Micah 1 commentary

MICAH 1 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
I TRODUCTIO
JOSEPH BE SO , "THE BOOK OF MICAH.
ARGUME T.
MICAH, of whose family nothing certain is known, was a Morasthite, or of Moresa,
a village near Eleutheropolis, in the south of Judah. He was cotemporary with
Isaiah, began to prophesy a little after him, and continued in the prophetic office
about fifty years. What we find here in writing seems to be an abstract of what he
preached during that time. He had seen the prophecies of Isaiah, and has introduced
whole passages verbatim into his own. Compare Isaiah 2:2, with Micah 4:1; and
Isaiah 41:15, with Micah 4:13. “The style of Micah,” says Bishop Lowth, “is, for the
most part, close, forcible, pointed, and concise; sometimes approaching the
obscurity of Hosea: in many parts animated and sublime, and in general truly
poetical.” “Like Amos and Hosea;” says Archbishop ewcome, “he reproves and
threatens a corrupt people with great spirit and energy. See Micah 2:1-10; Micah
3:2-4; Micah 6:10-16; Micah 7:2-4. And, like Hosea, he inveighs against the princes
and prophets with the highest indignation. See Micah 3:5-12; Micah 7:3. Some of his
prophecies are distinct and illustrious ones, as Micah 2:12-13; Micah 3:12; Micah
4:1-4; Micah 4:10; Micah 5:2-4; Micah 7:8-10.” In many passages, “we may justly
admire the beauty and elegance of his manner; — his animation; — his strength of
expression; — his pathos; — his sublimity.” The scope of his whole book Isaiah , 1.
To convince Israel and Judah of their sins, and of the judgments of God ready to
break in upon them; 2. To comfort the righteous with promises of mercy and
deliverance, and especially with an assurance of the coming of the Messiah. To be
more particular, In the first chapter of his prophecies he foretels the calamities of
Samaria, which was some time after taken and spoiled by Shalmaneser; and then
prophesies against Judah, denouncing the evils which were accordingly brought
upon it by Sennacherib, in the reign of Hezekiah. In the second chapter he inveighs
against those who devised evil against others, and who coveted and took away by
violence other men’s possessions, &c. In the third chapter he reproves the heads of
Jacob, and the princes of the house of Israel, for their avarice, injustice, and
oppression of the people; and also the false prophets, for their deceiving of the
people; and tells them that they will be the occasion of Jerusalem’s being reduced to
a heap of rubbish. After these terrible denunciations, in chapters fourth and fifth he
speaks of their restoration, and, under the figure of that, of the times of the Messiah.
In the sixth and seventh chapters the sins of the people are reproved, and
threatenings denounced against them; but with promises of better things on their
amendment. This prophet is cited by Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 26:18,) which shows that

he prophesied before Jeremiah. “It is related by Epiphanius, and the Greek writers
who copied him, that Micah was thrown from a precipice and killed by Jehoram,
the son of Ahab, whom he erroneously calls king of Judah, but who was really king
of Israel; and whose grandson Jehoram lived at least one hundred and thirty years
before Micah. But these writers seem to have confounded Micah with Micaiah the
son of Imlah, who flourished in Israel, and prophesied evil of Ahab. Micah does not
appear to have suffered martyrdom, as may be collected from Jeremiah 26:18-19,
but probably died in peace in the reign of Hezekiah. St. Jerome says, that his tomb
was at Morasthi, and converted into a church in his time: and Sozomen professed to
have heard, that his body was shown, in a divine vision, to Zebennus, bishop of
Eleutheropolis, in the reign of Theodosius the Great, near a place called Berathsatia,
which probably might be a corruption of Morasti, since Sozomen describes it to
have been at nearly the same distance from Jerusalem that St. Jerome places
Morasthi.” — Gray’s Key.
COMME TARY O THE PROPHECY OF MICAH.
by Dr Peter Pett BA BD (Hons-London) DD
"Micah" is a shortened form for "Micaiah," which means "Who is like YHWH?"
He came from Moresheth, a small town south west of Jerusalem. This was probably
the same as Moresheth-gath (Micah 1:14), in which case it must have been fairly
close to the Philistine town of Gath, of which the exact location is uncertain.
Moresheth-gath was also about six miles north-east of Lachish, the second largest
city in Judah, which was on the Shephelah (lower hills leading down to the Coastal
Plain).
Micah 1:1
‘The word of YHWH that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem.’
Micah came to the people of Judah with ‘the word (dbr) of YHWH’, a word which
dealt with the situations of both Samaria, the capital city of Israel, and Jerusalem,
the capital city of Judah. The fact that his father’s name is not given, and that he
came from a smallish town, may suggest that he came of common stock. While
Isaiah was influencing the nobility, Micah was appealing to the common people. The
destruction of his own home town by the Assyrians around the time that they
captured Lachish must have been a great blow to him.
He prophesied during the reigns of Jotham (c.740-732 BC), Ahaz (c.732-715 BC),
and Hezekiah (c.715-687/6 BC), kings of Judah. This indicates that he was a late
eighth-century contemporary of Isaiah, who also prophesied around the same time
in Judah (compare Isaiah 1:1). Amos and Hosea were similarly prophesying in the
northern kingdom of Israel (see Amos 1:1; Hosea 1:1). These were initially times of
economic wellbeing following the long and prosperous reign of Uzziah (Azariah),
but with the looming presence of Assyria, danger threatened and eventually arrived,
especially in the first instance for Israel.

During the time of Jotham (although not affecting Judah) Assyria, under Tiglath
Pileser III (Pulu), coming from the north over the Euphrates in undreamt of power,
captured some of Israel’s northern lands and incorporated them into the Assyrian
empire, taking many Israelites into exile, and subjecting Israel to heavy tribute.
Israel had meanwhile descended into a state of spiritual decadence and partial
anarchy. Both economic and religious conditions were rapidly deteriorating.
We can understand how this new situation must have affected the thinking of men
of God at the time. Here was an indication of God’s displeasure with His people.
Things had never got quite as bad as this before.
When Israel, along with the Philistines and the countries north of Israel, including
Syria, rebelled against Assyrian rule and withheld tribute, they sought to form an
alliance in order to deal with the threat. This they invited first Jotham (who
conveniently died), and then Ahaz to join. On the new king Ahaz refusing to do so
preparations were made by Syria and Israel to bring him into submission and
replace him as king. At this point Isaiah tried to persuade Ahaz to trust in YHWH
and ignore everyone else, assuring him that the plot would come to nothing (Isaiah
7). Howevr, Ahaz chose rather to submit to the king of Assyria, against the
pleadings of Isaiah, and pay the necessary tribute by using the gold in the Temple in
order to obtain his protection, which was duly forthcoming. Ahaz seemingly had
little interest in Yahwism and appears to have encouraged a resurgence of native
religions. This naturally resulted in less notice being paid to covenant law. Society in
general became more corrupt. Micah was partly inveighing against this.
Israel was only at that point saved from final destruction when Hoshea staged a
coup and made peace with Assyria, paying very heavy tribute, but averting further
disaster. Israel’s one time prosperity was on the point of collapse. But inevitably
rebellion again raised its head, for the tribute was ruinous and national pride was
hurt, and this time Shalmaneser V who had succeeded Tiglath Pileser III, held
nothing back. He first destroyed the Philistines, and then moved against Israel and,
although he died, eventually his son Sargon II captured Samaria. This was in 722
BC. Once this had been accomplished Sargon attacked Syria and besieged
Damascus which was also destroyed. At this time large numbers of Israelites were
deported and settled in countries beyond the Euphrates which were under Assyrian
control. Judah were unaffected because they remained firm in their allegiance
although they would no doubt have Assyrian troops stationed on their soil. They
thus continued to maintain a certain level of prosperity.
But paying tribute also involved accepting Assyrian gods into the Temple so that
they could be given due honour, and Ahaz seems to have actually encouraged this
and also to have allowed idolatry to run wild. He had seemingly little concern for
YHWH (see Isaiah 7) or for His laws. People not only worshipped in the heretical
high places, but also worshipped in every high hill, and under every green tree,
following every pagan practise. Ahaz even sacrificed his son to Moloch (Melech).
The hold of Yahwism was being weakened, even though much of the worship was

probably syncretistic. It was not difficult to align Baal (lord) with YHWH, to
YHWH’s detriment.
Meanwhile the covenant law was losing its hold, morals were deteriorating, and the
wealthy were beginning to misuse their situations to the detriment of the poor, while
justice itself was becoming corrupted. The moral state of Judah was thus in
jeopardy. The priests were also becoming corrupted, and prophets were using their
positions in order to prophesy good things in return for the appropriate bribe. So
religious life and standards were also rapidly deteriorating. These were situations
that Micah came to address.
When Hezekiah came to the throne he began a religious reformation. Yahwism once
again came into the ascendancy, while the teaching of Isaiah, supported by Micah,
was raising hopes of the coming of the future Davidic king (the Messiah).
Widespread idolatrous practises were stamped down on, and no doubt the moral
situation improved. Even the more orthodox but heretical high places, which had
been in place since the death of Solomon, were eventually removed, and the Temple
purified. Attempts were also made to encourage those who remained in northern
Israel to join in worshipping YHWH (2 Chronicles 30:1-12). But nothing could be
done for the time being about the Assyrian gods safely ensconced in the Temple. To
have removed them would have been an act of rebellion against Assyria.
So for a while Hezekiah remained submissive to Assyria, but when Assyrian
attention was taken up elsewhere, he appears from Assyrian records to have
considered joining in an alliance which was being fostered by the Philistines, with
encouragement from Egypt. This was in the early years of his reign. Fortunately for
Judah’s sake this did not for some reason come into fruition and they therefore
escaped the wrath of Sargon II which was meted out on Philistia around 811 BC.
But on the death of Sargon II in 705 BC it was only a matter of time before
Hezekiah withheld tribute. In alliance with the Philistines and encouraged by Egypt,
their hope was probably that the new king would be too busy establishing himself to
bother about far flung tributaries, especially in view of the ‘might’ of the new
Egypt. o doubt at this stage the idolatrous images were also removed from the
Temple. But the new king of Assyria, Sennacherib, arrived in order to stamp out the
rebellion and Hezekiah appears eventually to have submitted paying heavy tribute
(2 Kings 18:14-16). The result was that many Judeans would meanwhile have been
taken into exile.
However, under circumstances that we do not know, it may even have been after a
number of years, Sennacherib was dissatisfied with the situation and determined to
deal with Hezekiah once and for all. He slowly subjugated the cities of Judah (‘forty
six cities of Judah I besieged and took’) and that included Lachish, Judah’s second
city. Pictures of the capture of Lachish have been found on Assyrian inscriptions,
and during this period many Judeans would again have been carried off into exile.
It was standard Assyrian practise. But while some Assyrian troops do appear to
have hemmed in Jerusalem something happened which prevented its capture, and

Jerusalem was never taken, as in fact Isaiah had promised. It seemed like a miracle.
At this stage an indecisive battle with Egyptian forces, together with what is
described as the remarkable destruction of Assyrian soldiers by the angel of YHWH
(2 Kings 19:35), and urgent news from Assyria (2 Kings 19:7), caused Sennacherib
to return home to Assyria. Hezekiah died before later repercussions could follow.
This is the brief background to the days of Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah.
The Book of Micah may be seen as dividing up into three main sections:
1) Judgments on Jerusalem and Samaria (chapters 1-3).
2) The Hope That Lies Ahead (chapters 4-5).
3) Continuing Warnings of Judgment and Hope (chapters 6-7).
1
The word of the LORD that came to Micah of
Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah--the vision he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
BAR ES. "The word of the Lord that came to Micah ... which he saw - No
two of the prophets authenticate their prophecy in exactly the same way. They, one and
all, have the same simple statement to make, that this which they say is from God, and
through them. A later hand, had it added the titles, would have formed all upon one
model. The title was an essential part of the prophetic book, as indicating to the people
afterward, that it was not written after the event. It was a witness, not to the prophet
whose name it bears, but to God. The prophet bare witness to God, that what he
delivered came from Him. The event bare witness to the prophet, that he said this truly,
in that he knew what God alone could know - futurity. Micah blends in one the facts, that
he related in words given him by God, what he had seen spread before him in prophetic
vision. His prophecy was, in one, “the word of the Lord which came to him,” and “a sight
which he saw.”
Micah omits all mention of his father. His great predecessor was known as Micaiah
son of Imlah. Micah, a villager, would be known only by the name of his native village.
So Nahum names himself “the Elkoshite;” Jonah is related to be a native “of Gath-
hepher;” Elijah, the Tishbite, a sojourner in the despised Gilead 1Ki_17:1; Elisha, of
Abelmeholah; Jeremiah, of Anathoth; forerunners of Him, and taught by His Spirit who

willed to be born at Bethlehem, and, since this, although too little to be counted “among
the thousands of Judah,” was yet a royal city and was to be the birthplace of the Christ,
was known only as Jesus of Nazareth, “the Nazarene.” No prophet speaks of himself, or
is spoken of, as born at Jerusalem, “the holy city.” They speak of themselves with titles of
lowliness, not of greatness.
Micah dates his prophetic office from kings of Judah only, as the only kings of the line
appointed by God. Kings of Israel are mentioned in addition, only by prophets of Israel.
He names Samaria first, because, its iniquity being most nearly full, its punishment was
the nearest.
CLARKE, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite - For
all authentic particulars relative to this prophet, see the introduction.
In the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah - These three kings reigned about
threescore years; and Micah is supposed to have prophesied about forty or fifty years;
but no more of his prophecies have reached posterity than what are contained in this
book, nor is there any evidence that any more was written. His time appears to have
been spent chiefly in preaching and exhorting; and he was directed to write those parts
only that were calculated to profit succeeding generations.
GILL, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite,.... So called,
either from Mareshah, mentioned Mic_1:15; and was a city in the tribe of Judah, Jos_
15:44; as the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Zacutus (i); or rather from Moresheth, from
which Moreshethgath, Mic_1:14; is distinguished; which Jerom (k) says was in his time
a small village in the land of Palestine, near Eleutheropolis. Some think these two cities
to be one and the same; but they appear to be different from the account of Jerom (l)
elsewhere. The Arabic version reads it, Micah the son of Morathi; so Cyril, in his
commentary on this place, mentions it as the sense of some, that Morathi was the father
of the prophet; which can by no means be assented to:
in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; by which it appears
that he was contemporary with Isaiah, Hoses, and Amos, though they began to prophesy
somewhat sooner than he, even in the days of Uzziah; very probably he conversed with
these prophets, especially Isaiah, with whom he agrees in many things; his style is like
his, and sometimes uses the same phrases: he, being of the tribe of Judah, only mentions
the kings of that nation most known to him; though he prophesied against Israel, and in
the days of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea:
which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem; in the vision of prophecy;
Samaria was the metropolis of the ten tribes of Israel, and is put for them all; as
Jerusalem was of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and is put for them Samaria is
mentioned first, because it was the head of the greatest body of people; and as it was the
first in transgression, it was the first in punishment.
HE RY, "Here is, I. A general account of this prophet and his prophecy, Mic_1:1.
This is prefixed for the satisfaction of all that read and hear the prophecy of this book,
who will give the more credit to it when they know the author and his authority. 1. The
prophecy is the word of the Lord; it is a divine revelation. Note, What is written in the

Bible, and what is preached by the ministers of Christ according to what is written there,
must be heard and received, not as the word of dying men, which we may be judges of,
but as the word of the living God, which we must be judged by, for so it is. This word of
the Lord came to the prophet, came plainly, came powerfully, came in a preventing way,
and he saw it, saw the vision in which it was conveyed to him, saw the things themselves
which he foretold, with as much clearness and certainty as if they had been already
accomplished. 2. The prophet is Micah the Morasthite; his name Micah is a contraction
of Micaiah, the name of a prophet some ages before (in Ahab's time, 1Ki_22:8); his
surname, the Morasthite, signifies that he was born, or lived, at Moresheth, which is
mentioned here (Mic_1:14), or Mareshah, which is mentioned Mic_1:15, and Jos_15:44.
The place of his abode is mentioned, that any one might enquire in that place, at that
time, and might find there was, or had been, such a one there, who was generally
reputed to be a prophet. 3. The date of his prophecy is in the reigns of three kings of
Judah - Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Ahaz was one of the worst of Judah's kings, and
Hezekiah one of the best; such variety of times pass over God's ministers, times that
frown and times that smile, to each of which they must study to accommodate
themselves, and to arm themselves against the temptations of both. The promises and
threatenings of this book are interwoven, by which it appears that even in the wicked
reign he preached comfort, and said to the righteous then that it should be well with
them; and that in the pious reign he preached conviction, and said to the wicked then
that it should be ill with them; for, however the times change, the word of the Lord is
still the same. 4. The parties concerned in this prophecy; it is concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem, the head cities of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, under the influence
of which the kingdoms themselves were. Though the ten tribes have deserted the houses
both of David and Aaron, yet God is pleased to send prophets to them.
JAMISO , "Mic_1:1-16. God’s wrath against Samaria and Judah; The former is to
be overthrown; Such judgments in prospect call for mourning.
K&D 1-4, "The heading in Mic_1:1 has been explained in the introduction. Mic_1:2-4
form the introduction to the prophet's address. Mic_1:2. “Hear, all ye nations: observe,
O earth, and that which fills it: and let the Lord Jehovah be a witness against you, the
Lord out of His holy palace. Mic_1:3. For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth from His
place, and cometh down, and marcheth over the high places of the earth. Mic_1:4. And
the mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys split, like wax before the fire, like
water poured out upon a slope.” The introductory words, “Hear, ye nations all,” are
taken by Micah from his earlier namesake the son of Imlah (1Ki_22:28). As the latter, in
his attack upon the false prophets, called all nations as witnesses to confirm the truth of
his prophecy, so does Micah the Morashite commence his prophetic testimony with the
same appeal, so as to announce his labours at the very outset as a continuation of the
activity of his predecessor who had been so zealous for the Lord. As the son of Imlah had
to contend against the false prophets as seducers of the nation, so has also the
Morashtite (compare Mic_2:6, Mic_2:11; Mic_3:5, Mic_3:11); and as the former had to
announce to both kingdoms the judgment that would come upon them on account of
their sins, so has also the latter; and he does it by frequently referring to the prophecy of
the elder Micah, not only by designating the false prophets as those who walk after the
rūăch and lie, sheqer (Mic_2:11), which recals to mind the rūăch sheqer of the prophets of
Ahab (1Ki_22:22-23), but also in his use of the figures of the horn of iron in Mic_4:13

(compare the horns of iron of the false prophet Zedekiah in 1Ki_22:11), and of the
smiting upon the cheek in Mic_5:1 (compare 1Ki_22:14). ‛Ammım kullâm does not mean
all the tribes of Israel; still less does it mean warlike nations. ‛Ammım never has the
second meaning, and the first it has only in the primitive language of the Pentateuch.
But here both these meanings are precluded by the parallel ፎּ‫ל‬ ְ‫וּמ‬ ‫ץ‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫;א‬ for this expression
invariably signifies the whole earth, with that which fills it, except in such a case as Jer_
8:16, where 'erets is restricted to the land of Israel by the preceding hâ'ârets, or Eze_
12:19, where it is so restricted by the suffix 'artsâh. The appeal to the earth and its fulness
is similar to the appeals to the heaven and the earth in Isa_1:2 and Deu_32:1. All
nations, yea the whole earth, and all creatures upon it, are to hear, because the judgment
which the prophet has to announce to Israel affects the whole earth (Mic_1:3, Mic_1:4),
the judgment upon Israel being connected with the judgment upon all nations, or
forming a portion of that judgment. In the second clause of the verse, “the Lord Jehovah
be witness against you,” it is doubtful who is addressed in the expression “against you.”
The words cannot well be addressed to all nations and to the earth, because the Lord
only rises up as a witness against the man who has despised His word and transgressed
His commandments. For being a witness is not equivalent to witnessing or giving
testimony by words, - say, for example, by the admonitory and corrective address of the
prophet which follows, as C. B. Michaelis supposes, - but refers to the practical
testimony given by the Lord in the judgment (Mic_1:3 ff), as in Mal_3:5 and Jer_42:5.
Now, although the Lord is described as the Judge of the world in Mic_1:3 and Mic_1:4,
yet, according to Mic_1:5., He only comes to execute judgment upon Israel.
Consequently we must refer the words “to you” to Israel, or rather to the capitals
Samaria and Jerusalem mentioned in Mic_1:1, just as in Nah_1:8 the suffix simply refers
to the Nineveh mentioned in the heading, to which there has been no further allusion in
Nah_1:2-7. This view is also favoured by the fact that Micah summons all nations to hear
his word, in the same sense as his earlier namesake in 1Ki_22:28. What the prophet
announces in word, the Lord will confirm by deed, - namely, by executing the predicted
judgment, - and indeed “the Lord out of His holy temple,” i.e., the heaven where He is
enthroned (Psa_11:4); for (1Ki_22:3) the Lord will rise up from thence, and striding
over the high places of the earth, i.e., as unbounded Ruler of the world (cf. Amo_4:13
and Deu_32:13), will come down in fire, so that the mountains melt before Him, that is
to say, as Judge of the world. The description of this theophany is founded upon the idea
of a terrible storm and earthquake, as in Psa_18:8. The mountains melt (Jdg_5:4 and
Psa_68:9) with the streams of water, which discharge themselves from heaven (Jdg_
5:4), and the valleys split with the deep channels cut out by the torrents of water. The
similes, “like wax,” etc. (as in Psa_68:3), and “like water,” etc., are intended to express
the complete dissolution of mountains and valleys. The actual facts answering to this
description are the destructive influences exerted upon nature by great national
judgments.
CALVI , "This inscription, in the first place, shows the time in which Micah lived,
and during which God employed his labors. And this deserves to be noticed: for at
this day his sermons would be useless, or at least frigid, except his time were known
to us, and we be thereby enabled to compare what is alike and what is different in
the men of his age, and in those of our own: for when we understand that Micah

condemned this or that vice, as we may also learn from the other Prophets and from
sacred history, we are able to apply more easily to ourselves what he then said,
inasmuch as we can view our own life as it were in a mirror. This is the reason why
the Prophets are wont to mention the time in which they executed their office.
But how long Micah followed the course of his vocation we cannot with certainty
determine. It is, however, probable that he discharged his office as a Prophet for
thirty years: it may be that he exceeded forty years; for he names here three kings,
the first of whom, that is Jotham, reigned sixteen years; and he was followed by
Ahab, who also reigned as many years. If then Micah was called at the beginning of
the first reign, he must have prophesied for thirty-two years, the time of the two
kings. Then the reign of Hezekiah followed, which continued to the twenty-ninth
year: and it may be, that the Prophet served God to the death, or even beyond the
death, of Hezekiah. (59) We hence see that the number of his years cannot with
certainty be known; though it be sufficiently evident that he taught not for a few
years, but that he so discharged his office, that for thirty years he was not wearied,
but constantly persevered in executing the command of God.
I have said that he was contemporary with Isaiah: but as Isaiah began his office
under Uzziah, we conclude that he was older. Why then was Micah joined to him?
That the Lord might thus break down the stubbornness of the people. It was indeed
enough that one man was sent by God to bear witness to the truth; but it pleased
God that a testimony should be borne by the mouth of two, and that holy Isaiah
should be assisted by this friend and, as it were, his colleague. And we shall
hereafter find that they adopted the very same words; but there was no emulation
between them, so that one accused the other of theft, when he repeated what had
been said. othing was more gratifying to each of them than to receive a testimony
from his colleague; and what was committed to them by God they declared not only
in the same sense and meaning, but also in the same words, and, as it were, with one
mouth.
Of the expression, that the word was sent to him, we have elsewhere reminded you,
that it ought not to be understood of private teaching, as when the word of God is
addressed to individuals; but the word was given to Micah, that he might be God’s
ambassador to us. It means then that he came furnished with commands, as one
sustaining the person of God himself; for he brought nothing of his own, but what
the Lord commanded him to proclaim. But as I have elsewhere enlarged on this
subject, I now only touch on it briefly.
This vision, he says, was given him against two cities Samaria and Jerusalem (60) It
is certain that the Prophet was specifically sent to the Jews; and Maresah, from
which he arose, as it appears from the inscription, was in the tribe of Judah: for
Morasthite was an appellative, derived from the place Maresah. (61) But it may be
asked, why does he say that visions had been given him against Samaria? We have
said elsewhere, that though Hosea was specifically and in a peculiar manner
destined for the kingdom of Israel, he yet by the way mingled sometimes those
things which referred to the tribe or kingdom of Judah: and such was also the case

with our Prophet; he had a regard chiefly to his own kindred, for he knew that he
was appointed for them; but, at the same time, he overlooked not wholly the other
part of the people; for the kingdom of Israel was not so divided from the tribe of
Judah that no connection remained: for God was unwilling that his covenant should
be abolished by their defection from the kingdom of David. We hence see, that
though Micah spent chiefly his labors in behalf of the Jews, he yet did not overlook
or entirely neglect the Israelites.
But the title must be restricted to one part of the book; for threatenings only form
the discourse here. But we shall find that promises, full of joy, are also introduced.
The inscription then does not include all the contents of the book; but as his purpose
was to begin with threatenings, and to terrify the Jews by setting before them the
punishment that was at hand, this inscription was designedly given. There is, at the
same time, no doubt but that the Prophet was ill received by the Jews on this
account; for they deemed it a great indignity, and by no means to be endured, to be
tied up in the same bundle with the Israelites; for Samaria was an abomination to
the kingdom of Judah; and yet the Prophet here makes no difference between
Samaria and Jerusalem. This was then an exasperating sentence: but we see how
boldly the Prophet performs the office committed to him; for he regarded not what
would be agreeable to men, nor endeavored to draw them by smooth things: though
his message was disliked, he yet proclaimed it, for he was so commanded, nor could
he shake off the yoke of his vocation. Let us now proceed —
BE SO , "Micah 1:1. In the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — Micah is
thought to have prophesied about sixteen years in Jotham’s time, as many under
Ahaz, and fourteen under Hezekiah: in all, forty-six years. And he survived the
captivity of Israel ten years, which he lamented as well as foretold. Which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem — Concerning both the kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, whereof Samaria and Jerusalem were the capital cities. It is said, Which he
saw, &c., because the prophets having the general name of seers, every kind of
prophecy, in whatever way delivered, seems to have been generally called a vision.
COFFMA , "This and the following chapter (2) which are grouped together in the
sacred text have the record of the word of the Lord through Micah; and, since this
section has a prophecy of the approaching destruction of Samaria, that part of it
must surely have originated in the times of Jotham king of Judah, that doubtless
being the reason for Micah's inclusion of that king in the superscription.
Micah 1:1
"The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem."
The battle of Micah begins with this verse. It is clearly the imprimature of the Holy
Spirit, validating the entire book of Micah as the word of the Lord. Concerning this
author, and other inspired writers of the Old Testament, an apostle of Jesus Christ

declared that "Holy men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter
1:21), and that the prophets themselves, far from merely commenting upon current
conditions as they discerned and interpreted them, were delivering the true words of
God to men, "which the Spirit of God that was in them did testify" (1 Peter 1:11).
These comments by the apostle Peter are more valuable in understanding Micah
than a hundred of the current commentaries that proceed to deny every other word
of it as having any authenticity or significance whatever. This verse 1, like all the
rest of the book, is written by Micah; without this verse, nothing is left. Although, to
be sure, there are other examples of "thus saith the Lord" in the prophecy, this
verse identifies (1) the author of its contents, God Himself, (2) the prophet through
whom the message was delivered, and (3) the names of the kings of Judah during
whose reigns the message was delivered "concerning Samaria and Jerusalem." In
this verse, the Holy Bible says that the prophecy is "The word of the Lord." It is
inconceivable that Micah could have delivered this great prophecy without this
validating superscription, in exactly the same manner as that followed by many
other prophets of the sacred scriptures. Micah, therefore, included it; he wrote it; he
made it a part of his book; he testified that the prophecies in it must be dated as
early as the days of Jotham, before the fulfillment of his prophecies.
Ever since the Garden of Eden, however, Satan has loved to contradict what God
says; and the evil one has not hesitated to contradict what God says in this verse. He
says that:
"This superscription is not the prophet's words.[1]; Micah 1:2 was inserted by the
redactor.[2] The second and third lines of Micah 1:5 are not the language of Micah.
[3] "Thus saith the Lord," God's Word still comes to those who hear and obey the
prophetic call.[4] (in other words, Micah had no more insight into God's will than
obedient Christians today!). Micah 1:1 was prefixed to Micah by a compiler (long
after the book was written). etc., etc."[5]
Just as God, of old, spake through men; so does Satan; and therefore we have
accurately ascribed the above words to their true source. It is the old, old lie, "Ye
shall not surely die," as delivered by our Enemy in the Paradise of Eden. This does
not question the honesty or the sincerity of the evil one's spokesmen; but the very
fact of God's Word being contradicted identifies the source of the contradiction by
those who may, or may not, be deceived. We have hit this problem rather firmly
here in the first verse, for it is our intention to waste very little time with it in the
following notes. Before passing, however, it is a joy to recognize that there are many
of the greatest scholars who have not hesitated to honor all of Micah, including this
superscription as indeed the word of Jehovah. "This verse introduces the whole
prophecy as having come from Jehovah."[6] "Micah began prophesying before the
destruction of Samaria (Micah 1:5)."[7] "The threat of the destruction of Samaria
was evidently uttered before 722 B.C."[8] We appreciate this especially from
McKeating, because he went further and gave the reason why "some scholars" have
felt compelled to tamper with this verse. The problem is predictive prophecy which
they do not believe is possible! "They are therefore obliged either to translate the
words differently, or to see the words as a prophecy after the event, inserted at a
later date."[9] The faithful student should, therefore, always remember that

contradictions of the sacred prophecies are merely testimonials to the unbelief of
their advocates, and that the most ridiculous and unscientific "reasons" imaginable
are pressed into service to bolster their infidelity. The great giants of Biblical
exegesis throughout the ages were unanimous (in all practical sense) in their
acceptance of the total of this book as inspired of God. Rampant unbelief in the last
century or so is not founded either upon intelligence, or scientific evidence, but
merely upon the subjective speculations and imaginations of men who are
determined, before they ever begin their investigations, not to believe. See more on
this in the introduction. In recent times, many of the ablest scholars such as Deane,
Keil, D. Clark, and many others, firmly hold to convictions that in this prophecy we
are dealing with the Word of God. We may conclude this study of the superscription
with Deane's flat statement: There really is no sufficient reason for doubting the
accuracy of the superscription."
ELLICOTT, "Verse 1
(1) Micah the Morasthite.—Unlike Joel, who identifies himself by his father’s name,
Micah introduces his personality with reference to his native village, Moresheth-
gath, which was situated in the lowland district of Judah. The name—a shortened
form of Micaiah, meaning “Who is like Jehovah”—was not an uncommon one
among the Jews, but it was chiefly famous in times prior to the prophet, through
Micaiah, the son of Imlah, who, about 150 years previously, had withstood Ahab
and his false prophets.
Samaria and Jerusalem.—The younger capital is placed first because it was the first
to fall through the greater sinfulness of the northern kingdom. The chief cities are
mentioned as representatives of the wickedness of the respective nations.
CO STABLE, "Verse 1
I. HEADI G1:1
Prophetic revelation from Yahweh came to Micah concerning Samaria (the
orthern Kingdom) and Jerusalem (the Southern Kingdom). These capital cities, by
synecdoche, represent their respective nations and the people in them. These capital
cities also, by metonymy, suggest the leaders of the nations, which Micah targeted
for special responsibility. Micah "saw" these revelations (rather than "heard"
them) because the Lord revealed them to him in visions and or dreams ( umbers
12:6; cf. Isaiah 1:1; Obadiah 1:1; ahum 1:1). Micah ("Who is like Yahweh?") was
a resident of Moresheth-gath ( Micah 1:14), which was a Judean town in the
Shephelah (foothills) of Judah west and a bit south of Jerusalem. The mention of
Micah"s hometown rather than his father"s name suggests that he had come to
Jerusalem and had become known there as the Micah from Moresheth. [ ote: Allen,
p265] ormally a man who was a longtime resident of a town was described as the
son of so and so rather than as being from a particular place. Micah received and
delivered his prophetic messages during the reigns of three of the kings of his
nation: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This dates his ministry between750,686 B.C.
[ ote: See my comments on the writer and date in the Introduction section above.]
Similar full headings (superscriptions) begin the books of Isaiah ,, Hosea ,, Amos ,

and Zephaniah.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY
Verses 1-16
MICAH THE MORASTHITE
Micah 1:1-16
SOME time in the reign of Hezekiah, when the kingdom of Judah was still inviolate,
but shivering to the shock of the fall of Samaria, and probably while Sargon the
destroyer was pushing his way past Judah to meet Egypt at Raphia, a Judean
prophet of the name of Micah, standing in sight of the Assyrian march, attacked the
sins of his people and prophesied their speedy overthrow beneath the same flood of
war. If we be correct in our surmise, the exact year was 720-719 B.C. Amos had
been silent thirty years. Hoses hardly fifteen; Isaiah was in the midway of his career.
The title of Micah’s book asserts that he had previously prophesied under Jotham
and Ahaz, and though we have seen it to be possible, it is by no means proved, that
certain passages of the book date from these reigns.
Micah is called the Morasthite. [Micah 1:1, Jeremiah 26:18] For this designation
there appears to be no other meaning than that of a native of Moresheth-Gath, a
village mentioned by himself. [Micah 1:14] It signifies Property or Territory of
Gath, and after the fall of the latter, which from this time no more appears in
history, Moresheth may have been used alone. Compare the analogous cases of
Helkath (portion of-) Galilee, Ataroth, Chesulloth, and Iim.
In our ignorance of Gath’s position, we should be equally at fault about Moresheth,
for the name has vanished, were it not for one or two plausible pieces of evidence.
Belonging to Gath, Moresheth must have lain near the Philistine border: the towns
among which Micah includes it are situated in that region; and Jerome declares that
the name-though the form, Morasthi, in which he cites it is suspicious-was in his
time still extant in a small village to the east of Eleutheropolis or Beit-Jibrin. Jerome
cites Morasthi as distinct from the neighboring Mareshah, which is also quoted by
Micah beside Moresheth-Gath.
Moresheth was, therefore, a place in the Shephelah, or range of low hills which lie
between the hill country of Judah and the Philistine plain. It is the opposite
exposure from the wilderness of Tekoa, some seventeen miles away across the
watershed. As the home of Amos is bare and desert, so the home of Micah is fair and
fertile. The irregular chalk hills are separated by broad glens, in which the soil is
alluvial and red, with room for cornfields on either side of the perennial or almost
perennial streams. The olive groves on the braes are finer than either those of the
plain below or of the Judean tableland above. There is herbage for cattle. Bees
murmur everywhere, larks are singing, and although today you may wander in the
maze of hills for hours without meeting a man or seeing a house, you are never out
of sight of the traces of ancient habitation, and seldom beyond sound of the human

voice-shepherds and ploughmen calling to their flocks and to each other across the
glens. There are none of the conditions or of the occasions of a large town. But, like
the south of England, the country is one of villages and homesteads, breeding good
yeomen-men satisfied and in love with their soil, yet borderers with a far outlook
and a keen vigilance and sensibility. The Shephelah is sufficiently detached from the
capital and body of the land to beget in her sons an independence of mind and
feeling, but so much upon the edge of the open world as to endue them at the same
time with that sense of the responsibilities of warfare, which the national statesmen,
aloof and at ease in Zion, could not possibly have shared.
Upon one of the west-most terraces of this Shephelah, nearly a thousand feet above
the sea, lay Moresheth itself. There is a great view across the undulating plain with
its towns and fortresses, Lachish, Eglon, Shaphir, and others, beyond which runs
the coast road, the famous war-path between Asia and Africa. Ashdod and Gaza are
hardly discernible against the glitter of the sea, twenty-two miles away. Behind roll
the round bush-covered hills of the Shephelah, with David’s hold at Adullam, the
field where he fought Goliath, and many another scene of border warfare; while
over them rises the high wall of the Judean plateau, with the defiles breaking
through it to Hebron and Bethlehem.
The valley-mouth near which Moresheth stands has always formed the
southwestern gateway of Judea, the Philistine or Egyptian gate, as it might be called,
with its outpost at Lachish, twelve miles across the plain. Roads converge upon this
valley-mouth from all points of the compass. Beit-Jibrin, which lies in it, is midway
between Jerusalem and Gaza, about twenty-five miles from either, nineteen miles
from Bethlehem, and thirteen from Hebron. Visit the place at any point of the long
history of Palestine, and you find it either full of passengers or a center of campaign.
Asa defeated the Ethiopians here. The Maccabees and John Hyrcanus contested
Mareshah, two miles off, with the Idumeans. Gabinius fortified Mare-shah.
Vespasian and Saladin both deemed the occupation of the valley necessary before
they marched upon Jerusalem. Septimius Severus made Beit-Jibrin the capital of
the Shephelah, and laid out military roads, whose pavements still radiate from it in
all directions. The Onomasticon measures distances in the Shephelah from Beit-
Jibrin. Most of the early pilgrims from Jerusalem by Gaza to Sinai or Egypt passed
through it, and it was a center of Crusading operations, whether against Egypt
during the Latin kingdom or against Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. ot
different was the place in the time of Micah. Micah must have seen pass by his door
the frequent embassies which Isaiah tells us went down to Egypt from Hezekiah’s
court, and seen return those Egyptian subsidies in which a foolish people put their
trust instead of in their God.
In touch, then, with the capital, feeling every throb of its folly and its panic, but
standing on that border which must, as he believed, bear the brunt of the invasion
that its crimes were attracting, Micah lifted up his voice. They were days of great
excitement. The words of Amos and Hosea had been fulfilled upon orthern Israel.
Should Judah escape, whose injustice and impurity were as flagrant as her sister’s?
It were vain to think so. The Assyrians had come up to her northern border. Isaiah

was expecting their assault upon Mount Zion. The Lord’s Controversy was not
closed. Micah will summon the whole earth to hear the old indictment and the still
unexhausted sentence.
The prophet speaks:-
"Hear ye, peoples all; Hearken, O Earth, and her fullness! That Jehovah may be
among you to testify, The Lord from His holy temple! For, lo! Jehovah goeth forth
from His place; He descendeth and marcheth on the heights of the earth."
"Molten are the mountains beneath Him, And the valleys gape open, Like wax in
face of the fire Like water poured over a fall."
God speaks:-
"For the transgression of Jacob is all this, And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Sarnaria? And what is the sin of the
house of Judah? is it not Jerusalem? Therefore do I turn Samaria into a ruin of the
field, And into vineyard terraces; And I pour down her stones to the glen And lay
hare her foundations. All her images are shattered, And all her hires are being
burned in the fire; And all her idols I lay desolate, For from the hire of a harlot they
were gathered, And to a harlot’s hire they return."
"For this let me mourn, let me wail. Let me go barefoot and stripped (of my robe),
Let me make lamentations like the jackals, And mourning like the daughters of the
desert, For her stroke is desperate; Yea, it hath come unto Judah! It hath smitten
right up to the gate of my people. Up to Jerusalem."
Within the capital itself Isaiah was also recording the extension of the Assyrian
invasion to its walls, but in a different temper. [Isaiah 10:28] He was full of the
exulting assurance that, although at the very gate, the Assyrian could not harm the
city of Jehovah, but must fall when he lifted his impious hand against it. Micah has
no such hope: he is overwhelmed with the thought of Jerusalem’s danger. Provincial
though he be, and full of wrath at the danger into which the politicians of Jerusalem
had dragged the whole country, he profoundly mourns the peril of the capital, "the
gate of my people," as he fondly calls her. Therefore we must not exaggerate the
frequently drawn contrast between Isaiah and himself. To Micah also Jerusalem
was dear, and his subsequent prediction of her overthrow [Micah 3:12] ought to be
read with the accent of this previous mourning for her peril. evertheless his heart
clings most to his own home, and while Isaiah pictures the Assyrian entering Judah
from the north by Migron, Michmash, and ob, Micah anticipates invasion by the
opposite gateway of the land, at the door of his own village. His elegy sweeps across
the landscape so dear to him. This obscure province was even more than Jerusalem
his world, the world of his heart. It gives us a living interest in the man that the fate
of these small villages, many of them vanished, should excite in him more passion

than the fortunes of Zion herself. In such passion we can incarnate his spirit. Micah
is no longer a book, or an oration, but flesh and blood upon a home and a
countryside of his own. We see him on his housetop pouring forth his words before
the hills and the far-stretching heathen land. In the name of every village within
sight he reads a symbol of the curse that is coming upon his country, and of the sins
that have earned the curse. So some of the greatest poets have caught their music
from the nameless brooklets of their boyhood’s fields; and many a prophet has
learned to read the tragedy of man and God’s verdict upon sin in his experience of
village life. But there was more than feeling in Micah’s choice of his own country as
the scene of the Assyrian invasion. He had better reasons for his fears than Isaiah,
who imagined the approach of the Assyrian from the north. For it is remarkable
how invaders of Judea, from Sennacherib to Vespasian and from Vespasian to
Saladin and Richard, have shunned the northern access to Jerusalem and
endeavored to reach her by the very gateway at which Micah stood mourning. He
had, too, this greater motive for his fear, that Sargon; as we have seen, was actually
in the neighborhood, marching to the defeat of Judah’s chosen patron, Egypt. Was
it not probable that, when the latter was overthrown, Sargon would turn back upon
Judah by Lachish and Mareshah? If we keep this in mind we shall appreciate, not
only the fond anxiety, but the political foresight that inspires the following passage,
which is to our Western taste so strangely cast in a series of plays upon place-names.
The disappearance of many of these names, and our ignorance of the transactions to
which the verses allude, often render both the text and the meaning very uncertain.
Micah begins with the well-known play upon the name of Garb; the Acco which he
couples with it is either the Phoenician port to the north of Carmel, the modern
Acre, or some Philistine town, unknown to us, but in any case the line forms with
the previous one an intelligible couplet: "Tell it not in Tell-town; Weep not in Weep-
town." The following Beth-le-’Aphrah, "House of Dust," must be taken with them,
for in the phrase "roll thyself" there is a play upon the name Philistine. So, too,
Shaphir, or Beauty, the modern Suafir, lay on the Philistine Region. Sa’anan and
Bethesel and Maroth are unknown; but if Micah, as is probable, begins his list far
away on the western horizon and comes gradually inland, they also are to be sought
for on the maritime plain. Then he draws nearer by Lachish, on the first hills, and
in the leading pass towards Judah, to Moresheth-Gath, Achzib, Mareshah, and
Adullam, which all lie within Israel’s territory and about the prophet’s own home.
We understand the allusion, at least, to Lachish in Micah 1:13. As the last Judean
outpost towards Egypt, and on a main road thither, Lachish would receive the
Egyptian subsidies of horses and chariots, in which the politicians put their trust
instead of in Jehovah. Therefore she "was the beginning of sin to the daughter of
Zion." And if we can trust the text of Micah 1:14, Lachish would pass on the
Egyptian ambassadors to Moresheth-Gath, the next stage of their approach to
Jerusalem. But this is uncertain. With Moresheth-Gath is coupled Ach-zib, a town
at some distance from Jerome’s site for the former, to the neighborhood of which,
Mareshah, we are brought back again in Micah 1:15. Adullam, with which the list
closes, lies some eight or ten miles to the northeast of Mareshah.

"Tell it not in Gath, Weep not in Aeco. In Beth-le-’Aphrah roll thyself in dust. Pass
over, inhabitress of Shaphir, thy shame uncovered! The inhabitress of Sa’anan shall
not march forth The lamentation of Beth-esel taketh from you its standing. The
inhabitress of Maroth trembleth for good, For evil hath come down from Jehovah to
the gate of Jerusalem. Harness the horse to the chariot, inhabitress of Lachish, That
hast been the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion";
"Yea, in thee are found the transgressions of Israel Therefore thou givest to
Moresheth-Gath The houses of Aehzib shall deceive the kings of Israel. Again shall I
bring the Possessor [conqueror] to thee inhabitress of Mareshah; To Adullam shall
come the glory of Israel. Make thee bald, and shave thee for thy darlings; Make
broad thy baldness like the vulture, For they go into banishment from thee."
This was the terrible fate which the Assyrian kept before the peoples with whom he
was at war. Other foes raided, burned, and slew: he carried off whole populations
into exile.
Having thus pictured the doom which threatened his people, Micah turns to declare
the sins for which it has been sent upon them.
PARKER, "Verses 1-16
Sin and Judgment
Micah 1 , Micah 2
Micah was a villager. There are advantages in village life which are not to be found
under metropolitan circumstances. It was no dishonour to be a villager in Bible
times. We read of One of whom it is said, "He shall be called a azarene." Little or
nothing is known about Micah , but his prophecy stands out boldly, written in
letters of fire, and surrounded by a very lurid and suggestive atmosphere. There is a
great deal of gospel in Micah. How is it that flowers always look the lovelier because
they are in unexpected places? When we go into a garden and find flowers we
express no surprise; when we find them growing in rocky and stony and
uncultivated places, we exclaim, we are filled with wonder, and sometimes our
wonder touches the point of delight. We find the gospel of God in Micah; in Micah
we find Bethlehem; in Micah we find the whole requirement of God.
otice that these prophets seldom, if ever, address the poor, the outcast, and the
neglected, as the criminals of society. We have nourished ourselves into the pedantry
of supposing that if a man has a bad coat he has of necessity a bad character. The
Bible never proceeds along these lines. Micah specifies the objects of his prophecy
with great definiteness: "Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the
house of Israel." This is in the tone of Jesus Christ. He did not gather around him
the halt, the lame, the blind, the poor, the neglected, the homeless, and say, You are
the curse of society; you are the criminal classes. I am not aware that any such
incident or observation can be found in the whole narrative of the life of Jesus
Christ upon the earth. But Jesus Christ never let the respectability of his age alone;

he never gave it one moment"s rest. He differs from all modern teachers in that he
finds the wickedness of society in its high places. He would almost appear to proceed
upon the doctrine that the poor cannot do wickedly as compared with the
wickedness that can be done by the rich. What stone can a little child throw as
compared with the power of a full-grown man? What wickedness can a little child
do as compared with the deep-laid, subtly-elaborated villainy of a man who has had
much schooling? It is worth while to dwell upon this point, because it strikes at
many a sophism—notably at the sophism which we have often endeavoured to
expose that men are made by circumstances; that if men were wealthy they would
pray; if men had an abundance they would be reverent; if men knew not the pangs
of hunger they would be lost in a holy absorption, they would be lost in the praise of
God. There can be no greater lie. You have done more evil in the world since you
were rich than you ever did when you were poor. When you were poor you
sometimes did almost nobly; since you have become encased in luxury you have
thought it fashionable and seasonable to doubt, and almost polite to sneer.
All the judgments of the Bible are pronounced upon the educated classes. or does
the judgment of God rest upon education only; it proceeds to cover the whole
religiousness of the epoch. It is the religion that is irreligious; it is the wine of piety
that has soured into the vinegar of impiousness. Yet we gather our holy skirts, and
speak about "the criminal classes." They are only criminal in the sense in which we
condemn them, in the degree in which they have been fools enough to be discovered.
Vulgarity has been their ruin; they have come into notoriety, not because of their
sin, but because of their clumsiness: if they had served the devil with greater craft
they might have spoken of others as the criminal classes. If the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darkness! If education has been hired to do bad work,
how much bad work it can do! If religion has been bribed into subservience to the
black banner of the devil, with what loyalty it can serve that captain! This would
give us quite a different estimate of society; this would destroy the whole
respectability of the race. Jesus Christ found the throne occupied by the wrong
people, and all the magistracies of his time distributed into wrong hands; the head
of the house and the prince, the Judges , the king, the magistrate, the ruler—these
were wrong. ever do we find Jesus surrounded by the East-enders of his day,
receiving his condemnation because their poverty is the sign of wickedness.
Education may have ruined society. Intelligence may be turned into an instrument
of mischief. Is education then wrong? The question itself is frivolous, and ought not
to be seriously answered. Is intelligence to be contemned? The same remark applies
to that foolish inquiry. We are speaking of perverted education, misused
intelligence; of education and intelligence without moral enthusiasm, and moral
control, and spiritual purpose, and sanctified motive. Such education can do
infinitely more mischief than can be done by blank ignorance. Education knows
where the keys are; education knows where the grindstone is on which it can whet
its weapons; intelligence means craft, cunning, duplicity, ingenuity in the art of
concealment. Wealth can do greater mischief than poverty. This alters the whole
complexion of missions and evangelistic agencies and Church arrangements; this
reverses the whole picture as seen from the orthodox standpoint. Send your
missionaries to the rich! Send your evangelists to pray at the doors of the wealthy,

the pampered, the self-indulgent, and the self-damned! Do not make the poor man"s
poverty a plea for foisting your religion upon him. Lend your tracts to the
magistrates, the Judges , the princes of the land; they need them.
What, then, of the doctrine that men are made by circumstances? Let this be put
down in plain letters, that amongst people who can hardly read and write there are
some of the most upright, faithful, honourable souls that ever lived. Let this be said
with loudest, most penetrating emphasis, that there are people who have no bank
account who would scorn to tell a lie. Has poverty not its own genius, and its own
record of heroism, and its own peculiar nobleness? Who shall speak for the dumb,
and open his mouth for the afflicted, and plead the cause of those who are thought
to be wicked, because they have had no social advantages? Where is there a rich
man that is good? Jesus Christ could find none. He said, "How hardly"—that Isaiah
, with what infinite difficulty—"can a rich man get into the kingdom of heaven." It
is not like him, it is not the kind of thing he can appreciate; he has no tables of
calculation by which he can add up its value; if he get in at all it will be by infinite
squeezing, pressing, straining; he will barely get in because his wealth is an
instrument which turns his soul away from the metaphysic which finds in godliness
all riches, in high thought and pure honour the very element and alphabet of
heaven. Still, let it be said with equal plainness, a man is not good simply because he
is poor. There are villains even in poverty. A man is not excellent simply because he
has not had a good education. We must be just in the whole compass of this thought.
As a man is not necessarily bad because he is educated and intelligent and quick-
minded, and of large and penetrating intellectual sagacity, so a man is not
necessarily all that he ought to be simply on the ground that he has no monetary
resources.
Ponder for a moment the excellence of the religion that dare talk like this. It asks no
favours. It does not want to sit down in the pictured room; it wants to get its foot on
the threshold, and through an open door to deliver its message. You cannot invite
such evangelism to dinner—it never dines. It is in haste—it flies, it thunders, it
smites in the face those who uplift themselves in a blasphemous supremacy; it eats
its food with gladness, and in the fellowship of the good, but it will have nothing to
do with the poisoned wine of bribery. Again we come upon our favourite doctrine
that the Bible ought to be the favourite Book of the poor, the neglected, the outcast;
the Bible ought to be the people"s friend, the people"s charter, the very revelation
of man and to Prayer of Manasseh , the revelation of man to himself, as well as a
revelation of God to man.
Yet the prophet will not have all this evil and shame unduly proclaimed. He is not so
far lost to patriotism and to tribal relations as to wish the evil news to be scattered
broadcast, that the enemy may revel in it. So he says, "Declare ye it not at Gath."
This has become a proverb—"Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of
Askelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the
uncircumcised triumph." Do not foolishly trumpet forth all the evil that your
friends have done. Yet men love to do this. Let a piece of good news be forthcoming,
and it will have to make its own way in the world; it must needs crawl from door to

door, and slowly impress itself upon the reluctant ears of those who would gladly
turn away from the music of such messages. Let a scandal arise, and the world will
know it ere one hour goes its little round. And Christians are errand-bearers in this
evil agency. They do it as willingly as the worst men out of hell, only they do it in a
different kind of tone; but they do it with ineffable energy, with sleepless industry,
with patient detail. Give them a gospel, and it dies in the recesses of their own
minds; give them a scandal, and they will not dine until they have told everybody
they meet; and they will swallow their feast quickly, that they may get out into the
highway to tell that the devil has scored another triumph. ot such was the spirit of
this rough villager, yet this sanctified prophet of the Lord. He says, The case is bad;
prince and priest and magistrate and ruler have gone wrong, but tell it not in Gath.
In the days of Micah Gath was nothing, it had lost its Philistinian primacy; still
there was the spirit of the proverb, which means, Tell it not to the enemy, let not the
blasphemer hear of this; magnify excellence, but say nothing about defect A prophet
actuated by such a spirit ought to be believed. Prophets have a variety of
credentials; here is an indirect tribute to the man"s own excellence. He knew all, but
would not tell it to all the world. Do you know one evil thing you have never told,
never whispered, never hinted at? By that sign judge yourselves. Is your heart a
grave in which you bury all bad things; or is it a garden in which you cultivate
them? By that sign, and not by your blatant orthodoxy, judge your relation to the
Cross of Christ. Such was the scathing criticism of the prophet; such is the
judgment of Christ upon his Church and upon his nominal followers. He will not
allow men to be round about him who take any delight in evil things or in the
publication of evil circumstances; he ignores them, he dispenses with their service,
and he thrusts them out into the completest darkness—the only atmosphere they are
fit for. Let them tell their evil to the heedless darkness; let them emit their poison
where no soul can be hurt by its virus. This would alter the Church altogether; this
would take away the Church"s occupation. There are men who acquire a reputation
for themselves by condemning the vice of other people. We must all start again, or
we shall make no progress in this divine life, nor shall we promote the best purpose,
the holiest intent, of the divine kingdom. Search thyself; be cruel to thine own soul;
torture thyself into a higher grade of goodness. The mere persecutor, the hired
blocksman and fireman, may be said to be dead. Blessed be God there remains the
age of self-martyrdom, there remains the crown due to him who smites himself in
the eyes, and bruises himself, that by taking away his worst life he may truly gain
his soul.
In the days of Micah there was a species of evil which is not yet extinct. All the evil
was not done in public. The prophet therefore proceeds: "Woe to them that devise
iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it,
because it is in the power of their hand." The condemnation is upon deliberate evil.
The evildoers are here in their beds; they are considering at leisure what can be
done next. How can it be best attempted, how can it be elaborated to the greatest
effect? They slumber over it; having nourished their brain into a higher degree of
energy they revert to the subject: How can this policy be best carried out? This is
deliberate sin, rolling it under the tongue as a sweet morsel, reverting to it, recalling
it, asking for another vision of it. The soul, what a dungeon! The mind, what an

abyss of darkness! Soliloquy, how silent! There is sudden evil, and that must always
be carefully distinguished from deliberate wickedness. There are bursts of passion,
gusts of vehement will, stress brought to bear without notice upon the citadel of the
soul. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual restore such
an one in the spirit of meekness. Consider yourselves, lest ye also be tempted."
Distinguish between those who are carried away with a whirlwind, and those who
mount the whirlwind deliberately that they may ride forth in that glowing chariot.
Hear the words of the fiery apostle: "On some have compassion." Micah is not
dealing with this class of men, but with those who have made their bed the
sanctuary of the devil; he is dealing with men who say, We will sleep upon this, we
will turn it over; we will see what can be done; we will polish and be prepared
against the day of assault; we will shut out the world and count our resources; we
will settle the whole thing in the privacy of the chamber, and then when the morning
light comes we will spring up as naturally as if nothing had been done by way of
preparation, and then we will strike with our whole force.
Deliberate sin shall have deliberate judgment. This follows quickly in chapter Micah
2:3 : "Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil."
What, are there two devisers? Read Micah 2:1, "Woe to them that devise iniquity";
Micah 2:3, "Thus saith the Lord... do I devise." That is the ghostly aspect of life.
There is the tremendous danger. The foolish man locks himself up in the darkness of
his own concealment, and lays his plot, and works out with elaborate patience his
whole conspiracy against the kingdom of light and honour, truth and beauty; he
says, one seeth me; I can do this, and none shall be the wiser for my doing it; I will
spring forth in the fulness of my preparation when nobody is aware that I have been
laying this train of powder. A man once talked thus: "Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years: take thine ease, take life quietly, enjoy thyself." And one
said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." That was the
uncalculated element; that was the detestable ghostliness that haunts us. Even when
we are most rationalistic, when we are inebriated with our own philosophy, a
sudden touch makes us white, and a whisper drives the blood thickly upon the
heart. A man shall rise in all his self-consciousness of power and capacity and ability
to do what he pleases, and the wise man shall say to him, Are you aware that you
may drop down dead at any moment, such is the condition of your physical system?
This factor the man had not taken into account. Always remember that whilst we
are devising God also is devising. "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness." And
let this reflection make life completer in its repose: " o weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper," if so be thy soul be wedded to honour, to duty, to
reverence, and to the Cross of Christ. Though men conspire against thee, and have
the pit already dug, and have examined it carefully by the concealed candle light,
and though they should say, " ow it is in a state of readiness, now let the victim
come,"—whilst they are stepping back to make way for the victim they will fall into
the pit which they have dug for others. The Lord sitteth in the heavens. He watches
all. He brings us into great extremities. He shows us over what a precipice we might
have fallen. Then he says, Go home and pray!

ISBET, "THE PROPHET MICAH
‘Micah the Morasthite.’
Micah 1:1
When the ministry of the courtly and cultured Isaiah was about half over, there
appeared in Judah another prophet of a very different type, Micah by name. Isaiah
was the associate of kings, being himself, according to Jewish tradition, of royal
birth; but Micah came from the little country village of Moreshah (Micah 1:1), in
Western Palestine, and in dress, gestures, and expressions, if we may judge from
chap. Micah 1:8, reminds one of the prophet Elijah.
I. Though differing widely in personality, Isaiah and Micah were in close sympathy
and harmony, as is shown by their messages; and it is very likely they often met and
talked and prayed together. They both condemned unsparingly the evils of the
times; both predicted judgment as the result of the nation’s sin; and both
prophesied of Christ’s Advent and of His glorious reign. See how almost identical
are the words of Micah 4:1-3 with the passage found in Isaiah 2:2-4, causing one to
think that one prophet quoted the other. There is a strong resemblance between the
two Books in several respects. The peculiarity of Micah’s prophecy is that it is
concerning both the northern and the southern kingdoms (see chap. Micah 1:1;
Micah 1:5), although the burden of his message seems to be intended for Judah.
II. One thing which distinguishes Micah is the result of his ministry.—There is no
hint of this in his Book, but from Jeremiah’s one reference to him we gather that
Micah was instrumental in the conversion of King Hezekiah. You will recall that
Jeremiah, living about one hundred years after Micah, was arrested in the Temple
one day, by the priests, prophets, and people, for prophesying the destruction of the
Temple and city, and was in danger of being put to death when the princes of Judah
interfered. The disturbance was quelled, and the tide of public sentiment against
Jeremiah was turned by the elders calling attention to the similarity of Micah’s
teaching and its results (see Jeremiah 26:18-19).
We know, from the record in Kings, that this attitude of submission to God on the
part of King Hezekiah brought upon himself and his kingdom such blessing that his
was the most glorious reign of all the kings of Judah since Solomon. So Micah, by
his faithful preaching, served well his sovereign, his country, and his God.
Micah seems to have made a deep impression upon the minds and hearts of the
Jewish people. He is often referred to, and his utterances quoted by Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah. St. Matthew and St. John also quote him. It is Micah
who pointed out the birthplace of the Messiah, thus enabling the scribes and
Pharisees to direct the wise men to Bethlehem, where they should find the Christ-
child.
III. In style, Micah is rather dramatic, given to the use of imagery and figures of
speech.— otice the picture with which the prophecy opens. It represents God as
rising in indignation at the sins of His people, and coming forth in wrath from His
place on high like a great consuming fire, before which the mountains melt, and the

valleys are broken. Samaria is the first to feel the heat of God’s indignation, but the
tide of judgment comes rolling down even to the gate of Jerusalem, and still onward,
until Micah sees in vision one after the other of the towns in the neighbourhood of
his own home-town given over to destruction.
Illustration
‘Micah came from the neighbourhood of Gath, in the Philistine plain, with its
luxuriant vineyards, orchards, and cornfields, its busy towns and its glimpses of the
great sea. He exerted a strong influence over Hezekiah and his times. Though of
humble birth, he came to stand in the front rank of the prophetic band. The 8th
verse tells us that he perambulated the streets and public places of Jerusalem,
mingling his prophetic appeals and warnings with loud wails, like the deep hollow
roar of the ostrich or the piteous howl of the jackal. Such an apparition,
proclaiming day after day the national sins and threatening impending doom,
struck the hearts of king and people with awe. In days long after the elders of the
city recalled him, and ascribed to his preaching the great revival which inaugurated
Hezekiah’s reign.’
PETT, "Verses 1-7
YHWH Declares His Verdict On Samaria and Jerusalem (Micah 1:1-7).
The chapter opens with a declaration of YHWH’s sovereign power as Creator, and
of His interest in the affairs of Judah and Israel, which results in a proclamation of
His judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem..
Micah 1:2-3
‘Hear, you peoples, all of you.
Listen, O earth, and all that is in it.
And let the Lord YHWH be witness against you,
The Lord from his holy temple.’
‘For, behold, YHWH comes forth out of his place,
And will come down, and tread on the high places of the earth.’
Like Isaiah (see Isaiah 1:2), although with a different slant, Micah calls on the whole
earth and its peoples to witness the fact that YHWH is about to act from His holy
Temple in Heaven. He is about to come down and tread on the high places of the
earth. He will present His witness against all peoples, and especially against His own
people of Israel and Judah. Thus He is seen as sovereign over all.
PULPIT, "Micah 1:1

The inscription, or heading of the book, conveying the prophet's authority. The
word of the Lord. The expression applies to the whole contents of the book, as in
Hosea 1:1 and Zephaniah 1:1. It is often used for some particular message to a
prophet, as Jeremiah 1:4, Jeremiah 1:11; Jeremiah 2:1; Ezekiel 3:16. Micah the
Morasthite; i.e. Micah of Moresheth-Gath (verse 14), a village in the lowland of
Judaea, near Eleutheropolis, some twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem (see
Introduction, § II.). In the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Thus Micah was a
contemporary of Isaiah, though his ministry did not begin as soon or last as long as
that prophet's (see Isaiah 1:1); he was a little later than Hosea and Amos, who
prophesied under Uzziah, the father of Jotham. Kings of Judah are mentioned
because the prophet's mission was to Judah, as the line of election; but, like Amos,
he prophesied against Samaria also. However divided, the two nations are regarded
as one people. Which he saw. What he saw in vision or by inward illumination he
here relates in words. Thus the prophecies of Isaiah, Obadiah, ahum, etc; are
called "visions." Concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria comes first, as being
ripe for punishment, and the first to feel the avenger. The capitals of the two
kingdoms Israel and Judah stand for the people themselves.
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "Verse 1-2
Micah 1:1-2
The Word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite
Divine revelation
I.
It is the word of the lord. What is a word?
1. A mind manifesting power. In his word a true man manifests himself, his thought,
feeling, character. His word is important according to the measure of his faculties,
experiences, attainments. Divine revelation manifests the mind of God, especially the
moral characteristics of that mind--His rectitude, holiness, mercy, etc.
2. A mind influencing power. Man uses his word to influence other minds, to bring
other minds into sympathy with his own. Thus God uses His Word. He uses it to
correct human errors, dispel human ignorance, remove human perversities, and
turn human thought and sympathy into a course harmonious with His own mind.
II. It is made to individual men. It came to Micah, not to his con temporaries. Why
certain men were chosen as the special recipients of God’s Word is a problem whose
solution must be left for eternity.
III. It is for all mankind. God did not speak to any individual man specially that the
communication might be kept to himself, but that he might communicate it to
others. He makes one man the special recipient of truth that he may become the
organ and promoter of it. God’s Word is for the world. (Homilist.)

Moresheth
This was a place in the Shepbelah, or range of low hills which lie between the hill
country of Judah and the Philistine plain. It is the opposite exposure from the
wilderness of Tekoa, some seventeen miles away across the watershed. As the home
of Amos is bare and desert, so the home of Micah is fair and fertile. The irregular
chalk hills are separated by broad glens, in which the soil is alluvial and red, with
room for cornfields on either side of the perennial, or almost perennial streams. The
olive groves on the braes are finer than either those of the plain below or of the
Judaean table land above. There is herbage for cattle. Bees murmur everywhere,
larks are singing, and although today you may wander in the maze of hills for hours
without meeting a man, or seeing a house, you are never out of sight of the traces of
human habitation, and seldom beyond the sound of the human voice--shepherds and
ploughmen calling to their flocks and to each other across the glens. There are none
of the conditions, or of the occasions, of a large town. But, like the south of England,
the country is one of villages and homesteads, breeding good yeomen--men satisfied
and in love with their soil, yet borderers with a fair outlook and a keen vigilance
and sensibility. The Shephelah is sufficiently detached from the capital and body of
the land to beget in her sons an independence of mind and feeling, but so much
upon the edge of the open world as to endue them at the same time with that sense of
the responsibilities of warfare, which the national statesmen, aloof and at ease in
Zion, could not possibly have shared. Upon one of the westmost terraces of the
Shephelah, nearly a thousand feet above the sea, lay Moresheth itself. (Geo. Adam
Smith, D. D.)
2
Hear, O peoples, all of you, listen, O earth and all
who are in it, that the Sovereign LORD may
witness against you, the Lord from his holy
temple.
BAR ES. "Hear, all ye people - Literally, “hear, ye peoples, all of them.” Some
140, or 150 years had flowed by, since Micaiah, son of Imlah, had closed his prophecy in
these words. And now they burst out anew. From age to age the word of God holds its

course, ever receiving new fulfillments, never dying out, until the end shall come. The
signal fulfillment of the prophecy, to which the former Micalah had called attention in
these words, was an earnest of the fulfillment of this present message of God.
Hearken, O earth, and all that therein is - The “peoples” or “nations” are never
Judah and Israel only: the earth and the fullness thereof is the well-known title of the
whole earth and all its inhabitants. Moses Deu_32:1, Asaph Psa_50:7, Isaiah Isa_1:2,
call heaven and earth as witnesses against God’s people. Jeremiah, Jer_6:19 as Micah
here, summons the nations and the earth. The contest between good and evil, sin and
holiness, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, everwhere, but most chiefly
where God’s Presence is nearest, is “a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men” 1Co_
4:9. The nations are witnesses of God against His own people, so that these should not
say, that it was for want of faithfulness or justice or power Exo_32:12; Num_14:16; Jos_
7:8-9, but in His righteous judgment, that He cast off whom He had chosen. So shall the
Day of Judgment “reveal His righteousness” Rom_2:5. “Hearken, O earth.” The lifeless
earth Psa_114:7; Psa_97:5 trembles “at the Presence of God,” and so reproaches the
dullness of man. By it he summons man to listen with great reverence to the Voice of
God.
And let the Lord God be witness against you - Not in words, but in deeds ye
shall know, that I speak not of myself but God in me, when, what I declare, He shall by
His Presence fulfill. But the nations are appealed to, not merely because the judgments
of God on Israel should be made known to them by the prophets. He had not yet spoken
of Israel or Judah, whereas he had spoken to the nations; “hear, ye peoples.” It seems
then most likely that here too he is speaking to them. Every judgment is an earnest, a
forerunner, a part, of the final judgment and an example of its principles. It is but “the
last great link in the chain,” which unites God’s dealings in time with eternity. God’s
judgments on one imply a judgment on all. His judgments in time imply a Judgment
beyond time. Each sinner feels in his own heart response to God’s visible judgments on
another. Each sinful nation may read its own doom in the sentence on each other nation.
God judges each according to his own measure of light and grace, accepted or refused.
The pagan shall be judged by “the law written in their heart” Rom_2:12-15; the Jew, by
the law of Moses and the light of the prophets; Christians, by the law of Christ. “The
word,” Christ saith, “that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last Day” Joh_
12:48. God Himself foretold, that the pagan should know the ground of His judgments
against His people. “All nations shall say, wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this
land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have
forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers which He made with them, when
He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, ...” Deu_29:24-25. But in that the pagan
knew why God so punished His people, they came so far to know the mind of God; and
God, who at no time “left Himself without witness” Act_14:17, bore fresh “witness” to
them, and, so far us they neglected it, against them. A Jew, wherever he is seen
throughout the world, is a witness to the world of God’s judgments against sin.
Dionysius: “Christ, the faithful Witness, shall witness against those who do ill, for
those who do well.”
The Lord from His holy temple - Either that at Jerusalem, where God shewed and
revealed Himself, or Heaven of which it was the image. As David says, “The Lord is in
His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven” Psa_11:4; and contrasts His dwelling in
heaven and His coming down upon earth. “He bowed the heavens also and came down”
Psa_18:9; and Isaiah, in like words, “Behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish
the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity” Isa_26:21.

CLARKE, "Hear, all ye people - The very commencement of this prophecy
supposes preceding exhortations and predictions.
Hearken, O earth - ‫ארץ‬ arets, here, should be translated land, the country of the
Hebrews being only intended.
And let the Lord God be Witness - Let him who has sent me with this message be
witness that I have delivered it faithfully; and be a witness against you, if you take not
the warning.
The Lord from his holy temple - The place where he still remains as your King,
and your Judge; and where you profess to pay your devotions. The temple was yet
standing, for Jerusalem was not taken for many years after this; and these prophecies
were delivered before the captivity of the ten tribes, as Micah appears to have been sent
both to Israel and to Judah. See Mic_1:5-9, Mic_1:12, Mic_1:13.
GILL, "Hear, all ye people,.... Or, "the people, all of them" (m); not all the nations of
the world, but the nations of Israel, so called from their several tribes; though some (n)
think the rest of the inhabitants of the earth are meant: thee are the same words which
are used by Micaiah the prophet in the times of Ahab, long before this time, from whom
they might be borrowed, 1Ki_22:28. The phrase in the Hebrew language, as Aben Ezra
observes, is very wonderful, and serves to strike the minds and excite the attention of
men; it is like the words of a crier, in a court of judicature, calling for silence:
hearken, O earth, and all that therein is; or, "its fulness" (o); the land of Israel and
Judah, the whole land of promise, and all the inhabitants of it; for to them are the
following words directed:
and let the Lord God be witness against you; or, "in you" (p); the Word of the
Lord, as the Targum; let him who is the omniscient God, and knows all hearts, thoughts,
words, and actions, let him bear witness in your consciences, that what I am about to say
is truth, and comes from him; is not my own word, but his; and if you disregard it, and
repent not, let him be a witness against you, and for me, that I have prophesied in his
name; that I have faithfully delivered his message, and warned you of your danger, and
reproved you for your sins, and have kept back nothing I have been charged and
entrusted with: and now, you are summoned into open court, and at the tribunal of the
great God of heaven and earth; let him be a witness against you of the many sins you
have been guilty of, and attend while the indictment is read, the charge exhibited, and
the proof given by
the Lord from his holy temple, from heaven, the habitation of his holiness; whose
voice speaking from thence should be hearkened to; who from thence beholds all the
actions of men, and from whence his wrath is revealed against their sins, and he gives
visible tokens of his displeasure; and especially when he seems to come forth from
thence in some remarkable instances of his power and providence, as follows:
HE RY, "A very solemn introduction to the following prophecy (Mic_1:2), in which,
1. The people are summoned to draw near and give their attendance, as upon a court of

judicature: Hear, all you people, Note, Where God has a mouth to speak we must have
an ear to hear; we all must, for we are all concerned in what is delivered. “Hear, you
people” (all of them, so the margin reads it), “all you that are now within hearing, and all
others that hear it at second hand.” It is an unusual construction; but those words with
which Micah begins his prophecy are the very same in the original with those wherewith
Micaiah ended his, 1Ki_22:28. 2. The earth is called upon, with all that therein is, to
hear what the prophet has to say: Hearken, O earth! The earth shall be made to shake
under the stroke and weight of the judgments coming; sooner will the earth hear than
this stupid senseless people; but God will be heard when he pleads. If the church, and
those in it, will not hear, the earth, and those in it, shall, and shame them. 3. God himself
is appealed to, and his omniscience, power, and justice, are vouched in testimony against
this people: “Let the Lord God be witness against you, a witness that you had fair
warning given you, that your prophets did their duty faithfully as watchmen, but you
would not take the warning; let the accomplishment of the prophecy be a witness against
your contempt and disbelief of it, and prove, to your conviction and confusion, that it
was the word of God, and no word of his shall fall to the ground.” Note, God himself will
be a witness, by the judgments of his hand, against those that would not receive his
testimony in the judgments of his mouth. He will be a witness from his holy temple in
heaven, when he comes down to execute judgment (Mic_1:3) against those that turned a
deaf ear to his oracles, wherein he witnessed to them, out of his holy temple at
Jerusalem.
JAMISO , "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 (Deu_
31:28; Deu_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, etc.
from his holy temple — that is, heaven (1Ki_8:30; Psa_11:4; Jon_2:7; compare
Rom_1:18).
CALVI , "The Prophet here rises into an elevated style, being not content with a
simple and calm manner of speaking. We hence may learn, that having previously
tried the disposition of the people, he knew the stubbornness of almost all classes:
for except he was persuaded that the people would be rebellious and obstinate, he
would certainly have used some mildness, or have at least endeavored to lead them
of their own accord rather than to drive them thus violently. There is then no doubt
but that the obstinacy of the people and their wickedness were already fully known
to him, even before he began to address one word to them. But this difficulty did not
prevent him from obeying God’s command. He found it necessary in the meantime
to add vehemence to his teaching; for he saw that he addressed the deaf, yea, stupid
men, who were destitute of every sense of religion, and who had hardened
themselves against God, and had not only fallen away through want of thought, but
had also become immersed in their sins, and were wickedly and abominably
obstinate in them. Since then the Prophet saw this, he makes here a bold beginning,

and addresses not only his own nation, for whom he was appointed a Teacher; but
he speaks to the whole world.
For what purpose does he say, Hear, all ye people? (62) It was not certainly his
object to proclaim indiscriminately to all the truth of God for the same end: but he
summons here all nations as witnesses or judges, that the Jews might understand
that their impiety would be made evident to all, except they repented, and that there
was no reason for them to hope that they could conceal their baseness, for God
would expose their hidden crimes as it were on an open stage. We hence see how
emphatical are the words, when the Prophet calls on all nations and would have
them to be witnesses of the judgment which God had resolved to bring on his
people.
He afterwards adds, Let also the earth give ear and its fullness We may take the
earth, by metonymy, for its inhabitants; but as it is added, and its fullness, the
Prophet, I doubt not, meant here to address the very earth itself, though it be
without reason. He means that so dreadful would be the judgment of God, as to
shake created things which are void of sense; and thus he more severely upbraids
the Jews with their stupor, that they heedlessly neglected the word of God, which
yet would shake all the elements by its power.
He then immediately turns his discourse to the Jews: after having erected God’s
tribunal and summoned all the nations, that they might form as it were a circle of a
solemn company, he says, There will be for me the Lord Jehovah against you for a
witness —the Lord from the temple of his holiness. By saying that God would be as
a witness for him, he not only affirms that he was sent by God, but being as it were
inflamed with zeal, he appeals here to God, and desires him to be present, that the
wickedness and obstinacy of the people might not be unpunished; as though he said,
“Let God, whose minister I am, be with me, and punish your impiety; let him prove
that he is the author of this doctrine, which I declare from his mouth and by his
command; let him not suffer you to escape unpunished, if ye do not repent.”
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet, when he says that God would be
for him a witness; as though he had said, that there was no room here to trifle; for if
the Jews thought to elude God’s judgment they greatly deceived themselves;
inasmuch as when he has given a command to his servants to treat with his people,
he is at the same time present as a judge, and will not suffer his word to be rejected
without immediately undertaking his own cause.
or is this addition superfluous, The Lord from the temple of his holiness: for we
know how thoughtlessly the Jews were wont to boast that God dwelt in the midst of
them. And this presumption so blinded them that they despised all the Prophets; for
they thought it unlawful that any thing should be said to their disgrace, because
they were the holy people of God, his holy heritage and chosen nation. Inasmuch
then as the Lord had adopted them, they falsely boasted of his favors. Since then the
Prophet knew that the people insolently gloried in those privileges, with which they
had been honored by God, he now declares that God would be the avenger of

impiety from his temple; as though he said, Ye boast that God is bound to you, and
that he has so bound up his faith to you as to render his name to you a sport: he
indeed dwells in his temple; but from thence he will manifest himself as an avenger,
as he sees that you are perverse in your wickedness. We hence see that the Prophet
beats down that foolish arrogance, by which the Jews were inflated; yea, he turns
back on their own heads what they were wont boastingly to bring forward. After
having made this introduction, to awaken slumbering men with as much vehemence
as he could, he subjoins —
The word ‫,עמים‬ peoples, may be rendered nations: for, notwithstanding the dissent
of Drusius, what Horsley says seems to be correct, that ‫עם‬ in the plural number
designates the heathen nations, as distinguished from the people of Israel. The verse
literally is this, —
Hear, ye nations, —all of them;
Give ear, thou earth, —even its fullness;
And the Lord Jehovah shall be against you a witness
The Lord from the temple of his holiness.
— Ed.
BE SO , "Verses 2-4
Micah 1:2-4. Hear, all ye people — All ye of Israel and Judah. Hearken, O earth —
Or, O land, [of Israel:] and all that therein is — That is, all its inhabitants. Let the
Lord be witness against you — “I call him to witness, that I have forewarned you of
the judgments that hang over your heads, unless you speedily repent. And he
himself will become a witness against you, and convince you of your sins in such a
manner that you shall not be able to deny the charge.” The Lord from his holy
temple — Heaven, his holy habitation. The Lord cometh forth out of his place —
God is said, in Scripture, to come out of his place, or heaven, when he makes his
judgments or mercies to be remarkably conspicuous, by visible effects on the earth.
And will tread upon the high places of the earth — He will cause places of the
greatest strength to be destroyed, and men of the highest rank to be brought down.
And the mountains shall be molten under him, &c. — An allusion to God’s coming
down upon mount Sinai, when thunder and lightning shook the mountain, and
violent rains, which accompanied this tempest, made the hills look as if they were
melted down. Or the words may be referred to the general judgment, of which all
particular judgments are an earnest, when the heavens and the earth shall be
dissolved at Christ’s appearing.
COFFMA , ""Hear, ye peoples, all of you, O earth, and all that therein is: and let
the Lord Jehovah be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple."
A statement such as this could hardly be expected to follow anything other than the
very type of inspired and God-sent prophecy announced in the preceding verse.

"All of you, O earth ..." "The nations, all of them, are summoned .... for Israel's case
is part and parcel of the world's case."[11] otice, in particular, that this verse
continues to affirm that the Lord is the author of the message being delivered; and
that means, of course that the unbelievers have to get rid of this one also. Wolfe said,
"This verse was not written until at least a century and a half after Micah!"[12]
Rather, we should have said, that was spoken through Wolfe! The true author of
such contradictions we have already identified. The thing which disturbs Satan in a
reference like this is the fact that the judgment about to be executed upon Israel and
Judah was a type and paradigm of the great and eternal Judgment that shall
conclude the present age. othing could be more repugnant either to Satan, or to
evil men, than the Biblical doctrine of Eternal Judgment.
"The Lord from his holy temple ..." "The holy temple here is not Jerusalem, but
heaven; it is from there that the judgment emanates."[13] A failure to discern the
highly figurative import of this passage always marks the response of those who are
unspiritual. "The language used (in Micah 1:3-4) is highly figurative, the sublimity
of which must be conceded by all."[14]
"Although directed primarily against Samaria, and ultimately against the southern
capital, the prophet sets his pronouncement against a vast backcloth of world
judgment. Micah's God is no provincial deity but the universal Overlord to whom
all nations must render account."[15]
COKE, ". Let the Lord God be witness, &c.— "I call the Almighty to witness, that I
have forewarned you of the judgments hanging over your heads, and which will
inevitably fall upon you, unless you speedily repent; and the Almighty himself will
become a witness against you, and convince you of your sins, in such a manner, that
you shall not be able to deny the charge." This sublime and elevated beginning
indicates the importance of what he was about to say, and the lively impression
which was made upon him by the sins of Israel, and the misfortunes about to fall
upon them.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Hear, all ye people.—The three-fold repetition of the appeal,
“Hear ye,” seems to mark three divisions in the book: 1. “Hear, all ye people”
(Micah 1:2); 2. “Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob” (Micah 3:1); 3. Hear ye now
what the Lord saith” (Micah 6:1).
From his holy temple—i.e., from heaven; for “the Lord is in His holy temple, the
Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalms 11:4).
Micaiah, the son of Imlah, ended his appeal to Ahab and Jehoshaphat with the
words with which Micah opens his prophecy, “Hearken, O people, every one of you”
(1 Kings 22:28).
CO STABLE, "Verse 2
Micah cried, "Hear ye, hear ye!" to the people of the earth, as a clerk summons a

Micah 1 commentary

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Micah 1 commentary