The prophet’s office of threatening woe is now over. Here, out of love, he himself crieth woe unto himself. He hath “continual sorrow in heart” Romans 9:2 for his people. He bewails what he cannot amend, and, by bewailing, shews them how much more they should bewail it, over whose sins he sorrows; h... [ Continue Reading ]
WOE - o is me! for I am, as when they have gathered the summer fruits , as the grape-gleanings of the vintage “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts,” Isaiah said at the same time, “is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plants” Isaiah 5:7. Isaiah said, brought forth wild grapes; Mica... [ Continue Reading ]
THE, GOOD - or godly, or merciful, the English margin MAN - The Hebrew word contains all. It is “he who loveth tenderly and piously” God, for His own sake, and man, for the sake of God. Mercy was probably chiefly intended, since it wits to this that the prophet had exhorted, and the sins which he pr... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THEY MAY DO EVIL WITH BOTH HANDS EARNESTLY - (Literally, upon evil both hands to do well,) that is, “both their hands are upon evil to do it well,” or “earnestly” , as our translation gives the meaning; only the Hebrew expresses more, that evil is their good, and their good or excellence is in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEST OF THEM IS AS A BRIER - The gentlest of them is a thorn , strong, hard, piercing, which letteth nothing unresisting pass by but it taketh from it, “robbing the fleece, and wounding the sheep.” “The most upright”, those who, in comparison of others still worse, seem so, “is sharper than a th... [ Continue Reading ]
TRUST YE NOT IN A FRIEND - It is part of the perplexity of crooked ways, that all relationships are put out of joint. Selfishness rends each from the other, and disjoints the whole frame of society. Passions and sin break every band of friendship, kindred, gratitude, nature. “Everyone ‘seeketh his o... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE - (And,) when all these things come to pass and all human help fails, “I”, for my part, “will look unto”, (literally, “on”) “the Lord” God, the Unchangeable. The prophet sets himself, I, with emphasis, against the multitude of the ungodly. When all forsake, betray, fail, when “love is waxe... [ Continue Reading ]
REJOICE NOT AGAINST ME, O MINE ENEMY - The prophet still more makes himself one with the people, not only as looking for God, but in penitence, as Daniel bewails “his own sins and the sins of his people” Daniel 9:10. The “enemy” is Babylon and “Edom” Obadiah 1:10, Obadiah 1:12; Psalms 137:7; and the... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BEAR THE INDIGNATION OF THE LORD, BECAUSE I HAVE SINNED AGAINST HIM - This is the temper of all penitents, when stricken by God, or under chastisement from Him. “It is the Lord, let Him, do what seemeth Him good” 1 Samuel 3:18. “So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, curse Dav... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN - (And) she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is He, He of whom thou boastest, the Lord thy God? The cause of her gladness then is, that the blasphemies of the enemy of God were to cease. This was the bitterest portion of her cup, that they sai... [ Continue Reading ]
On this confession of unworthiness and trust the message of joy bursts in, with the abruptness and conciseness of Hosea or Nahum: A day to build thy fences; (that is, cometh;) That day, far shall be the degree; That day, and he shall come quite to thee; And there follows, in a longer but still r... [ Continue Reading ]
NOTWITHSTANDING - (And) the land (that is that spoken of, the land of Judah) shall be desolate not through any arbitrary law or the might of her enemies, but through the sins of the people, because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings Truly “the fruit of their doings,” what they... [ Continue Reading ]
FEED THY PEOPLE WITH THY ROD - The day of final deliverance was still a great way off. There was a weary interval before them of chastisement, suffering, captivity. So Micah lays down his pastoral office by committing his people to Him who was their true and abiding Shepherd. who that has had the pa... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE DAYS OF THY COMING OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT - God answers the prayer, beginning with its closing words . Micah had prayed, “Turn Thy people like the days of old; “God answers, “like the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt.” Micah had said, in the name of his people, “I shall... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NATIONS SHALL SEE - God had answered, what He would give to His own people, to see. Micah takes up the word, and says, what effect this sight should have upon the enemies of God and of His people. The world should still continue to be divided between the people of God and their adversaries. Thos... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL LICK THE DUST LIKE A (THE) SERPENT - To lick the dust, by itself, pictures the extreme humility of persons who east themselves down to the very earth (as in Psalms 72:9; Isaiah 49:23). To lick it “like the serpent” seems rather to represent the condition of those who share the serpent’s d... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS A GOD - (and, as the word means, A Mighty God,) like unto Thee? He saith not, “Who hast made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is” Exodus 20:11; nor, “Who telleth the number of the stars; and calleth them all by their names” Psalms 147:4; nor, “Who by His strength setteth fast th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL TURN AGAIN - who seemed to be turned away from us when we were turned away from Him. “He will subdue, or trample under foot” Joel 2:14, our worst enemy, “our iniquities”, as He saith, “He shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” Romans 16:20. Hitherto, sinful passions had not rebelled onl... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WILT PERFORM THE TRUTH TO JACOB AND THE MERCY TO ABRAHAM - What was free mercy to Abraham, became, when God had once promised it, His truth. Abraham also stands for all those, who in him and his Seed should be blessed, those who were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from t... [ Continue Reading ]