Micah 3:10

They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. THEY - change of person from "ye" (); the third person puts them to a greater distance, as estranged from him. It is literally 'Whosoever builds,' sing. BUILD UP ZION WITH BLOOD - build on it stately mansions with wealth obtained by the condemnation and murder of the innocent (; ; )....

Then when he says, that Zion _was built by blood, and Jerusalem by iniquity, _it is the same as though the Prophet had said, that whatever the great men expended on their palaces had been procured, and, as it were, scraped together from blood and plunder. The judges could not have possibly seized on spoils on every side, without being bloody, that is, without pillaging the poor: for the judges were for the most part corrupted by the rich and the great; and then they destroyed the miserable and the innocent. He then who is corrupted by money will become at the same time a thief; and he will not only extort money, but will also shed blood. There is then no wonder that Micah says, that Zion was _built by blood _He afterwards extends wider his meaning and mentions _iniquity, _as he wished to cast off every excuse from hypocrites. The expression is indeed somewhat strong, when he says, that Z...

9-12 Zion's walls owe no thanks to those that build them up with blood and iniquity. The sin of man works not the righteousness of God. Even when men do that which in itself is good, but do it for filthy lucre, it becomes abomination both to God and man. Faith rests in the Lord as the soul's foundation: presumption only leans upon the Lord as a prop, and would use him to serve a turn. If men's having the Lord among them will not keep them from doing evil, it never can secure them from suffering evil for so doing. See the doom of wicked Jacob; Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field. This was exactly fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and is so at this day. If sacred places are polluted by sin, they will be wasted and ruined by the judgments of God....

Verse Micah 3:10. _THEY BUILD UP ZION WITH BLOOD_] They might cry out loudly against that butchery practised by Pekah, king of Israel, and Pul coadjutor of Rezie, against the Jews. See on Micah 2:9. But these were by no means clear themselves; for if they _strengthened_ _the city_, or _decorated the temple_, it was by the produce of their _exactions_ and _oppressions_ of the people. I do not know a text more applicable than this to _slave-dealers_; or to any who have _made their fortunes_ by such _wrongs_ as affect the _life_ of man; especially the former, who by the gains of this diabolic traffic have _built houses_, c. for, following up the prophet's _metaphor_, the _timbers_, c., are the _bones_ of the hapless Africans and the...

THEY BUILD UP - (literally, building, sing.) Zion with blood This may be taken literally on both sides, that, the rich built their palaces, “with wealth gotten by bloodshed , by rapine of the poor, by slaughter of the saints,” as Ezekiel says, ‘her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain’ Ezekiel 22:27. Or by blood he may mean that they indirectly took away life, in that, through wrong judgments, extortion, usury, fraud, oppression, reducing wages or detaining them, they took away what was necessary to support life. So it is said; ‘The bread of the needy is their life, he that defraudeth him thereof is a man of blood. He that taketh away his neighbor’s living slayeth him, and he that defraudeth the laborer of his hire is a bloodshedder’ (Ecclus. 34:21, 22). Or it may be, that as David prayed to God,

EXPOSITION VERSE 3:1-5:15 Part II. DENUNCIATION OF THE CRIMES OF THE GRANDEES, FOLLOWED BY A PROMISE OF THE GLORIFICATION OF ZION, THE BIRTH OF MESSIAH, AND THE HIGHEST EXALTATION OF THE PEOPLE. MICAH 3:1 § 1. _Sins of the rulers, and their punishment._ MICAH 3:1 The

THEY BUILD UP ZION WITH BLOOD, AND JERUSALEM WITH INIQUITY. Or, "O thou that buildest up" g, c. or "everyone of them that buildeth up" h, c. for the word is in the singular number but, be fire words rendered either of these ways, they respect the heads and princes of the people who either repaired the temple on Zion, or ornamented the king's palace, or built themselves fine stately houses in Jerusalem, or large streets there, by money they took of murderers to save them, as Kimchi; or by money got by rapine and oppression, by spoiling the poor of their goods and their livelihood, for them and their families, which was all one as shedding innocent blood; and by money obtained by bribes, for the perversion of justice, and such like illegal proceedings, truly called iniquity. The Targum is, "who build their houses in Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with deceits.'' g בונה "aedificans",...

THE SECOND PROPHETIC MESSAGE CHAPTER 3 _ 1. Address to the godless princes and judges (Micah 3:1) _ 2. Address to the false prophets (Micah 3:5) 3. The verdict of judgment (Micah 3:9) Micah 3:1. The second prophetic message of Micah contains the great Messianic prophecies. But first the prophet gives a description of the degradation of the nation, the moral corruption of the leaders and judges, as well as the false prophets. It is all summed up in one sentence, “who hate the good, and love the evil.” The princes and judges robbed the people, treated them like cattle ...

FALSE CONFIDENCE ISSUING IN THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. Micah again addresses the rulers, who have founded the prosperity of the capital on violence and injustice (Micah 3:9 f.;_ cf._ Jeremiah 22:13 ff.). The sentence of the judge, the oracle of the priest, the divination of the prophet, are dictated by gain, not God; yet they flatter themselves that all is well, since Yahweh is in their midst (being visibly represented by His dwelling-place, the Temple; _cf._ Isaiah 1:10 ff., Amos 5:21 ff., Jeremiah 7:4). But Yahweh will lay Jerusalem in ruins, and the Temp

INIQUITY. deceit. Hebrew. _'aval._ App-44. Not the same word as in Micah 2:1....