to send Moses to free them from Egyptian slavery (Micah 6:4). It also motivated him to have the prophet Balaam bless the people and not curse them as was demanded by the king of Moab (see Numbers 22 - 24).
The above, and many more examples, are a testament to God's perfect behavior toward Israel (Micah 6:5).
16. God is making the point that the sacrificial system he set up, and indeed all his laws, are a means to an end and not an end of itself! The goal of God's law, the spiritual intent of which was more fully revealed in the New Testament, is to train people in righteousness. His goal is for us to someday possess the same kind of perfect character he has always enjoyed.
God sums up, in Micah 6:8, the goal of all he has commanded humans.
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? (Micah 6:8).
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The point above will also be made when Jesus twice confronts the Pharisees concerning their warped understanding of what God required of them (Matthew 9:13, 12:7).
17. Omri ruled the Kingdom of Israel from 885 to 874 B.C. and his son Ahab reigned from 874 to 863. Israel's first six kings, starting with Jeroboam, were bad. Omri, however, was able to surpass the evil of all those who came before him.
[Who Were Israel's Bloodiest Kings?]
But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him (1Kings 16:25).
When Ahab took the throne he was, shockingly, able to surpass even his father when it came to pursuing the depths of disobedience.
And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him (1Kings 16:30).
Both men were the worse sovereigns to reign over Israel! They accelerated Israel's departure from God by zealously promoting apostasy and the worship of evil pagan deities such as Baal. Ahab, along with his pagan wife Jezebel, even indulged in pursuing and murdering many of God's prophets (1Kings 18:4) while openly challenging Elijah.
The "statutes" or sinful traditions of idolatry and violence promoted by both men, which Israel chose to continue, would provide the catalyst for the nation becoming desolate (Micah 6:16).
Micah 7 Answers
18. Micah laments that the nation has given itself over to evil to the point that an honest man cannot be found! The people pursue bribery, injustice, violence and greed. The lack of righteous character is so bad that Micah recommends not even trusting a friend, wife, or even a close family member.
19. Micah 7:11 - 12 is God's promise to rebuild Jerusalem (see Micah 4:1 - 5) and restore its glory. In that day her enemies such as Assyria and Egypt ("from the fortified cities"), as well as those living "from the fortress" (Egypt) to "the river" (Euphrates River), will come to the city. In fact, people from around the world ("from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain") will stream to Jerusalem to learn about God's ways.
[Euphrates River in Prophecy!]
20. God, in spite of the people's sins and the punishment they are prophesied to receive, promises to ultimately have compassion and mercy. The Lord's righteous character means he will "forgive and forget" and not retain any anger toward those he loves.
[Should We Forgive and Forget?]
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:18 - 19).