GOD'S ARRAIGNMENT OF HIS PEOPLE 1-8. Micah's message to the discouraged believers. They have lost heart because of the apparent contradiction between the promises of their prophets and the hard facts of their history. They have lost faith in God's grace, and are trying to propitiate His favour by s... [ Continue Reading ]
STRONG] RV 'enduring.' The mountains have outlived so many generations of disobedience and unwearied mercy: cp. Isaiah 1:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
WEARIED] God's demands are so simple (Micah 6:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM SHITTIM UNTO GILGAL, etc.] RV 'Remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of the Lord.' Shittim was the last station of the desert-wanderings, Gilgal the first in Palestine itself. The prophet reminds them how in their national history God has proved His compassion.... [ Continue Reading ]
7. The people are represented as asking what more God requires from them. CALVES OF A YEAR OLD] a choice gift: cp. Leviticus 9:3. 7. Human sacrifice was practised (2 Kings 21:6; Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 9:5), especially in times of great national danger (2 Kings 3:27). 8. Micah brings forward to a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SCANT MEASURE] cp. Deuteronomy 24:14 f. Amos 8:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL I COUNT _them_ PURE] RV 'shall I be pure,' i.e. can any man be pure? 13. RV 'Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THY CASTING DOWN, etc.] RM 'thy emptiness shall be in the midst of thee,' i.e. thy famine shall continue, because thou shalt have food but not sufficient. THOU SHALT TAKE hold, etc.] RV 'thou shalt remove but shalt not carry away safe,' i.e. thou shalt fail in the effort to remove thy people from th... [ Continue Reading ]
SWEET WINE] RV 'vintage.' 'Thou shaft tread the grapes, but shalt not drink the wine made from them.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STATUTES OF OMRI and the WORKS OF AHAB'S HOUSE are the worship of Baal: cp. 1 Kings 16:31. Manasseh has gone back to the sins of the northern kingdom, though its fate might have warned him: cp. 2 Kings 21:13. THE REPROACH OF MY PEOPLE] better, with LXX, 'the reproach of the Gentiles,' which Ahab... [ Continue Reading ]