{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"MIC","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Micah","commonName":"Micah","introduction":"MICAH was a native of Moresheth, not the same as Mareshah in Mic 1:15, but the town called Moresheth-gath (Mic 1:14), which lay near Eleutheropolis, west of Jerusalem, on the border of the Philistine country; so called to distinguish it from Moresheth of Judah. His full name is Micaiah (not the Micaiah mentioned Kg1 22:8, the son of Imlah), signifying, Who is like Jehovah? The time of his prophesying is stated in the introduction to be in the reigns of Jotham. Ahaz, and Hezekiah, that is, between 757 and 699 B.C. Jeremiah (Jer 26:18) quotes Mic 3:12, as delivered in the reign of Hezekiah. He was thus a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. The idolatries practised in the reign of Ahaz accord with Micah's denunciations of such gross evils, and confirm the truth of the time assigned Mic 1:1. His prophecies are partly against Israel (Samaria), partly against Judah. As Samaria, Israel's metropolis, was taken first, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah subsequently, in the introductory heading, Mic 1:1, Samaria is put first, then Jerusalem. He prophesies the capture of both; the Jews captivity and restoration; and the coming and reign of Messiah. His style is full, round, and perspicuous; his diction pure, and his parallelisms regular. His description of Jehovah (Mic 7:18-19) is not surpassed by any elsewhere in Scripture. The similarity between Isaiah and Micah in some passages (compare Mic 4:1-3, with Isa 2:2-4) is to be accounted for by their being contemporaries, acquainted with each other's inspired writings, and having the same subjects for their theme. HENGSTENBERG maintains that the passage in Micah is the original. Isaiah was somewhat the older, being a prophet in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham's predecessor, whereas Micah began his prophecies under Jotham.\n\nThe book consists of two parts: (1) the first through fifth chapters; (2) the sixth and seventh chapters, a dialogue or contestation between Jehovah and His people, in which He reproaches them with their unnatural and ungrateful conduct, and threatens judgment for their corruptions, but consoles them with the promise of restoration from captivity.\n\nMicah stands sixth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew canon, but third in the Septuagint. \n\n\n\nNext: Micah Chapter 1\n\n","order":33,"numberOfChapters":7,"sha256":"5f1d30de089ca2d20fa6a36e71504d663dc1cd69625578b2f7adb7add087af6c","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/MIC/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"MIC","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":7,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/MIC/7.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"MIC","chapter":7},"totalNumberOfVerses":96},"chapter":{"number":3,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["pluck off their skin . . . flesh--rob their fellow countrymen of all their substance (Psa 14:4; Pro 30:14).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["pot . . . flesh within . . . caldron--manifold species of cruel oppressions. Compare Eze 24:3, &c., containing, as to the coming punishment, the same figure as is here used of the sin: implying that the sin and punishment exactly correspond.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["Then--at the time of judgment, which Micah takes for granted, so certain is it (compare Mic 2:3). \n\nthey cry . . . but he will not hear--just as those oppressed by them had formerly cried, and they would not hear. Their prayer shall be rejected, because it is the mere cry of nature for deliverance from pain, not that of repentance for deliverance from sin. \n\nill in their doings--Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Here he attacks the false prophets, as before he had attacked the \"princes.\" \n\nmake my people err--knowingly mislead My people by not denouncing their sins as incurring judgment. \n\nbite with . . . teeth, and cry, Peace--that is, who, so long as they are supplied with food, promise peace and prosperity in their prophecies. \n\nhe that putteth not into their mouths, they . . . prepare war against him--Whenever they are not supplied with food, they foretell war and calamity. \n\nprepare war--literally, \"sanctify war,\" that is, proclaim it as a holy judgment of God because they are not fed (see on Jer 6:4; compare Isa 13:3; Joe 1:14).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["night . . . dark--Calamities shall press on you so overwhelming as to compel you to cease pretending to divine (Zac 13:4). Darkness is often the image of calamity (Isa 8:22; Amo 5:18; Amo 8:9).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["cover their lips--The Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard (\"upper lip,\" Margin). To cover it, therefore, was a token of shame and sorrow (Lev 13:45; Eze 24:17, Eze 24:22). \"They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths or boast of the name of prophet\" [CALVIN]. \n\nthere is no answer of God--They shall no more profess to have responses from God, being struck dumb with calamities (Mic 3:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["I--in contrast to the false prophets (Mic 3:5, Mic 3:7). \n\nfull of power--that which \"the Spirit of Jehovah\" imparts for the discharge of the prophetical function (Luk 1:17; Luk 24:49; Act 1:8). \n\njudgment--a sense of justice [MAURER]; as opposed to the false prophets' speaking to please men, not from a regard to truth. Or, \"judgment\" to discern between graver and lighter offenses, and to denounce punishments accordingly [GROTIUS]. \n\nmight--moral intrepidity in speaking the truth at all costs (Ti2 1:7). \n\nto declare unto Jacob his . . . sin-- (Isa 58:1). Not to flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["Hear--resumed from Mic 3:1. Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a demonstration of his assertion that he is \"full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah\" (Mic 3:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["They--change of person from \"ye\" (Mic 3:9); the third person puts them to a greater distance as estranged from Him. It is, literally, \"Whosoever builds,\" singular. \n\nbuild up Zion with blood--build on it stately mansions with wealth obtained by the condemnation and murder of the innocent (Jer 22:13; Eze 22:27; Hab 2:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["heads thereof--the princes of Jerusalem. \n\njudge for reward--take bribes as judges (Mic 7:3). \n\npriests teach for hire--It was their duty to teach the law and to decide controversies gratuitously (Lev 10:11; Deu 17:11; Mal 2:7; compare Jer 6:13; Jde 1:11). \n\nprophets . . . divine--that is, false prophets. \n\nIs not the Lord among us?--namely in the temple (Isa 48:2; Jer 7:4, Jer 7:8-11).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["mic 3:12Jer 26:18 quotes this verse. The Talmud and MAIMONIDES record that at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, Terentius Rufus, who was left in command of the army, with a ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple. \n\nmountain of the house--the height on which the temple stands. \n\nas the high places of the forest--shall become as heights in a forest overrun with wild shrubs and brushwood.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Micah Chapter 4\n\n"]}],"introduction":"THE SINS OF THE PRINCES, PROPHETS, AND PRIESTS: THE CONSEQUENT DESOLATION OF ZION. (Mic 3:1-12)\n\nprinces--magistrates or judges. \n\nIs it not for you?--Is it not your special function (Jer 5:4-5)? \n\njudgment--justice. Ye sit in judgment on others; surely then ye ought to know the judgment for injustice which awaits yourselves (Rom 2:1).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/MIC/3.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"MIC","chapter":3},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/MIC/4.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"MIC","chapter":4},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/MIC/2.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"MIC","chapter":2},"numberOfVerses":11}