Micah 1 - Introduction
_MICAH SHEWETH THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST JACOB FOR IDOLATRY: HE EXHORTETH TO MOURNING._ _Before Christ 750._... [ Continue Reading ]
_MICAH SHEWETH THE WRATH OF GOD AGAINST JACOB FOR IDOLATRY: HE EXHORTETH TO MOURNING._ _Before Christ 750._... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE LORD GOD BE WITNESS, &C.— "I call the Almighty to witness, that I have forewarned you of the judgments hanging over your heads, and which will inevitably fall upon you, unless you speedily repent; and the Almighty himself will become a witness against you, and convince you of your sins, in s... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR, BEHOLD, THE LORD COMETH, &C.— He pictures out to us the Lord as a mighty conqueror, marching forth from his royal palace to reduce his enemies. The prophet in this whole description manifestly alludes to God's descent on mount Sinai. See Exodus 19:16. Deuteronomy 4:11; Deuteronomy 32:13.Psalms... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VALLEYS SHALL BE CLEFT— _Shall be dissolved like water,_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF JACOB?— _Who_ [_makes_] _transgression in Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And who the high-places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?_ But Houbigant prefers the translation of the LXX, and reads the latter words, _What is the sin of Judah?_ by which means the two clauses aptly corr... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE HIRES THEREOF— _The love-presents,_ &c. The meaning is, "As your temples have been enriched with the presents offered by these shameless idol worshippers, to their riches shall return into the hands of the Assyrians, who shall make the like use of them in the temples of their gods.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL WAIL AND HOWL— "I will sympathize with my countrymen in their calamities; I will dress myself in the habit of mourning, and, like those who bewail the dead, go without my upper garment; in order to denote the naked condition to which the ten tribes shall be reduced by their enemies." Instead... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HER WOUND IS INCURABLE— "The desolation of the ten tribes cannot be prevented, because they persist in their impieties; therefore no relief can be applied: it must terminate in their destruction. At the same time, one aggravating circumstance attends it, as being the forerunner of those evils wh... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE HOUSE OF APHRAH ROLL, &C.— _Roll thyself in dust, in the very house of Aphrah,_ or _dust._ The word עפרה _aphrah,_ has here a double sense; for it denotes the city of _Aphrah,_ or _Aphron,_ in the tribe of Judah, which Sennacherib was about to lay waste, for this and what follows respect the... [ Continue Reading ]
PASS YE AWAY, &C.— _Take care thou that inhabitest Saphir_ [a city in the tribe of Judah] _to pass away naked and in disgrace. The inhabitants of Zaanan_ [another city in the tribe of Judah] _shall not go forth to the mourning: Bethezel shall be taken away from you, while itself shall stand._ By _Be... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE INHABITANT OF MAROTH WAITED, &C.— _For she who dwelleth in Maroth is sick even to death; because evil came down,_ &c. See 2 Kings 20:1. A reason is here given why _Beth-ezel,_ or Jerusalem, could not assist _Saphir;_ because she herself was sick, and about to perish, unless God should delive... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE SHALT THOU GIVE PRESENTS— _Therefore shalt thou send presents against Mareshah to Gath the house of a lie, that thou mayest deceive the kings of Israel._ Lachish and Mareshah were two cities in the tribe of Judah. The sacred history is silent why Lachish, when it was besieged, should send... [ Continue Reading ]
YET WILL I BRING AN HEIR UNTO THEE— _Till I shall send unto thee that heir, who inhabiteth Mareshah; till the glory of Israel shall come even to Adullam:_ that is to say, "Till I shall send those citizens of Mareshah, whom thou "wouldst sell to the people of Gath, to possess thy walls, "after the ar... [ Continue Reading ]