Micah 5:12

And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: I WILL CUT OFF WITCHCRAFTS OUT OF THINE HAND - i:e., which thou now usest....

_I will cut off, _he says, _the sorcerers, _ כשפים _, cashephim _(155) Some render the word jugglers, and others, augurs or diviners. We cannot know of a certainty what kind of superstition it was, nor the other which immediately follows: (156) for the Prophet mentions here two words which mean nearly the same thing. There is no doubt but that some, in that age, were called augurs or diviners, and others called jugglers or astrologers who are now called fortune-tellers. But on this subject there is no necessity of much labor; for the Prophet simply shows here that the people could not be preserved by Gods unless they were cleansed from these defilements. These superstitions, we know, were forbidden and condemned by God’s Law: but the Law was not able to restrain the wickedness of that people; for they continually turned aside to these evils. God then here shows, tha

7-15 The remnant of Israel, converted to Christ in the primitive times, were among many nations as the drops of dew, and were made instruments in calling a large increase of spiritual worshippers. But to those who neglected or opposed this salvation, they would, as lions, cause terror, their doctrine condemning them. The Lord also declares that he would cause not only the reformation of the Jews, but the purification of the Christian church. In like manner shall we be assured of victory in our personal conflicts, as we simply depend upon the Lord our salvation, worship him, and serve him with diligence....

Verse Micah 5:12. _I WILL CUT OFF WITCHCRAFTS_] Thou shalt seek help only in Jehovah thy God. They have had neither soothsayers, images, groves, nor high places, from the captivity to the present day....

I WILL CUT OFF THE CITIES OF THY LAND - So God promised by Zechariah, “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls; for I will be unto her a wall of fire round about” Zechariah 2:4. The Church shall not need the temptation of human defense; for God shall fence her in on every side. Great cities too, as the abode of luxury and sin, of power and pride, and, mostly, of cruelty, are chiefly denounced as the objects of God’s anger. Babylon stands as the emblem of the whole city of the world or of the devil, as opposed to God. Rup.: “The first city was built by Cain; Abel and the other saints heed no continuing city” Hebrews 13:14 here. Cities then will include (Rup.) “all the tumults and evil passions and ambition and strife and bloodshed, which Cain brought in among men

EXPOSITION MICAH 5:1 _§ _8_. After Zion_'_s degradation Messiah shall be born, and shall bring the world into subjection._ MICAH 5:1 This verse is joined to the preceding chapter in the Hebrew. Jerusalem is addressed, as in Micah 4:9, Micah 4:11, not the invading army. The prophet returns to the view of the misery and humiliation expressed in that passage. GATHER THYSELF IN TROOPS; or, _thou shalt gather thyself, etc. _Jerusalem must collect its armies to defend itself from the enemy. O DAUGHTER OF TROOPS. Jerusalem is thus named from t

AND I WILL CUT OFF WITCHCRAFTS OUT OF THINE HAND,.... Such as were formerly practised among the Jews, though forbidden them, and in mystical Babylon, or the antichristian church, whose sorceries are mentioned, Revelation 9:21; but nothing of this kind will be found in the Christian church, consisting of Jews and Gentiles, in the latter day; all unlawful arts, cheating and juggling in religious matters, will cease, and be no more: AND THOU SHALT HAVE NO [MORE] SOOTHSAYERS; or diviners, that cast a mist over people's eyes, and deceived them with false appearances of things; that pretended to know times and seasons, when it was or was not a good day to go abroad, or to make merchandise; that judged by the clouds, and by the position of the heavens, what would come to pass hereafter; and though such sort of men were formerly indulged, connived at, and caressed among the

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The siege and the smitten judge (Micah 5:1) _ 2. The smitten judge: Who he is (Micah 5:2) 3. The events of the future: (Micah 5:3) 4. The Rejected One, the Shepherd of Israel (Micah 5:4) 5. The remnant of Jacob and the kingdom (Micah 5:7) Micah 5:1. This interesting chapter presents difficulties, but they all vanish if we view all in the light of the future as revealed in the prophetic Word. Here it is necessary to divide the Word of Truth rightly,

THE PURGING OF ISRAEL. Some modern commentators, _e.g._ Wellhausen and Nowack, refer this to Micah; if so, it would anticipate the Deuteronomic denunciation of the pillars and Asherim (Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3); but the general character of this Divine intervention, to secure a community purified from warfare and idolatry, rather suggests a post-exilic date, when similar references to Asherim, etc., continued to be made (_e.g._ Isaiah 27:9), Yahweh will remove from Israel its means of warfare (Zechariah 9:10; Hosea 14:3; _cf._

WITCHCRAFTS. sorceries. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10). App-92. HAND. Some codices, with Septuagint, and Syriac, read "hands". SOOTHSAYERS: i.e. users of secret or occult arts....