Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Micah 7:7-10
The Righteous of Israel Are However Confident That In All This YHWH Will Be With Them And Will Sustain Them While Their Enemy Will Be Confounded (Micah 7:7).
The words that follow clearly refer to more than just Micah. He is speaking as the representative of the truly righteous, the ‘seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal' (righteous Israel or the righteous remnant of Jerusalem). While they are not wholly sinless and may have to bear the indignation of YHWH, they know that He will act on their behalf. They know that in the end He will vindicate them, and that their enemies will be confounded.
‘But as for me, I will look to YHWH,
I will wait for the God of my salvation,
My God will hear me.'
Rejoice not against me, O my enemy,
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
YHWH will be a light to me.
The hearts of the righteous (thinking from the point of view of each one of them, or from the point of view of the righteous remnant in Jerusalem) look to their God. They are ready to wait patiently for their Saviour to act on their behalf and deliver them. They do not doubt that He will hear them.
And so they challenge their enemies not to rejoice when they think that they have fallen. For when they fall they will, with the help of YHWH, arise. When they sit in darkness they know that YHWH will be a light to them.
How often this turns out to be true for the Christian. Everyone must pass through times of darkness, and they may not at first be aware that the light of YHWH is there to help them, but gradually that light will find its way through, and they will discover that God has been with them all the time, leading the way.
‘I will bear the indignation of YHWH,
Because I have sinned against him,
Until he plead my cause,
And execute judgment for me,
He will bring me forth to the light,
And I will behold his righteousness.'
The righteous recognise that they might have to bear the indignation of YHWH along with others. They know that they are not without sin, and that they must expect chastening. But they know also that eventually He will plead their cause. He will not leave them under chastening. He will act on their behalf. He will execute justice for them. He will bring them forth into the light. And then they will behold His righteousness and His saving power (which is a part of His righteousness). Then they will see the King in His beauty and will be satisfied.
‘Then my enemy will see it,
And shame shall cover her who said unto me,
Where is YHWH your God?
My eyes will see my desire on her,
Now will she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.'
And all their enemies round about, who had enjoyed her discomforture (this suggests especially the righteous of Jerusalem) will be ashamed. The rival neighbour who had sneeringly said, ‘Where is YHWH your God?' will be filled with embarrassment. For they will find themselves trodden down like the mire of the unmade muddy streets.
Micah Gives A Declaration Of Confidence In What YHWH Will Do In The Future For His True People.
In this remarkable prophecy Micah declares that in the future the nations will come to Jerusalem from their own mountains, to seek the mountain of YHWH, and yet it will be to a desolate land to which they come because of the fruit of the people's doing. This is an accurate reflection of the situation in Jerusalem when there was the new nation of Israel, the messengers of YHWH (and of the Messiah) to which many from around the world would come to find life in Christ, while there was also the old nation of Israel which was barren and fruitless.
‘A day for building your walls!
That will be a day when the decree will be far removed (or ‘when the boundary will be extended').'
Micah expects a day of rebuilding. This prophecy was probably made as Assyria closed in on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah were one by one destroyed. But Micah is confident that the walls of those cities would be rebuilt when Israel was free again. The prophecy gained in meaning once Jerusalem itself had been destroyed, but there is no mention of it in the narrative.
The removal of the decree probably refers to YHWH's decree to bring judgment on His people, but it may refer to the king of Assyria's decree to destroy Judah. Either way the decree will be reversed and be far removed because of YHWH's will. The alternative possible translation indicates that once again Judah would expand outwards once the invasion was over.
Of course the prophecy found an expanded fulfilment when Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but that was not necessarily what the prophet (or the Holy Spirit speaking through the prophet) had in mind.
What is, however, central in the words is the promise of the reversal of judgment and the guarantee of future prosperity..
‘In that day will they come to you from Assyria,
And from the cities of Egypt,
And from Egypt even to the River,
And from sea to sea,
And from mountain to mountain.
But Micah also has in mind his prophecy in Micah 4:2, and so he assures them that one day (‘in that day' is a prophetic term for a long time ahead) the nations will come to God's people and to Jerusalem from all round the world. They will come from Assyria, and Egypt (compare Isaiah 19:18), and from the land between Egypt and the Euphrates, and from east and west (the Great Sea to the Persian Gulf), and from mountain to mountain. This last phrase ties in with the hills above which the mountain of YHWH will be exalted (Micah 4:1). They will leave behind their own various mountains of the gods as they seek YHWH.
Alternately the reference may be to the return of Exiles from those countries. But the first seems more likely in view of Micah 4:2
Yet will the land be desolate because of those who dwell in it,
For the fruit of their doings.
And yet they will come to a desolate land because those who dwell in it have not looked after it and have not behaved well in it. It is not the land and the people to whom they are coming, but to YHWH and His messengers (Micah 4:2).