{"commentary":{"id":"adam-clarke","name":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Clarke","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Adam Clarke Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"92e28c9363c876d215e296f2fe04abb3ab7e34a2aacebdf06bd62ae79c6e3dba","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":57,"totalNumberOfChapters":854,"totalNumberOfVerses":13318,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"MIC","commentaryId":"adam-clarke","name":"Micah","commonName":"Micah","introduction":"Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Micah Micah, the Morasthite, or of Moresa, a village near the city Eleutheropolis, in the southern part of Judah, is the sixth in order of the twelve minor prophets. He prophesied under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, for about fifty years. Some have confounded him with Micaiah, son of Imlah, who lived in the kingdom of the ten tribes, under the reign of Ahab. The spurious Dorotheus says that Micah was buried in the burying-place of the Anakim, whose habitation had been at Hebron, and round about it. This prophet appeared almost at the same time with Isaiah, and has even borrowed some expressions from him. Compare Isa 2:2 with Mic 4:1, and Isa 41:15 with Mic 4:13. The prophecy of Micah contains but seven chapters. He foretells the calamities of Samaria, which was taken by Shalmaneser, and reduced to a heap of stones. Afterwards he prophesies against Judah, and declares the troubles that Sennacherib should bring upon it under the reign of Hezekiah. Then he declaims against the iniquities of Samaria. He foretells the captivity of the ten tribes, and their return into their own country. The third chapter contains a pathetic invective against the princes of the house of Jacob, and the judges of the house of Israel; which seems leveled against the chief of the kingdom of Judah, the judges, the magistrates, the priests, the false prophets, etc. He upbraids them with their avarice, their injustice, and falsehood; and tells them they will be the occasion that Jerusalem shall be reduced to a heap of rubbish, and the mountain of the temple shall be as a forest. We are informed, Jer 26:18, Jer 26:19, that this prophecy was pronounced in the reign of Hezekiah; and that it saved Jeremiah from death. After these terrible denunciations, Micah speaks of the reign of the Messiah, and of the establishment of the Christian Church. And as the peaceable times which succeeded the return from the Babylonish captivity, and which were a figure of the reign of the Messiah, were disturbed by a tempest of a short continuance, Micah foretold it in such a manner as agrees very well with what Ezekiel says of the war of Gog against the Jews. Micah speaks in particular of the birth of the Messiah; that he was to be born at Bethlehem; and that his dominion was to extend to the utmost parts of the earth. He says that God should raise seven shepherds, who should reign by the sword over Assyria, and in the land of Nimrod; which Calmet explains of Darius, son of Hystaspes; and of the seven confederates that killed the magian, and who possessed the empire of the Persians, after the extinction of the family of Cyrus. The fifth chapter, from verse 7 to the end, describes the flourishing estate of the Jews in their own country, from the reign of Darius, and after the Maccabees; yet in such a manner, that he mingles several things in it that can apply only to the Church of Jesus Christ. The two last chapters of Micah contain, first, a long invective against the iniquities of Samaria: then he foretells the fall of Babylon; the re-establishment of the cities of Israel; the greatness of the country possessed by the Israelites; their happiness; the graces wherewith God will favor them; and all this in such lofty terms, that they chiefly agree with the Christian Church. St. Jerome says that Micah was buried at Morasthi, ten furlongs from Eleutheropolis; and Sozomenes says that his tomb was revealed to Zebennus, bishop of Eleutheropolis, under the reign of Theodosius the Great. He calls the place of his burial Beretsate, which is probably the same as Morasthi, ten furlongs from Eleutheropolis. Bishop Newcome observes that Micah was of the kingdom of Judah, as he only makes mention of kings who reigned over that country. It is supposed that he prophesied farther on in the reign of Hezekiah than Hosea did; although Mic 5:5 was written before the captivity of the ten tribes, which happened in the sixth year of Hezekiah. It is plain from Mic 1:1, Mic 1:5, Mic 1:9, Mic 1:12, Mic 1:13, that he was sent both to Israel and Judah. Like Amos and Hosea, he reproves and threatens, with great spirit and energy, a corrupt people. See Mic 2:1-3, Mic 2:8, Mic 2:9, Mic 2:10; Mic 3:2-4, Mic 3:6, Mic 3:10-12; Mic 7:2-4. And, like Hosea, he inveighs against the princes and prophets with the highest indignation. See Mic 3:5-7, Mic 3:9-12; Mic 7:3. The reader will observe that these similar topics are treated of by each prophet with remarkable variety, and copiousness of expression. Some of his prophecies are distinct and illustrious ones, as Mic 2:12, Mic 2:13; Mic 3:12; Mic 4:1-4, Mic 4:10; Mic 5:2-4; Mic 6:13; Mic 7:8-10. We may justly admire the elegance of his diction: - Mic 2:12 - \"I will surely gather, O Jacob, all of thee:I will surely assemble the residue of Israel.I will put them together as sheep of Bozra,As a flock in the midst of their fold:They shall make a tumult from the multitude of men. Mic 2:13 - He that forceth a passage is come up before them:They have forced a passage, and have passed through the gate; and are gone forth by it:And their King passeth before them, even Jehovah at the head of them.\" Mic 4:1 - \"But it shall come to pass, in the latter days,That the mountain of the temple of Jehovah shall beEstablished on the top of the mountains,And it shall be exalted above the hills;And the people shall flow into it: Mic 4:2 - And many nations shall go, and shall say,Come, and let us go up unto the mountain of Jehovah,And unto the temple of the God of Jacob:That he may teach us of his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For from Sion shall go forth a law,And the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Mic 4:3 - And he shall judge between many people,And he shall convince strong nations afar off:And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,And their spears into pruninghooks:Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they any longer learn war.\" His animation - Mic 1:5, lines 3, 4 - \"What is the transgression of Jacob? - is it not that of Samaria?And what are the high places of Judah? - are they not those of Jerusalem?\" Mic 4:9 - \"And now why dost thou cry out loudly?Is there no king in thee?Hath thy counsellor perished?For pangs have seized thee, as a woman in travail.\" There are few beauties of composition of which examples may not be found in this prophet. For sublimity and impressiveness in several places, he is unrivalled. The Lord's controversy, Mic 6:1-8, is equal to any thing even in the prophet Isaiah. It has a powerful effect on every attentive reader. His strength of expression: - Mic 1:6 - \"Therefore will I make Samaria a heap of the field, a place for the plantings of a vineyard:And I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will discover her foundations.\" Mic 3:2 - \"Ye who hate good and love evil:Who pluck their skin from off them,And their flesh from off their bones.\" Mic 3:3 - Who have also eaten the flesh of my people,And have flayed their skin from off them,And have broken their bones;And have divided them asunder, as flesh in the pot:And as meat within the caldron.\" Mic 7:1 - \"Wo is me; for I am becomeAs the gatherers of late figs, as the gleaners of the vintage.There is no cluster to eat:My soul desireth the first-ripe fig. Mic 7:2 - The good man is perished from the land,And there is none upright among men.All of them lie in wait for blood;They hunt every man his brother for his destruction.\" His pathos: - Mic 1:16 - \"Make thee bald, and cut off thine hair for thy delicate children;Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle;For they are gone into captivity from thee.\" Mic 2:4 - \"In that day shall a proverb be taken up against you;And a grievous lamentation shall be made:Saying, 'We are utterly laid waste:He hath changed the portion of my people:How hath he departed from me,To bring again him that divided our fields!'\" His sublimity: - Mic 1:2 - \"Hear, O ye people, all of you:Hearken, O land, and all that are therein.And let the Lord Jehovah be witness against you;Even the Lord from his holy temple. Mic 1:3 - For, behold, Jehovah will go forth from his place:And he will come down, and will tread upon the high places of the earth. Mic 1:4 - And the mountains shall be molten under him;And the valleys shall cleave asunder;As wax before the fire, As waters poured down a steep place.\" Mic 6:1 - \"Hear ye now what Jehovah saith:Arise, contend thou before the mountains;And let the hills hear thy voice.\" Mic 7:16 - \"The nations shall see, and shall be confounded because of their might:They shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf. Mic 7:17 - They shall lick the dust as the serpent;As the creeping things upon the earth, they shall tremble from their close places:Because of Jehovah our God, they shall stand in awe; and they shall fear because of thee.\"","order":33,"numberOfChapters":7,"sha256":"b32bb24dace054c665bebf632c4d4f9d78943c84e1277459fddfa017b5e16e19","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":7,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/7.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":7},"totalNumberOfVerses":96},"chapter":{"number":5,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["O daughter of troops - The Chaldeans, whose armies were composed of troops from various nations.\nHe (Nebuchadnezzar) hath laid siege against us; (Jerusalem ); they shall smite the judge of Israel (Zedekiah) with a rod upon the cheek - They shall offer him the greatest indignity. They slew his sons before his face; and then put out his eyes, loaded him with chains, and carried him captive to Babylon. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah - I have considered this subject in great detail in the notes on Mat 2:6, to which the reader will be pleased to refer. This verse should begin this chapter; the first verse belongs to the preceding chapter.\nBethlehem Ephratah, to distinguish it from another Beth-lehem, which was in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15.\nThousands of Judah - The tribes were divided into small portions called thousands; as in our country certain divisions of counties are called hundreds.\nWhose goings forth have been from of old - In every age, from the foundation of the world, there has been some manifestation of the Messiah. He was the hope, as he was the salvation, of the world, from the promise to Adam in paradise, to his manifestation in the flesh four thousand years after.\nFrom everlasting - מימי עולם miyemey olam, \"From the days of all time;\" from time as it came out of eternity. That is, there was no time in which he has not been going forth-coming in various ways to save men. And he that came forth the moment that time had its birth, was before that time in which he began to come forth to save the souls that he had created. He was before all things. As he is the Creator of all things, so he is the Eternal, and no part of what was created. All being but God has been created. Whatever has not been created is God. But Jesus is the Creator of all things; therefore he is God; for he cannot be a part of his own work. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Therefore wilt he give them up - Jesus Christ shall give up the disobedient and rebellious Jews into the hands of all the nations of the earth, till she who travaileth hath brought forth; that is, till the Christian Church, represented Rev 12:1, under the notion of a woman in travail, shall have had the fullness of the Gentiles brought in. Then the remnant of his brethren shall return; the Jews also shall be converted unto the Lord; and thus all Israel shall be saved according to Rom 11:26.\nUnto the children of Israel - Taking in both families, that of Judah and that of Israel. The remnant of the ten tribes, wherever they are, shall be brought in under Christ; and though now lost among the nations of the earth, they will then not only be brought in among the fullness of the Gentiles, but most probably be distinguished as Jews.\nOn this verse Abp. Newcome says, \"The sense is, God will not fully vindicate and exalt his people, till the virgin mother shall have brought forth her Son; and till Judah and Israel, and all the true sons of Abraham among their brethren the Gentiles, be converted to Christianity. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["He shall stand and feed - The Messiah shall remain with his followers, supporting and governing them in the strength and majesty of the Lord, with all the miraculous interferences of his power, and all the glories of his grace.\nAnd they shall abide - After this the Jews shall no more go astray, but shall remain one people with the Gentiles, under the one Shepherd and Bishop of all souls.\nNewcome translates, \"They shall be converted\" for instead of וישבו veyashebu, he reads וישובו veyashubu, which gives him the translation above. This is the reading of three MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, with the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate.\nFor now shall he be great - The Messiah shall be great, as bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. All nations shall receive his religion, and he shall be universal King. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["And this man shall be the peace - This clause should be joined to the preceding verse, as it finishes the prophecy concerning our blessed Lord, who is the Author and Prince of Israel; and shall finally give peace to all nations, by bringing them under his yoke.\nWhen the Assyrian shall come - This is a new prophecy, and relates to the subversion of the Assyrian empire.\nThen shall we raise against him seven shepherds - Supposed to mean the seven Maccabees, Mattathias, and his five sons, and Hyrcanus, the son of Simon.\nEight principal men - Eight princes, the Asmonean race; beginning with Aristobulus, and ending with Herod, who was married to Mariamne. - Sharpe. Perhaps seven and eight are a definite for an indefinite number, as Ecc 11:2; Job 5:19. The prophet means the chiefs of the Medes and Babylonians, the prefects of different provinces who took Nineveh, whose number may have been what is here specified. - Newcome.\nCalmet considers this as referring to the invasion of Judea by Cambyses, when the Lord raised up against him the seven magi. He of them who passed for king of the Persians was the Smerdis of Herodotus, the Oropastes of Trogus, and the Artaxerxes of Ezra. These magi were put to death by seven Persian chiefs; who, having delivered the empire from them, set one of themselves, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, upon the throne. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["The land of Nimrod - Assyria, and Nineveh its capital; and Babylon, which was also built by Nimrod, who was its first king, Gen 10:11, Gen 10:12, in the margin.\nIn the entrances thereof - At its posts or watergates; for it was by rendering themselves masters of the Euphrates that the Medes and Persians took the city, according to the prediction of Jeremiah, Jer 51:32, Jer 51:36. Calmet thinks that this refers to the deliverance of the land from Cambyses by his death, and the insurrection of the eight princes mentioned above, who made themselves masters of the whole Babylonian empire, etc. Perhaps it is best to refer it to the invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar; and the final destruction of the Babylonish empire by Cyrus, who took Babylon, slew Belshazzar, and possessed himself of the kingdom. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["The remnant of Jacob - From the reign of Darius Hystaspes (Ahasuerus, husband of Esther) the Jews were greatly favored. Those who continued in Persia and Chaldea were greatly honored under the protection of Mordecai and Esther. - Calmet. But others consider this as applying to the Maccabees.\nAs a dew from the Lord - Even during their captivity many of the Jews were the means of spreading the knowledge of the one true God; see Dan 2:47; Dan 3:29; Dan 4:34; Dan 6:26. This may be the dew from the Lord mentioned here. When the Messiah appeared, the Gospel was preached by them; and it shall again be propagated by their future glorious restoration, Rom 11:12, Rom 11:25.\nThe grass, that tarrieth not for man - Which grass springs up without the attention and culture of man; לאיש leish, even the best and most skillful of men.\nNor waiteth for the sons of men - לבני אדם libney adam, for the sons of Adam, the first transgressor. The dew and the showers descend on the earth and water it, in order to render it fruitful; and the grass springs up independently either of the worth or wickedness of man. All comes through God's bounty, who causes his sun to shine on the just and the unjust, and his rain to descend on the evil and the good. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["As a lion - In this and the following verse the victories of the Maccabees are supposed to be foretold. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["All thine enemies shall be cut off - The Assyrians, who had destroyed Israel; and the Babylonians, who had ruined Judah. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["I will cut off thy horses - Thou shalt have no need of cavalry in thine armies; God will fight for you. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["I will - throw down all thy strongholds - Thou shalt have no need of fortified cities; I will be thy defense. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["I will cut off witchcrafts - Thou shalt seek help only in Jehovah thy God. They have had neither soothsayers, images, groves, nor high places, from the captivity to the present day. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Thy graven images also will I cut off - Thou shalt be no more an idolatrous people. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["I will execute vengeance - upon the heathen - And he did so; for the empires of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and others, the sworn enemies of the Jews, have long since been utterly destroyed.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"This chapter begins, according to the opinion of some commentators, with a prophecy concerning the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the great indignities which Zedekiah should suffer from the Babylonians, Mic 5:1. We have next a most famous prediction concerning the birthplace of the Messiah, \"whose goings forth have been from of old, from Everlasting, Mic 5:2. See Mat 2:6. The Jews obstinately persisting in their opposition to the Messiah, God will therefore give them up into the hands of their enemies till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled: and then all the posterity of Jacob, both Israel and Judah, shall be converted to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, along with the Gentiles, be brought into the large and peaceful pastures of this Great Shepherd of the sheep, Mic 5:3, Mic 5:4. After this illustrious prophecy, the prophet goes on to foretell the downfall of the Assyrians, by whom are meant the enemies of the Church in general, the type being probably put for the antitype; the miraculous discomfiture of the great Assyrian army in the reign of Sennacherib strongly shadowing forth the glorious and no less miraculous triumphs of Christianity in the latter times, Mic 5:5, Mic 5:6. See Isa 11:16. Some understand this prophecy of Antiochus and the seven famous Maccabees, with their eight royal successors, from Aristobulus to Antigonus; and it is not impossible that these people may be also intended, for we have often had occasion to remark that a prophecy of the Old Testament Scriptures has frequently more than one aspect. The seventh verse was fulfilled by the Jews spreading the knowledge of the true God during their captivity, and so paving the way for the gospel; but will be more signally fulfilled after their conversion and restoration. See Rom 11:12-15. The remaining verses contain a prophecy of the final overthrow of all the enemies of pure and undefiled religion, and of the thorough purification of the Church of God from the corruptions of Antichrist, Mic 5:9-15. \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/5.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":5},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/6.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":6},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/4.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":4},"numberOfVerses":14}