Micah 1:15

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 army of the Assyrians shall be dispersed, and "after the glory of Israel shall come even to Adullam; "or, shall extend its boundaries to Adullam;" a city in the southern part of the tribe of Judah towards the Dead Sea. This interpretation is favoured by what follows; in which it is foretold, that the inhabitants of Lachish shall be carried into captivity. See Houbigant. It must be acknowledged that there is great difficulty in the conclusion of this chapter.

REFLECTIONS.—1st, Micah, or Micaiah, the author of this prophesy, was a Morasthite, so named from the place of his nativity. He lived under the best and worst of Judah's princes, and in all times of prosperity or adversity faithfully declared the word which God gave him concerning Samaria and Jerusalem, the capitals of the two kingdoms, the judgments which were ready to light upon them being the great burden of this prophesy.

1. A solemn call is given to pay deep attention to the word about to be delivered. Hear, all ye people of Judah and Israel; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is; if the former refuse to listen, the very inanimate earth, trembling before the Lord, shall condemn their insensibility and hardness of heart: and let the Lord God be witness against you, if ye disregard or despise these warnings, that I have faithfully delivered my message, and that your blood is on your own heads; even the Lord from his holy temple in heaven, whence he beholds the inhabitants of the world, and sends down thence his judgments on those who are disobedient to his word. Note; They who turn a deaf ear to the admonitions of God's ministers, shall shortly be terribly convinced by experience of the threatenings which they would not believe.

2. The desolating judgments of God are foretold, which were ready to overtake them. The Lord clothed with vengeance descends to destroy them: under his feet their strongest fortresses are trod into the dust, and the high places of their idols demolished. Their princes and great men, with all their lofty looks, are brought low, and the valleys cleft, the lowest of the people sharing in the general calamity; and all unable to resist his arm, as wax melts before the fire, or to bear up against his judgments, which as a torrent spread desolation on every side. Samaria, the capital, shall then be laid in ruins, and be made as the furrows of the field, razed from the foundations, and scarcely one stone left upon another; which, as Josephus relates, was fully accomplished by Hircanus. Note; When God arises to judgment, no place can protect the guilty.

3. The cause of all their miseries is their sin; and if it be asked, What is the transgression of Jacob? the crime peculiarly provoking; Is it not Samaria? the calf, and the idolatry there committed? See Hosea 8:5. And what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? set up there with most impious effrontery against God's temple; yea, in the very courts of the sanctuary an altar is reared to idols, 2 Kings 16:10. Note; (1.) Sin is at the bottom of all suffering. (2.) Great cities and persons, whose bad conduct and example spread the contagion of iniquity, shall be first and deepest in punishment.

4. The demolition of their idols, as well as themselves, is threatened. They shall be broken in pieces by the Assyrians, and made utterly desolate. Such as were not worth carrying away for a spoil, shall be stripped of their ornaments, and left as naked logs; and all the hires thereof shall be burnt with the fire; their palaces and substance, which they esteemed the gifts of their idols, and the hire of their idolatry: thus what they gathered of the hire of an harlot, shall return to the hire of an harlot; be given to their idolatrous enemies, who would regard the spoil as the reward sent by their gods, and spend it in their service. Or the sense may be, that their wealth, which was as ill-gotten as the money earned by prostitution, would be, like it, under the curse of God, and quickly consumed. Note; The wages got by sin will be ever earned with a curse, and such gain cannot prosper.

2nd, We have,
1. The prophet deeply lamenting the desolations that he beheld approaching; wailing as a dragon, and mourning as an owl, because the wound is incurable, the decree being gone forth against Israel, and their impenitence determinately obstinate; and now the Assyrian army is at the very gate of Jerusalem. Note; The holy prophets are themselves deeply afflicted at the view of the threatenings which they are obliged to declare; and, so far from taking a delight in these sad messages of woe, they weep over sinners, while they warn them.

2. Other cities are called upon to join the prophet's mourning, but withal are admonished not to declare it at Gath, nor weep so as to let the Philistines see their grief, who would triumph with malicious pleasure in their calamities. In silent grief they are commanded to roll themselves in the dust, in the house of Aphrah, the house of dust, all their cities being reduced to ruinous heaps. The inhabitant of Saphir, once, as the name imports, fair and beautiful, must now go naked into captivity, stripped of all their wealth and riches. The inhabitant of Zaanan, once numerous as a flock, came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel, to condole with her, or to help her, being too much engaged with their own miseries; for he shall receive of you his standing; the enemy encamping near them, and making them pay dear for the resistance that their city made against him. The inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good, hoping at last to see some stop put to the ravages of the Assyrians; but were quite in despair, when the evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem, and they beheld the enemy preparing to besiege it. Lachish is now bid to flee, or rather ironically her attempts to do so are derided, she being doomed with the rest to captivity. She is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: lying contiguous to Israel, this city became first infected; and the idolatry which the inhabitants had learned spread through the land of Judah; and therefore, as ringleaders in sin, they justly deserve severest judgment, the iniquities of the land lying chiefly at their door. In vain by presents would they court the Philistines of Moresheth-gath to assist them; though they promised them fair, they would fail them in the day of trial. The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel, as the name Achzib signifies. Mareshah also shall be a prey; God will bring an heir to her, one who should seize the country, as if it were his by inheritance. He shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel; shall seize this fortress on which they trusted; or even to the glory of Israel, to Jerusalem itself. Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; which seems addressed to the land in general: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; shew every expressive sign of woe; for they are gone into captivity from thee; the prophet speaks of it as already done, because God had determined it.