A COMMENTARY ON

MICAH

Bruce K. Waltke

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.

© 2007 Bruce K. Waltke

All rights reserved

Published 2007 by

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /

P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Waltke, Bruce K.

A commentary on Micah / Bruce K. Waltke.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-8028-4933-5 (cloth: alk. paper)

1. Bible. O.T. Micah—Commentaries. I. Title.

BS1615.53.W35 2007

224.93077—dc22

2006014246

www.eerdmans.com

To Bill Reimer, Bernard Bell, and the Eerdmans editors,

Who gave me a voice

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Hebrew Transliteration Scheme

introduction

I. The Prophet

II. Historical Background

III. Date and Authorship

IV. Form and Structure

V. Text

VI. Select Bibliography

commentary

Superscription (1:1)

I. First Cycle: God Gathers the Elect Remnant into Jerusalem (1:2–2:13)

A. God Punishes Samaria and Judah (1:2–16)

1. Judgment on Samaria (1:2–7)

2. Judgment on Judah (1:8–16)

B. Greedy Land Barons Accused and Sent into Exile (2:1–11)

1. Woe to the Greedy Land Barons (2:1–5)

2. False Prophets Support the Greedy Land Barons (2:6–11)

C. God Preserves a Remnant in Zion (2:12–13)

II. Second Cycle: God Restores Jerusalem’s Former Dominion to the Purified Remnant (3:1–5:14 [EV 3:1–5:15])

A. Old Jerusalem and Its Corrupt Leaders Fall (3:1–12)

1. Shepherds Turned Cannibals (3:1–4)

2. Venal Prophets (3:5–8)

3. Jerusalem to Be Leveled (3:9–12)

B. New Jerusalem and the Remnant Exalted over the Nations (4:1–8)

1. Jerusalem Exalted over the Converted Nations (4:1–5)

2. The Lame Remnant Becomes Strong (4:6–7)

3. Jerusalem’s Dominion Restored (4:8)

C. The Divine Program of Restoration (4:9–5:14 [EV 15])

1. Zion’s Present Pangs Will Give Birth to a New Age, I (4:9–10)

2. Zion’s Present Pangs Will Give Birth to a New Age, II (4:11–13)

3. Birth and Exaltation of the Messiah (4:14–5:5 [EV 5:1–6])

4. The Remnant Rules the Nations (5:6–8 [EV 7–9])

5. I AM Protects His Purified Kingdom (5:9–14 [EV 10–15])

III. Third Cycle: God Forgives the Remnant of His Sinful People (6:1–7:20)

A. Israel Accused of Breaking Covenant (6:1–8)

B. The Covenant Curses Fulfilled on Jerusalem (6:9–16)

C. Jerusalem’s Social Structures Break Apart (7:1–6)

D. Micah’s Confidence in His Saving God (7:7)

E. Victory Song: Who Is like the Remnant’s Pardoning God? (7:8–20)

Index of Authors

Index of Subjects

Select Index of Scripture References

Preface

This book aims in the first place to interpret the book of Micah by the grammatico-historical method. This method entails determining a book’s historical context, its text, the meaning of every word and their syntactical relationship, its figures of speech, its rhetorical techniques, and its literary forms.

In the second place, the book aims to interpret what the book of Micah means to the contemporary church. This is achieved by considering ...