Micah 1:5

The cause of this awful manifestation the sin of Samaria and Jerusalem.

Jacob A poetic synonym for Israel. The term has a slightly different meaning in the two halves of the verse. In the first, it clearly means the whole of the chosen people, including Judah; but in the second, only the Ten Tribes, sometimes called -Ephraim" (e.g. Isaiah 7:5), but oftener (in the historical books) -Israel."

What is the transgression From what does it proceed? In what is it summed up? -Transgression" is a weak rendering; apostasy would be nearer the Hebrew.

what are the high places of Judah? In order to make sense, it is necessary to assume that the term -high places" is here synonymous with -apostasy" in the parallel line. But have we a right to make this assumption, for which there is no analogy in Hebrew? Our present text rests on such imperfect authority, that it is more reasonable to suppose here a corruption in the reading, and to follow the three most ancient versions (the Septuagint, the Peshito, and the Targum), which presuppose the reading -What is the sinof Judah?" This is also more in harmony with what we know of the prophets of this period, who do not elsewhere so emphatically denounce the -high places," or shrines scattered up and down the country (comp. on Micah 5:14). They were more concerned with principles than with the detailed application of them. Some abominations were too obvious to be passed over; other evils, less distinctly seen as evils, were tolerated, or only gently protested against. Perhaps -high places" in this passage was originally a marginal note in an early manuscript, intended to explain in what the sin of Judah consisted.