Why do certain elders speak to those assembled and remind them about the prophet Micah?

And certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people. Elders were leaders from the community who would normally hear local court cases and some of them are present at Jeremiah’s trial.¹ Narrative in Scripture is not always strictly chronological and since all the people support the verdict that has been passed in Jeremiah 26:16, it would seem that this speech by the elders formed part of the evidence placed before the court, and was not said to explain the verdict to the people.² Some commentators even suggest that this verse should be understood in the pluperfect, And some elders of the land had arisen and spoken ³

The elders remind the court of what happened to the prophet Micah who prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah (715-686 BC). The elders give a summary of Micah’s message to Judah at the time by quoting from the writings of Micah, Zion shall be ploughed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooden height (Micah 3:12). The fact that the elders quote from the book of Micah shows that the writings of the prophets had been carefully preserved.⁴ The elders also introduce the quote using the words: Thus says the LORD of hosts, which are not present in the Micah passage. This shows that the elders considered the words of Micah to be the Lord’s words.⁵ The summary of Micah’s message makes it very clear to the court that Micah also spoke of the Lord’s judgment coming to Jerusalem. This judgment was to fall on both Jerusalem and the temple (the mountain of the house). The point the elders are making is that Jeremiah has spoken a message that is consistent with the Lord’s prophets who have come before him. Jeremiah’s message that the Lord will destroy the city and the temple must not be taken as evidence that he is a false prophet, as his accusers have done.