Micah (1)

mi'-ka (mikhah, contracted from mikhayahu, "who is like Yah?"; Codex Vaticanus, Meichaias; Codex Alexandrinus, Micha; sometimes in the King James Version spelled Michah):

⇒See a list of verses on MICAH in the Bible.

(1) The chief character of an episode given as an appendix to the Book of Judges (Jg 17:1-13; 18:1-31). Micah, a dweller in Mt. Ephraim, was the founder and owner of a small private sanctuary with accessories for worship (Jg 17:1-5), for which he hired as priest a Judean Levite (Jg 17:7-13). Five men sent in quest of new territory by the Danites, who had failed to secure a settlement upon their own tribal allotment, visited Micah's shrine, and obtained from his priest an oracle favoring their quest (Jg 18:1-6). They then went on until they reached the town of Laish in the extreme North, and deeming it suitable for the purpose, they returned to report to their fellow-tribesmen. These at once dispatched thither 600 armed men, accompanied by their families (Jg 18:7-12). Passing Micah's abode, they appropriated his idols and his priest, and when their owner pursued, he was insulted and threatened (Jg 18:13-26). They took Laish, destroyed it with its inhabitants and rebuilt it under the name of Dan. There they established the stolen images, and appointed Micah's Levite, Jonathan, a grandson of Moses (the King James Version "Manasseh"), priest of the new sanctuary, which was long famous in Israel (Jg 18:27-31).

The purpose of the narrative is evidently to set forth the origin of the Danite shrine and priesthood. A few peculiarities in the story have led some critics--e.g., Moore, "Judges," in ICC and "Judges" in SBOT; Budde, Richter--to regard it as composite. Wellhausen, however, considers that the peculiarities are editorial and have been introduced for the purpose of smoothing or explaining the ancient record. Most authorities are agreed that the story is nearly contemporary with the events which it narrates, and that it is of the highest value for the study of the history of Israelite worship.