The Wisdom of Micah Matt Young College

Traditionally, the Scriptural collection of non-apocryphal wisdom literature has comprised the four books of Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Job, due to their obvious similarities in style, purpose, and execution. Some, however, have argued that more books might be considered wisdom literature by these qualifications, perhaps even the entirety of Scripture; since all of the Word of God necessarily contains chokma (being divinely inspired), and it was intended for man to read, it might logically follow that most or all of the Bible might fall under this category. In particular, the book of the minor prophet Micah stands out as a potential book of wisdom literature because of its singularity among the prophets. By looking at the book of Micah in reference to others already deemed wisdom books, it is clear that Micah might be considered a book of wisdom literature because of its possession of divine instruction, tehellim, and literary elements similar to those found in other books of wisdom.

The first characteristic the book of Micah shares with traditionally accepted wisdom literature is its possession of divine instruction. Books of wisdom generally contain some sort of instruction about how to behave, either in accordance...