Micah
Micah 2
Chapter II · Vol. III, p. 1454
1 God's judgment against oppression. 4 A lamentation. 7 A proof of injustice and idolatry. 12 A promise of restoring Jacob.
1 Woe to them that adevise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is inb the power of their hand.
2 And cthey covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress1 a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
c Is.5.8. 1 Ki.21.2,15. Am.3.9,10; 5.11; 8.4-6. ch.3.2,3;7.2,3.
1 Or, defraud.
3 Therefore thus saith the LORD, dBehold, against this efamily do I devise an evil, gfrom which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shallh ye go haughtily: for ithis time is evil.2
d Ps.18.26. Mat.7.2. Ja.2.13. Ps.50.21,22. Je.18.11;14.15.
e Je.1.15; 8.3; 10.23. Am.3.2.
g Is.24.17,18. Je.48.44. Am.2.14-16; 9.1-4. Zep.1.14-18.
h Job 40.11,12. Is.2.11-17;47.1.
i Eze.7.5. Am.5.13; 8.2,3. Zep.1.14-18.
2 This time is evil. Men are guided by evil principles—devising evil plans—forming evil combinations—and fitting themselves for destructive judgments.—C.
4 In that day shall one take up ja parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation,3 and say, We be utterly spoiled: khe hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away4 he hath divided our fields.
j Job 27.1. Eze.20.49. Hab.2.6. Jn.16.25,29. Ps.44.14. Je.24.9.
3 Heb. with a lamentation of lamentations, Am.5.7,16. Je.9.17,18.
k ver.10. Am.5.27; 7.9,11,17. 2 Ki.17.23,24. ch.1.15.
4 Or, instead of restoring.
5 Therefore lthou shalt have none that shall castn a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
l ver.2,3.
n Ps.16.6. Ho.9.3. De.32.8,9; 23.1,2. Jos.18.4,6,11.
6 Prophesyo ye not, say they to them that prophesy:5 theyp shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
7 O thou that art qnamed the house of Jacob, ris the Spirit of the LORD 6straitened? are these his doings?7 dos not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?8
q Jn.8.40. Ro.2.17. Tit.1.16. 2 Ti.3.5.
r Zec.4.6. Is.59.1,2; 28.21;50.2.
6 Or, shortened, Nu.11.23.
7 Are these his doings. Has he authorized you to say, 'Prophesy not?' Nay: the resolution is your own, for his 'law is perfect, converting the soul,' his word is 'able to make wise unto salvation.'—C.
s Ho.14.9. Is.30.8. Ps.25.10. Je.15.16. Ro.8.28.
8 Heb. upright.
8 Event of late9 my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe1 with the 2garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
t Is.9.21. 2 Ki.12.20; 14.13. 2 Ch.28.5-8.
9 Heb. yesterday.
1 The stripping of travellers is still a common form of robbery in the East. See Wolff's Researches, 1831, p. 116.—C.
2 Heb. over against a garment.
9 Theu 3women4 of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.
10 Arisev ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: xbecause it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
11 Ify a man, 5walking in the spirit and falsehood,6 do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
y 1 Ki.22.21,13. Eze.13.3-22. Je.6.13,14; 8.10,11; 14.13,14. Phi.3.18,19. Ro.16.18.
5 Or, walk with the wind, and lie falsely.
6 'In the spirit of falsehood.'—C.
12 Iz will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; aI will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall bmake great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
13 The cbreaker is come up before them: dthey have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and etheir king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
c Zec.12.8. Is.57.14; 62.10; 42.16; 49.10,11. Da.2.34,35,44.
d Eze.20.37. Zec.9.14-16;10.5,12;12.1-8.
e Is.52.12; 9.6,7; 49.10,11. Je.23.5,6. Eze.34.23,24. Ho.1.11; 3.5. Re.17.14;19.6,7,11-14.
Notes
Ver. 3-5, 10. The Assyrians, and after them the Chaldeans and Romans, shall invade, plunder, and desolate your country, murder, and carry you into captivity, and give your inheritances to others, because of your wickedness. 6. Ye attempt to silence my faithful prophets, who declare to you your transgressions, and warn you of my judgments, that ye may repent; and therefore quickly no more pains shall be taken with you, to render you sensible of your sins. But ye encourage those lying impostors, who, to obtain a good living to themselves, prophesy to you of nothing but peace and plenty, answerably to your luxurious inclinations. 7. Ye who glory in your descent from the patriarch Jacob, but are very unlike to him, can ye stop the revelations of my Spirit? or is the work of threatening a pleasure to me? Do not all my messages work for the real good of penitent and upright persons? 8-10. Lately, you Israelites, under Pekah, fearfully ravaged Judea, without any provocation, plundering the very poor, abusing the very women and children, and, by enslaving and selling them to the heathens around, ye have for ever deprived them of my worship, privileges, and country; therefore shall ye, in a little time, be murdered in, or carried from, your own country, which ye have so much defiled by your wickedness. 12, 13. These verses, as connected with the preceding, seem to import that God would gather the Israelites and Jews into their cities for the slaughter; and that the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans would break into them, and carry them and their kings into a dismal captivity. But taking them as a promise, they mean that God would not only bring back the Jews and Israelites to Canaan, but would render his scattered people one flock under Jesus Christ, who, in consequence of his resurrection and ascension, would, in the apostolic and millennial periods, conquer both Jews and Gentiles, and bring them at last to eternal glory.
Ver. 5. Cast a cord by lot. When a man died in Israel, leaving landed property, and four sons, it was divided by 'the cord,' or measuring line, into five lots; of which two, or a double portion, went to the eldest, equal shares to the other three. The prophet declares that dying fathers shall now have no successors. C.
Ver. 13. The breaker. By some translated 'the increaser,' and referred to John the Baptist, or even to Christ himself. But the word translated 'breaker' is scarcely ever taken in a good sense, see Ex. 19. 22-24; Ju. 21. 15; Ps. 17. 4; Je. 7. 11; and, taken in conjunction with what follows, can scarcely be understood of any but an enemy, such as the king of Assyria, whom 'the LORD on the head' sent against an hypocritical nation, Is. 10, 5, 6. C.
Reflections.—In vain do men think that they may do whatever they can, since no power is given for destruction, but for edification. And if covetousness reign in men's hearts, compassion will be banished from it. The more design and deliberation men discover in their sinning, the more will God manifest his wisdom and power in the certainty, severity, notoriety, and answerableness of their punishment. And no injuries does God more fearfully resent than those which are done to the harmless, the fatherless, and widows, who have least help in man. They who have used others fraudulently and violently shall be so used themselves. And nothing can be more dreadful than to be cut off from the church of God and its exalted privileges. They who were most haughty and secure in their prosperity, are generally the most dejected and desperate in their adversity. They who hate holiness hate reproof, and reckon faithful ministers a nuisance and a burden; and being vicious and debauched, they wish to have ministers, and even a god, like themselves. But upright men delight in God's messages, whether promises or threatenings, Blessed be God that Jesus is our chief Shepherd: and, notwithstanding all the rage of hell and earth, he will gather the outcasts of Israel, render his gospel church extensive as the earth, and her members numerous as the sand by the sea-shore; and without losing one, bring them from sin, from death, and the grave, to the mansions above!