1.
And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
1. princes—magistrates or
judges.
Is it not for you?—Is
it not your special function (Jeremiah 5:4;
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).
2.
Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
2. pluck off their skin . . .
flesh—rob their fellow countrymen of all their substance
(Psalms 14:4; Proverbs 30:14).
3.
Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
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 shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
4. Then—at the time of
judgment, which Micah takes for granted, so certain is it (compare
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.
Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
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;
Joel 1:14).
6.
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
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;
Amos 5:18; Amos 8:9).
7.
Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
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;
Ezekiel 24:17; 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).
8.
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
8. I—in contrast to the false
prophets (Micah 3:5; Micah 3:7).
full of power—that
which "the Spirit of Jehovah" imparts for the discharge of
the prophetical function (Luke 1:17;
Luke 24:49; 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).
to declare unto Jacob his . .
. sin— (Isaiah 58:1). Not to
flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.
9.
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
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).
10.
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
10. They—change of person from
"ye" (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;
Ezekiel 22:27; Habakkuk 2:12).
11.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
11. heads thereof—the princes
of Jerusalem.
judge for reward—take
bribes as judges (Micah 7:3).
priests teach for hire—It
was their duty to teach the law and to decide controversies
gratuitously (Leviticus 10:11; Deuteronomy 17:11;
Malachi 2:7; compare Jeremiah 6:13;
Judges 1:11).
prophets . . . divine—that
is, false prophets.
Is not the Lord among
us?—namely in the temple (Isaiah 48:2;
Jeremiah 7:4; Jeremiah 7:8-11).
12.
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
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.