Micah 1:1-16

Judgment on Samaria and Judah

Sargon destroyed Samaria, the capital of North Israel, 722 or 721. Micah, about 720 b.c., declaring (Micah 1:6) that Samaria's fall has been due to its sin, announces a like fate for Jerusalem, guilty of a like sin (Micah 1:9). To the prophet this ruin of the people is not like that of the other nations Assyria has destroyed. Since God is manifesting Himself in it, Micah summons the nations to witness the event (Micah 1:2). The scourge will fall most heavily on the capitals, because the sin of the people has centred there (Micah 1:5).

Micah sees the route of the invaders through Philistia and SW. Judah, and as he was a native of the district, he laments the fate of the villages he has known (Micah 1:10). Sargon may have marched along this route to attack Egypt at Raphia, 720 or 719 b.c.