MICAH

Micah 3

1Micah reproveth the cruelty of the princes, 5and the falsehood of the prophets. 8His zeal in showing the sins of the princes, priests, and prophets, and their ill grounded security.


1AND I said, Hear, I pray you, O 1heads of Jacob, and ye 2princes of the house of Israel; 3Is it not for you to know judgment?

1 That is, governors.

2 See Judges 11 on verse 6.

3 Hebr. Is it not yours, or unto you? That is, does it not befit or suit you? Is it not becoming for you? Is it not your duty to know the judgment of your God? Yea verily, infers the prophet. Compare Jer. 5:4, 5, and see such manner of questions, Judges 4 on verse 6, etc.

2Who hate the good, and love the evil; 4who pluck off their 5skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

4 By these phrases is expressed the most extreme cruelty, baseness, wretchedness and tyranny of the governors, practiced upon their subjects and fellow brethren with whom they dealt as lions, bears and wolves.

5 They flay the skin from the poor subjects; they waste and extort them, as one speaks commonly about such people.

36Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flaya their skin from off them; and they 7break their bones, and 8chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

6 Other, What they eat, is the flesh of my people, etc. See Psalm 14 on verse 4.

a remove the skin*

7 Or, knell them in pieces; for, according to some, the Hebrew word has its signification from strong sounding peals, knells, crackling. The sense is: that, instead of being fathers and shepherds of their people as they ought, they do by open violence, without any pity or remorse, waste, bruise, destroy and convert to their own use, all the subjects’ substance and property, as follows.

8 Hebr. spread, that is, they deal with men and the prey just as if they were to put flesh and bones of slaughtered beasts into a pot to boil. Compare Ezek. 11:6, 7, with the annotation. And see the like phrase in the description of these wretches’ punishment, Ezek. 24:3, 4, etc.

49Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even 10hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in 11their doings.

9 When the plagues (mentioned in Micah 2:3, 4, 5, 10) shall come upon them, then they shall be so impudent yet, that they will call upon God as if He were bound to help them, but they do it without any true and hearty repentance, only from the sense of the punishment and therefore, etc.

10 See Deut. 31 on verse 17; Job 13 on verse 24.

11 Or, carried themselves evil in their dealings, as it is said of the converted, that they made their ways good. The sense is: Even as they vexed the poor subjects and had no compassion on them, so shall I requite them in the same manner, etc. Compare James 2:13.

5¶Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that 12biteb with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even 13prepare war against him.

12 Under the pretext of love and kindness, murdering their soul like devouring wolves, by their false, seductive prophecies. Compare Ezek. 13:18, 19; 22:25; Mat. 7:15. Or, like hunger-starved beasts, tear and devour all that is given them, and then cry peace, bliss and prosperity, when they have the bellies sated. Compare Micah 2:11; Isa. 56:10, 11; Ezek. 13:3, with the annotations.

b Micah 2:11.

13 That is, against such they instigate and incense every one, to arm and make war against him; or, they denounce and prophecy all manner of evil against him, as being a despiser of God and His Word, which they pretend falsely. Of the Hebrew words prepare war, see Jer. 6 on verse 4.

6Therefore 14night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a 15vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not 16divine; and the sunc shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be 17dark over them.d

14 With this manner of speech God foretells unto these false prophets not only blindness of their understanding (as some take this), but likewise all kinds of other plagues, misfortunes, suffering and sadness. See Gen. 15 on verse 12; Jer. 15 on verse 9; Joel 2:2, 31, etc.

15 That is, by reason of your false prophecies which you boast to have received by special revelation from Me. Compare Zech. 13:4. Or, so that ye shall have no vision, that is, be disabled to prophecy anymore; and so in the sequel, so that ye shall not be able to divine; ye shall have something else to do than to practice your conjectures and sooth-sayings; ye will meet with your due reward. Compare Ezek. 13:23.

16 Compare Ezek. 13:6, 7, etc., and see of the Hebrew word Prov. 16 on verse 10.

c Jer. 15:9; Amos 8:9.

17 Or, black; that is, darkness.

d Joel 2:10.

7Then shall the 18seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their 19lips; for there is no 20answer of God.

18 That is, those false prophets, who do falsely boast about My visions. Of the word seer see 1 Sam. 9 on verse 9; Ezek. 13 on verse 3.

19 Or, mustache, as a sign of mourning. See Lev. 13:45; Ezek. 24:17, 22, with the annotations.

20 No Divine vision or prophecy, that one might ask of God for advice, or to seek comfort from Him in the time of affliction. Compare Psalm 74:9; Ezek. 7:26; Amos 8:11, 12. Or, no hearing, as verse 4.

821But truly I am full of power 22by the spirit of the LORD, and of 23judgment, and of 24might, to declare unto Jacob his 25transgression, and to Israel his sin.

21 The prophet, being well-assured of his calling, of the truth of the Divine revelations and of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Who had sent him, here plainly separates himself from the false prophets, confirms his prophecies with Divine authority for the instruction of the godly and the conviction of the rebellious, and shows his courage and undauntedness in reproving sins, notwithstanding the impudent pretenses and base flatteries of the false prophets and of the people’s stubbornness. Compare Isa. 50:4, etc.; Jer. 6:11, with the annotations.

22 How the Hebrew particle eth is sometimes taken for of, see Jer. 51 on verse 59.

23 According to His charge, to announce God’s judgment, as Jer. 6:11, … full of the fury of the LORD, etc. Or, full of justice, that is, God’s judgment, as Jer. 5:4, 5. It may also have respect to the governors, verses 1, 9, who ought to know justice, but have it in abomination. This servant of God was quite otherwise disposed.

24 Or, bravery, courageousness, to suffer evil, and to go on cheerfully in my calling, as follows.

25 With the punishments due to them.

9Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that 26abhor 27judgment, and 28perverte all 29equity.

26 Or, make the judgment abominable, namely, by their wicked abuse of justice.

27 Or, right.

28 Hebr. they pervert, that is, ye are those that pervert, etc., as elsewhere frequently.

e Amos 5:7; 6:12.

29 Or, straight, just, upright.

10They 30build up Zion with 31blood,f and Jerusalem with 32iniquity.

30 Hebr. in the singular, that is, every one of them is building. They build upon it with great houses and palaces.

31 Hebr. bloods, that is, murder and homicide (see Gen. 37 on verse 26; Ezek. 22:27; Zeph. 3:3), and further all the money which they get by it, or, for supporting and excusing the murderers and oppressors.

f Ezek. 22:27; Zeph. 3:3.

32 Robbery and all kinds of unlawful means. See Jer. 22:13.

11The 33heads thereof judge for 34reward, and the priests thereof teach for 35hire, and the 36prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they 37lean upon the LORD, and say, 38Is not the LORD among us? none 39evil can come upon us.

33 The governors and judges of Zion and Jerusalem. God implies here that everything in the civil and ecclesiastical state was corrupted and was for sale for money. Compare Isa. 1:23.

34 Hebr. gift.

35 They permit themselves to be bribed for money to teach according to men’s desires, when as they should be content with God’s allowance, and hold forth the pure Word of God, without regard to men. See Mal. 2:6, 7.

36 The false prophets, of whom in verses 5 to 7.

37 Not with an holy trust (which is ever accompanied with godliness), but in hypocrisy, out of an impudent arrogance, and a vain, bold and carnal audacity. See Isa. 48:2; Jer. 7:4, 6, 9, 10. How intolerable this was with God appears by the next verse.

38 This is surely beyond all doubt, they want to say; it cannot be otherwise but God was obligated to them, no matter how they were doing.

39 That is, misfortune, misery, of which the other prophets had to say so much. Compare Amos 9:10.

12Therefore shall 40Zion for 41your sake be plowed as a 42field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the 43house as the high places of the 44forest.

40 God asked so little for Zion, Jerusalem, yea, even for His temple, when they were polluted.

41 For your sins’ sake, whereby ye have filled and corrupted all things.

42 That is, be utterly destroyed and laid waste. Pious Hezekiah (in whose days Micah prophesied this) received these sharp and terrible prophecies with a penitent heart, imploring God for mercy and favor, and doubtless doing his utmost for a general amendment. See Jer. 26:18, 19, 20, and compare Micah 1:6.

43 Of the temple.

44 As Jer. 26:18. Upon this terrible prophecy follows a glorious, evangelical promise, touching the mountain of the house of the LORD, in the beginning of the next chapter; as likewise towards the end of the 4th and in the beginning of the 5th chapter.