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MICAH 1 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE
PEASE
ITRODUCTIO
JOSEPH BESO, "THE BOOK OF MICAH.ARGUMET.MICAH, of whose family
nothing certain is known, was a Morasthite, or of Moresa, a village
near Eleutheropolis, in the south of Judah. He was cotemporary with
Isaiah, began to prophesy a little after him, and continued in the
prophetic office about fifty years. What we find here in writing
seems to be an abstract of what he preached during that time. He
had seen the prophecies of Isaiah, and has introduced whole
passages verbatim into his own. Compare Isaiah 2:2, with Micah 4:1;
and Isaiah 41:15, with Micah 4:13. The style of Micah, says Bishop
Lowth, is, for the most part, close, forcible, pointed, and
concise; sometimes approaching the obscurity of Hosea: in many
parts animated and sublime, and in general truly poetical. Like
Amos and Hosea; says Archbishop ewcome, he reproves and threatens a
corrupt people with great spirit and energy. See Micah 2:1-10;
Micah 3:2-4; Micah 6:10-16; Micah 7:2-4. And, like Hosea, he
inveighs against the princes and prophets with the highest
indignation. See Micah 3:5-12; Micah 7:3. Some of his prophecies
are distinct and illustrious ones, as Micah 2:12-13; Micah 3:12;
Micah 4:1-4; Micah 4:10; Micah 5:2-4; Micah 7:8-10. In many
passages, we may justly admire the beauty and elegance of his
manner; his animation; his strength of expression; his pathos; his
sublimity. The scope of his whole book Isaiah , 1. To convince
Israel and Judah of their sins, and of the judgments of God ready
to break in upon them; 2. To comfort the righteous with promises of
mercy and deliverance, and especially with an assurance of the
coming of the Messiah. To be more particular, In the first chapter
of his prophecies he foretels the calamities of Samaria, which was
some time after taken and spoiled by Shalmaneser; and then
prophesies against Judah, denouncing the evils which were
accordingly brought upon it by Sennacherib, in the reign of
Hezekiah. In the second chapter he inveighs against those who
devised evil against others, and who coveted and took away by
violence other mens possessions, &c. In the third chapter he
reproves the heads of Jacob, and the princes of the house of
Israel, for their avarice, injustice, and oppression of the people;
and also the false prophets, for their deceiving of the people; and
tells them that they will be the occasion of Jerusalems being
reduced to a heap of rubbish. After these terrible denunciations,
in chapters fourth and fifth he speaks of their restoration, and,
under the figure of that, of the times of the Messiah. In the sixth
and seventh chapters the sins of the people are reproved, and
threatenings denounced against them; but with promises of better
things on their amendment. This prophet is cited by Jeremiah,
(Jeremiah 26:18,) which shows that
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he prophesied before Jeremiah. It is related by Epiphanius, and
the Greek writers who copied him, that Micah was thrown from a
precipice and killed by Jehoram, the son of Ahab, whom he
erroneously calls king of Judah, but who was really king of Israel;
and whose grandson Jehoram lived at least one hundred and thirty
years before Micah. But these writers seem to have confounded Micah
with Micaiah the son of Imlah, who flourished in Israel, and
prophesied evil of Ahab. Micah does not appear to have suffered
martyrdom, as may be collected from Jeremiah 26:18-19, but probably
died in peace in the reign of Hezekiah. St. Jerome says, that his
tomb was at Morasthi, and converted into a church in his time: and
Sozomen professed to have heard, that his body was shown, in a
divine vision, to Zebennus, bishop of Eleutheropolis, in the reign
of Theodosius the Great, near a place called Berathsatia, which
probably might be a corruption of Morasti, since Sozomen describes
it to have been at nearly the same distance from Jerusalem that St.
Jerome places Morasthi. Grays Key.
COMMETARY O THE PROPHECY OF MICAH.by Dr Peter Pett BA BD
(Hons-London) DD"Micah" is a shortened form for "Micaiah," which
means "Who is like YHWH?" He came from Moresheth, a small town
south west of Jerusalem. This was probably the same as
Moresheth-gath (Micah 1:14), in which case it must have been fairly
close to the Philistine town of Gath, of which the exact location
is uncertain. Moresheth-gath was also about six miles north-east of
Lachish, the second largest city in Judah, which was on the
Shephelah (lower hills leading down to the Coastal Plain).
Micah 1:1
The word of YHWH that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days
of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.Micah came to the people of Judah
with the word (dbr) of YHWH, a word which dealt with the situations
of both Samaria, the capital city of Israel, and Jerusalem, the
capital city of Judah. The fact that his fathers name is not given,
and that he came from a smallish town, may suggest that he came of
common stock. While Isaiah was influencing the nobility, Micah was
appealing to the common people. The destruction of his own home
town by the Assyrians around the time that they captured Lachish
must have been a great blow to him.
He prophesied during the reigns of Jotham (c.740-732 BC), Ahaz
(c.732-715 BC), and Hezekiah (c.715-687/6 BC), kings of Judah. This
indicates that he was a late eighth-century contemporary of Isaiah,
who also prophesied around the same time in Judah (compare Isaiah
1:1). Amos and Hosea were similarly prophesying in the northern
kingdom of Israel (see Amos 1:1; Hosea 1:1). These were initially
times of economic wellbeing following the long and prosperous reign
of Uzziah (Azariah), but with the looming presence of Assyria,
danger threatened and eventually arrived, especially in the first
instance for Israel.
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During the time of Jotham (although not affecting Judah)
Assyria, under Tiglath Pileser III (Pulu), coming from the north
over the Euphrates in undreamt of power, captured some of Israels
northern lands and incorporated them into the Assyrian empire,
taking many Israelites into exile, and subjecting Israel to heavy
tribute. Israel had meanwhile descended into a state of spiritual
decadence and partial anarchy. Both economic and religious
conditions were rapidly deteriorating.
We can understand how this new situation must have affected the
thinking of men of God at the time. Here was an indication of Gods
displeasure with His people. Things had never got quite as bad as
this before.
When Israel, along with the Philistines and the countries north
of Israel, including Syria, rebelled against Assyrian rule and
withheld tribute, they sought to form an alliance in order to deal
with the threat. This they invited first Jotham (who conveniently
died), and then Ahaz to join. On the new king Ahaz refusing to do
so preparations were made by Syria and Israel to bring him into
submission and replace him as king. At this point Isaiah tried to
persuade Ahaz to trust in YHWH and ignore everyone else, assuring
him that the plot would come to nothing (Isaiah 7). Howevr, Ahaz
chose rather to submit to the king of Assyria, against the
pleadings of Isaiah, and pay the necessary tribute by using the
gold in the Temple in order to obtain his protection, which was
duly forthcoming. Ahaz seemingly had little interest in Yahwism and
appears to have encouraged a resurgence of native religions. This
naturally resulted in less notice being paid to covenant law.
Society in general became more corrupt. Micah was partly inveighing
against this.
Israel was only at that point saved from final destruction when
Hoshea staged a coup and made peace with Assyria, paying very heavy
tribute, but averting further disaster. Israels one time prosperity
was on the point of collapse. But inevitably rebellion again raised
its head, for the tribute was ruinous and national pride was hurt,
and this time Shalmaneser V who had succeeded Tiglath Pileser III,
held nothing back. He first destroyed the Philistines, and then
moved against Israel and, although he died, eventually his son
Sargon II captured Samaria. This was in 722 BC. Once this had been
accomplished Sargon attacked Syria and besieged Damascus which was
also destroyed. At this time large numbers of Israelites were
deported and settled in countries beyond the Euphrates which were
under Assyrian control. Judah were unaffected because they remained
firm in their allegiance although they would no doubt have Assyrian
troops stationed on their soil. They thus continued to maintain a
certain level of prosperity.
But paying tribute also involved accepting Assyrian gods into
the Temple so that they could be given due honour, and Ahaz seems
to have actually encouraged this and also to have allowed idolatry
to run wild. He had seemingly little concern for YHWH (see Isaiah
7) or for His laws. People not only worshipped in the heretical
high places, but also worshipped in every high hill, and under
every green tree, following every pagan practise. Ahaz even
sacrificed his son to Moloch (Melech). The hold of Yahwism was
being weakened, even though much of the worship was
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probably syncretistic. It was not difficult to align Baal (lord)
with YHWH, to YHWHs detriment.
Meanwhile the covenant law was losing its hold, morals were
deteriorating, and the wealthy were beginning to misuse their
situations to the detriment of the poor, while justice itself was
becoming corrupted. The moral state of Judah was thus in jeopardy.
The priests were also becoming corrupted, and prophets were using
their positions in order to prophesy good things in return for the
appropriate bribe. So religious life and standards were also
rapidly deteriorating. These were situations that Micah came to
address.
When Hezekiah came to the throne he began a religious
reformation. Yahwism once again came into the ascendancy, while the
teaching of Isaiah, supported by Micah, was raising hopes of the
coming of the future Davidic king (the Messiah). Widespread
idolatrous practises were stamped down on, and no doubt the moral
situation improved. Even the more orthodox but heretical high
places, which had been in place since the death of Solomon, were
eventually removed, and the Temple purified. Attempts were also
made to encourage those who remained in northern Israel to join in
worshipping YHWH (2 Chronicles 30:1-12). But nothing could be done
for the time being about the Assyrian gods safely ensconced in the
Temple. To have removed them would have been an act of rebellion
against Assyria.
So for a while Hezekiah remained submissive to Assyria, but when
Assyrian attention was taken up elsewhere, he appears from Assyrian
records to have considered joining in an alliance which was being
fostered by the Philistines, with encouragement from Egypt. This
was in the early years of his reign. Fortunately for Judahs sake
this did not for some reason come into fruition and they therefore
escaped the wrath of Sargon II which was meted out on Philistia
around 811 BC.
But on the death of Sargon II in 705 BC it was only a matter of
time before Hezekiah withheld tribute. In alliance with the
Philistines and encouraged by Egypt, their hope was probably that
the new king would be too busy establishing himself to bother about
far flung tributaries, especially in view of the might of the new
Egypt. o doubt at this stage the idolatrous images were also
removed from the Temple. But the new king of Assyria, Sennacherib,
arrived in order to stamp out the rebellion and Hezekiah appears
eventually to have submitted paying heavy tribute (2 Kings
18:14-16). The result was that many Judeans would meanwhile have
been taken into exile.
However, under circumstances that we do not know, it may even
have been after a number of years, Sennacherib was dissatisfied
with the situation and determined to deal with Hezekiah once and
for all. He slowly subjugated the cities of Judah (forty six cities
of Judah I besieged and took) and that included Lachish, Judahs
second city. Pictures of the capture of Lachish have been found on
Assyrian inscriptions, and during this period many Judeans would
again have been carried off into exile. It was standard Assyrian
practise. But while some Assyrian troops do appear to have hemmed
in Jerusalem something happened which prevented its capture,
and
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Jerusalem was never taken, as in fact Isaiah had promised. It
seemed like a miracle. At this stage an indecisive battle with
Egyptian forces, together with what is described as the remarkable
destruction of Assyrian soldiers by the angel of YHWH (2 Kings
19:35), and urgent news from Assyria (2 Kings 19:7), caused
Sennacherib to return home to Assyria. Hezekiah died before later
repercussions could follow.
This is the brief background to the days of Jotham Ahaz and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Book of Micah may be seen as dividing up into three main
sections:
1) Judgments on Jerusalem and Samaria (chapters 1-3).2) The Hope
That Lies Ahead (chapters 4-5).3) Continuing Warnings of Judgment
and Hope (chapters 6-7).
1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during
the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah--the vision
he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
BARES. "The word of the Lord that came to Micah ... which he saw
- No two of the prophets authenticate their prophecy in exactly the
same way. They, one and all, have the same simple statement to
make, that this which they say is from God, and through them. A
later hand, had it added the titles, would have formed all upon one
model. The title was an essential part of the prophetic book, as
indicating to the people afterward, that it was not written after
the event. It was a witness, not to the prophet whose name it
bears, but to God. The prophet bare witness to God, that what he
delivered came from Him. The event bare witness to the prophet,
that he said this truly, in that he knew what God alone could know
- futurity. Micah blends in one the facts, that he related in words
given him by God, what he had seen spread before him in prophetic
vision. His prophecy was, in one, the word of the Lord which came
to him, and a sight which he saw.
Micah omits all mention of his father. His great predecessor was
known as Micaiah son of Imlah. Micah, a villager, would be known
only by the name of his native village. So Nahum names himself the
Elkoshite; Jonah is related to be a native of Gath-hepher; Elijah,
the Tishbite, a sojourner in the despised Gilead 1Ki_17:1; Elisha,
of Abelmeholah; Jeremiah, of Anathoth; forerunners of Him, and
taught by His Spirit who
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willed to be born at Bethlehem, and, since this, although too
little to be counted among the thousands of Judah, was yet a royal
city and was to be the birthplace of the Christ, was known only as
Jesus of Nazareth, the Nazarene. No prophet speaks of himself, or
is spoken of, as born at Jerusalem, the holy city. They speak of
themselves with titles of lowliness, not of greatness.
Micah dates his prophetic office from kings of Judah only, as
the only kings of the line appointed by God. Kings of Israel are
mentioned in addition, only by prophets of Israel. He names Samaria
first, because, its iniquity being most nearly full, its punishment
was the nearest.
CLARKE, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite
- For all authentic particulars relative to this prophet, see the
introduction.
In the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah - These three kings
reigned about threescore years; and Micah is supposed to have
prophesied about forty or fifty years; but no more of his
prophecies have reached posterity than what are contained in this
book, nor is there any evidence that any more was written. His time
appears to have been spent chiefly in preaching and exhorting; and
he was directed to write those parts only that were calculated to
profit succeeding generations.
GILL, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the
Morasthite,.... So called, either from Mareshah, mentioned
Mic_1:15; and was a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos_15:44; as the
Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Zacutus (i); or rather from Moresheth,
from which Moreshethgath, Mic_1:14; is distinguished; which Jerom
(k) says was in his time a small village in the land of Palestine,
near Eleutheropolis. Some think these two cities to be one and the
same; but they appear to be different from the account of Jerom
(l)elsewhere. The Arabic version reads it, Micah the son of
Morathi; so Cyril, in his commentary on this place, mentions it as
the sense of some, that Morathi was the father of the prophet;
which can by no means be assented to:
in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; by
which it appears that he was contemporary with Isaiah, Hoses, and
Amos, though they began to prophesy somewhat sooner than he, even
in the days of Uzziah; very probably he conversed with these
prophets, especially Isaiah, with whom he agrees in many things;
his style is like his, and sometimes uses the same phrases: he,
being of the tribe of Judah, only mentions the kings of that nation
most known to him; though he prophesied against Israel, and in the
days of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and
Hoshea:
which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem; in the vision of
prophecy; Samaria was the metropolis of the ten tribes of Israel,
and is put for them all; as Jerusalem was of the tribes of Judah
and Benjamin, and is put for them Samaria is mentioned first,
because it was the head of the greatest body of people; and as it
was the first in transgression, it was the first in punishment.
HERY, "Here is, I. A general account of this prophet and his
prophecy, Mic_1:1. This is prefixed for the satisfaction of all
that read and hear the prophecy of this book, who will give the
more credit to it when they know the author and his authority. 1.
The prophecy is the word of the Lord; it is a divine revelation.
Note, What is written in the
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Bible, and what is preached by the ministers of Christ according
to what is written there, must be heard and received, not as the
word of dying men, which we may be judges of, but as the word of
the living God, which we must be judged by, for so it is. This word
of the Lord came to the prophet, came plainly, came powerfully,
came in a preventing way, and he saw it, saw the vision in which it
was conveyed to him, saw the things themselves which he foretold,
with as much clearness and certainty as if they had been already
accomplished. 2. The prophet is Micah the Morasthite; his name
Micah is a contraction of Micaiah, the name of a prophet some ages
before (in Ahab's time, 1Ki_22:8); his surname, the Morasthite,
signifies that he was born, or lived, at Moresheth, which is
mentioned here (Mic_1:14), or Mareshah, which is mentioned
Mic_1:15, and Jos_15:44. The place of his abode is mentioned, that
any one might enquire in that place, at that time, and might find
there was, or had been, such a one there, who was generally reputed
to be a prophet. 3. The date of his prophecy is in the reigns of
three kings of Judah - Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Ahaz was one of
the worst of Judah's kings, and Hezekiah one of the best; such
variety of times pass over God's ministers, times that frown and
times that smile, to each of which they must study to accommodate
themselves, and to arm themselves against the temptations of both.
The promises and threatenings of this book are interwoven, by which
it appears that even in the wicked reign he preached comfort, and
said to the righteous then that it should be well with them; and
that in the pious reign he preached conviction, and said to the
wicked then that it should be ill with them; for, however the times
change, the word of the Lord is still the same. 4. The parties
concerned in this prophecy; it is concerning Samaria and Jerusalem,
the head cities of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, under the
influence of which the kingdoms themselves were. Though the ten
tribes have deserted the houses both of David and Aaron, yet God is
pleased to send prophets to them.
JAMISO, "Mic_1:1-16. Gods wrath against Samaria and Judah; The
former is to be overthrown; Such judgments in prospect call for
mourning.
K&D 1-4, "The heading in Mic_1:1 has been explained in the
introduction. Mic_1:2-4form the introduction to the prophet's
address. Mic_1:2. Hear, all ye nations: observe, O earth, and that
which fills it: and let the Lord Jehovah be a witness against you,
the Lord out of His holy palace.Mic_1:3. For, behold, Jehovah
cometh forth from His place, and cometh down, and marcheth over the
high places of the earth.Mic_1:4. And the mountains will melt under
Him, and the valleys split, like wax before the fire, like water
poured out upon a slope. The introductory words, Hear, ye nations
all, are taken by Micah from his earlier namesake the son of Imlah
(1Ki_22:28). As the latter, in his attack upon the false prophets,
called all nations as witnesses to confirm the truth of his
prophecy, so does Micah the Morashite commence his prophetic
testimony with the same appeal, so as to announce his labours at
the very outset as a continuation of the activity of his
predecessor who had been so zealous for the Lord. As the son of
Imlah had to contend against the false prophets as seducers of the
nation, so has also the Morashtite (compare Mic_2:6, Mic_2:11;
Mic_3:5, Mic_3:11); and as the former had to announce to both
kingdoms the judgment that would come upon them on account of their
sins, so has also the latter; and he does it by frequently
referring to the prophecy of the elder Micah, not only by
designating the false prophets as those who walk after the
rch and lie, sheqer (Mic_2:11), which recals to mind the
rchsheqer of the prophets of Ahab (1Ki_22:22-23), but also in his
use of the figures of the horn of iron in Mic_4:13
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(compare the horns of iron of the false prophet Zedekiah in
1Ki_22:11), and of the
smiting upon the cheek in Mic_5:1 (compare 1Ki_22:14). Ammmkullm
does not mean
all the tribes of Israel; still less does it mean warlike
nations. Ammm never has the second meaning, and the first it has
only in the primitive language of the Pentateuch.
But here both these meanings are precluded by the parallel ; for
this expression invariably signifies the whole earth, with that
which fills it, except in such a case as Jer_
8:16, where 'erets is restricted to the land of Israel by the
preceding h'rets, or Eze_
12:19, where it is so restricted by the suffix 'artsh. The
appeal to the earth and its fulness is similar to the appeals to
the heaven and the earth in Isa_1:2 and Deu_32:1. All nations, yea
the whole earth, and all creatures upon it, are to hear, because
the judgment which the prophet has to announce to Israel affects
the whole earth (Mic_1:3, Mic_1:4), the judgment upon Israel being
connected with the judgment upon all nations, or forming a portion
of that judgment. In the second clause of the verse, the Lord
Jehovah be witness against you, it is doubtful who is addressed in
the expression against you. The words cannot well be addressed to
all nations and to the earth, because the Lord only rises up as a
witness against the man who has despised His word and transgressed
His commandments. For being a witness is not equivalent to
witnessing or giving testimony by words, - say, for example, by the
admonitory and corrective address of the prophet which follows, as
C. B. Michaelis supposes, - but refers to the practical testimony
given by the Lord in the judgment (Mic_1:3 ff), as in Mal_3:5 and
Jer_42:5. Now, although the Lord is described as the Judge of the
world in Mic_1:3 and Mic_1:4, yet, according to Mic_1:5., He only
comes to execute judgment upon Israel. Consequently we must refer
the words to you to Israel, or rather to the capitals Samaria and
Jerusalem mentioned in Mic_1:1, just as in Nah_1:8 the suffix
simply refers to the Nineveh mentioned in the heading, to which
there has been no further allusion in Nah_1:2-7. This view is also
favoured by the fact that Micah summons all nations to hear his
word, in the same sense as his earlier namesake in 1Ki_22:28. What
the prophet announces in word, the Lord will confirm by deed, -
namely, by executing the predicted judgment, - and indeed the Lord
out of His holy temple, i.e., the heaven where He is enthroned
(Psa_11:4); for (1Ki_22:3) the Lord will rise up from thence, and
striding over the high places of the earth, i.e., as unbounded
Ruler of the world (cf. Amo_4:13and Deu_32:13), will come down in
fire, so that the mountains melt before Him, that is to say, as
Judge of the world. The description of this theophany is founded
upon the idea of a terrible storm and earthquake, as in Psa_18:8.
The mountains melt (Jdg_5:4 and Psa_68:9) with the streams of
water, which discharge themselves from heaven (Jdg_5:4), and the
valleys split with the deep channels cut out by the torrents of
water. The similes, like wax, etc. (as in Psa_68:3), and like
water, etc., are intended to express the complete dissolution of
mountains and valleys. The actual facts answering to this
description are the destructive influences exerted upon nature by
great national judgments.
CALVI, "This inscription, in the first place, shows the time in
which Micah lived, and during which God employed his labors. And
this deserves to be noticed: for at this day his sermons would be
useless, or at least frigid, except his time were known to us, and
we be thereby enabled to compare what is alike and what is
different in the men of his age, and in those of our own: for when
we understand that Micah
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condemned this or that vice, as we may also learn from the other
Prophets and from sacred history, we are able to apply more easily
to ourselves what he then said, inasmuch as we can view our own
life as it were in a mirror. This is the reason why the Prophets
are wont to mention the time in which they executed their
office.
But how long Micah followed the course of his vocation we cannot
with certainty determine. It is, however, probable that he
discharged his office as a Prophet for thirty years: it may be that
he exceeded forty years; for he names here three kings, the first
of whom, that is Jotham, reigned sixteen years; and he was followed
by Ahab, who also reigned as many years. If then Micah was called
at the beginning of the first reign, he must have prophesied for
thirty-two years, the time of the two kings. Then the reign of
Hezekiah followed, which continued to the twenty-ninth year: and it
may be, that the Prophet served God to the death, or even beyond
the death, of Hezekiah. (59) We hence see that the number of his
years cannot with certainty be known; though it be sufficiently
evident that he taught not for a few years, but that he so
discharged his office, that for thirty years he was not wearied,
but constantly persevered in executing the command of God.
I have said that he was contemporary with Isaiah: but as Isaiah
began his office under Uzziah, we conclude that he was older. Why
then was Micah joined to him? That the Lord might thus break down
the stubbornness of the people. It was indeed enough that one man
was sent by God to bear witness to the truth; but it pleased God
that a testimony should be borne by the mouth of two, and that holy
Isaiah should be assisted by this friend and, as it were, his
colleague. And we shall hereafter find that they adopted the very
same words; but there was no emulation between them, so that one
accused the other of theft, when he repeated what had been said.
othing was more gratifying to each of them than to receive a
testimony from his colleague; and what was committed to them by God
they declared not only in the same sense and meaning, but also in
the same words, and, as it were, with one mouth.
Of the expression, that the word was sent to him, we have
elsewhere reminded you, that it ought not to be understood of
private teaching, as when the word of God is addressed to
individuals; but the word was given to Micah, that he might be Gods
ambassador to us. It means then that he came furnished with
commands, as one sustaining the person of God himself; for he
brought nothing of his own, but what the Lord commanded him to
proclaim. But as I have elsewhere enlarged on this subject, I now
only touch on it briefly.
This vision, he says, was given him against two cities Samaria
and Jerusalem (60) It is certain that the Prophet was specifically
sent to the Jews; and Maresah, from which he arose, as it appears
from the inscription, was in the tribe of Judah: for Morasthite was
an appellative, derived from the place Maresah. (61) But it may be
asked, why does he say that visions had been given him against
Samaria? We have said elsewhere, that though Hosea was specifically
and in a peculiar manner destined for the kingdom of Israel, he yet
by the way mingled sometimes those things which referred to the
tribe or kingdom of Judah: and such was also the case
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with our Prophet; he had a regard chiefly to his own kindred,
for he knew that he was appointed for them; but, at the same time,
he overlooked not wholly the other part of the people; for the
kingdom of Israel was not so divided from the tribe of Judah that
no connection remained: for God was unwilling that his covenant
should be abolished by their defection from the kingdom of David.
We hence see, that though Micah spent chiefly his labors in behalf
of the Jews, he yet did not overlook or entirely neglect the
Israelites.
But the title must be restricted to one part of the book; for
threatenings only form the discourse here. But we shall find that
promises, full of joy, are also introduced. The inscription then
does not include all the contents of the book; but as his purpose
was to begin with threatenings, and to terrify the Jews by setting
before them the punishment that was at hand, this inscription was
designedly given. There is, at the same time, no doubt but that the
Prophet was ill received by the Jews on this account; for they
deemed it a great indignity, and by no means to be endured, to be
tied up in the same bundle with the Israelites; for Samaria was an
abomination to the kingdom of Judah; and yet the Prophet here makes
no difference between Samaria and Jerusalem. This was then an
exasperating sentence: but we see how boldly the Prophet performs
the office committed to him; for he regarded not what would be
agreeable to men, nor endeavored to draw them by smooth things:
though his message was disliked, he yet proclaimed it, for he was
so commanded, nor could he shake off the yoke of his vocation. Let
us now proceed
BESO, "Micah 1:1. In the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah
Micah is thought to have prophesied about sixteen years in Jothams
time, as many under Ahaz, and fourteen under Hezekiah: in all,
forty-six years. And he survived the captivity of Israel ten years,
which he lamented as well as foretold. Which he saw concerning
Samaria and Jerusalem Concerning both the kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, whereof Samaria and Jerusalem were the capital cities. It is
said, Which he saw, &c., because the prophets having the
general name of seers, every kind of prophecy, in whatever way
delivered, seems to have been generally called a vision.
COFFMA, "This and the following chapter (2) which are grouped
together in the sacred text have the record of the word of the Lord
through Micah; and, since this section has a prophecy of the
approaching destruction of Samaria, that part of it must surely
have originated in the times of Jotham king of Judah, that
doubtless being the reason for Micah's inclusion of that king in
the superscription.
Micah 1:1
"The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the
days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem."
The battle of Micah begins with this verse. It is clearly the
imprimature of the Holy Spirit, validating the entire book of Micah
as the word of the Lord. Concerning this author, and other inspired
writers of the Old Testament, an apostle of Jesus Christ
-
declared that "Holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy
Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21), and that the prophets themselves, far from
merely commenting upon current conditions as they discerned and
interpreted them, were delivering the true words of God to men,
"which the Spirit of God that was in them did testify" (1 Peter
1:11). These comments by the apostle Peter are more valuable in
understanding Micah than a hundred of the current commentaries that
proceed to deny every other word of it as having any authenticity
or significance whatever. This verse 1, like all the rest of the
book, is written by Micah; without this verse, nothing is left.
Although, to be sure, there are other examples of "thus saith the
Lord" in the prophecy, this verse identifies (1) the author of its
contents, God Himself, (2) the prophet through whom the message was
delivered, and (3) the names of the kings of Judah during whose
reigns the message was delivered "concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem." In this verse, the Holy Bible says that the prophecy is
"The word of the Lord." It is inconceivable that Micah could have
delivered this great prophecy without this validating
superscription, in exactly the same manner as that followed by many
other prophets of the sacred scriptures. Micah, therefore, included
it; he wrote it; he made it a part of his book; he testified that
the prophecies in it must be dated as early as the days of Jotham,
before the fulfillment of his prophecies.
Ever since the Garden of Eden, however, Satan has loved to
contradict what God says; and the evil one has not hesitated to
contradict what God says in this verse. He says that:
"This superscription is not the prophet's words.[1]; Micah 1:2
was inserted by the redactor.[2] The second and third lines of
Micah 1:5 are not the language of Micah.[3] "Thus saith the Lord,"
God's Word still comes to those who hear and obey the prophetic
call.[4] (in other words, Micah had no more insight into God's will
than obedient Christians today!). Micah 1:1 was prefixed to Micah
by a compiler (long after the book was written). etc., etc."[5]Just
as God, of old, spake through men; so does Satan; and therefore we
have accurately ascribed the above words to their true source. It
is the old, old lie, "Ye shall not surely die," as delivered by our
Enemy in the Paradise of Eden. This does not question the honesty
or the sincerity of the evil one's spokesmen; but the very fact of
God's Word being contradicted identifies the source of the
contradiction by those who may, or may not, be deceived. We have
hit this problem rather firmly here in the first verse, for it is
our intention to waste very little time with it in the following
notes. Before passing, however, it is a joy to recognize that there
are many of the greatest scholars who have not hesitated to honor
all of Micah, including this superscription as indeed the word of
Jehovah. "This verse introduces the whole prophecy as having come
from Jehovah."[6] "Micah began prophesying before the destruction
of Samaria (Micah 1:5)."[7] "The threat of the destruction of
Samaria was evidently uttered before 722 B.C."[8] We appreciate
this especially from McKeating, because he went further and gave
the reason why "some scholars" have felt compelled to tamper with
this verse. The problem is predictive prophecy which they do not
believe is possible! "They are therefore obliged either to
translate the words differently, or to see the words as a prophecy
after the event, inserted at a later date."[9] The faithful student
should, therefore, always remember that
-
contradictions of the sacred prophecies are merely testimonials
to the unbelief of their advocates, and that the most ridiculous
and unscientific "reasons" imaginable are pressed into service to
bolster their infidelity. The great giants of Biblical exegesis
throughout the ages were unanimous (in all practical sense) in
their acceptance of the total of this book as inspired of God.
Rampant unbelief in the last century or so is not founded either
upon intelligence, or scientific evidence, but merely upon the
subjective speculations and imaginations of men who are determined,
before they ever begin their investigations, not to believe. See
more on this in the introduction. In recent times, many of the
ablest scholars such as Deane, Keil, D. Clark, and many others,
firmly hold to convictions that in this prophecy we are dealing
with the Word of God. We may conclude this study of the
superscription with Deane's flat statement: There really is no
sufficient reason for doubting the accuracy of the
superscription."
ELLICOTT, "Verse 1(1) Micah the Morasthite.Unlike Joel, who
identifies himself by his fathers name, Micah introduces his
personality with reference to his native village, Moresheth-gath,
which was situated in the lowland district of Judah. The namea
shortened form of Micaiah, meaning Who is like Jehovahwas not an
uncommon one among the Jews, but it was chiefly famous in times
prior to the prophet, through Micaiah, the son of Imlah, who, about
150 years previously, had withstood Ahab and his false
prophets.
Samaria and Jerusalem.The younger capital is placed first
because it was the first to fall through the greater sinfulness of
the northern kingdom. The chief cities are mentioned as
representatives of the wickedness of the respective nations.
COSTABLE, "Verse 1I. HEADIG1:1
Prophetic revelation from Yahweh came to Micah concerning
Samaria (the
orthern Kingdom) and Jerusalem (the Southern Kingdom). These
capital cities, by synecdoche, represent their respective nations
and the people in them. These capital cities also, by metonymy,
suggest the leaders of the nations, which Micah targeted for
special responsibility. Micah "saw" these revelations (rather than
"heard" them) because the Lord revealed them to him in visions and
or dreams ( umbers 12:6; cf. Isaiah 1:1; Obadiah 1:1; ahum 1:1).
Micah ("Who is like Yahweh?") was a resident of Moresheth-gath (
Micah 1:14), which was a Judean town in the Shephelah (foothills)
of Judah west and a bit south of Jerusalem. The mention of Micah"s
hometown rather than his father"s name suggests that he had come to
Jerusalem and had become known there as the Micah from Moresheth.
[ote: Allen, p265] ormally a man who was a longtime resident of a
town was described as the son of so and so rather than as being
from a particular place. Micah received and delivered his prophetic
messages during the reigns of three of the kings of his nation:
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This dates his ministry between750,686
B.C. [ote: See my comments on the writer and date in the
Introduction section above.] Similar full headings
(superscriptions) begin the books of Isaiah ,, Hosea ,, Amos ,
-
and Zephaniah.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMETARY
Verses 1-16MICAH THE MORASTHITE
Micah 1:1-16
SOME time in the reign of Hezekiah, when the kingdom of Judah
was still inviolate, but shivering to the shock of the fall of
Samaria, and probably while Sargon the destroyer was pushing his
way past Judah to meet Egypt at Raphia, a Judean prophet of the
name of Micah, standing in sight of the Assyrian march, attacked
the sins of his people and prophesied their speedy overthrow
beneath the same flood of war. If we be correct in our surmise, the
exact year was 720-719 B.C. Amos had been silent thirty years.
Hoses hardly fifteen; Isaiah was in the midway of his career. The
title of Micahs book asserts that he had previously prophesied
under Jotham and Ahaz, and though we have seen it to be possible,
it is by no means proved, that certain passages of the book date
from these reigns.
Micah is called the Morasthite. [Micah 1:1, Jeremiah 26:18] For
this designation there appears to be no other meaning than that of
a native of Moresheth-Gath, a village mentioned by himself. [Micah
1:14] It signifies Property or Territory of Gath, and after the
fall of the latter, which from this time no more appears in
history, Moresheth may have been used alone. Compare the analogous
cases of Helkath (portion of-) Galilee, Ataroth, Chesulloth, and
Iim.
In our ignorance of Gaths position, we should be equally at
fault about Moresheth, for the name has vanished, were it not for
one or two plausible pieces of evidence. Belonging to Gath,
Moresheth must have lain near the Philistine border: the towns
among which Micah includes it are situated in that region; and
Jerome declares that the name-though the form, Morasthi, in which
he cites it is suspicious-was in his time still extant in a small
village to the east of Eleutheropolis or Beit-Jibrin. Jerome cites
Morasthi as distinct from the neighboring Mareshah, which is also
quoted by Micah beside Moresheth-Gath.
Moresheth was, therefore, a place in the Shephelah, or range of
low hills which lie between the hill country of Judah and the
Philistine plain. It is the opposite exposure from the wilderness
of Tekoa, some seventeen miles away across the watershed. As the
home of Amos is bare and desert, so the home of Micah is fair and
fertile. The irregular chalk hills are separated by broad glens, in
which the soil is alluvial and red, with room for cornfields on
either side of the perennial or almost perennial streams. The olive
groves on the braes are finer than either those of the plain below
or of the Judean tableland above. There is herbage for cattle. Bees
murmur everywhere, larks are singing, and although today you may
wander in the maze of hills for hours without meeting a man or
seeing a house, you are never out of sight of the traces of ancient
habitation, and seldom beyond sound of the human
-
voice-shepherds and ploughmen calling to their flocks and to
each other across the glens. There are none of the conditions or of
the occasions of a large town. But, like the south of England, the
country is one of villages and homesteads, breeding good yeomen-men
satisfied and in love with their soil, yet borderers with a far
outlook and a keen vigilance and sensibility. The Shephelah is
sufficiently detached from the capital and body of the land to
beget in her sons an independence of mind and feeling, but so much
upon the edge of the open world as to endue them at the same time
with that sense of the responsibilities of warfare, which the
national statesmen, aloof and at ease in Zion, could not possibly
have shared.
Upon one of the west-most terraces of this Shephelah, nearly a
thousand feet above the sea, lay Moresheth itself. There is a great
view across the undulating plain with its towns and fortresses,
Lachish, Eglon, Shaphir, and others, beyond which runs the coast
road, the famous war-path between Asia and Africa. Ashdod and Gaza
are hardly discernible against the glitter of the sea, twenty-two
miles away. Behind roll the round bush-covered hills of the
Shephelah, with Davids hold at Adullam, the field where he fought
Goliath, and many another scene of border warfare; while over them
rises the high wall of the Judean plateau, with the defiles
breaking through it to Hebron and Bethlehem.
The valley-mouth near which Moresheth stands has always formed
the southwestern gateway of Judea, the Philistine or Egyptian gate,
as it might be called, with its outpost at Lachish, twelve miles
across the plain. Roads converge upon this valley-mouth from all
points of the compass. Beit-Jibrin, which lies in it, is midway
between Jerusalem and Gaza, about twenty-five miles from either,
nineteen miles from Bethlehem, and thirteen from Hebron. Visit the
place at any point of the long history of Palestine, and you find
it either full of passengers or a center of campaign. Asa defeated
the Ethiopians here. The Maccabees and John Hyrcanus contested
Mareshah, two miles off, with the Idumeans. Gabinius fortified
Mare-shah. Vespasian and Saladin both deemed the occupation of the
valley necessary before they marched upon Jerusalem. Septimius
Severus made Beit-Jibrin the capital of the Shephelah, and laid out
military roads, whose pavements still radiate from it in all
directions. The Onomasticon measures distances in the Shephelah
from Beit-Jibrin. Most of the early pilgrims from Jerusalem by Gaza
to Sinai or Egypt passed through it, and it was a center of
Crusading operations, whether against Egypt during the Latin
kingdom or against Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. ot different
was the place in the time of Micah. Micah must have seen pass by
his door the frequent embassies which Isaiah tells us went down to
Egypt from Hezekiahs court, and seen return those Egyptian
subsidies in which a foolish people put their trust instead of in
their God.
In touch, then, with the capital, feeling every throb of its
folly and its panic, but standing on that border which must, as he
believed, bear the brunt of the invasion that its crimes were
attracting, Micah lifted up his voice. They were days of great
excitement. The words of Amos and Hosea had been fulfilled upon
orthern Israel. Should Judah escape, whose injustice and impurity
were as flagrant as her sisters? It were vain to think so. The
Assyrians had come up to her northern border. Isaiah
-
was expecting their assault upon Mount Zion. The Lords
Controversy was not closed. Micah will summon the whole earth to
hear the old indictment and the still unexhausted sentence.
The prophet speaks:-
"Hear ye, peoples all; Hearken, O Earth, and her fullness! That
Jehovah may be among you to testify, The Lord from His holy temple!
For, lo! Jehovah goeth forth from His place; He descendeth and
marcheth on the heights of the earth."
"Molten are the mountains beneath Him, And the valleys gape
open, Like wax in face of the fire Like water poured over a
fall."
God speaks:-
"For the transgression of Jacob is all this, And for the sins of
the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not
Sarnaria? And what is the sin of the house of Judah? is it not
Jerusalem? Therefore do I turn Samaria into a ruin of the field,
And into vineyard terraces; And I pour down her stones to the glen
And lay hare her foundations. All her images are shattered, And all
her hires are being burned in the fire; And all her idols I lay
desolate, For from the hire of a harlot they were gathered, And to
a harlots hire they return."
The prophet speaks:-
"For this let me mourn, let me wail. Let me go barefoot and
stripped (of my robe), Let me make lamentations like the jackals,
And mourning like the daughters of the desert, For her stroke is
desperate; Yea, it hath come unto Judah! It hath smitten right up
to the gate of my people. Up to Jerusalem."
Within the capital itself Isaiah was also recording the
extension of the Assyrian invasion to its walls, but in a different
temper. [Isaiah 10:28] He was full of the exulting assurance that,
although at the very gate, the Assyrian could not harm the city of
Jehovah, but must fall when he lifted his impious hand against it.
Micah has no such hope: he is overwhelmed with the thought of
Jerusalems danger. Provincial though he be, and full of wrath at
the danger into which the politicians of Jerusalem had dragged the
whole country, he profoundly mourns the peril of the capital, "the
gate of my people," as he fondly calls her. Therefore we must not
exaggerate the frequently drawn contrast between Isaiah and
himself. To Micah also Jerusalem was dear, and his subsequent
prediction of her overthrow [Micah 3:12] ought to be read with the
accent of this previous mourning for her peril. evertheless his
heart clings most to his own home, and while Isaiah pictures the
Assyrian entering Judah from the north by Migron, Michmash, and ob,
Micah anticipates invasion by the opposite gateway of the land, at
the door of his own village. His elegy sweeps across the landscape
so dear to him. This obscure province was even more than Jerusalem
his world, the world of his heart. It gives us a living interest in
the man that the fate of these small villages, many of them
vanished, should excite in him more passion
-
than the fortunes of Zion herself. In such passion we can
incarnate his spirit. Micah is no longer a book, or an oration, but
flesh and blood upon a home and a countryside of his own. We see
him on his housetop pouring forth his words before the hills and
the far-stretching heathen land. In the name of every village
within sight he reads a symbol of the curse that is coming upon his
country, and of the sins that have earned the curse. So some of the
greatest poets have caught their music from the nameless brooklets
of their boyhoods fields; and many a prophet has learned to read
the tragedy of man and Gods verdict upon sin in his experience of
village life. But there was more than feeling in Micahs choice of
his own country as the scene of the Assyrian invasion. He had
better reasons for his fears than Isaiah, who imagined the approach
of the Assyrian from the north. For it is remarkable how invaders
of Judea, from Sennacherib to Vespasian and from Vespasian to
Saladin and Richard, have shunned the northern access to Jerusalem
and endeavored to reach her by the very gateway at which Micah
stood mourning. He had, too, this greater motive for his fear, that
Sargon; as we have seen, was actually in the neighborhood, marching
to the defeat of Judahs chosen patron, Egypt. Was it not probable
that, when the latter was overthrown, Sargon would turn back upon
Judah by Lachish and Mareshah? If we keep this in mind we shall
appreciate, not only the fond anxiety, but the political foresight
that inspires the following passage, which is to our Western taste
so strangely cast in a series of plays upon place-names. The
disappearance of many of these names, and our ignorance of the
transactions to which the verses allude, often render both the text
and the meaning very uncertain. Micah begins with the well-known
play upon the name of Garb; the Acco which he couples with it is
either the Phoenician port to the north of Carmel, the modern Acre,
or some Philistine town, unknown to us, but in any case the line
forms with the previous one an intelligible couplet: "Tell it not
in Tell-town; Weep not in Weep-town." The following Beth-le-Aphrah,
"House of Dust," must be taken with them, for in the phrase "roll
thyself" there is a play upon the name Philistine. So, too,
Shaphir, or Beauty, the modern Suafir, lay on the Philistine
Region. Saanan and Bethesel and Maroth are unknown; but if Micah,
as is probable, begins his list far away on the western horizon and
comes gradually inland, they also are to be sought for on the
maritime plain. Then he draws nearer by Lachish, on the first
hills, and in the leading pass towards Judah, to Moresheth-Gath,
Achzib, Mareshah, and Adullam, which all lie within Israels
territory and about the prophets own home. We understand the
allusion, at least, to Lachish in Micah 1:13. As the last Judean
outpost towards Egypt, and on a main road thither, Lachish would
receive the Egyptian subsidies of horses and chariots, in which the
politicians put their trust instead of in Jehovah. Therefore she
"was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion." And if we can
trust the text of Micah 1:14, Lachish would pass on the Egyptian
ambassadors to Moresheth-Gath, the next stage of their approach to
Jerusalem. But this is uncertain. With Moresheth-Gath is coupled
Ach-zib, a town at some distance from Jeromes site for the former,
to the neighborhood of which, Mareshah, we are brought back again
in Micah 1:15. Adullam, with which the list closes, lies some eight
or ten miles to the northeast of Mareshah.
The prophet speaks:-
-
"Tell it not in Gath, Weep not in Aeco. In Beth-le-Aphrah roll
thyself in dust. Pass over, inhabitress of Shaphir, thy shame
uncovered! The inhabitress of Saanan shall not march forth The
lamentation of Beth-esel taketh from you its standing. The
inhabitress of Maroth trembleth for good, For evil hath come down
from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem. Harness the horse to the
chariot, inhabitress of Lachish, That hast been the beginning of
sin to the daughter of Zion";
"Yea, in thee are found the transgressions of Israel Therefore
thou givest to Moresheth-Gath The houses of Aehzib shall deceive
the kings of Israel. Again shall I bring the Possessor [conqueror]
to thee inhabitress of Mareshah; To Adullam shall come the glory of
Israel. Make thee bald, and shave thee for thy darlings; Make broad
thy baldness like the vulture, For they go into banishment from
thee."
This was the terrible fate which the Assyrian kept before the
peoples with whom he was at war. Other foes raided, burned, and
slew: he carried off whole populations into exile.
Having thus pictured the doom which threatened his people, Micah
turns to declare the sins for which it has been sent upon them.
PARKER, "Verses 1-16Sin and Judgment
Micah 1 , Micah 2
Micah was a villager. There are advantages in village life which
are not to be found under metropolitan circumstances. It was no
dishonour to be a villager in Bible times. We read of One of whom
it is said, "He shall be called a azarene." Little or nothing is
known about Micah , but his prophecy stands out boldly, written in
letters of fire, and surrounded by a very lurid and suggestive
atmosphere. There is a great deal of gospel in Micah. How is it
that flowers always look the lovelier because they are in
unexpected places? When we go into a garden and find flowers we
express no surprise; when we find them growing in rocky and stony
and uncultivated places, we exclaim, we are filled with wonder, and
sometimes our wonder touches the point of delight. We find the
gospel of God in Micah; in Micah we find Bethlehem; in Micah we
find the whole requirement of God.
otice that these prophets seldom, if ever, address the poor, the
outcast, and the neglected, as the criminals of society. We have
nourished ourselves into the pedantry of supposing that if a man
has a bad coat he has of necessity a bad character. The Bible never
proceeds along these lines. Micah specifies the objects of his
prophecy with great definiteness: "Hear, I pray you, O heads of
Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel." This is in the tone
of Jesus Christ. He did not gather around him the halt, the lame,
the blind, the poor, the neglected, the homeless, and say, You are
the curse of society; you are the criminal classes. I am not aware
that any such incident or observation can be found in the whole
narrative of the life of Jesus Christ upon the earth. But Jesus
Christ never let the respectability of his age alone;
-
he never gave it one moment"s rest. He differs from all modern
teachers in that he finds the wickedness of society in its high
places. He would almost appear to proceed upon the doctrine that
the poor cannot do wickedly as compared with the wickedness that
can be done by the rich. What stone can a little child throw as
compared with the power of a full-grown man? What wickedness can a
little child do as compared with the deep-laid, subtly-elaborated
villainy of a man who has had much schooling? It is worth while to
dwell upon this point, because it strikes at many a sophismnotably
at the sophism which we have often endeavoured to expose that men
are made by circumstances; that if men were wealthy they would
pray; if men had an abundance they would be reverent; if men knew
not the pangs of hunger they would be lost in a holy absorption,
they would be lost in the praise of God. There can be no greater
lie. You have done more evil in the world since you were rich than
you ever did when you were poor. When you were poor you sometimes
did almost nobly; since you have become encased in luxury you have
thought it fashionable and seasonable to doubt, and almost polite
to sneer.
All the judgments of the Bible are pronounced upon the educated
classes. or does the judgment of God rest upon education only; it
proceeds to cover the whole religiousness of the epoch. It is the
religion that is irreligious; it is the wine of piety that has
soured into the vinegar of impiousness. Yet we gather our holy
skirts, and speak about "the criminal classes." They are only
criminal in the sense in which we condemn them, in the degree in
which they have been fools enough to be discovered. Vulgarity has
been their ruin; they have come into notoriety, not because of
their sin, but because of their clumsiness: if they had served the
devil with greater craft they might have spoken of others as the
criminal classes. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how
great is that darkness! If education has been hired to do bad work,
how much bad work it can do! If religion has been bribed into
subservience to the black banner of the devil, with what loyalty it
can serve that captain! This would give us quite a different
estimate of society; this would destroy the whole respectability of
the race. Jesus Christ found the throne occupied by the wrong
people, and all the magistracies of his time distributed into wrong
hands; the head of the house and the prince, the Judges , the king,
the magistrate, the rulerthese were wrong. ever do we find Jesus
surrounded by the East-enders of his day, receiving his
condemnation because their poverty is the sign of wickedness.
Education may have ruined society. Intelligence may be turned into
an instrument of mischief. Is education then wrong? The question
itself is frivolous, and ought not to be seriously answered. Is
intelligence to be contemned? The same remark applies to that
foolish inquiry. We are speaking of perverted education, misused
intelligence; of education and intelligence without moral
enthusiasm, and moral control, and spiritual purpose, and
sanctified motive. Such education can do infinitely more mischief
than can be done by blank ignorance. Education knows where the keys
are; education knows where the grindstone is on which it can whet
its weapons; intelligence means craft, cunning, duplicity,
ingenuity in the art of concealment. Wealth can do greater mischief
than poverty. This alters the whole complexion of missions and
evangelistic agencies and Church arrangements; this reverses the
whole picture as seen from the orthodox standpoint. Send your
missionaries to the rich! Send your evangelists to pray at the
doors of the wealthy,
-
the pampered, the self-indulgent, and the self-damned! Do not
make the poor man"s poverty a plea for foisting your religion upon
him. Lend your tracts to the magistrates, the Judges , the princes
of the land; they need them.
What, then, of the doctrine that men are made by circumstances?
Let this be put down in plain letters, that amongst people who can
hardly read and write there are some of the most upright, faithful,
honourable souls that ever lived. Let this be said with loudest,
most penetrating emphasis, that there are people who have no bank
account who would scorn to tell a lie. Has poverty not its own
genius, and its own record of heroism, and its own peculiar
nobleness? Who shall speak for the dumb, and open his mouth for the
afflicted, and plead the cause of those who are thought to be
wicked, because they have had no social advantages? Where is there
a rich man that is good? Jesus Christ could find none. He said,
"How hardly"that Isaiah , with what infinite difficulty"can a rich
man get into the kingdom of heaven." It is not like him, it is not
the kind of thing he can appreciate; he has no tables of
calculation by which he can add up its value; if he get in at all
it will be by infinite squeezing, pressing, straining; he will
barely get in because his wealth is an instrument which turns his
soul away from the metaphysic which finds in godliness all riches,
in high thought and pure honour the very element and alphabet of
heaven. Still, let it be said with equal plainness, a man is not
good simply because he is poor. There are villains even in poverty.
A man is not excellent simply because he has not had a good
education. We must be just in the whole compass of this thought. As
a man is not necessarily bad because he is educated and intelligent
and quick-minded, and of large and penetrating intellectual
sagacity, so a man is not necessarily all that he ought to be
simply on the ground that he has no monetary resources.
Ponder for a moment the excellence of the religion that dare
talk like this. It asks no favours. It does not want to sit down in
the pictured room; it wants to get its foot on the threshold, and
through an open door to deliver its message. You cannot invite such
evangelism to dinnerit never dines. It is in hasteit flies, it
thunders, it smites in the face those who uplift themselves in a
blasphemous supremacy; it eats its food with gladness, and in the
fellowship of the good, but it will have nothing to do with the
poisoned wine of bribery. Again we come upon our favourite doctrine
that the Bible ought to be the favourite Book of the poor, the
neglected, the outcast; the Bible ought to be the people"s friend,
the people"s charter, the very revelation of man and to Prayer of
Manasseh , the revelation of man to himself, as well as a
revelation of God to man.
Yet the prophet will not have all this evil and shame unduly
proclaimed. He is not so far lost to patriotism and to tribal
relations as to wish the evil news to be scattered broadcast, that
the enemy may revel in it. So he says, "Declare ye it not at Gath."
This has become a proverb"Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in
the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines
rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph." Do not
foolishly trumpet forth all the evil that your friends have done.
Yet men love to do this. Let a piece of good news be forthcoming,
and it will have to make its own way in the world; it must needs
crawl from door to
-
door, and slowly impress itself upon the reluctant ears of those
who would gladly turn away from the music of such messages. Let a
scandal arise, and the world will know it ere one hour goes its
little round. And Christians are errand-bearers in this evil
agency. They do it as willingly as the worst men out of hell, only
they do it in a different kind of tone; but they do it with
ineffable energy, with sleepless industry, with patient detail.
Give them a gospel, and it dies in the recesses of their own minds;
give them a scandal, and they will not dine until they have told
everybody they meet; and they will swallow their feast quickly,
that they may get out into the highway to tell that the devil has
scored another triumph. ot such was the spirit of this rough
villager, yet this sanctified prophet of the Lord. He says, The
case is bad; prince and priest and magistrate and ruler have gone
wrong, but tell it not in Gath. In the days of Micah Gath was
nothing, it had lost its Philistinian primacy; still there was the
spirit of the proverb, which means, Tell it not to the enemy, let
not the blasphemer hear of this; magnify excellence, but say
nothing about defect A prophet actuated by such a spirit ought to
be believed. Prophets have a variety of credentials; here is an
indirect tribute to the man"s own excellence. He knew all, but
would not tell it to all the world. Do you know one evil thing you
have never told, never whispered, never hinted at? By that sign
judge yourselves. Is your heart a grave in which you bury all bad
things; or is it a garden in which you cultivate them? By that
sign, and not by your blatant orthodoxy, judge your relation to the
Cross of Christ. Such was the scathing criticism of the prophet;
such is the judgment of Christ upon his Church and upon his nominal
followers. He will not allow men to be round about him who take any
delight in evil things or in the publication of evil circumstances;
he ignores them, he dispenses with their service, and he thrusts
them out into the completest darknessthe only atmosphere they are
fit for. Let them tell their evil to the heedless darkness; let
them emit their poison where no soul can be hurt by its virus. This
would alter the Church altogether; this would take away the
Church"s occupation. There are men who acquire a reputation for
themselves by condemning the vice of other people. We must all
start again, or we shall make no progress in this divine life, nor
shall we promote the best purpose, the holiest intent, of the
divine kingdom. Search thyself; be cruel to thine own soul; torture
thyself into a higher grade of goodness. The mere persecutor, the
hired blocksman and fireman, may be said to be dead. Blessed be God
there remains the age of self-martyrdom, there remains the crown
due to him who smites himself in the eyes, and bruises himself,
that by taking away his worst life he may truly gain his soul.
In the days of Micah there was a species of evil which is not
yet extinct. All the evil was not done in public. The prophet
therefore proceeds: "Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work
evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it,
because it is in the power of their hand." The condemnation is upon
deliberate evil. The evildoers are here in their beds; they are
considering at leisure what can be done next. How can it be best
attempted, how can it be elaborated to the greatest effect? They
slumber over it; having nourished their brain into a higher degree
of energy they revert to the subject: How can this policy be best
carried out? This is deliberate sin, rolling it under the tongue as
a sweet morsel, reverting to it, recalling it, asking for another
vision of it. The soul, what a dungeon! The mind, what an
-
abyss of darkness! Soliloquy, how silent! There is sudden evil,
and that must always be carefully distinguished from deliberate
wickedness. There are bursts of passion, gusts of vehement will,
stress brought to bear without notice upon the citadel of the soul.
"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. Consider yourselves,
lest ye also be tempted." Distinguish between those who are carried
away with a whirlwind, and those who mount the whirlwind
deliberately that they may ride forth in that glowing chariot. Hear
the words of the fiery apostle: "On some have compassion." Micah is
not dealing with this class of men, but with those who have made
their bed the sanctuary of the devil; he is dealing with men who
say, We will sleep upon this, we will turn it over; we will see
what can be done; we will polish and be prepared against the day of
assault; we will shut out the world and count our resources; we
will settle the whole thing in the privacy of the chamber, and then
when the morning light comes we will spring up as naturally as if
nothing had been done by way of preparation, and then we will
strike with our whole force.
Deliberate sin shall have deliberate judgment. This follows
quickly in chapter Micah 2:3 : "Therefore thus saith the Lord;
Behold, against this family do I devise an evil." What, are there
two devisers? Read Micah 2:1, "Woe to them that devise iniquity";
Micah 2:3, "Thus saith the Lord... do I devise." That is the
ghostly aspect of life. There is the tremendous danger. The foolish
man locks himself up in the darkness of his own concealment, and
lays his plot, and works out with elaborate patience his whole
conspiracy against the kingdom of light and honour, truth and
beauty; he says, one seeth me; I can do this, and none shall be the
wiser for my doing it; I will spring forth in the fulness of my
preparation when nobody is aware that I have been laying this train
of powder. A man once talked thus: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid
up for many years: take thine ease, take life quietly, enjoy
thyself." And one said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul
shall be required of thee." That was the uncalculated element; that
was the detestable ghostliness that haunts us. Even when we are
most rationalistic, when we are inebriated with our own philosophy,
a sudden touch makes us white, and a whisper drives the blood
thickly upon the heart. A man shall rise in all his
self-consciousness of power and capacity and ability to do what he
pleases, and the wise man shall say to him, Are you aware that you
may drop down dead at any moment, such is the condition of your
physical system? This factor the man had not taken into account.
Always remember that whilst we are devising God also is devising.
"He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." And let this
reflection make life completer in its repose: "o weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper," if so be thy soul be wedded to
honour, to duty, to reverence, and to the Cross of Christ. Though
men conspire against thee, and have the pit already dug, and have
examined it carefully by the concealed candle light, and though
they should say, "ow it is in a state of readiness, now let the
victim come,"whilst they are stepping back to make way for the
victim they will fall into the pit which they have dug for others.
The Lord sitteth in the heavens. He watches all. He brings us into
great extremities. He shows us over what a precipice we might have
fallen. Then he says, Go home and pray!
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ISBET, "THE PROPHET MICAHMicah the Morasthite.Micah 1:1When the
ministry of the courtly and cultured Isaiah was about half over,
there appeared in Judah another prophet of a very different type,
Micah by name. Isaiah was the associate of kings, being himself,
according to Jewish tradition, of royal birth; but Micah came from
the little country village of Moreshah (Micah 1:1), in Western
Palestine, and in dress, gestures, and expressions, if we may judge
from chap. Micah 1:8, reminds one of the prophet Elijah.
I. Though differing widely in personality, Isaiah and Micah were
in close sympathy and harmony, as is shown by their messages; and
it is very likely they often met and talked and prayed together.
They both condemned unsparingly the evils of the times; both
predicted judgment as the result of the nations sin; and both
prophesied of Christs Advent and of His glorious reign. See how
almost identical are the words of Micah 4:1-3 with the passage
found in Isaiah 2:2-4, causing one to think that one prophet quoted
the other. There is a strong resemblance between the two Books in
several respects. The peculiarity of Micahs prophecy is that it is
concerning both the northern and the southern kingdoms (see chap.
Micah 1:1; Micah 1:5), although the burden of his message seems to
be intended for Judah.
II. One thing which distinguishes Micah is the result of his
ministry.There is no hint of this in his Book, but from Jeremiahs
one reference to him we gather that Micah was instrumental in the
conversion of King Hezekiah. You will recall that Jeremiah, living
about one hundred years after Micah, was arrested in the Temple one
day, by the priests, prophets, and people, for prophesying the
destruction of the Temple and city, and was in danger of being put
to death when the princes of Judah interfered. The disturbance was
quelled, and the tide of public sentiment against Jeremiah was
turned by the elders calling attention to the similarity of Micahs
teaching and its results (see Jeremiah 26:18-19).
We know, from the record in Kings, that this attitude of
submission to God on the part of King Hezekiah brought upon himself
and his kingdom such blessing that his was the most glorious reign
of all the kings of Judah since Solomon. So Micah, by his faithful
preaching, served well his sovereign, his country, and his God.
Micah seems to have made a deep impression upon the minds and
hearts of the Jewish people. He is often referred to, and his
utterances quoted by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah. St.
Matthew and St. John also quote him. It is Micah who pointed out
the birthplace of the Messiah, thus enabling the scribes and
Pharisees to direct the wise men to Bethlehem, where they should
find the Christ-child.
III. In style, Micah is rather dramatic, given to the use of
imagery and figures of speech.otice the picture with which the
prophecy opens. It represents God as rising in indignation at the
sins of His people, and coming forth in wrath from His place on
high like a great consuming fire, before which the mountains melt,
and the
-
valleys are broken. Samaria is the first to feel the heat of
Gods indignation, but the tide of judgment comes rolling down even
to the gate of Jerusalem, and still onward, until Micah sees in
vision one after the other of the towns in the neighbourhood of his
own home-town given over to destruction.
Illustration
Micah came from the neighbourhood of Gath, in the Philistine
plain, with its luxuriant vineyards, orchards, and cornfields, its
busy towns and its glimpses of the great sea. He exerted a strong
influence over Hezekiah and his times. Though of humble birth, he
came to stand in the front rank of the prophetic band. The 8th
verse tells us that he perambulated the streets and public places
of Jerusalem, mingling his prophetic appeals and warnings with loud
wails, like the deep hollow roar of the ostrich or the piteous howl
of the jackal. Such an apparition, proclaiming day after day the
national sins and threatening impending doom, struck the hearts of
king and people with awe. In days long after the elders of the city
recalled him, and ascribed to his preaching the great revival which
inaugurated Hezekiahs reign.
PETT, "Verses 1-7YHWH Declares His Verdict On Samaria and
Jerusalem (Micah 1:1-7).
The chapter opens with a declaration of YHWHs sovereign power as
Creator, and of His interest in the affairs of Judah and Israel,
which results in a proclamation of His judgment on Samaria and
Jerusalem..
Micah 1:2-3
Hear, you peoples, all of you.
Listen, O earth, and all that is in it.
And let the Lord YHWH be witness against you,
The Lord from his holy temple.
For, behold, YHWH comes forth out of his place,
And will come down, and tread on the high places of the
earth.
Like Isaiah (see Isaiah 1:2), although with a different slant,
Micah calls on the whole earth and its peoples to witness the fact
that YHWH is about to act from His holy Temple in Heaven. He is
about to come down and tread on the high places of the earth. He
will present His witness against all peoples, and especially
against His own people of Israel and Judah. Thus He is seen as
sovereign over all.
PULPIT, "Micah 1:1
-
The inscription, or heading of the book, conveying the prophet's
authority. The word of the Lord. The expression applies to the
whole contents of the book, as in Hosea 1:1 and Zephaniah 1:1. It
is often used for some particular message to a prophet, as Jeremiah
1:4, Jeremiah 1:11; Jeremiah 2:1; Ezekiel 3:16. Micah the
Morasthite; i.e. Micah of Moresheth-Gath (verse 14), a village in
the lowland of Judaea, near Eleutheropolis, some twenty miles
southwest of Jerusalem (see Introduction, II.). In the days of
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Thus Micah was a contemporary of
Isaiah, though his ministry did not begin as soon or last as long
as that prophet's (see Isaiah 1:1); he was a little later than
Hosea and Amos, who prophesied under Uzziah, the father of Jotham.
Kings of Judah are mentioned because the prophet's mission was to
Judah, as the line of election; but, like Amos, he prophesied
against Samaria also. However divided, the two nations are regarded
as one people. Which he saw. What he saw in vision or by inward
illumination he here relates in words. Thus the prophecies of
Isaiah, Obadiah, ahum, etc; are called "visions." Concerning
Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria comes first, as being ripe for
punishment, and the first to feel the avenger. The capitals of the
two kingdoms Israel and Judah stand for the people themselves.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Verse 1-2Micah 1:1-2The Word of the Lord
that came to Micah the MorasthiteDivine revelation
I.It is the word of the lord. What is a word?
1. A mind manifesting power. In his word a true man manifests
himself, his thought, feeling, character. His word is important
according to the measure of his faculties, experiences,
attainments. Divine revelation manifests the mind of God,
especially the moral characteristics of that mind--His rectitude,
holiness, mercy, etc.2. A mind influencing power. Man uses his word
to influence other minds, to bring other minds into sympathy with
his own. Thus God uses His Word. He uses it to correct human
errors, dispel human ignorance, remove human perversities, and turn
human thought and sympathy into a course harmonious with His own
mind.
II. It is made to individual men. It came to Micah, not to his
con temporaries. Why certain men were chosen as the special
recipients of Gods Word is a problem whose solution must be left
for eternity.
III. It is for all mankind. God did not speak to any individual
man specially that the communication might be kept to himself, but
that he might communicate it to others. He makes one man the
special recipient of truth that he may become the organ and
promoter of it. Gods Word is for the world. (Homilist.)
-
Moresheth
This was a place in the Shepbelah, or range of low hills which
lie between the hill country of Judah and the Philistine plain. It
is the opposite exposure from the wilderness of Tekoa, some
seventeen miles away across the watershed. As the home of Amos is
bare and desert, so the home of Micah is fair and fertile. The
irregular chalk hills are separated by broad glens, in which the
soil is alluvial and red, with room for cornfields on either side
of the perennial, or almost perennial streams. The olive groves on
the braes are finer than either those of the plain below or of the
Judaean table land above. There is herbage for cattle. Bees murmur
everywhere, larks are singing, and although today you may wander in
the maze of hills for hours without meeting a man, or seeing a
house, you are never out of sight of the traces of human
habitation, and seldom beyond the sound of the human
voice--shepherds and ploughmen calling to their flocks and to each
other across the glens. There are none of the conditions, or of the
occasions, of a large town. But, like the south of England, the
country is one of villages and homesteads, breeding good
yeomen--men satisfied and in love with their soil, yet borderers
with a fair outlook and a keen vigilance and sensibility. The
Shephelah is sufficiently detached from the capital and body of the
land to beget in her sons an independence of mind and feeling, but
so much upon the edge of the open world as to endue them at the
same time with that sense of the responsibilities of warfare, which
the national statesmen, aloof and at ease in Zion, could not
possibly have shared. Upon one of the westmost terraces of the
Shephelah, nearly a thousand feet above the sea, lay Moresheth
itself. (Geo. Adam Smith, D. D.)
2 Hear, O peoples, all of you, listen, O earth and all who are
in it, that the Sovereign LORD may witness against you, the Lord
from his holy temple.
BARES. "Hear, all ye people - Literally, hear, ye peoples, all
of them. Some 140, or 150 years had flowed by, since Micaiah, son
of Imlah, had closed his prophecy in these words. And now they
burst out anew. From age to age the word of God holds its
-
course, ever receiving new fulfillments, never dying out, until
the end shall come. The signal fulfillment of the prophecy, to
which the former Micalah had called attention in these words, was
an earnest of the fulfillment of this present message of God.
Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is - The peoples or
nations are never Judah and Israel only: the earth and the fullness
thereof is the well-known title of the whole earth and all its
inhabitants. Moses Deu_32:1, Asaph Psa_50:7, Isaiah Isa_1:2, call
heaven and earth as witnesses against Gods people. Jeremiah,
Jer_6:19 as Micah here, summons the nations and the earth. The
contest between good and evil, sin and holiness, the kingdom of God
and the kingdom of Satan, everwhere, but most chiefly where Gods
Presence is nearest, is a spectacle to the world, to angels and to
men 1Co_4:9. The nations are witnesses of God against His own
people, so that these should not say, that it was for want of
faithfulness or justice or power Exo_32:12; Num_14:16; Jos_7:8-9,
but in His righteous judgment, that He cast off whom He had chosen.
So shall the Day of Judgment reveal His righteousness Rom_2:5.
Hearken, O earth. The lifeless earth Psa_114:7; Psa_97:5 trembles
at the Presence of God, and so reproaches the dullness of man. By
it he summons man to listen with great reverence to the Voice of
God.
And let the Lord God be witness against you - Not in words, but
in deeds ye shall know, that I speak not of myself but God in me,
when, what I declare, He shall by His Presence fulfill. But the
nations are appealed to, not merely because the judgments of God on
Israel should be made known to them by the prophets. He had not yet
spoken of Israel or Judah, whereas he had spoken to the nations;
hear, ye peoples. It seems then most likely that here too he is
speaking to them. Every judgment is an earnest, a forerunner, a
part, of the final judgment and an example of its principles. It is
but the last great link in the chain, which unites Gods dealings in
time with eternity. Gods judgments on one imply a judgment on all.
His judgments in time imply a Judgment beyond time. Each sinner
feels in his own heart response to Gods visible judgments on
another. Each sinful nation may read its own doom in the sentence
on each other nation.
God judges each according to his own measure of light and grace,
accepted or refused. The pagan shall be judged by the law written
in their heart Rom_2:12-15; the Jew, by the law of Moses and the
light of the prophets; Christians, by the law of Christ. The word,
Christ saith, that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the
last Day Joh_12:48. God Himself foretold, that the pagan should
know the ground of His judgments against His people. All nations
shall say, wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? What
meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because
they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers
which He made with them, when He brought them forth out of the land
of Egypt, ... Deu_29:24-25. But in that the pagan knew why God so
punished His people, they came so far to know the mind of God; and
God, who at no time left Himself without witness Act_14:17, bore
fresh witness to them, and, so far us they neglected it, against
them. A Jew, wherever he is seen throughout the world, is a witness
to the world of Gods judgments against sin.
Dionysius: Christ, the faithful Witness, shall witness against
those who do ill, for those who do well.
The Lord from His holy temple - Either that at Jerusalem, where
God shewed and revealed Himself, or Heaven of which it was the
image. As David says, The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lords
throne is in heaven Psa_11:4; and contrasts His dwelling in heaven
and His coming down upon earth. He bowed the heavens also and came
down Psa_18:9; and Isaiah, in like words, Behold, the Lord cometh
out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their
iniquity Isa_26:21.
-
CLARKE, "Hear, all ye people - The very commencement of this
prophecy supposes preceding exhortations and predictions.
Hearken, O earth - arets, here, should be translated land, the
country of the Hebrews being only intended.
And let the Lord God be Witness - Let him who has sent me with
this message be witness that I have delivered it faithfully; and be
a witness against you, if you take not the warning.
The Lord from his holy temple - The place where he still remains
as your King, and your Judge; and where you profess to pay your
devotions. The temple was yet standing, for Jerusalem was not taken
for many years after this; and these prophecies were delivered
before the captivity of the ten tribes, as Micah appears to have
been sent both to Israel and to Judah. See Mic_1:5-9, Mic_1:12,
Mic_1:13.
GILL, "Hear, all ye people,.... Or, "the people, all of them"
(m); not all the nations of the world, but the nations of Israel,
so called from their several tribes; though some (n)think the rest
of the inhabitants of the earth are meant: thee are the same words
which are used by Micaiah the prophet in the times of Ahab, long
before this time, from whom they might be borrowed, 1Ki_22:28. The
phrase in the Hebrew language, as Aben Ezra observes, is very
wonderful, and serves to strike the minds and excite the attention
of men; it is like the words of a crier, in a court of judicature,
calling for silence:
hearken, O earth, and all that therein is; or, "its fulness"
(o); the land of Israel and Judah, the whole land of promise, and
all the inhabitants of it; for to them are the following words
directed:
and let the Lord God be witness against you; or, "in you" (p);
the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; let him who is the omniscient
God, and knows all hearts, thoughts, words, and actions, let him
bear witness in your consciences, that what I am about to say is
truth, and comes from him; is not my own word, but his; and if you
disregard it, and repent not, let him be a witness against you, and
for me, that I have prophesied in his name; that I have faithfully
delivered his message, and warned you of your danger, and reproved
you for your sins, and have kept back nothing I have been charged
and entrusted with: and now, you are summoned into open court, and
at the tribunal of the great God of heaven and earth; let him be a
witness against you of the many sins you have been guilty of, and
attend while the indictment is read, the charge exhibited, and the
proof given by
the Lord from his holy temple, from heaven, the habitation of
his holiness; whose voice speaking from thence should be hearkened
to; who from thence beholds all the actions of men, and from whence
his wrath is revealed against their sins, and he gives visible
tokens of his displeasure; and especially when he seems to come
forth from thence in some remarkable instances of his power and
providence, as follows:
HERY, "A very solemn introduction to the following prophecy
(Mic_1:2), in which, 1. The people are summoned to draw near and
give their attendance, as upon a court of
-
judicature: Hear, all you people, Note, Where God has a mouth to
speak we must have an ear to hear; we all must, for we are all
concerned in what is delivered. Hear, you people (all of them, so
the margin reads it), all you that are now within hearing, and all
others that hear it at second hand. It is an unusual construction;
but those words with which Micah begins his prophecy are the very
same in the original with those wherewith Micaiah ended his,
1Ki_22:28. 2. The earth is called upon, with all that therein is,
to hear what the prophet has to say: Hearken, O earth! The earth
shall be made to shake under the stroke and weight of the judgments
coming; sooner will the earth hear than this stupid senseless
people; but God will be heard when he pleads. If the church, and
those in it, will not hear, the earth, and those in it, shall, and
shame them. 3. God himself is appealed to, and his omniscience,
power, and justice, are vouched in testimony against this people:
Let the Lord God be witness against you, a witness that you had
fair warning given you, that your prophets did their duty
faithfully as watchmen, but you would not take the warning; let the
accomplishment of the prophecy be a witness against your contempt
and disbelief of it, and prove, to your conviction and confusion,
that it was the word of God, and no word of his shall fall to the
ground. Note, God himself will be a witness, by the judgments of
his hand, against those that would not receive his testimony in the
judgments of his mouth. He will be a witness from his holy temple
in heaven, when he comes down to execute judgment (Mic_1:3) against
those that turned a deaf ear to his oracles, wherein he witnessed
to them, out of his holy temple at Jerusalem.
JAMISO, "all that therein isHebrew, whatever fills it. Micaiah,
son of Imlah, our prophets namesake, begins his prophecy similarly,
Hearken, O people, every one of you. Micah designedly uses the same
preface, implying that his ministrations are a continuation of his
predecessors of the same name. Both probably had before their mind
Moses similar attestation of heaven and earth in a like case
(Deu_31:28; Deu_32:1; compare Isa_1:2).
God be witness against you namely, that none of you can say,
when the time of your punishment shall come, that you were not
forewarned. The punishment denounced is stated in Mic_1:3, etc.
from his holy temple that is, heaven (1Ki_8:30; Psa_11:4;
Jon_2:7; compare Rom_1:18).
CALVI, "The Prophet here rises into an elevated style, being not
content with a simple and calm manner of speaking. We hence may
learn, that having previous