Micah was the author of the book by the same name. He is described as being from Moresheth, a small but important town in southwest Judah near the Philistine territory. Micah was given a word from the Lord about the future of Samaria and Jerusalem (Micah 1:1). He is sixth in the order of those we call Minor Prophets, so called because their writings are comparatively short. It was the prophet Micah who foretold of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6). His is a message of both hope and doom, declaring the lovingkindness of God toward those who repent and turn to Him (Micah 7:18–19). And Micah condenses God’s requirements into this familiar refrain: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).

The prophet Micah reminds us that, despite God’s zero-tolerance toward our sin, He is also ready and waiting to forgive and restore those who repent. Even in the midst of strong warnings to Judah, Micah includes the hope that God will relent on the promised judgment if they will turn from evil. He ends his book with this thought: “He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Christians can take comfort in those words as well. Because of the Messiah that Micah prophesied, Jew and Gentile can enjoy the benefits of God’s forgiveness when we turn from evil and “walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21).