Abstract:
Micah 7:1–6 represents the prophet’s lamentation of the deficiency of moral value in a
beloved nation. The oracle is a watershed in the Book of Micah that is aptly characterised
by certain degrees of socio-economic and religious unfaithfulness, especially in privileged
circumstances. The oracle unit (Mi 7:1–6) forms the darkest descriptions of degrees about
the apparent moral wasteland of ancient Judah. The prophet’s metaphors are used to
describe the miserable moral morass of society form a kind of compendium with a
progression of thoughts and coherence of moral depravity. This article underscores that
when people and society live in dishonesty and corruption, the essentially integrated
spiritual-ethical-community of health and prosperity that is expected to unfold in time of
covenant fidelity will eventually be reduced to poverty and despair, where people hunt
each other for survival. This article explores aspects of dishonesty and corruption in the
Book of Micah that are pointers to the tragic situation, analyses the various descriptions of
corruption in the oracle unit and consequently examines its ethical imperatives for
community living.
CONTRIBUTION : As a biblical, literary and theological interpretation of Micah’s oracle concerning
ancient Judah’s moral morass, this article brings together moral insights that are potentially
viable for making major contributions to the life of people and just social order in an economics
of affluence, politics of oppression and corruption in societies.
