IV. (1) BUT IN THE LAST DAYS. — There is again a sudden transition. As the third chapter commenced with a startling denunciation, following immediately upon the predicted blessings of the restored kingdom, so upon that chapter, closed in deepest gloom, there now rises a vision of glorious light. The... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY NATIONS SHALL COME. — This prepares. the way to the more definitive prophecies, that there shall be a common consent among the nations journeying forth to the house of the Lord: asking the way thither in this world — finding the house itself in the eternal world. Even to this day the hearts of... [ Continue Reading ]
The name of the Messiah is the Prince of Peace; and we still look into the dim future out of a present life, rife with wars and rumours of wars, for the full realisation of His reign of peace. And we are sure that the time will come, for “the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL SIT... — This was a proverbial expression for the feeling of security brought about by a peace which no foreign power was strong enough to disturb. It describes the state of the Israelites under Solomon — “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, fro... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL PEOPLE WILL WALK. — The comparatively near future to Micah, and the still distant future to us, are blended in the prophet’s vision: just as in the prophecies of our Lord the destruction of Jerusalem is described in terms which have their final accomplishment in the day of judgment. Micah’s... [ Continue Reading ]
HER THAT HALTED. — Like flocks wearied with heat and journeyings. The promise immediately refers to the return when God would re-establish the Jews, and eventually come Himself to the restored Temple. And, further, His own promise sanctions the words of Micah as to the abiding character of His rule,... [ Continue Reading ]
O TOWER OF THE FLOCK. — Israel having been compared to a flock, Jerusalem is called its tower, or protection; and in Messiah the ancient dominion shall return to the Holy City. This is a more satisfactory interpretation than that which makes the tower of the flock _Migdol-Edah_ (Genesis 35:21), a pl... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHY DOST THOU CRY OUT ALOUD? — The prophet places again, side by side with his vision of returned glory, the circumstances of misery which will intervene. The king and the counsellors of Jerusalem will be powerless to help in the moment of emergency.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT GO EVEN TO BABYLON. — This prediction has naturally caused difficulty to those who doubt the power of prophets to prophesy: for Babylon was not at all considered in the days of Micah, when Assyria was in the ascendant. It was a century after Micah’s time before Babylon recovered its ancie... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HER BE DEFILED. — The seventy-fourth Psalm records the calamity foreseen by the prophet: “They have cast fire into Thy sanctuary, they have defiled (_by casting down_) the dwelling-place of Thy Name to the ground.” LOOK UPON — _i.e._, contemplate her destruction with pleasure.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY KNOW NOT THE THOUGHTS OF THE LORD. — As a commentary upon this passage, we may compare the message of God with reference to the haughty thoughts of Sennacherib. Then the Lord declared that the Assyrian king was but His instrument in all he had done; so that when he presumed to arrogate to himse... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE AND THRESH. — Micah, having likened Israel to the sheaves safely gathered, pursues the metaphor by calling upon the daughter of Zion to thresh her enemies after the manner of oxen treading out the corn; and under the symbolism of the horn — the weapon of strength — he promises that God will st... [ Continue Reading ]