Micah was well versed in the Old Testament Scripture, and he alludes to it throughout his book.
Toward the end of the book, he says that the nations who reject God “shall lick the dust like a serpent” (7:17), alluding to the punishment that Yhwh visited on Satan in Genesis 3:14. These nations are the seed of the serpent, and they will receive the same judgment. A few verses later Micah alludes to Genesis 3:15 when he says that “he will tread our iniquities under foot.” That part of God’s people which is aligned with the serpent will be crushed like the serpent.
Micah closes the book by referring to the Abrahamic covenant: “You will show your faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old” (7:20). This alerts the reader that all of the oracles of hope and redemption are rooted in the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. The redemption of the nations also alludes back to the Abrahamic promise that all the nations will be blessed in his seed.
The prediction in Micah 5:8 that the remnant will triumph over its enemies like a lion may allude to Genesis 49:8-9.
The Mosaic covenant is also central to Micah’s thought. Israel had broken the Mosaic covenant and thus come under the covenant curses (see especially Micah 6:14-15 and Dt 28:30-31, 38-41). While Israel has been unfaithful, Yhwh has been faithful. In Micah 6:4-5 Micah summarizes the exodus and conquest by highlighting key events from Exodus, Numbers, and Joshua. Micah also closed the book by quoting from Yhwh’s revelation of his name in Exodus 34:6-7 (Mic 6:18). Yhwh’s very character is the foundation for his redemption of the remnant. Micah also drew on previous prophets. In chapter 4 he quotes at length from Isaiah 2 regarding Yhwh’s reign over the nations from Zion. In this quotation is a reversal of Joel’s call to beat plowshares into swords and pruning hooks into spears (Joel 3:10), noting that when Yhwh reigns from Zion, the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks. Micah’s use of Exodus 34:6-7 also follows the use of that passage by both Joel and Jonah.