Like his other eighth-century counterparts (Amos, Isaiah and Hosea), Micah was a remarkably outspoken prophet of his God. In great detail, Micah described and deplored the sins and shortcomings of the surviving southern kingdom of Judah under the questionable rule of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.

Although Micah seems to have been a "country boy," hailing from the rural regions outside of Jerusalem, in contrast to Isaiah who was steeped in the politics and intrigues of the big city, both these prophets shared common outrages and hopes. Especially pernicious to both Isaiah and Micah was the oppression of the peasants in the Judean countryside by the land-grabbing ruling classes ensconced in Jerusalem. Through ever-expanding inheritance laws, land ownership among those actually living on the la…