Micah 1–3 and Cultural Trauma Theory: An Exploration

2.1 The nature of the pain

Micah 1–3 contain the four markers of a narrative that suggest that this narrative underwent a process to become a cultural trauma. For cultural traumas to be unforgettable, these traumas must describe the nature of the pain in terms of something sacred being damaged such as a value or a sacred trust.^[18] Chapters 1–3 identify three valuable entities that are damaged, describing the pain that constitutes a cultural trauma.

On the surface, Micah 1 identifies the physical destruction of Samaria and the Shephelah as the traumatic event that eventually extends to Jerusalem’s gate.^[19] The passage moves from a cosmic focus to a national level in verses 2–7 and then to a specific region in verses 8–15, ending with a focus on Jerusalem. While this destruction may have served as a trigger for psychological trauma,^[20] a different trauma dominates this passage: a broken relationship between Israel and YHWH (Micah 1:5b–7).

Several literary elements point to Micah’s concern with the broken relationship between YHWH and Israel based on the sins listed in verses 5–7. First, the structure of Micah 1 highlights YHWH’s anger toward his people by hiding the YHWH’s intent of appearing. The text deliberately lures the hearer into a false sense of security in verses 2–4 by calling all nations to gather to witness judgment and then portrays a powerful deity coming to judge using theophanic language. Within a theophany, YHWH appears to either save a nation or punish a nation.^[21] Within an eight-century BCE context, YHWH’s appearance could be salvific in nature, meaning YHWH appears to defeat the Assyrians. Indeed, YHWH often appears to save his people.^[22] Thus, Micah’s audience may have welcomed the news of YWHW’s coming since they were under a constant Assyrian threat and frequent raids.

However, verse 5 turns the hope of YHWH’s appearance as a form of deliverance on its head. Instead of judging the nations, YHWH judges Israel and Judah.^[23] It is Israel and Judah’s conduct that invoked YHWH’s wrath. Indeed, YHWH punishes Israel and Judah because their actions have harmed their relationship with YHWH, as verses 5b–7 show.

Verses 5b–7 stipulate that Israel and Judah’s sin is a reliance on idols.^[24] Naming idolatry as the specific sin Israel and Judah committed emphasizes a broken relationship with YHWH because Israelite ideology often claimed that worshiping idols was being unfaithful to YHWH.^[25] Being unfaithful to YHWH by worshiping idols strains Israel and Judah’s relationship just like being unfaithful in a marriage would strain a relationship.

Micah uses two terms to describe Judah and Israel’s sins, and both terms reside within the ethical and religious sphere.^[26] The word pešaʿ is often translated as “rebelled.” Knierim shows how this term connotes breaking a relationship with YHWH or robbing something due to YHWH.^[27] Similarly, pešaʿ also has political connotations as the word describes political entities with a broken relationship.^[28] Pešaʿ is no mere rebellion or protest; this is a breach in Israel and YHWH’s relationship.

Like Chapter 1, Micah 2 identifies another area of pain that masks a larger trauma. Micah 2:1–5 describes the pain of having one’s land taken away.^[29] In an agrarian rural society, seizing someone’s land strips away their economic means of production.^[30] In a society that relies upon subsistence agriculture, land is more than a place to build a house or business; land is the business. Losing land thus becomes equivalent to stripping someone of their job, their means to make a living.^[31] Land seizing is stealing another’s livelihood.

The violation of one’s right to land and the economic strain caused by the loss of land constitute a type of pain involved with a cultural trauma. Such an incident would not be worth mentioning unless this created some form of egregious violation of the rights of those in Israel.

Micah 3 adds to the growing list of pains that are part of a cultural trauma. On the surface, this passage describes various forms of social injustice. The analysis of the social setting reveals four types of sins: hating right and loving wrong, despising justice, misleading people, and accepting money in return for favoritism. The key complaint may be summarized as a lack of justice. Yet, these are mere symptoms of the larger traumatic pain: the violation of trust by the country’s leaders.

The structure of Micah 3 entails vivid descriptions of the leaders of the country and their injustices. The chapter names four groups of leaders, presenting a holistic picture of the core leadership within Judah (Table 1).

The pain is the lost trust and the broken relationship with these leaders who were entrusted to administer justice. These are the critical offices that administer the nation’s justice, and they have become unjust themselves; Israel’s leadership has betrayed their duty and their people.

In ancient Israel, the leaders were their local rulers with whom people likely had personal relationships.^[32] A betrayal from them would be a greater source of pain than a national politician or king because such a national officer would be more distant than local leaders. A better analogy would be a betrayal by a police officer assigned to a specific city block or local mayor. Other prophets, as late as Zechariah, also spoke about such leaders, revealing that corrupt leaders were a systemic and noteworthy issue.^[33]

The loss of trust also extends to YHWH because amidst all this oppression YHWH’s help is nowhere to be found within the text. The structure within Micah 3 indicates that each oracle ends with a statement that emphasizes the lack of YHWH’s involvement. Each oracle progresses the theme of YHWH’s inaction or hiddenness with YHWH’s refusal to answer Judah’s leaders in Micah 3:4 to withholding of special divination to prophets in Micah 3:7. The final oracle in Micah 3 announces a complete removal of YHWH’s protective hand on Jerusalem as Jerusalem is reduced to a field. Such statements contradict the leadership’s ideology, which claims in Micah 3:11 that YHWH is with them; YHWH will protect them. In summary, Micah 1 and 2 expose YHWH as actively punishing Judah, but in Micah 3, Israel feels the punishment in the form of YHWH’s removal of YHWH’s protective presence.

YHWH’s withdrawal from Jerusalem makes this a trauma for everyone. While injustice traumatizes a few, YHWH’s hiddenness and the removal of YHWH’s protection impact all people in Judah. Micah 3:11–12 describe how vegetation will overgrow the spot where the temple once stood, and Jerusalem will be a field. No one rebuilds because they are all either dead or deported.^[34] This is the trauma experienced when YHWH withdraws.

Together, these chapters present the pain of a cultural trauma in the form of a loss of Israel’s relation to YHWH, in the loss of land, and in the breach of trust in both YHWH and the rulers entrusted over the people.

2.2 Identity of the victims

The second element of a cultural trauma that Micah identifies is the victim. The victim that Micah identifies is Samaria and a trail of victimized cities that reach Jerusalem. Micah 1:10–16 do not portray Jerusalem as being invaded or captured. Instead, Micah’s narrative focuses on the victimization of those in the Shephelah. Such a focus stems from Micah’s rural location and suggests that this narrative retains an old tradition.^[35] Many other prophets focus on Jerusalem, especially when the conflict directly involves Jerusalem. Yet scribes retain Micah’s victimization of the rural populations.

Chapter 2 also contributes to a cultural narrative by painting a more vivid picture of the victims of the trauma. Unlike Chapter 1’s general description of the victims, Chapter 2 identifies specific victims of YHWH’s judgment: women and children. Chapter 2 begins describing criminals suffering for their evil deeds, as seen in YHWH’s speech in verses 2:4. This statement reiterates what Micah 1 announced: judgment on those who do evil. Micah 2:8 invokes YHWH’s punishment as having consequences for women and children.

Specifically, Micah’s mention of women and children not only indicates a vulnerable group in society but hints at siege warfare. The conventional ancient battlefield consisted of warriors fighting each other in open areas devoid of women and children. Siege warfare is unconventional warfare in that this warfare incorporates women and children.^[36] Having children and women present complicate an attack because siege warfare inherently targets anyone in the city to include women and children. When soldiers penetrate a city, they face a confusing mix of people: some warriors to engage in battle and fleeing women and children. For warriors accustomed to fighting on a battlefield with other warriors, siege warfare blurs the moral and social lines between a warrior and an innocent party. For example, Assyrian reliefs show children and women as captives, illustrating the unconventional aspect of siege warfare.^[37]

Ultimately, the mentioning of women and children expresses the gravity of YHWH’s judgment. Yet, Micah 2 expands the list of victims within this cultural trauma to the entire household as seen in Micah 2:2, with households depending upon the land for survival. Attacks on the land are attacks on an entire home. Thus, Chapter 2 outlines the most vulnerable in society as the victim.

Like Micah 2, Micah 3 identifies the victims in this cultural trauma narrative as the oppressed people. Presumably, Micah addresses these oppressed people when he speaks about Judah’s leaders in the third person (Chapter 3, verses 3, 4, 6, 10, and 11).^[38] Not only did these innocent people suffer from the leader’s injustices, but they will suffer the absence of YHWH’s protection. YHWH’s withdrawal from Jerusalem makes this a trauma for everyone. While injustice traumatizes a few, the absence of YHWH in YHWH’s temple impacts all people in Judah. YHWH’s protection is gone.

2.3 Relationship to the wider audience

The third element of a cultural trauma is the relationship between the victim and the wider audience. While it is odd that the scribes kept the rural population as the victim, the scribes knew that these passages linked the rural victims with their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. The reason scribes likely retained the Shephelah as the victim of this narrative because this foreshadows what will happen to Jerusalem. The genre of lament found in Micah 1:8–16 allows this passage to function as a warning, implying that this wave of destruction heads for Jerusalem. YHWH’s punishment keeps spreading from Samaria to the Shephelah to Jerusalem. The relationship between the victim and the wider audience is one of mutual punishment with a different temporal order. The rural areas received their punishment first, with Jerusalem to follow. This universalizes the trauma, making the narrative about more than the Shephelah.

2.4 Identity of the perpetrator

The fourth element of a cultural trauma that Micah identifies is the perpetrator of the trauma. Chapter 1 identifies several perpetrators of this trauma. The perpetrator could be Assyria though the passage does not name Assyria. The passage names YHWH as the agent that brings pain and suffering. Micah uses the genre of a theophany to depict a powerful warrior deity coming to judge:

The picture is of Yahweh astride the mountain peaks, the heat of his wrath and greatness causing them to melt and flow like hot wax or water poured down a steep slope. Before such a majestic God Samaria and Jerusalem stand no chance of survival, for he comes as conqueror of the mountain ranges, the sanctuaries thus succumbing to the intense heat of divine anger.^[39]

The text leaves little doubt that YHWH is the source of judgment, and the description of YHWH’s arrival evokes sheer terror in those that stand before him.^[40] Micah 1 makes the agent of judgment even more evident by having YHWH announce his judgment in verse 6. This cultural trauma narrative fixes on YHWH as the primary perpetrator of this trauma.

Like Micah 1, Micah 2 states loud and clear that YHWH is the one who will bring calamity due to the sins of the people. As in Micah 1, Micah 2 reports YHWH’s judgment with direct speech. Micah seldom reports YHWH’s direct speech, so the occurrence of direct speech here stresses YHWH’s direct involvement and removes any ambiguity as to who is causing the judgment.

The dispute in Micah 2 centers upon YHWH’s character as the perpetrator of traumatic judgment. Micah’s interlocutors resist the emerging cultural trauma narrative that YHWH brought judgment based on their ideology about YHWH as seen in Micah 2:6–7. Within these verses, prophets claim that YHWH is not so impatient with his people and such disaster will not come upon the people of YHWH. Micah’s interlocutors deem the idea of YHWH judging his people as improbable as long as YHWH is among them (Micah 3:11), which is the opposite of Micah’s prophecy.

This type of dispute is common when a cultural trauma begins to form. As a carrier group begins to make sense of an event, the wider audience may challenge what the carrier group offers as their interpretative narrative.^[41] Consider the American Civil War as a national cultural trauma. Various groups debate the narrative that interprets the Civil War. One narrative asserts that the war eradicated the national sin of slavery, valorizing those who fought for the north. Similarly, another narrative claims that the Civil War was a loss of southern identity, whose heroes should be remembered.^[42] Indeed, the debates surrounding Civil War leaders (especially Confederate leaders) continue to form and solidify the cultural trauma the Civil War has upon America. Like the Civil War in America, Micah’s narrative is challenged by other groups and is part of the meaning-making of what happened in the late eighth-century BCE. In the end, Micah’s narrative dominates and becomes the national narrative that interprets the Assyrian invasion into Samaria and Judah as YHWH’s judgment.

Micah 3 presents a shift from YHWH as the primary perpetrator to the leadership in Judah as the cause of Israel’s trauma. Chapters 1 and 2 place a heavy emphasis on YHWH as the perpetrator with first-person speech and a theophany that identifies YHWH as the agent of this trauma. Micah even disputes a group concerning his claim that YHWH is the cause of all of this (Micah 2:6–7). In contrast, Chapter 3 places the blame squarely on the leaders of Judah.

Micah identifies these leaders for their lack of justice. The text pays great attention to these leaders and describes them in detail to highlight them as those responsible for Judah’s inequity. Micah traces YHWH’s ultimate destruction of Jerusalem back to the leaders of Judah. The third oracle clarifies that the leaders are the cause of Jerusalem’s destruction. The emphatic “because of you” in Micah 3:12 leaves no doubt in the hearers’ mind that it is these leaders’ actions that cause the downfall of Jerusalem. Micah 1–3 then identify both YHWH and Israel’s leadership as the perpetrator of the trauma found within Micah 1–3.