VII. (1) WOE IS ME! — Micah gives here a fearful picture of the demoralised state of society in Judah which had called down the vengeance of God. As the early fig gathered in June is eagerly sought for by the traveller, so the prophet sought anxiously for a good man; but his experience was that of... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH A NET. — The net, which in the Hebrew term comes from a verb meaning to shut up, was used both by the fisherman and the fowler. “They lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MAY DO EVIL WITH BOTH HANDS EARNESTLY. — Literally, _well._ Dr. Benisch, in his Old Testament newly translated under the supervision of the Rev. the Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of the British Empire (1852), avoids the oxymoron of doing “evil” “well” by translating the passage,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAY OF THY WATCHMEN — _i.e.,_ the time which thy prophets have foreseen, about which they have continually warned thee. “Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, _We_ will not hearken” (Jeremiah 6:17).... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUST YE NOT... — All is now distrust and suspicion. The households are divided each against itself, and the relationships which should mean mutual confidence and support have become the occasion of the most bitter hostility. Our Lord adopts these words to express the strife and division which, He f... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I WILL LOOK UNTO THE LORD. — Because of all this gloom which has settled upon the earth, I, for my part, will lift up mine eyes to the everlasting hills, whereon rests the light of Jehovah’s presence.... [ Continue Reading ]
O MINE ENEMY. — The Hebrew word is strictly a female enemy (see Micah 7:10), and is used of enemies collectively. The cities of Babylon and Edom are probably intended. They are mentioned together in Psalms 137 : “Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom.”... “O Babylon, that art to be destroyed.” The... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BEAR. — Micah places himself and his people with confidence in the hands of God. So, too, id David speak when his sin was brought home to him by God: “I am in a great strait; let us fall now into the hand of the Lord: for His mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man” (2 Sam... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW SHALL SHE BE TRODDEN DOWN. — The enemy that had taunted the Jews with the powerlessness of Jehovah should be trodden down when the Jews were delivered. Such was the experience of Sennacherib, who inquired contemptuously whether the Lord could deliver Jerusalem out of his hand.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY SHALL THE DECREE BE FAR REMOVED. — The “decree” was something “definite,” as an appointed law or statute, and this should be far removed. Some interpret this prophecy to mean the removal of the law of separation between Jews and Gentiles; others explain it as predicting that the decree o... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY ALSO HE SHALL COME. — Rather translate, _In that day shall they_ (_impersonal_)_ come even to thee from Assyria and_ (_from_)_ the cities of Matzor_ (_i.e., Egypt_)_, and from Matzor even to the river_ (_Euphrates_)_, and from sea to sea, and_ (_from_)_ mountain to mountain._ The prophet... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTWITHSTANDING THE LAND SHALL BE DESOLATE. — There is still bitterness in the cup. In the midst of the triumphant expectation of the glory to come, there rises up the vision of the desolation of the land in the near future, by reason of the sins of the people.... [ Continue Reading ]
FEED THY PEOPLE WITH THY ROD. — Or, _with thy shepherd_’_s crook._ The prophet lifts up his prayer for the people, either dwelling “alone” among the idolaters of Babylon — among them, but not of them — or living a nation, mysteriously apart from other nations, returned from Babylon, and settled on t... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE DAYS OF THY COMING OUT. — The promise of Jehovah, in reply to the prophet’s supplication, graciously recalls His interposition in the land of Egypt. This interposition shall be repeated.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL LICK THE DUST LIKE A SERPENT. — The doom of the determined enemies of the Lord and His people recalls that of Satan, the great enemy, as personified by the serpent. “Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life” (Genesis 3:14).... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS A GOD LIKE UNTO THEE? — Micah, with an allusion to the significance of his own name, concludes his book with a burst of enthusiastic homage to the God of gods. The gracious character here ascribed to Jehovah is unparalleled in the Bible in human utterances; it is the response of the prophet t... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WILT PERFORM. — The closing words in the prophecy of Micah are gloriously taken up some centuries later by Zechariah: “As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us, to perfor... [ Continue Reading ]