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Mic 7:1-20.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE CORRUPTION; THE CHOSEN REMNANT, DRIVEN FROM EVERY HUMAN CONFIDENCE, TURNS TO GOD; TRIUMPHS BY FAITH OVER HER ENEMIES; IS COMFORTED BY GOD'S PROMISES IN ANSWER TO PRAYER, AND BY THE CONFUSION OF HER ENEMIES, AND SO BREAKS FORTH INTO PRAISES OF GOD'S CHARACTER.

1. I am as when, &c.--It is the same with me as with one seeking fruits after the harvest, grapes after the vintage. "There is not a cluster" to be found: no "first-ripe fruit" (or "early fig"; see on

Isa 28:4)

which "my soul desireth" [MAURER]. So I look in vain for any good men left

(Mic 7:2).

2. The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation to man," rather than to God.

is perished out of the earth--

(Ps 12:1).

3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly--literally, "Their hands are for evil that they may do it well" (that is, cleverly and successfully).

the great man, he--emphatic repetition. As for the great man, he no sooner has expressed his bad desire (literally, the "mischief" or "lust of his soul"), than the venal judges are ready to wrest the decision of the case according to his wish.

so they wrap it up--The Hebrew is used of intertwining cords together. The "threefold cord is not quickly broken"

(Ec 4:12);

here the "prince," the "judge," and the "great man" are the three in guilty complicity. "They wrap it up," namely, they conspire to carry out the great man's desire at the sacrifice of justice.

4. as a brier--or thorn; pricking with injury all who come in contact with them

(2Sa 23:6, 7; Isa 55:13; Eze 2:6).

the day of thy watchmen--the day foretold by thy (true) prophets, as the time of "thy visitation" in wrath [GROTIUS]. Or, "the day of thy false prophets being punished"; they are specially threatened as being not only blind themselves, but leading others blindfold [CALVIN].

now--at the time foretold, "at that time"; the prophet transporting himself into it.

perplexity--

(Isa 22:5).

They shall not know whither to turn.

5. Trust ye not in a friend--Faith is kept nowhere: all to a man are treacherous

(Jer 9:2-6).

When justice is perverted by the great, faith nowhere is safe. So, in gospel times of persecution, "a man's foes are they of his own household"

(Mt 10:35, 36; Lu 12:53).

guide--a counsellor [CALVIN] able to help and advise (compare

Ps 118:8, 9; 146:3).

The head of your family, to whom all the members of the family would naturally repair in emergencies. Similarly the Hebrew is translated in

Jos 22:14

and "chief friends" in

Pr 16:28

[GROTIUS].

her that lieth in thy bosom--thy wife

(De 13:6).

6. son dishonoureth the father--The state of unnatural lawlessness in all relations of life is here described which is to characterize the last times, before Messiah comes to punish the ungodly and save Israel (compare

Lu 21:16; 2Ti 3:1-3).

7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord--as if no one else were before mine eyes. We must not only "look unto the Lord," but also "wait for Him." Having no hope from man

(Mic 7:5, 6),

Micah speaks in the name of Israel, who herein, taught by chastisement

(Mic 7:4)

to feel her sin

(Mic 7:9),

casts herself on the Lord as her only hope," in patient waiting

(La 3:26).

She did so under the Babylonian captivity; she shall do so again hereafter when the spirit of grace shall be poured on her

(Zec 12:10-13).

8. Rejoice not--at my fall.

when I fall, I shall arise--

(Ps 37:24; Pr 24:16).

when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light--Israel reasons as her divine representative, Messiah, reasoned by faith in His hour of darkness and desertion

(Isa 50:7, 8, 10).

Israel addresses Babylon, her triumphant foe (or Edom), as a female; the type of her last and worst foes

(Ps 137:7, 8).

"Mine enemy," in Hebrew, is feminine.