This week we are reading Micah chapters 4 and 5. If you have been reading along, you probably have noticed that Micah’s style lacks fluidity. His book is like a collection of oracles stitched together by rough transitions. Some oracles point to judgement and some point to salvation. Some oracles apply to the near future and others connect to Israel’s distant future, also known as the messianic age. As a reader, if you are looking for linear progression in the text from a present judgement to a future salvation, you will not find it. One of the most important things to understand when reading most of the prophets, is that prophecies do not always follow an obvious order. They even switch between first and third person points of view within the same passage. Martin Luther famously complained about what he called the prophets’ “strange way of talking” and he wished that instead they wrote “in an orderly manner.” I recommend in your approach to the prophets keeping room for more literary nuance than Luther. The prophets were not necessarily meant to be read in one sitting, but rather heard in short sermons like inspired street evangelists. They likely did not anticipate a day when the entirety of their prophetic career would be contained in one book, more often read rather than heard.
