The memory of the holy prophet Micah

Micah the son of Imlai, of the tribe of Ephraim, who lived in the days of Elijah the prophet, when Ahab and Jezebel reigned in Samaria, and Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem.

At that time the descendants of Jacob's twelve sons were divided into two kingdoms: one called the kingdom of Judah, <unk> made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and its capital was Jerusalem; the other called Israel, and included the remaining ten tribes of the Jewish people; its capital was Samaria.

He often rebuked the king of Israel Ahab for the same sins committed by the holy prophet Elijah, either for his apostasy from God into idolatry, or for his injustices.

And the house of Jehoshaphat king of Judah had a brother's son, and the house of Ahab king of Israel had a brother's son; and Jehoshaphat took Athaliah his daughter for his firstborn.

And Jehoshaphat came to Ahab from Jerusalem to Samaria; and Ahab was feasting, and he said to him, Come, I pray thee, and help me against the king of Assyria, to take Ramoth-Gilead, which the king of Assyria took from Israel.

And I, and I, and thy people, and my people, are with thee in the war; but let us inquire of Jehovah our God first, whether we shall prosper in the war, which we are going to fight for us. And Ahab gathered his wicked false prophets, four hundred men; and Zedekiah the son of Chanaan was the head of them, and they encouraged him to prosper, saying, Go up; for God will give the king of Assyria into thy hand, and Ramoth.

And Jehoshaphat king of Judah knew that the prophets were false, and that they spoke lies; for Jehoshaphat was a man that feared Jehovah. And Jehoshaphat said to Ahab, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah, that we may inquire of him? And Ahab answered and said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah?

There is yet one man, whom we may inquire of Jehovah, and he may declare to us the truth; but I hate him, for he prophesies evil against me continually.

And the king of Israel sent for Micah, who came from the wilderness; and the two kings of Israel sat in their glory on their thrones in the gate of Samaria, and the false prophets prophesied before them. And Zedekiah their captain made him a horn of iron, and blew a trumpet, and said to them, Thus saith Jehovah: With these horns thou shalt smite Syria, until it be consumed. And all the rest of the false prophets prophesied likewise.

Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and there thou shalt smite the king of Assyria; for Jehovah will give it into thy hand. And the messenger that was sent to Micah the prophet spoke to him saying, Behold, the prophets prophesy good concerning the king: speak thou, I pray thee, even so to them, that none of thy words fall away. And Micah the prophet said, [As] Jehovah liveth, what Jehovah my God shall say to me, that will I tell the king.

And behold, he came and stood before the king of Israel; and he said to him, Hear now, Micah, shall I go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And the prophet said to the king, Go up, and prosper; for they shall be given into your hand. And when Ahab saw that the prophet spoke proudly,

And he said, I saw all the children of Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and he prophesied, saying, The army of Israel shall be cut off, and the Assyrians shall scatter them on the mountains, and in the wilderness, as sheep are scattered by wolves.

And he said, Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left. And Jehovah said, Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And the one said thus, and the other said so.

And a spirit went forth and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said to him, By what? And he said, I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice him, and succeed: go, do so. And the prophet said, Know thou, O king, that the spirit of falsehood is in the mouth of all thy prophets, and Jehovah has pronounced evil against thee. And the false prophet Zedekiah came, and smote Micah on the cheek, saying,

And the Spirit of Jehovah hath opened unto thee all these things, and thou shalt see [them] in that day, when thou shalt go out of the chamber of the chamber, and shalt enter into the inner chamber, because of the Assyrian.

And they gave him bread of affliction, and water of affliction, and gave him bread and water of affliction, that the prophet might not die of hunger and thirst, but that he might live until the king should return, who would slay him.

And if thou return in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me. And he lifted up his voice and said, Hear this, all ye people.

The holy prophet was imprisoned in Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel. King Ahab went off to war, where he was killed according to the prophecy of Micah; this is reported in detail in the 22nd chapter of the Third Book of Kings and in the 18th chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles.

The end of the holy prophet Micah is not mentioned in the Scriptures; only the prologue says that he was killed by Joram, Ahab's son; but it is already noted that Joram was the son-in-law, not the son of Ahab.

However, it is very likely that the holy prophet Micah died a martyr's death from one of the tormentors: for Ahab's wife Jezebel, who was left a widow after her husband, and his son Ahaziah, who took the throne after his father and son-in-law, King Joram of Jerusalem, <unk> all of them could not feel the disposition to the predicted destruction of Ahab.

And in the Minor Chetia it is said that he was killed and thrown into the abyss for exposing lawlessness: the relatives of St. Micah took his decent body from there and buried him in their land, near the tomb of a wandering prophet.

He prophesied in Jerusalem in the days of Jehoshaphat, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, in the days of Isaiah the prophet. And Micah warned his countrymen that they had forsaken the true God, and had taken up the wicked customs of the heathen, because they had wandered into idolatry.

And the prophet spoke to them in the name of God with a broken heart, saying, O my people, what have I done to you? and in what have I offended you? and in what have I vexed you? answer me; or because I have brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and have redeemed you from bondage, have you forsaken me, and have made your idols your gods?

Hear now, ye heads of the house of Jacob, that hate good, and that seek after evil: should ye not seek to do right, that ye should oppress the soul of the poor and needy, that ye should tear off the skin of the poor, and rend their bones, and rend their flesh, as if it were a pot?

Hear this, ye heads of the house of Jacob, that abhor judgment, and that pervert all that is right, that build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness, that speak against the wicked, and that mourn for them,

Woe unto me! for I am now as the summer-fruits, as the vintage of grapes: there is no fruit to eat; there are none pleasing to God. Woe is my soul! For there is no loving-kindness in the land, and there is no uprightness among men: they all lay siege to shed blood; every one layeth a net for his brother; their hands are for evil-doing: the ruler demandeth a bribe, and the judge judgeth for a bribe.

And the prophet said, Behold, the wrath of Jehovah shall come upon Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel, because of the idolatry, and the transgression of the law, and the heathen abomination, and upon Jerusalem, because of the judgment of Jehovah, which hath come upon Samaria by the hand of the Assyrians, and upon Jerusalem by the hand of the Chaldeans.

But among such sad predictions, the prophet of God announced the joyful news that the Shepherd and Savior of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be born in Bethlehem: "And you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are a little one among the thousands of Judah, out of you there will come out to me the one who is to be ruler in Israel".

And when the priests, and the false prophets, and the great multitude of the people, sought to slay Jeremiah the prophet, some of the elders stood by him, saying unto the congregation,

Micah the Moreshethite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall be a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a heap of forests. Hath not Hezekiah king of Judah, and all Judah, done this? hath he not feared Jehovah, and implored the face of Jehovah, and Jehovah turned from the evil that he had spoken against them, and we have done great evil to our souls?

From these words we can see that the holy prophet Micah was not killed, but, at the end of his godly life, he rested in peace. He died and was buried in his hometown, Morasph. After many years, his honourable relics along with the relics of the prophet Habakkuk were found in the reign of Theodosius the Great by revelation of God to Zevinus, bishop of Epirus. For all this to our God be the glory forever, now and ever. Amen.

On the same day, the memory of St. Arkadius, a disciple of Ephrem of Novotorgia, and the memory of St. Markell, Bishop of Apamians, burned by idolaters around 389 for destroying a pagan temple.