---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Micah 3"
description: "CHAPTER 3   :-. THE SINS
OF THE PRINCES,
PROPHETS, AND PRIESTS:
THE CONSEQUENT
DESOLATION OF ZION. 1. princes—magistrates or
judges. Is it not for you?—Is"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/micah/3"
---

CHAPTER 3

. THE SINS
OF THE PRINCES,
PROPHETS, AND PRIESTS:
THE CONSEQUENT
DESOLATION OF ZION.

**1. princes**—magistrates or
judges.
**Is it not for you?**—Is
it not your special function ([Jeremiah 5:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/4);
[Jeremiah 5:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/5))?
**judgment**—justice. Ye
sit in judgment on others; surely then ye ought to know the judgment
for injustice which awaits yourselves ([Jeremiah 5:5](../../../kjv/jeremiah/5/5)).

**2. pluck off their skin . . .
flesh**—rob their fellow countrymen of all their substance
([Psalms 14:4](../../../kjv/psalms/14/4); [Proverbs 30:14](../../../kjv/proverbs/30/14)).

**3. pot . . . flesh within . . .
caldron**—manifold species of cruel oppressions. Compare , &c., containing, as to the coming punishment, the same
figure as is here used of the sin: implying that the sin and
punishment exactly correspond.

**4. Then**—at the time of
judgment, which Micah takes for granted, so certain is it (compare
[Micah 2:3](../../../kjv/micah/2/3)).
**they cry . . . but he will
not hear**—just as those oppressed by them had formerly cried,
and they would not hear. Their prayer shall be rejected, because it
is the mere cry of nature for deliverance from pain, not that of
repentance for deliverance from sin.
**ill in their doings**—Men
cannot expect to do ill and fare well.

**5.** Here he attacks the false
prophets, as before he had attacked the "princes."
**make my people err**—knowingly
mislead My people by not denouncing their sins as incurring judgment.
**bite with . . . teeth, and
cry, Peace**—that is, who, so long as they are supplied with
food, promise *peace* and prosperity in their prophecies.
**he that putteth not into
their mouths, they . . . prepare war against him**—Whenever they
are not supplied with food, they foretell war and calamity.
**prepare war**—literally,
"sanctify war," that is, proclaim it as a *holy*
judgment of God because they are not fed (see on ; compare [Isaiah 13:3](../../../kjv/isaiah/13/3);
[Joel 1:14](../../../kjv/joel/1/14)).

**6. night . . . dark**—Calamities
shall press on you so overwhelming as to compel you to cease
pretending to *divine* (). Darkness is often the image of calamity ([Isaiah 8:22](../../../kjv/isaiah/8/22);
[Amos 5:18](../../../kjv/amos/5/18); [Amos 8:9](../../../kjv/amos/8/9)).

**7. cover their lips**—The
Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard ("upper
lip," *Margin*). To *cover* it, therefore, was a token
of shame and sorrow ([Leviticus 13:45](../../../kjv/leviticus/13/45);
[Ezekiel 24:17](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/17); [Ezekiel 24:22](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/22)).
"They shall be so ashamed of themselves as *not to dare to
open their mouths* or boast of the name of prophet" [CALVIN].
**there is no answer of
God**—They shall no more profess to have responses from God,
being struck dumb with calamities ([Ezekiel 24:22](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/22)).

**8. I**—in contrast to the false
prophets ([Micah 3:5](../../../kjv/micah/3/5); [Micah 3:7](../../../kjv/micah/3/7)).
**full of power**—that
which "the Spirit of Jehovah" imparts for the discharge of
the prophetical function ([Luke 1:17](../../../kjv/luke/1/17);
[Luke 24:49](../../../kjv/luke/24/49); [Acts 1:8](../../../kjv/acts/1/8)).
**judgment**—a sense of
*justice* [MAURER];
as opposed to the false prophets' speaking to please men, not from a
regard to truth. Or, "judgment" to discern between graver
and lighter offenses, and to denounce punishments accordingly
[GROTIUS].
**might**—moral *intrepidity*
in speaking the truth at all costs ([Acts 1:8](../../../kjv/acts/1/8)).
**to declare unto Jacob his . .
. sin**— ([Isaiah 58:1](../../../kjv/isaiah/58/1)). Not to
flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.

**9. Hear**—resumed from . Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a
demonstration of his assertion that he is "full of power by the
Spirit of Jehovah" ([Micah 3:8](../../../kjv/micah/3/8)).

**10. They**—change of person from
"ye" ([Micah 3:9](../../../kjv/micah/3/9)); the
third person puts them to a greater distance as estranged from Him.
It is, literally, "*Whosoever* builds," *singular.*
**build up Zion with
blood**—build on it stately mansions with wealth obtained by the
condemnation and murder of the innocent ([Jeremiah 22:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/22/13);
[Ezekiel 22:27](../../../kjv/ezekiel/22/27); [Habakkuk 2:12](../../../kjv/habakkuk/2/12)).

**11. heads thereof**—the princes
of Jerusalem.
**judge for reward**—take
bribes as judges ([Micah 7:3](../../../kjv/micah/7/3)).
**priests teach for hire**—It
was their duty to teach the law and to decide controversies
gratuitously ([Leviticus 10:11](../../../kjv/leviticus/10/11); [Deuteronomy 17:11](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/17/11);
[Malachi 2:7](../../../kjv/malachi/2/7); compare [Jeremiah 6:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/6/13);
[Judges 1:11](../../../kjv/judges/1/11)).
**prophets . . . divine**—that
is, false prophets.
**Is not the Lord among
us?**—namely in the temple ([Isaiah 48:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/48/2);
[Jeremiah 7:4](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/4); [Jeremiah 7:8-11](../../../kjv/jeremiah/7/8-11)).

**12.** quotes this verse. The Talmud and MAIMONIDES
record that at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under
Titus, Terentius Rufus, who was left in command of the army, with a
ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple.
**mountain of the house**—the
height on which the temple stands.
**as the high places of the
forest**—shall become as heights in a forest overrun with wild
shrubs and brushwood.

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