MICHA (Heb. Mikhāh, abbreviation of Mikhājāh, “Who [is] like Jahweh?”). - An Ephraimite (sometimes also called Michea) Judges (v.). He had stolen 1,100 silver shekels from his mother. Being about to be discovered, he returned the money, which was consecrated to divine worship. In imitation of the Mosaic prescriptions, M. had an ephad made (v.), but also tērāphim, or statuettes of household gods (cf. Gen. 31, 19), forbidden by the Law, and established a cult which, in his intention, was not to have any idolatrous purpose. When a Levite from Bethlehem happened to come by, M. kept him in his house to serve as his priest (Iudc. 17, 1-13). Subsequently, however, the latter was obliged to move to Lais, later called Dan, at the site of present-day Tell el-Qāḍī, 5 km west of Bānijās. There he established a schismatic sanctuary for the inviting tribe (ibid. 18, 1-31).
The information concerning M. forms one of the appendices to the Book of Judges and has the evident purpose of tracing the Dan (v.), famous until the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel (722 B.C.). The superimposition of superstitious elements and of a spontaneous, naïve religiosity is explained by the author as the effect of an abnormal period in Hebrew history (cf. Iudc. 17, 5; 18, 1).
M. Michea (v.) in the Masoretic text (cf. Mi. 1, 1; Ier. 26, 18 according to the qērē). For other persons of the same name, of whom in general only the name is known, cf. II Reg. 22, 12; I Par. 5, 5; 8, 34-35; 22, 20; Neh. 11, 17-22. Angelo Penna