Micha

The name Micha (also spelled Mica or Micah) belongs to two Old Testament figures collected under this umbrella: the young son of Mephibaal in the house of David, and a Levite of the post-exilic restoration whose name carries through Asaph's line of singers. The Hebrew name is the short form of Michaiah / Micah, "who is like Yahweh"; the UPDV spelling shifts between "Mica" and "Micah" across the parallel passages.

Son of Mephibaal in the House of David

The first Micha is the small son of Mephibaal — Jonathan's surviving son — when David takes Mephibaal into his own household for Jonathan's sake: "And Mephibaal had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were slaves to Mephibaal" (2Sa 9:12). The Chronicler's parallel genealogy gives the line three generations down, with the alternate spelling "Micah": "And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal begot Micah. And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz" (1Ch 8:34-35). The same line is reproduced again in the next chapter with one variant in the fourth name: "And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Merib-baal begot Micah. And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tahrea, [and Ahaz]" (1Ch 9:40-41). Through this Micha, the line of Jonathan continues into the next generation under David's care.

A Levite Sealing the Covenant

A second Micha, set off from the Davidic-era figure, is one of the Levites who sealed Nehemiah's covenant after Ezra's reading of the law: "Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah," (Neh 10:11). The same Levitical line surfaces as the genealogical hinge for two later officers in Jerusalem. Mattaniah, the chief of praise, is named as his son: "and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the chief of praise, he led in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun" (Neh 11:17). And the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem traces his pedigree back through Mattaniah to the same Mica: "The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the business of the house of God" (Neh 11:22). His placement "of the sons of Asaph, the singers" puts him in the line of David's chief Levitical musician.

Nomenclature

The UPDV's "Mica" (2Sa 9:12; Neh 10:11; 11:17, 22) and "Micah" (1Ch 8:34-35; 9:40-41) render the same Hebrew name; the older form "Micha" preserved in some indices is identical in reference. Likewise, the UPDV reads "Mephibaal" in 2Sa 9:12 and "Merib-baal" in the Chronicles parallels — names that occur as "Mephibosheth" in older translations. The shift does not affect identification: the boy named in 2Sa 9:12 and the man begotten by Merib-baal in 1Ch 8 and 9 are the same Micha / Mica / Micah, son of Jonathan's surviving son.