Micah 1:8

Micah's Lamentation

8. Therefore I will wail Such exuberance of emotion specially characterizes the Jews and the Arabs; it reminds us of the Homeric heroes. The prophets did not cease to be men when they received the gift of inspiration. Sometimes they seem to have had a kind of double consciousness, uniting them on the one hand with the inspiring Spirit, and on the other with their much-loved people. Hence their abrupt transitions from stern denunciation to tender compassion.

stript and naked i.e. without an outer garment; comp. 1 Samuel 19:24; Amos 2:16; John 21:7. It seems to be a single symbolic act which is referred to (comp. Isaiah 20:2). The word -stripped" indicates that the appearance of the prophet is significant of the enforced nakedness of his people on their way to captivity (Isaiah 20:3-4).

dragons … owls Rather, jackals … ostriches (comp. Job 30:29). The Hebrew poets are fond of likening the note of lamentation to those of animals. In Isaiah the swift, the crane, the dove, and the bear are referred to (Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 59:11); while here it is the -long, piteous cry" of the jackal, and the -fearful screech" of the ostrich which furnish the object of comparison.