Micah 3:9

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. HEAR THIS, I PRAY YOU, YE HEADS OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB - resumed from . Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a demonstration of his assertion that he is "full of power by the Spirit of Yahweh," ()....

The Prophet begins really to prove what he had stated, — that he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: and it was, as they say, an actual proof, when the Prophet dreaded no worldly power, but boldly addressed the princes and provoked their rage against him, _Hear, _he says,_ye heads, ye rulers of the house of Jacob, _ye men who are cruel, bloody, and iniquitous. We then see that the Prophet had not boasted of what he did not without delay really confirm. But he began with saying, that he was filled with the Spirit of God, that he might more freely address them, and that he might check their insolence. We indeed know that the ungodly are so led on headlong by Satan, that they hesitate not to resist God himself: but yet the name of God is often to them a sort of a hidden chain. However much then the wicked may rage, they yet become less ferocious when the name of God is introduced....

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 9. _HEAR THIS_] An appeal similar to that in Micah 3:1....

HEAR THIS, I PRAY YOU - The prophet discharges upon them that “judgment” whereof, by the Spirit of God, he was full, and which they “abhorred; judgment” against their perversion of judgment. He rebukes the same classes as before “the heads and judges” Micah 3:1, yet still more sternly. They abhorred judgment, he says, as a thing loathsome and abominable, such as men cannot bear even to look upon; they not only dealt wrongly, but they “perverted, distorted, all equity:” “that so there should not remain even some slight justice in the city” . “All equity;” all of every sort, right, rectitude, uprightness, straight-forwardness, whatever was right by natural conscience or by God’s law, they distorted, like the sophists making the worse appear the better cause. Naked violence crushes the individual; perversion of equity destroys the fountain-head of justice. The prophet turn

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

HEAR THIS, I PRAY YOU, YE HEADS OF THE HOUSE OF JACOB, AND PRINCES OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL,.... As an instance of his boldness, courage, and impartiality, he begins with the principal men of the land, and charges them with sins, and reproves for them, and denounces judgments on account of them; Micah 3:1; THAT ABHOR JUDGMENT, AND PERVERT ALL EQUITY; a sad character of princes, rulers, and judges, who not only ought to know but to love judgment, justice, and equity, and do them; even take delight and pleasure in the distribution of them to everyone, and in every cause that came before them; but, instead of this, hated to do that which was right and just; and perverted all the rules and laws of justice and equity, clearing the guilty, and condemning the innocent....

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

_THE SINS OF THE LEADERS OF JERUSALEM -- MICAH 3:9-11:_ In a scathing rebuke Micah wrote about the injustice of rulers and love of money of prophets. He said, "You leaders accept bribes for dishonest decisions. You priests and prophets teach and preach, but only for money. Then you say, "The LORD is on our side. No harm will come to us." (Micah 3:11) Micah urged the heads of the Judah and Israel to heed the message of God. These people had been so evil and then they even said they would not be judged for their actions because God was with them. These leaders abhorred right judgment. This attitude resulted in a perversion of all fairness in dealing with others. They had made "cruelty and murder a way of life in Jerusalem....