_Woe is me_ The speaker in Micah 7:1, or at any rate in Micah 7:1, is not the prophet, but the true Israel, i.e. Israel within Israel, personified. He is like a garden at the time of the fruit-harvest, which has many delightful fruits, but of course no early figs; or, like a vineyard, after the grap... [ Continue Reading ]
Micah 7:1-6. These verses should be read in connexion with Chap. 6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The good man_ More fully rendered, -The pious man," he who makes love his rule of action love to God and love to man. -The idea of _khâsîdh_is not passive [he who experiences grace or love], for God Himself is called _khâsîdh_, Psalms 145:17, but he who exercises _khesedh_(Proverbs 11:17), i.e. mak... [ Continue Reading ]
_That they may do evil_ This verse and the first half of the following verse are extremely obscure, and it is most improbable that the text as it stands is correct. In any case, the A.V. rendering of the first clause cannot be maintained; a better one is, -(Their) hands are (only) for evil, to do (i... [ Continue Reading ]
_The best of them is as a brier_ Comp. 2 Samuel 23:6 -and good-for-nothing men are all of them as thorns thrust away." -Thorns" are in the Bible symbols of sin and its effects, and of the temptations which beset man's path. But the Hebrew text has not the appearance of being sound. _the day of thy... [ Continue Reading ]
_guide_ Rather, FAMILIAR FRIEND. The same mistake occurs in A. V. of Psalms 55:13 (14 in the Hebrew).... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the prophet addresses the better disposed of his people. Friendship and wedded love can no longer be trusted; natural affection passes into its opposite. Comp. Matthew 10:21; Matthew 10:35-36 (a reminiscence of a clause in our passage), Luke 12:53; Luke 21:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_dishonoureth_ Lit. -treateth as a fool." The same verb in the same form occurs in Deuteronomy 32:6. It is unsafe however to argue that Deuteronomy must have been already written in the time of Micah, for we also find the word in Jeremiah 14:21; Nahum 3:6. Micah 7:7. Here the thread of thought is b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore I_ Rather, AND AS FOR ME, I. _the God of my salvation_ A reminiscence of the Psalter (Psalms 27:9). _will hear me_ -Hearing" includes answering (Isaiah 30:19).... [ Continue Reading ]
_O mine enemy_ i.e. the instrument of God's -visitation," the heathen oppressor of Israel. _when I fall_ Rather, FOR (IF) I HAVE FALLEN. The -falling" is of course not that of sin, but of calamity, which is often represented as a stumbling-block. _when I sit in darkness_ Another figure for trouble... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will bear the indignation_ The speaker is sure that Jehovah is still his God; consequently in wrath He will still remember mercy, and will, in His own good time, remove the rod. _I have sinned against him_ The pious portion of Israel is included in the confession, as in Isaiah 64:5. _my cause_... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the soliloquy of believing and repentant Israel ceases, and a prophetic announcement begins. _In the day that thy walls_ Rather, THERE COMETH A DAY TO BUILD THY WALLS. The image is that of a vineyard, the walls of which have been thrown down (as Isaiah 5:5). The word rendered -walls" is differ... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. the extent of the dispersion as described in Isaiah 11:11. _He shall come even to thee_ Rather, MEN SHALL COME TO THEE. It is a promise of the conversion of the heathen to the true religion. _and from the fortified cities_ Rather, AND FROM THE CITIES OF EGYPT. -Egypt" is here not Mizraim, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
_the land_ i.e. the land of Canaan. Before the great promises of a golden future can be realized, judgment must have its perfect work. We might, however, render -the earth," i.e. the earth with the exception of Canaan. The desolation of the earth would help to explain the thronging of the people to... [ Continue Reading ]
_the flock of thine heritage_ Comp. Psalms 28:9 -bless thine inheritance; feed them also;" Psalms 95:7 _thus judgment springeth up as hemlock_, &c. Rather, SO JUDGMENT SHALL SPRING UP AS THE POPPY. Their sins are as it were the seed from which a plant is produced as bitter and as abundant as the pop... [ Continue Reading ]