The Book Of Micah

Who is the Author?

Little is known about the author of this book. His name, Micah, is a shortened form of the name Micaiah, which means “Who is like Yahweh?” In Jeremiah’s day the elders referred to Micah and quoted Micah 3:12 in defense of Jeremiah’s message of judgment on the nation (Jer. 26:18). Micah was from Moresheth (Micah 1:1; cf. 1:14), a Judean town about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem near the Philistine city of Gath. Moresheth, in Judah’s fertile foothills, was also near Lachish, an important international trading point. Like his contemporary Isaiah, Micah prophesied about the Assyrian destruction of the Northern Kingdom and the later defeat of the Southern Kingdom by the Babylonians. Micah prophesied in the eighth century BCE during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.1 Authorship is usually attributed to Micah of Moresheth (1:1), whose home, identified with Moresheth-gath in the Shephelah or lowlands of Judah, was the general locale of his prophetic activity (1:14). A younger contemporary of Isaiah, he uttered his sayings during the reigns of Jotham (c. 742–735 BCE), Ahaz (c. 735–715 BCE), and Hezekiah of Judah (c. 715–687 BCE).2 Micah went from his home in the small town of Moresheth to speak the word of the Lord in Jerusalem.3