Micah 1:8

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. THEREFORE I WILL WAIL. The prophet first shows how the coming judgment affects himself, in order that he might affect the minds of his countrymen similarly, so that they should shed tears of true repentance. I WILL GO STRIPPED - i:e., of shoes or sandals, as the Septuagint translate. Otherwise, "naked," which follows, would be a tautology. Pusey prefers the English version, stripped - i:e., despoiled by the enemy. For, Micah does not use the ordinary Hebrew term for 'barefoot.' Micah represents in his own person that was about to befall his people. "Naked" means divested of the upper garment (, "At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy lo...

The Prophet here assumes the character of a mourner, that he might more deeply impress the Israelites; for we have seen that they were almost insensible in their torpidity. It was therefore necessary that they should be brought to view the scene itself, that, seeing their destruction before their eyes they might be touched both with grief and fear. Lamentations of this kind are everywhere to be met with in the Prophets, and they ought to be carefully noticed; for we hence gather how great was the torpor of men, inasmuch as it was necessary to awaken them, by this form of speech, in order to convince them that they had to do with God: they would have otherwise continued to flatter themselves with delusions. Though indeed the Prophet here addresses the Israelites, we ought yet to apply this to ourselves; for we are not much unlike the ancient people: for however God may terrify us with dre...

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 8. _I WILL MAKE A WAILING LIKE THE DRAGONS_] _Newcome_ translates: - I will make a wailing like the foxes, (or jackals,) And mourning like the daughters of the ostrich. This beast, the _jackal_ or _shiagal_, we have often met with in the prophets. Travellers inform us that its _howlings_ by night are most lamentable; and as to the _ostrich_, it is remarkable for its _fearful shrieking_ and _agonizing groanings_ after night. Dr. Shaw says he has often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies....

THEREFORE I WILL - Therefore I would WAIL - (properly, beat, that is, on the breast). AND HOWL - “Let me alone,” he would say, “that I may vent my sorrow in all ways of expressing sorrow, beating on the breast and wailing, using all acts and sounds of grief.” It is as we would say, “Let me mourn on,” a mourning inexhaustible, because the woe too and the cause of grief was unceasing. The prophet becomes in words, probably in acts too, an image of his people, doing as they should do hereafter. He mourns, because and as they would have to mourn, bearing chastisement, bereft of all outward comeliness, an example also of repentance, since what he did were the chief outward tokens of mourning. I WILL (WOULD) GO STRIPPED - despoiled . AND NAKED - He explains the acts, that they re

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

THEREFORE I WILL WAIL AND HOWL, I WILL GO STRIPPED AND NAKED,.... To his shut, putting off his upper garment; the rough one, such as the prophets used to wear; which he did as the greater sign of his mourning: sometimes, in such cases, they rent their garments; at other times they stripped themselves of them, and walked naked, as Isaiah did, Isaiah 20:3; he went about like a madman, one disturbed in his mind, bereft of his senses, because of the desolation coming upon Israel; and without his clothes, as such persons often do: so the word rendered "stripped" signifies, as the Jewish commentators observe. This lamentation, and with these circumstances, the prophet made in his own person, to show the reality and certainty of their ruin, and to represent to them the desolate condition they would be in, destitute of all good things, and to them with it; as well as to express the sympathy of h...

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 JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL. The nations of the earth are summoned to take warning from the Divine judgment to be executed on Israel. Yahweh comes forth from heaven (His holy temple; _cf._ Habakkuk 2:20; Isaiah 63:15, Psalms 114), and down (_cf._ Exodus 19:11) upon the heights (Amos 4:13), His presence being revealed as by earthquake shock (_cf._ Isaiah 24:19) and volcanic eruption (Micah 1:2). The moral rebellion of the northern kingdom is concentrated in its capital, Sam

WAIL. lament. Compare the Structure above; and note weight of the prophetic "burden". DRAGONS. jackals. OWLS. Hebrew daughters of. doleful cry....