Micah 1:15

Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel. YET WILL I BRING AN HEIR UNTO THEE - rather, 'the heir.' As thou art now occupied by possessors who expelled the former inhabitants, so will I bring "yet" again the new possessor-namely, the Assyrian foe. Other heirs will supplant us in every inheritance but that of heaven. There is a play upon the meaning of Mareshah, an inheritance: there shall come the new heir of the inheritance. HE SHALL COME UNTO ADULLAM THE GLORY OF ISRAEL - so called as being superior in situation; when it and the neighbouring cities fell, Israel's glory was gone. Maurer, as margin, translates, 'the glory of Israel (her chief citizens: answering to "thy delicate children," ) shall come (in flight) to Adullam.' The English version better preserves...

The Prophet here threatens his own birth place, as he had done other cities; for, as we have stated, he sprung from this city. He does not now spare his own kindred: for as God is no respecter of persons, so also God’s servants ought, as with closed eyes, to deal impartially with all, so as not to be turned here and there either by favor or by hatred, but to follows without any change, whatever the Lord commands them. We see that Micah was endued with this spirit, for he reproved his own kindred, as he had hitherto reproved others. There is a peculiar meaning in the word, Mareshah, for it is derived from ירש, _iresh_, and it means possession. The Prophet now says, _I will send to thee _ הורש _, euresh, _a possessor; the word is from the same root. (75) ] But he means that the Morasthites would come into the power of their enemies no less than their neighbors,

8-16 The prophet laments that Israel's case is desperate; but declare it not in Gath. Gratify not those that make merry with the sins or with the sorrows of God's Israel. Roll thyself in the dust, as mourners used to do; let every house in Jerusalem become a house of Aphrah, "a house of dust." When God makes the house dust it becomes us to humble ourselves to the dust under his mighty hand. Many places should share this mourning. The names have meanings which pointed out the miseries coming upon them; thereby to awaken the people to a holy fear of Divine wrath. All refuges but Christ, must be refuges of lies to those who trust in them; other heirs will succeed to every inheritance but that of heaven; and all glory will be turned into shame, except that honour which cometh from God only. Sinners may now disregard their neighbours' sufferings, yet their turn to be punished will some come....

Verse Micah 1:15. _YET WILL I BRING AN HEIR UNTO THEE, O - MARESHAH_] Here is another instance, הירש _haigeresh, to bring an heir_, and מרשה _mareshah, the city_, the name of which signifies _heirship_. And so of the above proper names. _ADULLAM THE GLORY OF ISRAEL._] This was a fenced city in the south of Judah (see 2 Chronicles 11:7) towards the Dead Sea. There is much obscurity in the concluding verses of this chapter. They undoubtedly refer to the _captivity_ of Israel, and to _circumstances of distress_, c., which are not mentioned in any of the historical books, and therefore their reference and meaning can only be conjectured....

YET WILL I BRING AN HEIR - (the heir, him whom God had appointed to be the heir, Sennacherib) unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah Mareshah, (as the original form of its name denotes, lay on the summit of a hill. “Its ruins only were still seen,” in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, “in the second mile from Eleutheropolis” (Onomasticon). : “Foundations still remain on the south-eastern part of the remarkable Tell, south of Beth-Jibrin.” Rehoboam fortified it also 2 Chronicles 11:8. Zerah the Aethiopian had come to (2 Chronicles 14:9 ff) it, probably to besiege it, when Asa met him, and God smote the AEthiopians before him, in the valley of Zephathah thereat. In the wars of the Maccabees, it was in the hands of the Edomites . Its capture and that of Adora are men

EXPOSITION VERSE 1:1-2:13 Part I. THREATENINGS AND JUDGMENTS ON ISRAEL AND JUDAH, WITH PREDICTION OF EVENTUAL DELIVERANCE. MICAH 1:1 The _inscription, _or heading of the book, conveying the prophet's authority. The word of the Lord. The expression applies to the whole contents of the book, as in Hosea 1:1 and Zephaniah 1:1. It is often used for some particular message to a prophet, as J

YET WILL I BRING AN HEIR UNTO THEE, O INHABITANT OF MARESHAH,.... Another city in the tribe of Judah, mentioned with Achzib in Joshua 15:44; and by many thought to be the birth place of this prophet; and, if so, his faithfulness may be observed in declaring the whole counsel of God, though against his own fire place; and this must be an aggravation of the sin of the inhabitants of it, that they had such a prophet that arose from them, and they regarded him not. There is a beautiful allusion in the word "heir" to Mareshah s, which signifies an "inheritance"; and here were an "heir" or heirs for it, as the Targum; not the Persians, as some in Aben Ezra, and in an Agadah mentioned by Jarchi, who descended from Elam the firstborn of Shem; and so had a right of inheritance, as those interpreters suppose; but the king of Assyria, who should invade the land, and seize upon this place am

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATION THE FIRST PROPHETIC MESSAGE CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Micah 1:1) _ 2. Judgment announced (Micah 1:2) 3. The destruction of Samaria (Micah 1:6) 4. The lamentation of the prophet over the coming judgment (Micah 1:8) Micah 1:1. This introduction tells us two things. In the first place, we learn that this book contains the word of the Lord that came to Micah, the Morasthite; in the second place, we are told when Micah exercised his office. As stated in the introduction, he was contemporary with Isaiah, proba

THE DIRGE ON ISRAEL'S DOWNFALL. This is a difficult and corrupt passage, playing on the names of towns and villages which are chosen for their assonances or their ominous suggestions, in a way impossible to translate; _cf. mg._ for Aphrah and Achzib. See G. A. Smith's map for Shaphir, Mareshah, Lachish and Adullam, other sites being unknown. Tell not our sorrows to the Philistines (_cf._ 2 Samuel 1:20; Gath was probably near to Ekron) or to the Phœ nicians (reading, after LXX, in Accho, _i.e._ Ptolemais, for at all) The towns of the Shephelah are then variously pictured in their sorrows during the progress of the invader (_cf._ Isaiah 10:28); their inhabitants wallow on the ground, are led into captivity, shut up, have their city razed (Beth-ezel; text obscure) anxiously await news,

AN HEIR... MARESHAH. Hebrew the possessor (_hayyoresh)_... O Possession (_Mareshah)_. The possessor whom Jehovah would bring was Assyria. HE SHALL COME, &C. The glory: i.e. the nobility (Isaiah 5:13) of Israel shall go (or flee) unto [the cave] Adullam; as David had done (1 Samuel 22:1)....