\\INTRODUCTION TO MICAH\\

This book is called, in the Hebrew copies, "Sepher Micah", the Book of
Micah; in the Vulgate Latin version "the Prophecy of Micah"; and in the
Syriac version "the Prophecy of the Prophet Micah". This prophet is not
the same with Micaiah the son of Imiah, who lived in the times of Ahab
and Jehoshaphat, \\#1Ki 22:8\\; for, as Aben Ezra observes, there were many
generations between them, at least many reigns of kings, as Jehoram,
Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah, all which made up a hundred and
thirty years; their names indeed seem to be the same, since he that is
called Micaiah, \\#1Ki 22:8\\; is called Micah, \\#2Ch 18:14\\; and this
our prophet is named Micaiah in \\#Jer 26:18\\; which is with some of
the same signification with Michael. So Abarbinel interprets, it, "who
[is] as God"; see \\#Mic 7:18\\; which Hillerus {a} confutes, and renders
it, "the contrition, attrition, attenuation, and depauperation, of the
Lord"; deriving it from \^Kwm\^, which signifies to be depressed, humbled,
weakened, and impoverished, as others do; which name, some think, was
given him by his parents, because of their low estate, their meanness
and poverty; but of them we have no account: however, this is much more
probable than the reason Cornelius a Lapide gives of his name, that he
was so called because he prophesied of Christ, who was poor, and that
he should be born in a poor country village. As for his country, and
the place of his birth, and the time in which he lived, they may be
gathered from \\#Mic 1:1\\; by which it will appear that he was not of
the tribe of Ephraim, as Pseudo-Epiphanius {b} says but of the tribe of
Judah; whose kings' reigns in which he prophesies are only made mention
of; though his prophecies concerned both Israel and Judah, and he
reproves both for their sins, and foretells their various captivities;
and, for the comfort of God's people, says many things concerning the
Messiah, his incarnation the place of his birth, which no prophet so
clearly points at as he, the execution of his offices, prophetic,
priestly, and kingly; the blessings of grace that came by him, pardon
of sin, atonement and the happiness and glory of his church in the
latter day. The authority of this book is confirmed both by the elders
of Judah in the times of Jeremiah, who quote a passage out of it;
\\#Mic 3:12\\; which they improve in favour of that prophet,
\\#Jer 26:17-19\\; and by the chief priests and Scribes in the time of
Herod, who refer that prince to a prophecy in this book for the place
of the Messiah's birth, \\#Mic 5:2\\; see \\#Mt 2:4-6\\. He is thought
to have prophesied thirty or forty years, Bishop Usher {c} places him
in the year of the world 3291 A.M., and 713 B.C.; but, according to Mr.
Whiston {d}, he prophesied 750 B.C., and so Mr. Bedford {e}, and three
after the building of the city of Rome; and he foretells the captivity
of the ten tribes thirty years, and the coming of Sennacherib forty
years, before they came to pass; but when and where he died, and was
buried, no certain proof can be given. Pseudo-Epiphanius, confounding
him with Micaiah in Ahab's time, says {f} he was killed by his son
Joram, who cast him down from a precipice, and was buried at Morathi,
his native place, near the burying ground of Enakeim, and his grave was
well known to that day. And, according to Jerom {g}, the grave of this
our prophet was at Morasthi, and in his time turned into a church or
temple. Sozomen {h} reports, that, in the times of Theodosius the elder,
the body of Micah was found by Zebennus bishop of Eleutheropolis at
Berathsalia, a mile and a quarter from the city, near which was the
grave of Micah, called by the common people the faithful monument, and
in their country language Nephsameemana.

{a} Onomast. Sacr. p. 14, 466, 494, 542.
{b} De Prophet. Vit. & Inter. c. 13.
{c} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3291.
{d} Chronological Tables, cent. 8.
{e} Scripture Chronology, p. 662.
{f} De Prophet. Vit. & Inter. c. 13.
{g} Epitaph. Paulae, tom. 1. operum, fol. 60. A. B.
{h} Histor. Eccles. l. 7. c. 29.

\\INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 1\\

This chapter treats of the judgments of God on Israel and Judah for
their idolatry. It begins with the title of the whole book in which is
given an account of the prophet, the time of his prophesying, and of
the persons against whom he prophesied, \\#Mic 1:1\\; next a preface to
this chapter, requiring attention to what was about to be delivered,
urged from the consideration of the awful appearance of God, which is
represented as very grand and terrible, \\#Mic 1:2-4\\; the cause of all
which wrath that appeared in him was the transgression of Jacob;
particularly their idolatry, as appears by the special mention of their
idols and graven images in the account of their destruction,
\\#Mic 1:5-7\\; which destruction is exaggerated by the prophet's
lamentation for it, \\#Mic 1:8,9\\; and by the mourning of the
inhabitants of the several places that should be involved in it, which
are particularly mentioned, \\#Mic 1:10-16\\.