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OT Use of Micah

November 22, 2023 by Brian

Jeremiah 26:16-19 refers to Micah by name. In that chapter the priests and prophets seized Jeremiah and sought to have him condemned to death for prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. But the officials and the people respond by quoting Micah 3:12, the earliest prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. They note that Hezekiah did not put Micah to death but instead repented. This quotation is interesting on several counts. First, it reveals that Micah 3:12 was prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah. Second, it reveals that in Jeremiah’s day, Micah was already received as Scripture.[1]

The book of Kings, which was written during the exile (and thus after Micah’s time), uses the phrase “every man under his vine and under his fig tree” to describe life in Israel under the reign of Solomon (2 Kgs 4:25). Its original context in Micah 4:4 is millennial. The author of Kings likely uses this phrase to build anticipation that Solomon is the promised son of David only then to show, by recounting Solomon’s sins, the need for a greater Son of David.


[1] Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture, 314; Hoffmeier, The Prophets of Israel, 226.

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