Commentari biblici

INTRODUCTION

MICAH was a native of Moresheth, not the same as Mareshah in

Mic 1:15,

but the town called Moresheth-gath

(Mic 1:14),

which lay near Eleutheropolis, west of Jerusalem, on the border of the Philistine country; so called to distinguish it from Moresheth of Judah. His full name is Micaiah (not the Micaiah mentioned

1Ki 22:8,

the son of Imlah), signifying, Who is like Jehovah? The time of his prophesying is stated in the introduction to be in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, that is, between 757 and 699 B.C. Jeremiah

(Jer 26:18)

quotes

Mic 3:12,

as delivered in the reign of Hezekiah. He was thus a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. The idolatries practised in the reign of Ahaz accord with Micah's denunciations of such gross evils, and confirm the truth of the time assigned

Mic 1:1.

His prophecies are partly against Israel (Samaria), partly against Judah. As Samaria, Israel's metropolis, was taken first, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah subsequently, in the introductory heading,

Mic 1:1,

Samaria is put first, then Jerusalem. He prophesies the capture of both; the Jews' captivity and restoration; and the coming and reign of Messiah. His style is full, round, and perspicuous; his diction pure, and his parallelisms regular. His description of Jehovah

(Mic 7:18, 19)

is not surpassed by any elsewhere in Scripture. The similarity between Isaiah and Micah in some passages (compare

Mic 4:1-3, with Isa 2:2-4)

is to be accounted for by their being contemporaries, acquainted with each other's inspired writings, and having the same subjects for their theme. HENGSTENBERG maintains that the passage in Micah is the original. Isaiah was somewhat the older, being a prophet in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham's predecessor, whereas Micah began his prophecies under Jotham.

The book consists of two parts: (1) the first through fifth chapters; (2) the sixth and seventh chapters, a dialogue or contestation between Jehovah and His people, in which He reproaches them with their unnatural and ungrateful conduct, and threatens judgment for their corruptions, but consoles them with the promise of restoration from captivity.

Micah stands sixth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew canon, but third in the Septuagint.

Mic 1:1-16.

GOD'S WRATH AGAINST SAMARIA AND JUDAH; THE FORMER IS TO BE OVERTHROWN; SUCH JUDGMENTS IN PROSPECT CALL FOR MOURNING.

2. all that therein is--Hebrew, "whatever fills it." Micaiah, son of Imlah, our prophet's namesake, begins his prophecy similarly, "Hearken, O people, every one of you." Micah designedly uses the same preface, implying that his ministrations are a continuation of his predecessor's of the same name. Both probably had before their mind Moses' similar attestation of heaven and earth in a like case

(De 31:28; 32:1;

compare

Isa 1:2).

God be witness against you--namely, that none of you can say, when the time of your punishment shall come, that you were not forewarned. The punishment denounced is stated in

Mic 1:3,

&c.

from his holy temple--that is, heaven

(1Ki 8:30; Ps 11:4; Jon 2:7;

compare

Ro 1:18).

3. tread upon the high places of the earth--He shall destroy the fortified heights (compare

De 32:13; 33:29)

[GROTIUS].

4. Imagery from earthquakes and volcanic agency, to describe the terrors which attend Jehovah's coming in judgment (compare

Jud 5:5).

Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low degree, as the valleys, can secure themselves or their land from the judgments of God.

as wax--

(Ps 97:5;

compare

Isa 64:1-3).

The third clause, "as wax," &c., answers to the first in the parallelism, "the mountains shall be molten"; the fourth, "as the waters," &c., to the second, "the valleys shall be cleft." As wax melts by fire, so the mountains before God, at His approach; and as waters poured down a steep cannot stand but are diffused abroad, so the valleys shall be cleft before Jehovah.

5. For the transgression of Jacob is all this--All these terrors attending Jehovah's coming are caused by the sins of Jacob or Israel, that is, the whole people.

What is the transgression of Jacob?--Taking up the question often in the mouths of the people when reproved, "What is our transgression?" (compare

Mal 1:6, 7),

He answers, Is it not Samaria? Is not that city (the seat of the calf-worship) the cause of Jacob's apostasy

(1Ki 14:16; 15:26, 34; 16:13, 19, 25, 30)?

and what are the high places of Judah?--What city is the cause of the idolatries on the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem (compare

2Ki 18:4)?

6. Samaria's punishment is mentioned first, as it was to fall before Jerusalem.

as an heap of the field--

(Mic 3:12).

Such a heap of stones and rubbish as is gathered out of fields, to clear them

(Ho 12:11).

Palestine is of a soil abounding in stones, which are gathered out before the vines are planted

(Isa 5:2).

as plantings of a vineyard--as a place where vines are planted. Vineyards were cultivated on the sides of hills exposed to the sun. The hill on which Samaria was built by Omri, had been, doubtless, planted with vines originally; now it is to be reduced again to its original state

(1Ki 16:24).

pour down--dash down the stones of the city into the valley beneath. A graphic picture of the present appearance of the ruins, which is as though "the buildings of the ancient city had been thrown down from the brow of the hill" [Scottish Mission of Inquiry, pp. 293,294].

discover the foundations--destroy it so utterly as to lay bare its foundations

(Eze 13:14).

Samaria was destroyed by Shalmaneser.

7. all the hires--the wealth which Israel boasted of receiving from her idols as the "rewards" or "hire" for worshipping them

(Ho 2:5, 12).

idols . . . will I . . . desolate--that is, give them up to the foe to strip off the silver and gold with which they are overlaid.

she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot--Israel gathered (made for herself) her idols from the gold and silver received from false gods, as she thought, the "hire" of her worshipping them; and they shall again become what they had been before, the hire of spiritual harlotry, that is, the prosperity of the foe, who also being worshippers of idols will ascribe the acquisition to their idols [MAURER]. GROTIUS explains it, The offerings sent to Israel's temple by the Assyrians, whose idolatry Israel adopted, shall go back to the Assyrians, her teachers in idolatry, as the hire or fee for having taught it. The image of a harlot's hire for the supposed temporal reward of spiritual fornication, is more common in Scripture

(Ho 9:1).