Micah is a countryman and a prophet, and his home is at Moresheth, a green and fertile region. He delivers his message and speaks for the poor, speaking in fact as one of them. He is horrified at what he sees of the luxurious and degenerate life of the city, and he realizes that he and his fellow peasants are paying for this lifestyle. His concern is for justice, justice between men and a right attitude towards God. Micah does not offer political advice but instead offers a message that is religious and ethical. He paints a terrible picture of the way ordinary justice has disintegrated from the abuse of power by the judges and because of the prevalence of bribery of officials. He also describes how the needy and the poor are being exploited by the rich landowners who squeeze out those unable to meet their exorbitant demands. The land is beset as a result by misery and degradation. The lust for money has invaded the religious sphere as well, and even the priest and the prophet are accustomed to favoring the rich and browbeating the poor. Micah is angry with righteous indignation, and he sees the evils of society in the heartless exploitation of the weak by the strong and in a general failure to grasp the meaning of true religion. After all, obedience to the laws of God is a necessity for rich and poor alike.
Micah contains some of the earliest writing we have from the Old Testament. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah, but unlike Isaiah, who is associated with Jerusalem and northern Judah, Micah comes from the village of Moresheth some 20 miles away. He delivered his prophecies during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, but Micah delivered his prophecies to Judah and Israel. His prophecies come before the fall of Samaria to the Assyrians in 721 B.C. The Book of Micah is structured with alternating sections of judgment followed by a call to repentance. Most scholars believe that Micah wrote the firs...