{"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":6,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["Arise, contend thou - This chapter is a sort of dialogue between God and the people. God speaks the five first verses, and convicts the people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The People, convinced of their iniquity, deprecate God's judgments, in the sixth and seventh verses. In the eighth verse God prescribes the way in which they are to be saved; and then the prophet, by the command of God, goes on to remonstrate from the ninth verse to the end of the chapter. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["Hear ye, O mountains - Micah, as God's advocate, summons this people into judgment, and makes an appeal to inanimate creation against them. He had spoken to the priests, to the princes, to the people. He had done every thing that was necessary to make them wise, and holy, and happy; they had uniformly disobeyed, and were ever ungrateful. It was not consistent with either the justice or mercy of God to permit them to go on without reprehension and punishment. He now calls them into judgment; and such was the nature of their crimes that, to heighten the effect, and show what reason he had to punish such a people, he appeals to inanimate creation. Their ingratitude and rebellion are sufficient to make the mountains, the hills, and the strong foundations of the earth to hear, tremble, and give judgment against them. This, then, is the Lord's controversy with his people, and thus he will plead with Israel. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["O my people, what have I done unto thee? - They are called to show why God should not pronounce sentence upon them. This condescension is truly astonishing! God appears to humble himself to his creatures. You have acted basely, treacherously, and ungratefully to me; this had already been proved by the prophets. What cause have I given you for such conduct? I have required a religious service from you; but have I wearied you by a fatiguing round of difficult duties? If I have, now testify against me; and you shall be first heard, and your plea received, if it be reasonable and good. They are silent; and God proceeds, and states what he has done for them. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt - Where you were slaves, and grievously oppressed; from all this I redeemed you. Was this a small benefit? I sent before thee Moses, my chosen servant, and instructed him that he might be your leader and lawgiver. I sent with him Aaron, that he might be your priest and transact all spiritual matters between myself and you, in offerings, sacrifices, and atonements. I sent Miriam, to whom I gave the spirit of prophecy, that she might tell you things to come, and be the director of your females. To this sense the Chaldee, \"I have sent three prophets before you; Moses, that he might teach you the tradition of judgments, Aaron, that he might make atonement for the people; and Miriam, that she might instruct the females.\" \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted - He sent for Balaam to curse your fathers; but by my influence he was obliged to bless them. See Numbers 22 (note) and Numbers 23 (note), and the notes there, where this subject is largely considered.\nFrom Shittim unto Gilgal - From the encampment at Shittim, Num 25:1, on the way to that of Gilgal, Jos 4:19. Balaam gave different answers in the interval between these places. We may suppose that the encampments of Israel advanced slowly to that part of Jordan which was opposite to Gilgal. The Chaldee has, \"Were there not wonderful things done in your behalf from the valley of Shittim to the house of Gilgal?\" See Jos 3:1; Jos 4:20. Thus there will be a reference to the miraculous passage over Jordan. See Newcome.\nThat ye may know the righteousness - The just, equitable, and merciful dealing of the Most High. Recollect those things, that ye may have a proper impression of this. There are many interpretations given of this rather obscure clause; what I have proposed seems to me the most simple.\nThis is the sum of the address; and here the case of the plaintiff terminates, the prisoners being called to show why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced. I make no apology for using any forensic terms, as the passages before us refer to a case brought into a court to be judged, and the terms in the original are all such as are proper for a court of justice; and the thing itself is called the Lord's controversy, ריב יהוה rib Yehovah, Jehovah's suit at law. And hence it is said, He will plead, litigate, with Israel. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["Wherewith shall I come before the Lord - Now the people, as defendants, appear; but instead of vindicating themselves, or attempting to dispute what has been alleged against them, they seem at once to plead guilty; and now anxiously inquire how they shall appease the wrath of the Judge, how they shall make atonement for the sins already committed.\nBow myself before the high God - They wish to pray, and to make supplication to their Judge; but how shall they come before him? They have no right to come into his presence. Some offering must be brought; but of what kind, or of what value? Their sin is unprecedented, and usual methods of access will not avail. They are distracted in their minds, and make a variety of proposals to themselves, some rational, some absurd and impossible, and some even sinful.\nShall I come before him with burnt-offerings - This is reasonable, and according to the law; but this will be insufficient. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams - These might be procured, though with difficulty; but conscience says neither will these do.\nWith ten thousands of rivers of oil - This is absurd and impossible; but could even these be procured, could they all make atonement for such guilt, and ingratitude, and rebellion?\nShall I give my first-born for my transgression - This was sinful and wicked; but such offerings had been made by the Phoenicians, and their successors the Carthaginians, and this very custom was copied by the corrupt Israelites. See some cases of such offerings, Kg2 3:27 (note); Lev 20:27 (note).\nThe fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? - This clause is an explanation of the former. Shall I make the first-born, the best and goodliest of my children, חטאת chattath, a Sin-Offering for my soul? And thus the original is used in a multitude of places.\nWhen they had put all these questions to their reason and conscience, they found no satisfaction; their distraction is increased, and despair is about to take place, when Jehovah, the plaintiff, in his mercy interposes: \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["He hath showed thee, O Man, what is good - All the modes of expiation which ye have proposed are, in the sight of God, unavailable; they cannot do away the evil, nor purify from the guilt of sin. He himself has shown thee what is good; that which is profitable to thee, and pleasing to himself. And what is that? Answer, Thou art: - \nI. To do justly; to give to all their due.\n1. To God his due; thy heart, thy body, soul, and spirit; thy Wisdom, understanding, judgment. \"To love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.\" This is God's due and right from every man.\n2. Thou art to give thy neighbor his due to do to him as thou wouldst that he should do to thee, never working ill to him.\n3. Thou art to give to thyself thy due; not to deprive thy soul of what God has provided for it; to keep thy body in temperance, sobriety, and chastity; avoiding all excesses, both in action and passion.\nII. Thou art to love mercy; not only to do what justice requires, but also what mercy, kindness, benevolence, and charity require.\nIII. But how art thou to do this? Thou art to walk humbly with thy God; הצנע hatsnea, to humble thyself to walk. This implies to acknowledge thy iniquity, and submit to be saved by his free mercy, as thou hast already found that no kind of offering or sacrifice can avail. Without this humiliation of soul there never was, there never can be, any walking With God; for without his mercy no soul can be saved; and he must be Thy God before thou canst walk with him. Many, when they hear the nature of sin pointed out, and the way of salvation made plain through the blood of the Lamb, have shut their eyes both against sin and the proper sacrifice for it, and parried all exhortation, threatening, etc., with this text: \"God requires nothing of us but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him.\" Now I ask any man, Art thou willing to stand or fall by this text? And it would cost me neither much time nor much pains to show that on this ground no soul of man can be saved. Nor does God say that this doing justly, etc., shall merit eternal glory. No. He shows that in this way all men should walk; that this is the duty of Every rational being; but he well knows that no fallen soul can act thus without especial assistance from him, and that it is only the regenerate man, the man who has found redemption through the blood of the cross, and has God for His God, that can thus act and walk. Salvation is of the mere mercy of God alone; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.\nThe manner of raising attention, says Bp. Newcome, on Mic 6:1, Mic 6:2, by calling on man to urge his plea in the face of all nature, and on the inanimate creation to hear the expostulation of Jehovah with his people, is truly awakening and magnificent. The wards of Jehovah follow in Mic 6:3-5. And God's mercies having been set before the people, one of them is introduced in a beautiful dramatic form; asking what his duty is towards so gracious a God, Mic 6:6, Mic 6:7. The answer follows in the words of the prophet, Mic 6:8. Some think we have a sort of dialogue between Balak and Balaam, represented to us in the prophetical way. The king of Moab speaks, Mic 6:6. Balaam replies by another question in the two first hemistichs of Mic 6:7. The king of Moab rejoins in the remaining part of the verse; and Balaam replies, Mic 6:8. Bps. Butler and Lowth favor this. I cannot agree. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["The Lord's voice crieth unto the city - No man is found to hear; but the man of wisdom will hear, תושיה tushiyah; a word frequent in the writings of Solomon and Job, signifying wisdom, wealth, substance, reason, essence, happiness; any thing that is complete; or that which is substantial, in opposition to vanity, emptiness, mere show, unsubstantiality. When God speaks, the man of common sense, who has any knowledge of God or his own soul, will see thy name; but instead of יראה yireh, will see, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, with twelve of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., have read יראי yirey, they that Fear. The Vulgate reads: - \nEt salus erit timentibus nomen tuum.\n\"And thou shalt be salvation to them that fear thy name.\"\nThe Septuagint - \nΚαι σωσει φαβουμενους το ονομα αυτου.\nAnd he shall save those who fear his name. - \nThis the Arabic copies.\nThe Targum has, \"And the teachers shall fear the name.\" That is, יהוה Yehovah.\nThe French Bible is very strange: - \nCar ton nom volt comme il va de tout.\n\"For thy name sees how every thing goes.\"\nThe word תושיה tushiyah, mentioned above, which occasions all the difficulty, has been read with an ע ain by the Vulgate and Septuagint, as coming from the root ישע yasha, to be saved; and it is very likely that this was the original reading. The two last letters in the word, יה, might have been easily mistaken in the MS. for the letter ע where I may suppose the word stood thus, תושע, shall be saved; and as several MSS. read יראי yirey, they who fear, instead of יראה yireh, he shall see, the whole clause might have been just what it appears in the Vulgate and Septuagint. It is also necessary to remark that the word in dispute has various forms in some MSS., which is a strong presumption against its authenticity. See Kennicott and De Rossi. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Are there yet the treasures of wickedness - Such as false balances and deceitful weights. See on Hos 12:7 (note). This shows that they were not Doing Justly. They did not give to each his due. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["For the rich men thereof are full of violence - This shows that they did not love mercy.\nThe inhabitants thereof have spoken lies - This shows that they did not humble themselves to walk with God. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Will I make thee sick in smiting thee - Perhaps better, \"I also am weary with smiting thee, in making thee desolate for thy sins.\" They were corrected, but to no purpose; they had stroke upon stroke, but were not amended. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied - All thy possessions are cursed, because of thy sins; and thou hast no real good in all thy enjoyments.\nAnd thy casting down - For וישחך veyeshchacha, \"thy casting down,\" Newcome, by transposing the ח and ש, reads ויחשך veyechshach, \"and it shall be dark;\" and this is probably the true reading. The Arabic and Septuagint have read the same. \"There shall be calamity in the midst of thee.\" It shall have its seat and throne among you. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap - Thou shalt labor to amass property, but thou shalt not have God's blessing; and whatever thou collectest, thy enemies shall carry away. And at last carry thyself into captivity. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["The statutes of Omri are kept - Omri, king of Israel, the father of Ahab, was one of the worst kings the Israelites ever had; and Ahab followed in his wicked father's steps. The statutes of those kings were the very grossest idolatry. Jezebel, wife of the latter, and daughter of Ithobaal, king of Tyre, had no fellow on earth. From her Shakespeare seems to have drawn the character of Lady Macbeth; a woman, like her prototype, mixed up of tigress and fiend, without addition. Omri Ahab, and Jezebel, were the models followed by the Israelites in the days of this prophet.\nThe inhabitants thereof a hissing - לשרקה lishrekah, \"for a shriek;\" because those who should see them should be both astonished and affrighted at them.\nThere are few chapters in the prophets, or in the Bible, superior to this for genuine worth and importance. The structure is as elegant as it is impressive; and it is every way worthy of the Spirit of God.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"This chapter reproves and threatens. The manner of raising the attention by calling on man to urge his plea in the face of all nature, and on the inanimate creation to hear the expostulation of Jehovah with his people, is awakening and sublime. The words of Jehovah follow, Mic 6:3-5. And God's mercies hawing been set forth to his people, one of them is introduced, in a beautiful dramatic form, asking what his duty is towards a God so gracious, Mic 6:6, Mic 6:7. The answer follows in the words of the prophet, Mic 6:8; who goes on to upbraid the people of his charge with their injustice and idolatry, to which he ascribes want of success in their lawful undertakings, and those heave calamities which are now impending, Mic 6:9-15. \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/6.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":6},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/7.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":7},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/5.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":5},"numberOfVerses":15}