Micah 7:14

the flock of thine heritage Comp. Psalms 28:9 -bless thine inheritance; feed them also;" Psalms 95:7

thus judgment springeth up as hemlock, &c. Rather, so judgment shall spring up as the poppy. Their sins are as it were the seed from which a plant is produced as bitter and as abundant as the poppy of the fields. The plant in question (Heb. rôsh) is often referred to, and cannot be identified with precision (see on Jeremiah 8:14); most think it is some umbelliferous plant, rôshbeing the common word for -head." Elsewhere its bitterness is the point of comparison (Deuteronomy 29:18; Jeremiah 9:15; Lamentations 3:19); here its abundant growth as well. Hence some have been led to render, continuing the description of the immorality of Israel, -and justice springs up like the poppy", i.e., understanding the passage ironically, acts of hurtful injustice are as luxuriantly abundant as that noxious weed, comp. Amos 6:12. But the universality of the divine judgment can be as well expressed by this figure as the universality of sin, and Hosea 10:5 requires some previous reference to the punishment to explain it. The judgment began with the man who was foremost in those illegitimate covenants with the prophet's royal namesake (Hoshea); see 2 Kings 17:4.