{"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":7,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":1,"content":["Wo is me! - This is a continuation of the preceding discourse. And here the prophet points out the small number of the upright to be found in the land. He himself seemed to be the only person who was on God's side; and he considers himself as a solitary grape, which had escaped the general gathering. The word קץ kayits, which is sometimes used for summer, and summer fruits in general, is here translated late figs; and may here, says Bishop Newcome, be opposed to the early ripe fig of superior quality. See on Hos 9:10 (note), and Amo 8:1 (note), Amo 8:2 (note). He desired to see the first-ripe fruit - distinguished and eminent piety; but he found nothing but a very imperfect or spurious kind of godliness. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["The good man is perished out of the earth - A similar sentiment may be found, Psa 12:1; Isa 57:1. As the early fig of excellent flavor cannot be found in the advanced season of summer, or a choice cluster of grapes after vintage, so neither can the good and upright man be discovered by searching in Israel. This comparison, says Bp. Newcome, is beautifully implied.\nThey hunt every man his brother with a net - This appears to be an allusion to the ancient mode of duel between the retiarius and secutor. The former had a casting net, which he endeavoured to throw over the head of his antagonist, that he might then despatch him with his short sword. The other parried the cast; and when the retiarius missed, he was obliged to run about the field to get time to set his net in right order for another throw. While he ran, the other followed, that he might despatch him before he should be able to recover the proper position of his net; and hence the latter was called secutor, the pursuer, as the other was called retiarius, or the net man. I have explained this before on Job, and other places; but because it is rarely noticed by commentators, I explain the allusion here once more. Abp. Newcome by not attending to this, has translated איש את אחיהו יצודו חרם ish eth achihu yatsudu cherem, \"They hunt every man his brother for his destruction;\" though he put net in the margin. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["That they may do evil with both hands - That is, earnestly, greedily, to the uttermost of their power. The Vulgate translates: Malum manuum suarum dicunt bonum; \"The evil of their hands they call good.\"\nThe prince asketh - A bribe, to forward claims in his court.\nThe judge asketh for a reward - That he may decide the cause in favor of him who gives most money, whether the cause be good or evil. This was notoriously the case in our own country before the giving of Magna Charta; and hence that provision, Nulli vendemus justitiam aut rectum: \"We will not sell justice to any man.\" And this was not the only country in which justice and judgment were put to sale.\nThe great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire - Such consider themselves above law, and they make no secret of their unjust determinations. And so they wrap it up - they all conjoin in doing evil in their several offices, and oppressing the poor; so our translators have interpreted the original ויעבתוה vayeabtuha, which the versions translate variously. Newcome has, \"And they do abominably.\" \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["The best of them is as a brier - They are useless in themselves, and cannot be touched without wounding him that comes in contact with them. He alludes to the thick thorn hedges, still frequent in Palestine.\nThe day of thy watchmen - The day of vengeance, which the prophets have foreseen and proclaimed, is at hand. Now shall be their perplexity; no more wrapping up, all shall be unfolded. In that day every man will wish that he were different from what he is found to be; but he shall be judged for what he is, and for the deeds he has done. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Trust ye not in a friend - These times will be so evil, and the people so wicked, that all bonds will be dissolved; and even the most intimate will betray each other, when they can hope to serve themselves by it.\nOn this passage, in the year 1798, I find I have written as follows: - \n\"Trust ye not in a friend. - Several of those whom I have delighted to call by that name have deceived me.\n\"Put ye not confidence in a guide. - Had I followed some of these I should have gone to perdition.\n\"Keep the door of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. - My wife alone never deceived me.\"\nIt is now twenty-seven years since, and I find no cause to alter what I then wrote. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["For the son dishonoreth the father - See the use our Lord has made of these words, where he quotes them, Mat 10:21 (note), Mat 10:25 (note), Mat 10:36 (note), and the notes there. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Therefore I will look unto the Lord - Because things are so, I will trust in the Lord more firmly, wait for him more patiently, and more confidently expect to be supported, defended, and saved. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy - The captive Israelites are introduced as speaking here and in the preceding verse. The enemy are the Assyrians and Chaldeans; the fall is their idolatry and consequent captivity; the darkness, the calamities they suffered in that captivity; their rise and light, their restoration and consequent blessedness.\nTo rejoice over the fall or miseries of any man, betrays a malignant spirit. I have known several instances where people professing to hold a very pure and Christian creed, having become unfaithful and fallen into sin, their opponents, who held a very impure and unchristian creed, have exulted with \"Ha, ha! so would we have it!\" and have shown their malignity more fully, by giving all possible publicity and circulation to such accounts. Perhaps in the sight of God this was worse than the poor wretch's fall, in which they exulted as having taken place in one who held a creed different from their own. But these arose again from their fall, while those jesters at holiness continued in the gall of bitterness and bonds of inward corruption. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["I will bear the indignation of the Lord - The words of the penitent captives, acknowledging their sins and praying for mercy.\nUntil he plead my cause - And wo to the slanderers, when God undertakes to plead for the fallen who have returned to him with deep compunction of heart, seeking redemption in the blood of the cross. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["Then she that is mine enemy - This may refer particularly to the city of Babylon.\nShall she be trodden down - Literally fulfilled in the package of that city by the Persians, and its consequent total ruin. It became as mire; its walls, formed of brick kneaded with straw and baked in the sun, becoming exposed to the wet, dissolved, so that a vestige of the city remains not, except a few bricks digged from under the rubbish, several pieces of which now lie before me, and show the perishing materials of which the head of this proud empire was composed. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["In the day that thy walls are to be built - This refers to Jerusalem; the decree, to the purpose of God to deliver the people into captivity. \"This shall be far removed.\" God having purposed their return, I cannot think, with some commentators, that this verse contains threatenings against Jerusalem, and not promises. See Hag 1:1-15 (note), where the subject is similar; and the restoration of Jerusalem is certainly what the prophet describes. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["In that day also he shall come - Bp. Newcome translates: - \n\"And in that day they shall come unto thee\nFrom Assyria and the fenced cities;\nAnd from Egypt even unto the river.\"\nCalmet translates: - \n\"They shall come to thee from Assyria even unto Egypt;\nAnd from Egypt even to the river; (Euphrates);\nAnd from one sea to another, and from one mountain to another.\"\nThis, says he, gives an easy sense; whereas we cannot tell where to find those fortified cities spoken of by other translators. The Israelites were to return from their captivity, and re-occupy their ancient country from Assyria to Egypt; that is, from the river Euphrates to the river Nile; and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Ocean, and from Mount Libanus to the mountains of Arabia Petraea, or Mount Seir. See Amo 8:12. This prediction was literally fulfilled under the Asmoneans. The Jewish nation was greatly extended and very powerful under Herod, at the time that our Lord was born. See Calmet. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate - This should be translated in the preter tense, \"Though the land Had been desolate;\" that is, the land of Israel had been desolate during the captivity, which captivity was the \"fruit of the evil doings of them that had dwelt therein.\" \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Feed thy people with thy rod - בשבטך beshibtecha, \"with thy crook.\" The shepherd's crook is most certainly designed, as the word flock immediately following shows. No rod of correction or affliction is here intended; nor does the word mean such.\nSolitarily - They have been long without a shepherd or spiritual governor.\nIn the midst of Carmel - Very fruitful in vines.\nBashan and Gilead - Proverbially fruitful in pasturages. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["According to the days - This is the answer to the prophet's prayer; and God says he will protect, save, defend, and work miracles for them in their restoration, such as he wrought for their fathers in their return from Egypt to the promised land. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["The nations shall see and be confounded - Whether the words in these verses (Mic 7:15-17) be applied to the return from the Babylonish captivity, or to the prosperity of the Jews under the Maccabees, they may be understood as ultimately applicable to the final restoration of this people, and their lasting prosperity under the Gospel. \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["Who is a God like unto thee, etc - Here is a challenge to all idol worshippers, and to all those who take false views of the true God, to show his like. See his characters; they are immediately subjoined.\n1. He pardoneth iniquity. This is the prerogative of God alone; of that Being who alone has power to save or to destroy.\n2. He passeth by transgression. He can heal backsliding, and restore them that are fallen.\n3. He retaineth not his anger forever. Though, justly displeased because of sin, he pours out his judgments upon the wicked; yet when they return to him, he shows \"that he retaineth not his anger forever,\" but is indescribably ready to save them.\n4. He delighteth in mercy. Judgment is his strange work: he is ever more ready to save than to destroy. Nothing can please him better than having the opportunity, from the return and repentance of the sinner, to show him that mercy without which he must perish everlastingly.\n5. Because he is such a God - \n1. \"He will turn again.\" His face has been long turned from us, because of our sins.\n2. \"He will have compassion upon us\" pity our state, and feel for our sorrows.\n3. \"He will subdue our iniquities.\" Though they have been mighty, he will bring them down, and bruise them under our feet.\n4. \"He will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.\" Will fully pardon them, and never more remember them against us. Instead of חטאתם chattotham, Their sins, five MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic read חטאתינו chattotheynu, Our sins. He will plunge them into eternal oblivion, never more to come into sight or remembrance; like a stone dropped into the \"depths of the sea.\" \n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob - The promises which he has made to Jacob and his posterity. Not one of them can ever fall to the ground. \"And the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn;\" viz., that \"in his Seed all the families of the earth should be blessed;\" that the Messiah should come from Abraham, through his son Isaac, by Jacob and David; be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel. And this promise, and this oath, God has most signally fulfilled by the incarnation of Christ, who was sent to bless us by turning away every one of us from his iniquities; and for this purpose he was delivered for our offenses, and rose again for our justification; and repentance and remission of sins are preached in his name to all nations. The proclamation was first made at Jerusalem; and that the prophet refers to this, is evident from the use made of these words by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, when, under the full afflatus of the Spirit of God, he quoted this prophecy of Micah, as fulfilled in the incarnation of Christ, Luk 1:72, Luk 1:73. The Chaldee paraphrases this last verse with spirit and propriety: \"Thou wilt give the truth to Jacob his son, as thou hast promised by oath to him in Beth-el. And the mercy to Abraham and to his seed after him, as thou didst swear to him amidst the divisions. Thou wilt be mindful of us on account of the binding of Isaac, who was bound upon the altar before thee.\nAnd thou wilt do us that good, which, from the most ancient days, thou hast promised to our fathers by an oath.\" Between the divisions, refers to the covenant made between God and Abraham, Gen 15:9-11, Gen 15:17, Gen 15:18. Well might the prophet exult in his challenge to earth and hell. Who Is a God Like unto Thee! Hell is speechless, earth is dumb. Infidels dare not open their mouths!!! Hallelujah! מי אל כמוך mi El camocha! Jesus is the mighty God and Savior, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin, and saving to the uttermost all that come unto God through him. Blessed be God! Reader, lay this to heart.\n\n"]}],"introduction":"The prophet begins this chapter with lamenting the decay of piety and the growth of ungodliness, using a beautiful allegory to imply (as explained in Mic 7:2) that the good man is as seldom to be met with as the early fig of best quality in the advanced season, or the cluster after the vintage, Mic 7:1, Mic 7:2. He then reproves and threatens in terms so expressive of great calamities as to be applied in the New Testament to times of the hottest persecution, Mic 7:3-6. See Mat 10:35, Mat 10:36. Notwithstanding which a Jew is immediately introduced declaring, in the name of his captive people, the strongest faith in the mercy of God the most submissive resignation to his will, and the firmest hope in his favor in future times, when they should triumph over their enemies, Mic 7:7-10. The prophet upon this resumes the discourse, and predicts their great prosperity and increase, Mic 7:11, Mic 7:12; although the whole land of Israel must first be desolated on account of the great wickedness of its inhabitants, Mic 7:13. The prophet intercedes in behalf of his people, Mic 7:14. After which God is introduced promising, in very ample terms, their future restoration and prosperity, Mic 7:15-17. And then, to conclude, a chorus of Jews is introduced, singing a beautiful hymn of thanksgiving, suggested by the gracious promises which precede, Mic 7:18-20. \n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/7.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":7},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/NAM/1.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"NAM","chapter":1},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/adam-clarke/MIC/6.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"adam-clarke","book":"MIC","chapter":6},"numberOfVerses":18}