Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
Parallel Translations
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Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.
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Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
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Woe is me! for I am as the last of the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat; nor first-ripe fig which my soul desireth.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Micah 7:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 28:4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it.
- Isaiah 24:13 For it will be so within the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.
- Hosea 9:10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.
- Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleanings will be left there, like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three olives in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost branches of a fruitful tree,” says Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- Psalms 120:5 Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
- Isaiah 24:16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs. Glory to the righteous! But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! woe is me!” The treacherous have dealt treacherously. Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.
- Jeremiah 4:31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”
- Jeremiah 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me, a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, neither have men lent to me; yet every one of them curses me.
- Jeremiah 45:3 ‘You said, “Woe is me now! For Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain! I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.” ’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain The meaning of the first verse is somewhat doubtful:…
The meaning of the first verse is somewhat doubtful: some refer what the Prophet says to punishment; and others to the wickedness of the people. The first think that the calamity, with which the Lord had visited the sins of the people, is bewailed; as though the Prophet looked on the disordered state of the whole land. But it may be easily gathered from the second verse, that the Prophet speaks here of the wickedness of the people, rather than of the punishment already inflicted. I have therefore put the two verses together, that the full meaning may be more evident to us.
Woe then to me! Why? I am become as gatherings Too free, or rather too licentious is this version, — “I am become as one who seeks to gather summer-fruits, and finds none;” so that being disappointed of his hope, he burns with desire. This cannot possibly be considered as the rendering of the Prophet’s words. There is indeed some difficulty in the expressions: their import, however, seems to be this, — that the land, which the Prophet undertakes here to represent and personify, was like to a field, or a garden, or a vineyard, that was empty. He therefore says, that the land was stripped of all its fruit, as it is after harvest and the vintage. So by gatherings we must understand the collected fruit. Some understand the gleanings which remain, as when one leaves carelessly a few clusters on the vines: and thus, they say, a few just men remained alive on the land. But the former comparison harmonizes better with the rest of the passage, and that is, that the land was now stripped of all its fruit, as it is after the harvest and the vintage. I am become then as the gatherings of summer, that is, as in the summer, when the fruit has been already gathered; and as the clusters of the vintage, that is when the vintage is over.
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There is no cluster, he says to eat. The Prophet refers here to the scarcity of good men; yea, he says that there were no longer any righteous men living. For though God had ever preserved some hidden seed, yet it might have been justly declared with regard to the whole people, that they were like a field after gathering the corn, or a vineyard after the vintage. Some residue, indeed, remains in the field after harvest, but there are no ears of corn; and in the vineyard some bunches remain, but they are empty; nothing remains but leaves. Now this personification is very forcible when the Prophet comes forth as though he represented the land itself; for he speaks in his own name and person, Woe is to me, he says, for I am like summer-gatherings! It was then the same thing, as though he deplored his own nakedness and want, inasmuch as there were not remaining any upright and righteous men.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The Prophet taketh upon him the person of the…
The Prophet taketh upon him the person of the earth, which complaineth that all her fruits are gone, so that none is left: that is, that there is no godly man remaining: for all are given to cruelty and deceit, so that none spareth his own brother.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Mic 7:1 Woe is me! for I am as…
Mic 7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: [there is] no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
Ver. 1. Woe is me, for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits] Allai li, Alas for me. This last sermon of his the prophet begins with a pathetic queritation, bewailing his own unhappiness in the little good success of his ministry. Mirifice autem nostris temporibus hic sermo convenit, saith Gualther. This discourse suits well with these times; wherein we may justly cry out with the prophet Isaiah, "Who hath believed our report?" And again, "O my leanness, my leanness! woe is me, for there is only as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done," Isa 24:13; Isa 24:16. Hei mihi quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in arvo. Though he had worn himself to a very skeleton in the Lord’s work; yet had he laboured in vain, Israel was not gathered, Isa 49:4-5, and hence his woeful complaint. The like we read of Elias, 1Ki 19:10, where he bitterly bewails his aloneness; so did Athanasius in his age; and Basil in his Fasciculus temporum, A. D. 884, cries out, for the paucity of good people, Heu, heu, Domine Deus, Alas, Lord, how few appear to be on thy side.
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“ Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto. ”
And Gualther complains, that the Anabaptists in Germany urged this as a chief argument to draw people from communion with our Churches, that there was so little good done by preaching, and so few souls converted. Hence some ministers despond, and are ready to kick up all. Latimer tells of one who gave this answer why he left off preaching, because he saw he did no good. This, saith Latimer, is a naughty, a very naughty answer. A grief it will be, and fit it should be; piety to God and pity to men calls for it. Christ wept over Jerusalem; Paul had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart (not inferior to that of a woman in travail ’Oδυνη, Rom 9:2) for his contumacious countrymen; neither could he speak of those lewd lowlies at Philippi with dry eyes, Php 3:18. But an utter discouragement it should not be, since our reward is with God however, Isa 49:5, and perhaps a larger, because we have wrought with so little encouragement: we have ploughed when others have only trod out the grain: they trod and fed together, when as those that plough have no refreshing till the work be done, Hos 10:13. Certain it is that God will reward his faithful servants, secundum laborem, non secundum proventum, according to their pains taken in the ministry, and not according to their people’s profiting, Kατα κοπον ου κατα καρπον..
There is no cluster to eat] None to speak of: hedge fruit there is great store; wild grapes not a few; grapes of Sodom, clusters of Gomorrah; but for good grapes, pleasant fruit, godly people, there is a wondrous scarcity of such. Diogenes lighted a candle at noonday to look for a man; the host of Nola went to the graves to call for the good men of the town. Cicero saith, that if there be one good poet in an age it is well. Christ wondered at one good Nathaniel, and tells us in the same chapter, that they are but few that receive him, and with him the adoption of sons, Joh 1:12. Clusters we must not look for; but if there be found two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches, it is well, Isa 17:6. Sufficit mihi auditor unus, sufficit nullus. Paul when he came first to Philippi had a poor audience, only a few women, Act 16:13, and one convert: neither had he much better success at Athens, and no Church could be planted there, Act 17:33-34.
My soul desired the firstripe fruits] Praecocem fructum, the early ripening fruit, as a great dainty, a precious rarity. We highly prize nettlebuds when they first bud; so doth God our young services. Jer 1:11, he made choice of the almond tree because it blossometh first; so of Jeremiah from his infancy. He called for firstfruits of trees, and of the earth, in the sheaf, in the threshingfioor, in the dough, in the loaves. He would have ears of corn dried by the fire; and wheat beaten out of the green ears, Lev 2:14. He would have the primrose of our childhood. There were three sorts of firstfruits. 1. Of ears of grain offered about the passover. 2. Of the loaves, offered about Pentecost. 3. About the end of the year, in autumn. Now of the two first God had a part, not of the last. He likes not of those arbores autumnales, autumn trees, Jdg 1:12 (φθινοπωρινα), that bud at latter end of harvest. Conversion (as divines observe) usually occures between eighteen years of age and twenty-eight: besides Abraham in the Old Testament, and Nicodemus in the New, we have not many instances of men converted in old age. When people grow crooked and rooted in evil practices they are hardly ever set straight again. "Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth"; his soul delighteth in the first ripe fruits. Remember that Jesus Christ shed his blood for thee when he was but eight days old when he was circumised; and took thee into his family by baptism when thou didst hang on thy mother’s breast.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain All are agreed in the scope and meaning of…
All are agreed in the scope and meaning of these words, that they are designed a complaint for the great scarcity of men that feared God, did justice, and loved mercy; and so the prophet begins with a pathetical complaint,
Woe is me! ordinarily this phrase is minatory, but here it is lamentation, as every eye may see who discerns the propriety of the Hebrew.
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For I; either the prophet in his own person, or else in the person of the good man; or, by a usual figure, the land may be brought in, complaining, that whereas it was once well stored, now it hath few right good in it.
Am as when they have gathered the summer fruits; all the fair, goodly, and ripe fruit gathered, none left, or none but evil fruit, such as the labourers thought not worth gathering up. So is the harvest of Israel and Judah too; though I and other prophets have sown good seed abundantly, yet goodness comes up very thin and scarce: so Isa 24:13,16.
As the grape-gleanings of the vintage, the same complaint in a like elegant metaphor, drawn from the vintage-gatherer, who leaves but few scattering single grapes. So Israel and Judah, which in bringing forth good men should have been as a fruitful vine full of clusters, but barren they have been, and are; and good men, i.e. just, compassionate, and humble men, are as grapes after the vintage is gathered.
There is no cluster to eat; such good men’s converse would as much delight, refresh, and encourage me, as a fair cluster of grapes doth a thirsty and hungry person, but there is not one such cluster.
My soul desired; it speaks a vehement desire.
The first-ripe fruit; it is an ellipsis or aposiopesis, and to be supplied thus, but there was, or I found, none.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain This is such a description of bad times as,…
This is such a description of bad times as, some think, could scarcely agree to the times of Hezekiah, when this prophet prophesied; and therefore they rather take it as a prediction of what should be in the reign of Manasseh. But we may rather suppose it to be in the reign of Ahaz (and in that reign he prophesied, ch. 1:1) or in the beginning of Hezekiah's time, before the reformation he was instrumental in; nay, in the best of his days, and when he had done his best to purge out corruptions, still there was much amiss. The prophet cries out, Woe is me! He bemoans himself that his lot was cast in such a degenerate age, and thinks it his great unhappiness that he lived among a people that were ripening apace for a ruin which many a good man would unavoidably be involved in. Thus David cries out, Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech! He laments, 1. That there were so few good people to be found, even among those that were God's people; and this was their reproach: The good man has perished out of the earth, or out of the land, the land of Canaan; it was a good land, and a land of uprightness (Isa 26:10), but there were few good men in it, none upright among them, Mic 7:2. The good man is a godly man and a merciful man; the word signifies both. Those are completely good men that are devout towards God and compassionate and beneficent towards men, that love mercy and walk with God. "These have perished; those few honest men that some time ago enriched and adorned our country are now dead and gone, and there are none risen up in their stead that tread in their steps; honesty is banished, and there is no such thing as a good man to be met with. Those that were of religious education have degenerated, and become as bad as the worst; the godly man ceases," Psa 12:1. This is illustrated by a comparison (Mic 7:1): they were as when they have gathered the summer fruits; it was as hard a thing to find a good man as to find any of the summer-fruits (which were the choicest and best, and therefore must carefully be gathered in) when the harvest is over. The prophet is ready to say, as Elijah in his time (Kg1 19:10), I, even I only, am left. Good men, who used to hang in clusters, are now as the grape-gleanings of the vintage, here and there a berry, Isa 17:6. You can find no societies of them as bunches of grapes, but those that are are single persons: There is no cluster to eat; and the best and fullest grapes are those that grow in large clusters. Some think that this intimates not only that good people were few, but that those few who remained, who went for good people, were good for little, like the small withered grapes, the refuse that were left behind, not only by the gatherer, but by the gleaner. When the prophet observed this universal degeneracy it made him desire the first-ripe fruit; he wished to see such worthy good men as were in the former ages, were the ornaments of the primitive times, and as far excelled the best of all the present age as the first and full-ripe fruits do those of the latter growth, that never come to maturity. When we read and hear of the wisdom and zeal, the strictness and conscientiousness, the devotion and charity, of the professors of religion in former ages, and see the reverse of this in those of the present age, we cannot but sit down, and wish, with a sigh, O for primitive Christianity again! Where are the plainness and integrity of those that went before us? Where are the Israelites indeed, without guile? Our souls desire them, but in vain. The golden age is gone, and past recall; we must make the best of what is, for we are not likely to see such times as have been. 2. That there were so many wicked mischievous people among them, not only none that did any good, but multitudes that did all the hurt they could: "They all lie in wait for blood, and hunt every man his brother. To get wealth to themselves, they care not what wrong, what hurt, they do to their neighbours and nearest relations. They act as if mankind were in a state of war, and force were the only right. They are as beasts of prey to their neighbours, for they all lie in wait for blood as lions for their prey; they thirst after it, make nothing of taking away any man's life or livelihood to serve a turn for themselves, and lie in wait for an opportunity to do it. Their neighbours are as beasts of prey to them, for they hunt every man his brother with a net; they persecute them as noxious creatures, fit to be taken and destroyed, though they are innocent excellent ones." We say of him that is outlawed, Caput gerit lupinum - He is to be hunted as a wolf. "Or they hunt them as men do the game, to feast upon it; they have a thousand cursed arts of ensnaring men to their ruin, so that they may but get by it. Thus they do mischief with both hands earnestly; their hearts desire it, their heads contrive it, and then both hands are ready to put it in execution." Note, The more eager and intent men are upon any sinful pursuit, and the more pains they take in it, the more provoking it is. 3. That the magistrates, who by their office ought to have been the patrons and protectors of right, were the practicers and promoters of wrong: That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, to excite and animate themselves in it, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh, for a reward, for a bribe, with which they well be hired to exert all their power for the supporting and carrying on of any wicked design with both hands. They do evil with both hands well (so some read it); they do evil with a great deal of art and dexterity; they praise themselves for doing it so well. Others read it thus: To do evil they have both hands (they catch at an opportunity of doing mischief), but to do good the prince and the judge ask for a reward; if they do any good offices they are mercenary in them, and must be paid for them. The great man, who has wealth and power to do good, is not ashamed to utter his mischievous desire in conjunction with the prince and the judge, who are ready to support him and stand by him in it. So they wrap it up; they perplex the matter, involve it, and make it intricate (so some understand it), that they may lose equity in a mist, and so make the cause turn which way they please. It is ill with a people when their princes, and judges, and great men are in a confederacy to pervert justice. And it is a sad character that is given of them (Mic 7:4), that the best of them is as a brier, and the most upright is sharper than a thorn-hedge; it is a dangerous thing to have any thing to do with them; he that touches them must be fenced with iron (Sa2 23:6, Sa2 23:7), he shall be sure to be scratched, to have his clothes torn, and his eyes almost pulled out. And, if this be the character of the best and most upright, what are the worst? And, when things have come to this pass, the day of thy watchmen comes, that is, as it follows, the day of thy visitation, when God will reckon with thee for all this wickedness, which is called the day of the watchmen, because their prophets, whom God set as watchmen over them, had often warned them of that day. When all flesh have corrupted their way, even the best and the most upright, what can be expected but a day of visitation, a deluge of judgments, as that which drowned the old world when the earth was filled with violence? 4. That there was no faith in man; people had grown so universally treacherous that one knew not whom to repose any confidence in, Mic 7:5. "Those that have any sense of honour, or spark of virtue, remaining in them, have a firm regard to the laws of friendship; they would not discover what passed in private conversation, nor divulge secrets, to the prejudice of a friend. But those things are now made a jest of; you will not meet with a friend that you dare trust, whose word you dare take, or who will have any tenderness or concern for you; so that wise men shall give it and take it for a rule, trust you not in a friend, for you will find him false, you can trust him no further than you can see him; and even him that passes for an honest man you will find to be so only with good looking to. Nay, as for him that undertakes to be your guide, to lead you into any business which he professes to understand better than you, you cannot put a confidence in him, for he will be sure to mislead you if he can get any thing by it." Some by a guide understand a husband, who is called the guide of thy youth; and that agrees well enough with what follows, "Keep the doors of thy lips from her that lieth in thy bosom, from thy own wife; take heed what thou sayest before her, lest she betray thee, as Delilah did Samson, lest she be the bird of the air that carries the voice of that which thou sayest in thy bed-chamber," Ecc 10:20. It is an evil time indeed when the prudent are obliged even thus far to keep silence. 5. That children were abusive to their parents, and men had no comfort, no satisfaction, in their own families and their nearest relations, Mic 7:6. The times are bad indeed when the son dishonours his father, gives him bad language, exposes him, threatens him, and studies to do him a mischief, when the daughter rises up in rebellion against her own mother, having no sense of duty, or natural affection; and no marvel that then the daughter-in-law quarrels with her mother-in-law, and is vexatious to her. Either they cannot agree about their property and interest, or their humours and passions clash, or from a spirit of bigotry and persecution, the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child, Mat 10:4; Luk 21:16. It is sad when a man's betrayers and worst enemies are the men of his own house, his own children and servants, that should be his guard and his best friends. Note, The contempt and violation of the laws of domestic duties are a sad symptom of a universal corruption of manners. Those are never likely to come to good that are undutiful to their parents, and study to be provoking to them and cross them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Woe is me!.... Alas for me unhappy man that…
Woe is me!.... Alas for me unhappy man that I am, to live in such an age, and among such a people, as I do! this the prophet says in his own name, or in the name of the church and people of God in his time; so Isaiah, who was contemporary with him, Isa 6:5; see also Psa 120:5;
for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage; when there are only an apple or a pear or two, or such sort of fruit, and such a quantity of it left on the top of the tree, or on the outermost branches of it, after the rest are gathered in; or a few single grapes here and there, after the vintage is over; signifying either that he was like Elijah left alone, or however that the number of good men were very few; or that there were very few gathered in by his ministry, converted, taught, and instructed by it; or those that had the name of good men were but very indifferent, and not like those who were in times past; but were as refuse fruit left on trees, and dropped from thence when rotten, and when gathered up were good for little, and like single grapes, small and withered, and of no value; see Isa 17:6;
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there is no cluster to eat; no large number or society of good men to converse with, only here and there a single person; and none that have an abundance of grace and goodness in them, and a large experience of spiritual and divine things; few that attend the ministry of the word; they do not come in clusters, in crowds; and fewer still that receive any advantage by it;
my soul desired the first ripe fruit; the company and conversation of such good men as lived in former times; who had the firstfruits of the Spirit, and arrived to a maturity of grace, and a lively exercise of it; and who were, in the age of the prophet, as scarce and rare as first ripe fruits, and as desirable as such were to a thirsty traveller; see Hos 9:10. The Targum is,
"the prophet said, woe unto me, because I am as when good men fail, in a time in which merciful men perish from the earth; behold, as the summer fruits, as the gleanings after the vintage, there is no man in whom there are good works; my soul desires good men.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The total corruption of the people, ver. 1-6. Those…
The total corruption of the people, ver. 1-6. Those who fear God are to take courage, to be patient, to expect long trouble, ver. 7-13. And to encourage themselves with God's promises, and faithfulness, and the future downfall of their enemies, ver. 14-20.
Woe is me - The land is brought in complaining, that whereas it was once well stored, now it hath few good in it. As the grape- gleanings - In Israel and Judah, which in bringing forth good men, should have been a fruitful vine full of clusters: just, compassionate and humble men, are as grapes after the vintage is gathered. Desired - But in vain.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The prophet begins this chapter with lamenting the decay…
CHAPTER VII
The prophet begins this chapter with lamenting the decay of
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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, 1, 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, 3-6. See Mt 10:35-36.
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 favour in future times,
when they should triumph over their enemies, 7-10.
The prophet upon this resumes the discourse, and predicts their
great prosperity and increase, 11, 12;
although the whole land of Israel must first be desolated on
account of the great wickedness of its inhabitants, 13.
The prophet intercedes in behalf of his people, 14.
After which God is introduced promising, in very ample terms,
their future restoration and prosperity, 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, 18-20.
NOTES ON CHAP. VII
Verse 1. 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 Ho 9:10, and Am 8:1-2. 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Mic 7:1-2. Wo is me, &c. — Judea, or…
Mic 7:1-2. Wo is me, &c. — Judea, or rather the prophet himself, is here introduced as complaining, that though good men once abounded in the land, there were now few or none to be found. I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, &c. — I am like one who gathers up the ears of corn after the harvest, or grapes after the vintage: who meets with very few. There is no cluster, &c. — Good men, that used to be found in clusters, are now as the grape-gleanings of the vintage, here and there a berry. No societies of pious men are to be found, assembling together for the purposes of devotion and mutual edification: those that are such, are individuals, unconnected with, and standing aloof from each other. And these are but very imperfectly pious, like the small withered grapes, the refuse, left behind, not only by the gatherer, but by the gleaner. My soul desired the first ripe fruit — I wish to see such worthy good men as lived in the former ages, were the ornaments of the primitive times, and as far excelled the best of the present age, as the first and full ripe fruits do those of the later growth, that never come to maturity. To meet with such as these would be a refreshment, to me like that which a thirsty traveller receives when he finds the early fruits in the summer season. The good man — Hebrew, חסיד, the pious, kind, merciful, and beneficent; is perished out of the earth — Rather, out of the land, namely, Judea. There are few or none that are so truly and consistently pious as to delight in doing good to others, or making them as happy as lies in their power. And there is none upright — “As the early fig, of excellent flavour, cannot be found in the advanced season of summer, or the choice cluster of grapes after vintage, so neither can the good and upright man be discovered by diligent searching in Israel.” — Newcome. They hunt every man his brother, &c. — They make a prey, each one of his neighbour, or those they have to do with, and use all arts to deceive and injure them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Woe - o is me! for I am, as…
Woe - o is me! for I am, as when they have gathered the summer fruits , as the grape-gleanings of the vintage “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts,” Isaiah said at the same time, “is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plants” Isa 5:7. Isaiah said, brought forth wild grapes; Micah, that there are but gleanings, few and poor.
It is as though Satan pressed the vineyard of the Lord, and made the most his prey, and few were left to those who glean for Christ; “the foxes have eaten the grapes” Son 2:15. Some few remain too high out of their reach, or hidden behind the leaves, or, it may be , falling in the time of gathering, fouled, sullied, marred and stained, yet left.” So in the gleaning there may be three sorts of souls; “two or three in the top of the uppermost bough” Isa 17:6, which were not touched; or those unripe, which are but imperfect and poor; or those who had fallen, yet were not wholly carried away. These too are all sought with difficulty; they had escaped the gatherer’s eye, they are few and rare; it might seem at first sight, us though there were none. There is no cluster to eat; for the vintage is past, the best is but as a sour grape which sets the teeth on edge.
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My soul desired the first-ripe fig. These are they which, having survived the sharpness of winter, ripen early, about the end of June; they are the sweetest ; but he longed for them in vain. He addressed a carnal people, who could understand only carnal things, on the side which they could understand. Our longings, though we pervert them, are God’s gift. As they desired those things which refresh or recruit the thirsty body, as their whole self was gathered into the craving for that which was to restore them, so was it with him. Such is the longing of God for man’s conversion and salvation; such is the thirst of His ministers; such their pains in seeking, their sorrow in not finding. Dionysius: “There were none, through whose goodness the soul of the prophet might spiritually be refreshed, in joy at his growth in grace, as Paul saith to Philemon, “refresh my bowels in the Lord” Phm 1:20. So our Lord saith in Isaiah, “I said, I have labored in vain, I hate spent my strength for nought and in vain” Isa 49:4. “Jesus was grieved at the hardness of their hearts” Mar 3:5.
Rib.: “The first-ripe fig may be the image of the righteous of old, as the Patriarchs or the Fathers, such as in the later days we fain would see.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Figs, which are the worst. (St. Jerome; St. Ambrose…
Figs, which are the worst. (St. Jerome; St. Ambrose in Luke vii. 3.) Yet they were eagerly sought after, before the other figs came to maturity. They had escaped the rigours of winter. Such Christ (Calmet) seemed to expect, Mark xi. 13.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain See Mic_6:1 ff for the passage comments with footnotes.
See Mic_6:1 ff for the passage comments with footnotes.
Chap. 7. Mic_7:1-6. The Lamentation of the People. As appears from the subjoined transitus, Mic_7:7, and especially Mic_7:8, where the holy common wealth is manifestly thought of as speaking, the speaker here is the prophet, not so much as prophet, but as organ of the ideal person, the true Israel; like Isa_59:1 ff; Isa_60:1 ff., where the prophet identifies himself with the true Israel, personified throughout Isaiah 40-66. under the name of the Servant of Jehovah. Israel must confess that God, in his bitter complaint (Mic_6:9 ff.), is just. In the later prophets this view is presented in a still more concrete form, when they personify the true Israel in the angelic character of the maleach (messenger) who represents the people before God, and receives from God the words which He has to communicate through the prophets to the members of the people, his members (Zec_1:12; Zec_1:14). Daniel, having shaped this personification of the ideal Israel to the image of a heavenly Son of Man, to whom the dominion of the world is assigned (Dan_7:13 if., cf. Dan_7:27), and having given both to this heavenly and to the earthly Israel the name of the Messiah (Dan_9:25 f.), furnishes the basis for the New Testament deyelopment, in which Christ appears on the one hand as a name of the people of Israel (Heb_11:26, cf. Heb_7:25), then as the Son of Man descended from heaven, and He in whom all the promises given for Israel are combined.—Woe is me! thus begins the lament (cf. Job_10:15), for I am become as a gathering of the harvest, as a gleaning in the vintage. Were these words the words of the prophet, the sense would be obscure, and hence from ancient times the conjecture has been proposed, that the two substantives were to be regarded as participles; like gatherers of the fruit, like gleaners of the vintage. But the pointing by o under Aleph, utterly precludes this view, which has also been rejected by the most exact interpreters, from Ben Izaac down to Hitzig. Caspari: It has happened with me as with one who at the harvest time seeks early figs. But neither does היה mean “it has occurred to me,” for the passage Isa_1:9, quoted by Caspari, proves nothing like this, nor does this latter special limitation, the seeking of early figs, lie indicated at all in the general designation קַיִץ (Amo_8:1); but if figs and grapes are meant at all, the thought that the prophet finds none would be very unsuitably expressed by the harvest, where they find many figs, and by the gleaning of the vintage, where they still find some clusters left. A clear understanding results here only from the position before assumed, that the personified Israel himself speaks through the prophet: I am become like gleanings of the harvest (the plural stands for symmetry with the following plur. tantum, עללת). as gleanings of the vintage, i. e., I am so entirely gleaned that there is no cluster any more to eat; for an early fig, which was particularly relished (Jer_24:2; Isa_28:4), my soul pants.
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Mic_7:2. What Israel intends by the clusters, and early figs, which he would so gladly find with him, but which have been snatched away (cf. Isa_33:4), appears from this verse; gone is the pious man; (collect, for the pious, חסידים, possessors of the chesed, the grace, who by their conduct show themselves worthy of the grace, and who taken together are the true Israel (Psa_16:10)—from the earth, and an upright man is no more to be found. It lies in the nature of prophecy that it should extend its immediate horizon over the whole world. And in fact, when the righteous have already died out of Israel, how should it be with the heathen who have not God’s word? (Luk_23:31). All lie in wait for blood (Psa_10:8 ff.), each for his neighbor they hunt with the net. In the phrase “each for his neighbor,” which has usually a quite general signification : alter alterum, there lies here a special emphasis; those who lie in wait for each other are brethren, creatures of one God, sons of one forefather (Mai. Mic_2:10), and bound by the law to love each the other as himself (Lev_19:18).
Mic_7:3. The first three words form a parallel to the sentence just closed : for evil the hands are stout, and they are not with some Rabbins, Rosen-müller, and Ewald, to be connected with the following. להטיב stands for verbo finito, as Mic_5:1; Pro_19:8; 2Ch_11:2, and הטיב in the intrans. sense, to be joyful, glad, spirited (cf. Mic_2:7; Pro_15:13; Gen_4:7); cf. the parallel sentence : their feet run to evil (Isa_49:7). It would be still more suitable to the primary meaning of הטיב as well as to the connection with what follows, to propose as the sense of the phrase : upon evil they look favorably, are friendly to it; but then we should have, instead of כּפים, hands, לב or פּעם, Hitzig: only the evil do they practice well; which is the same as : for the evil alone have they hands, while if anything good is to be done, they have none for it. But this sense does not lie in his translation, which’itself breaks down upon the על. Cocceius (Lex., p. 304): Super malo sunt manus ad bonum faciendum, i. e., fingunt et plasmant malum, ut bonum videatur. Similarly Umbreit, Keil, Caspari. But this sense הטיב nowhere has. Hence the two last offer ajso the alternative translation, to do it well; which coincides with Hitzig’s. The corruption rests on a compromise of the ruling classes, and so on the worst moral vileness; “the foundations are destroyed” (Psa_11:3); the prince demands some deed of violence, דָּם (Mic_7:2), and the judge for a price from the princes may be bought (or says : For a price !); and the high-born: he speaks out the desire (Pro_10:13; the other sense: “ruin,” destroys the connection) of his soul; and together they extort it; each one gives his part, sothat a עָבוֹת, a dark web of intrigues, a snare for the victim, results.
Mic_7:4. Their good man, i. e., the best among them (Ewald, 313, c), is like a thorn, the most upright worse than a hedge (of. 2Sa_23:6). That will all be proved, for in the day of thy seers, in the jom Jehovah, God’s judgment day, which all thy prophets (elsewhere rather partic. Kal צֹפִים, Jer_6:17; Eze_3:17) have so constantly proclaimed, when thy visitation comes (this sentence is likewise a more definite limitation, a second stat. absol. to jam, cf. Psa_56:4; Psa_88:2) then wilt thou be ensnared by them. According to the suffix in the previous member, תחיה is not third fem. (then will be her perplexity), but a second masc. in the address to the people, and the sense (cf. Isa_22:5) is, that Zion, in the day of God’s judgment, cannot free herself from the machinations of those seemingly respectable men who are really thorn hedges, but will be caught as a victim (cf. Gen_22:13; Nah_1:10.)
Mic_7:5. From that it follows that now what is otherwise a token of the greatest moral decay, in a land, must be practiced of design and for self-defense : trust not in a friend; “he takes no notice of the fact that those to whom he calls are themselves, in the same relations, without love and fidelity” (Caspari), Rely not on the most trusted; from her who lies in thy bosom, thy wife (Deu_13:7), keep the doors of thy mouth. “The prophet mentions only the treachery of the wife against her husband, because his discourse is addressed to the men as genus potius; because the wife can much more easily prove treacherous to the husband than vice versa, since the man stands preeminently in relations which allow treachery; and because, finally, the wife is subject to the man, and so in a higher degree pledged to fidelity than he (?)”—Caspari.
Mic_7:6. Friendship and love are no longer securities for confidence, for even the relation of natural piety is lost in an unnatural perversion : the son makes a fool of his father [?] (Deu_32:15; Jer_14:21); the daughter stands up as a witness against her mother (קוּם בּ, as Psa_27:12); the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the man’s enemies are his servantsביתואנשי “men of his house” are not his relations, who live in his house, but the company of servants: (Gen_17:23-27; Gen_39:14). The connection of Mic_7:4 with 5 and 6 shows how appropriately this description is again employed (Mat_10:35 ff.; Luk_12:53) as a sign of the last days (cf. also Mat_14:10 ff.).
Mic_7:7-8. Transitus. The true Israel shudders not in this time of need. He knows well that for him the promise cannot be broken, and that through the confusion of the judgment God’s light must break. By the ואני as also the long preserved space between Mic_7:8-9 shows, these two verses are appended as a conclusion to the foregoing, while yet they constitute by their contents and psalm-like tone,—a structural peculiarity, common to the prophets—the transition to what follows: but as for me I look out for God. Both aspects of the spirit which speaks in the prophets appear in this “looking out,” in that he both as prophet looks out for, strives to anticipate, the fortunes of the future, the coming of God for salvation, and also as the spirit of the true people of God confidently trusts in this coming help (Psa_5:4; Heb_2:1). Prophecy and faith are correlatives. I will wait, the Opt. indicates that the word is an exhortation to his own soul (Ps. 42:12), for the God of my salvation, the God on whom my salvation rests; this also being a psalm-tone (Psa_27:9). My God will hear me, and his hearing is an active, effectual hearing.
Mic_7:8. Hence results immediately the apostrophe to the enemy, the world-power which (Mic_4:10) is called Babylon, to which the chastisement of Israel is committed: She must not regard this condition of chastisement as a perpetual thing. Rejoice not, my enemy; the pleonastic לי, which strengthens the emphasis, is likewise appropriate to the psalm style (Psa_25:2, et sœpe).1For if I fall, I rise again, I fall only to rise again.—The conditionally gains energy by the parataxis without particles (Pro_18:22; Ewald, 357; 6). The second כּי, as is shown also by the change of tenses, is temporal and not for additional confirmation. When I sit in darkness, a common figure for the affliction caused by God’s judgments (Isa_8:2-5; Isa_9:1; Isa_50:1 ff.); then is Jehovah my light (Psa_27:1); and this light cannot remain concealed, but must actively manifest itself.
Mic_7:9-10. With this transitus the psalmody is begun which sounds on through the whole lyric period which follows (Mic_7:9-20). This describes (in the form of a prayer, with hope and supplication, announcing and celebrating the completion of God’s doings with his people), the coming of the kingdom of light after the darkness, and is thus the fulfillment of the final clause of Mic_7:8; when I sit in darkness then is Jehovah my light. The position is an ideal one. As Mic_7:1, Israel, on account of his deficiency in righteous men, felt that the worst abominations were maturing, and with them the judgment, and by gradual approach stood finally (Mic_7:7 f.) in the crisis of the judgment, so he proceeds now in spirit through judgment, and exile to salvation. His language turns in a constant alternation, swaying lyrically (cf. Psalms 116.), now toward himself, now toward the offended and forgiving God, now toward the enemy who is to be judged (cf. Mic_7:8).
Mic_7:9. The indignation of Jehovah will I bear, with this humility (cf. Mic_6:8) and submission to the will of God, the germ of salvation is already given; when God’s will is accepted as their will the sorrow ceases to be sorrow. For I have sinned against him. Humiliation under sorrow flows from the recognition of sin; the sorrow must be recognized as indignation, that is, as the manifestation of God’s righteousness (Psa_51:6). Such recognition moves his heart, which cannot fail to answer the call of his people; and this confidence gives Israel a joyful courage to endure until he, as he surely must, shall maintain my cause. Instead of standing my foe, as now, in the suit (Mic_6:1), He will make my cause against the heathen his own (Psa_35:1; Psa_43:1), and secure for me my right (Psa_9:5). To the light will he bring me forth, out of the darkness of captivity (Psa_68:7) as once out of Egypt (Deu_8:14). I shall see with pleasure (בּ) his righteousness, for even the deliverance of the sin-laden people is righteousness, because it is a fulfillment of the ancient promises (cf. on Mic_6:5).
Mic_7:10. And that shall my enemy see with pain (cf. on Mic_7:8), and shame shall cover her. The verbs are not indicative, therefore not direct announcement, but jussive: the prophecy of supplicating confidence. Her who saith to me: Where is Jehovah thy God? on whose help thon hast rested thy hope (cf. Psa_69:10; Psa_115:2). This is the point of view from which Israel’s cause becomes a controversy for God. My eyes will look upon her with pleasure—on the sharpened Nun, cf. Ewald, 198 a—and she will be trodden down as mire in the streets. The last Qamets in מרמס is shortened into Pattach, on account of the coming together of two tone syllables (ef. Isa_10:6). From the enemy the discourse turns off—
Mic_7:11-13. While the representative element gives way more to the prophetic, and announces salvation to the holy community. It is a day (so De Dieu, Hitz., Casp.) to build thy walls. The anticipation of the exile goes forward, and from the certainty of the threatenings (Mic_3:12; Mic_4:10), the prophet expects (cf. Mic_7:7) the restoration of Jerusalem. To take this whole first member, not independently, but as a designation of time to the second (“on the day when thy walls shall be built, will,” etc.) is forbidden by the ההוא in the second member; besides, that view would require the reading יום הבּנוֹת. At the bottom of the figure of wall-building lies the conception of the vineyard (Isa_27:2 ff.; Psalms 80.); גּדר is the inclosing wall of a vineyard (the wall of a city is הוֹמה). In that day will the law be far removed. The Rabbinic Exegesis, and with that those among recent Christian interpreters who are influenced more or less by the legal spirit of the Rabbins, have been obliged at this passage to have recourse to rationalistic evasions. According to the Targum and Hengstenberg, חק should mean the statutes imposed by the heathen oppressors; but this is not even remotely suggested by the connection, and the passage cited from Psa_94:20 testifies rather for the opposite view. Caspari would have it mean that then the boundaries of the land of Israel shall lie in the far distance, be extended far beyond the original compass; but what should the walling around (Mic_7:11 a) mean if the border is abolished? That would be directly contrary to the figure. Keil : The limits between Israel and the nations, the law of Israel’s exclusiveness shall be abolished. But why this limitation to one particular law? חק is the law in its widest and most general sense (Psa_99:7; Psa_148:6; Exo_15:25), and as it is unquestionably the doctrine of the New Testament, that in the time of the Gospel the fence of the law is broken down (Eph_2:14), so there is the less ground for denying to the prophet this meaning in our passage, because the whole context has left the historical ground far behind, rising to the ideal height of a spiritual contemplation, and because Jeremiah also, in a like connection in the famous passage (Jer_3:16), prophesies a like triumph over the legal position (cf. Isa_45:1 f., and, in our prophet himself, Mic_6:6 f.) We may designate our passage as exactly the text of Jeremiah’s great prophecy (Jer_31:31 ff.) concerning the new covenant. The parenthetical view therefore of the words ירחק חק (“in that day—far distant is the term—in that day,” etc., De Wette, Ewald, Umbreit), is to be rejected.
Mic_7:12. In that day, unto thee, the restored Zion,—the ו of the apodosis after the elliptical protasis to designate the time, as Exo_16:6 f.; Ewald, 344 b,—will one come from Assyria, and also the cities of Egypt will come; not merely the scattered believers of Israel, who already (cf. Mic_7:11) will have founded the new structure, but also the heathen peoples will be added (Psalms 87.), and Assyria the scourge, first of all, but also the cities of Egypt, which here, as Isa_19:6; Isa_37:25, received the poetical name Mazor, instead of the usual Mizraim. She stands forth as the second world-power, on the other side of Israel from Assyria (cf. Zec_10:11), and the cities are particularly regarded, as prœcipua membra of the land of culture, even in Jehovah’s Messianic prediction (Isa_19:18). Yea, from Egypt even unto the Euphrates, and even unto the sea from the sea, from the Western, Mediterranean to the Eastern, Persian Sea (cf. Joe_2:20), and from the mountain to the mountain, from Sinai in the south to Lebanon in the north, sc. will they come to thee. ים and ההר are local accusatives, and the induction of a great extent of country by the antithesis of the quarters of the compass is a common turn of discourse (cf. Amo_8:12). The prophet’s enumeration confines itself, as was natural, to what was suggested by history and geographical position, and indeed with a special horizon, having reference to Gen_13:14 f.; but in the specification of the points of the compass lies potentially the universality of the plan of salvation (cf. Gen_4:1-2). The same thought is expressed with greater clearness and smoothness by Isaiah (Isa_19:23). But with cutting sharpness the prophet here also—
Mic_7:13. For the last time connects with the promise the contrast of the judgment: but the land (we may understand, either with Caspari, from Mic_7:2, Canaan, which extends itself before those that flock unto it, or, with Keil, the whole earth, out of which those who seek deliverance crowd hither) will he waste on account of its inhabitants (cf. Mic_6:11), because of the fruit of their doings. For just in Zion alone, the seat of God’s congregation, will be deliverance (Oba_1:17; Joe_3:5), and this Zion is not the present, which itself is then destroyed (Mic_3:12, coll. Mic_4:1), but a spiritual, living Zion. So salvation and judgment lie side by side (Isa_45:24).
With that strikingly sudden turn, the occasion is given for the last supplication (Mic_7:14-17), which the prophet utters in the name of the congregation.
Mic_7:14. Feed thy people, who after the terrors of the judgment need the shepherd’s care, which also according to the promise (Mic_7:3) was to be given, with thy staff, the mark of the shepherd (cf. Zec_11:4 ff.); the flock (Psa_95:7) of thy possession (Psa_28:9) who dwell alone, whom thou hast as it were separated from among the nations, and whose distinction it is from of old that they, separately from the nations, belong to thee alone (cf. Num_23:9; Ps. 4:9, where לבדד belongs to the verb). שׂכני an old form instead of the scat, constr. (Oba_1:3). “Accusativus habitantem notat passionis non objectum sea effeclum, tit acervos desolatos” (Jer_37:2-6). Ch. B. Michaelis. In the forest in the midst of Carmel let them feed; in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. The kingdom of Zion shall extend over the whole desolated land, as was denoted by the enumeration of the east and west, as Psa_40:9. That both regions named belong to the Ten Tribes may be accidental, but is better regarded as a commentary on Mic_7:13, in such sense that, as the desolation of the Ten Tribes began sooner, so will it continue longer than that of Zion, that it lies waste while Zion has been built up. The phrase, “in the forest in the midst of Carmel,” is not to be dragged back to the preceding, where it would be a useless, obscure, and halting addition, but to be connected with the second half of the verse, as the parallel passage (Jer_50:19), which evidently rests on this, still more clearly shows. By “the days of old” are hardly meant the days of Uzziah, as Movers supposes, but those of Itevid, as the normal period of the unity of the kingdom (cf. on Mic_7:2).
Mic_7:15. As in that passage so here, the prophet’s glance, while he quotes God’s2 answer, confirmatory of the prayer in Mic_7:14, goes still further back; as in the days when thou, Israel, earnest out of the land of Egypt (Psalms 114.), will I to them, thy people, show wonders of graceנפלאות are the special manifestations of God’s mercy, often in opposition to the course of nature (Exo_3:20), which will be repeated in the age of salvation (the Messianic age) (Exo_9:5). As the supplicating people in Mic_7:14 spoke of itself in the third person, עַמְּךָ, so God in the first member here addresses it with thou, but in the second, speaks of it in the third person; “thou” is the present Israel, “he” is the Israel of the future.
Mic_7:16. The old impression upon the heathen resulting from God’s wonderful deeds in behalf of Israel (cf. Exo_15:14 f; [Jos_2:9 ff.]) is to be repeated. The heathen will see it, those, namely, who even then remain rebellious (cf. on Mic_7:14), and be ashamed so that all their power vanishes (Eze_32:30). מִןὥστε μὴ εἶναι, as Isa_23:1,—will lay their hand on their mouth; extreme astonishment takes away the power of speech (Jdg_18:19; Isa_52:15)—their ears will be deaf “before the thunder of Jehovah’s mighty deeds (Job_26:14).” Hitzig.
Mic_7:17. The evil in them is overcome by the good, the serpent which reared itself against Jehovah is, like his type (Genesis 3.), by the eternal judgment, cast down to the ground; dust shall they lick like the serpent (Psa_72:9; Isa_49:23) creeping on the earth—properly: as those things which creep on the earth; כִּveritatis, as Isa_1:7. They shall tremble forth out of their hiding-places; to Jehovah our God (cf. Mic_4:5) shall they approach with terror [herbeizittern] (Hos_11:10 f), and be in fear before thee (Psa_40:4). With this the discourse passes over again to the congregation, and ends—
Mic_7:18-20, in a final lyric strophe (as Psa_104:32 ff; Psa_68:30 ff.; Rom_11:33 ff.). The wonderful deeds of God, exhibitions of power to the adversaries, which bring them to trembling submission, are for Israel deeds of mercy and truth, which open his month for an inspired cry, lay in his soul the spirit of free heart devotion (נדיבהרוח, Psa_51:14), in the production of which all God’s discipline, through law, deeds, and prophecy, culminates. Who is a God like thee! This also is borrowed from the triumphal ode of Miriam (Exo_15:11; cf. Psa_76:8). Whether there is any play here on the name Micah, must be left undecided. Forgiving iniquity and graciously passing over all transgression for the remnant of his people (cf. on Mic_2:11). Back of this and what follows lies the description of the compassion of God in Exo_34:6 f.; in the word עבר perhaps an allusion to the great act of mercy (Exo_12:12-13). He does not hold his anger forever, for he has his pleasure in mercy (Psa_103:9)
Mic_7:19. He will again have compassion on us (on the constr. vid. Gesen. § 142, 3 b), will tread down our iniquities, which rise up against us as enemies, and overpower us (Psa_65:4). Yea, he will cast into the depth of the sea all their sins, the prophet adds in confirmation, here also regarding the sins as foes, and intentionally alluding to Exo_15:10.
Mic_7:20. Thou wilt show truth to Jacob, wilt maintain for the descendants what thou hast promised them in their progenitor, mercy to Abraham, who lives on in his posterity, and waits for the promise (Joh_8:56), and was not vainly called a father of a multitude. Thou wilt show to them the truth and grace which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of antiquity. The unity of the plan of salvation for Israel from beginning to end (for the mercy and truth of God are the scarlet threads which run through it), is the thought with which the prophet, placing himself at the culminating,point of revelation, concludes. This perspective has been expanded only from the point of view of the New Testament (Mat_25:34).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
God has entered into a covenant relation with Israel, dating (Micah 7:21) from the days of the patriarchs. Hence, while His judgments roar against the heathen, unproclaimed and without pity, to Israel He first demonstrates his guilt, and that by setting before Himself and the people alike the eternal principles which He has given in His revelation by word and deed, and in the face of these proves to Israel that He lias kept His truth, but that Israel has broken the covenant and become guilty. This conviction He secures before the punishment, that the latter may not prove an annihilation, but be made fruitful of improvement. Eor such fruit results from the punishment, provided the latter turns the sinner in upon himself, and when it is borne with the consciousness that it is just. Only on this condition, finally, is forgiveness possible; yea (while it appears that the sin is too great to be possibly expiated by punishment), necessary according to the grace of God. To this end serves the controversy at law.
This begins with a reference to those original works of redemption by which God founded the congregation, and with marvelous exhibitions of favor called them to be his people. Thereby Israel from the beginning entered into an obligation to be specially consecrated to Him : I am the Lord thy God. This obligation was represented in an outward system of duties. The ceremonial cultns, however, is only a passing pedagogic stage. It cannot be regarded as the independent principle and soul of the relation, because it offers to God nothing which does not already belong to Him, and in consistency it would lead to ungodly murder. It must look beyond itself, and can furnish no couch of rest for the congregation. The regulative and substantial principle in the law is, rather, the moral kernel, the righteousness of the heart.
And according to this principle must Israel be judged and condemned; for, when God’s truth, appearing in judgment, looks around for wisdom (Pro_1:7) it perceives in every house the folly (Psa_14:1) of sinners, who would fain enjoy God’s blessing without purity of life. Therefore the greed and slavery of the sinner must become his punishment; to eat and not be satisfied, to labor and not enjoy the fruits, the miserable lot of involuntary servitude, is their normal end. Wherever like sins exist there is like punishment; no right of legitimacy can secure the kingdom of Judah against the fate of Samaria, if the ways here are the same as there.
Sent forth by God and his Spirit (Isa_48:16), the true Israel wanders through the ages, and struggles for embodiment. But the longer the time the less does present reality correspond to the character which he is obliged to demand of his members. According to this they should be a living possession, prophets and priests to God (Exo_19:5-6). Kay, he appears to himself now as a vineyard, a fruit garden which has been gleaned; of those who are now called Israelites he can scarcely recognize one as a member of his body. Not a blooming orchard is this people, not belted together by the bands of divine peace into one well-pleasing whole, but involved in the bonds of iniquity, which bind the chiefs of the people (Joh_7:48) together; so closely involved that in the day of judgment they cannot release themselves. The connection is external; inwardly, not the national bond merely, but all, even the most intimate relations of the family are utterly fretted away, and that will show itself in the worst outbreaks of alienation and discord.
But yet the true Israel knows that his time will come. Although he, with all his promises, is bound to the substratum of this neglected nationality, he knows still that when it has to be given up (Mic_5:2) to punishment, he with it will be given up only to redemption. In the darkness of their abandonment to the world, Jehovah is his light.
Hence comes that right disposition to endure, which the litigation was intended to produce: the endurance of the anger as a cross which we take upon ourselves without reluctance: I will bear; and the confident waiting for deliverance. He submits to be given up to the hands of the world-power, but nevertheless knows that in that day when God shall perform his promises, out of these heathen also all that are called shall enter into the new Jerusalem, which will be divested of all enclosure and narrowness; that if all lie in ruins the eternal kingdom of God will arise upon the ruins. Then will the Lord be the shepherd of the true Israel, now become actual and visible. He will march with might at the head of his own people. The adversaries, scattered and cast to the-ground, come trembling unto Jehovah whom they had despised.
That will be the great day of the forgiveness of sins, and of the infliction of punishment, which only the God of the true Israel can ensure, for he takes pleasure in compassion. And it must come because the compassionate God is a true and faithful God, and the Covenant made with the fathers can be broken by nothing which may come between.
Schmieder (Mic_6:4): Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, was a prophetess (Exo_15:20). Just as the deliverance out of Egypt, as beginning of the creation of the people of God, includes within it all the subsequent works of protection and redemption, so the three personages, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, are the types of the whole legislation of the entire priesthood and prophecy, therefore all God’s saving institutions for Israel (Mic_7:11 ff.). The day of vengeance upon evil is the dawn of the day of redemption and restoration for the congregation of the saints. This is the pervading doctrine of the whole Bible; with the flood comes the rain-bow to Noah, with the destruction of Pharaoh the deliverance from Egypt, with Saul’s death David’s glory, with the destruction of Jerusalem the new hope of Zion, with the fall of Babylon, the return of the Jews, with the judgment upon the heathen the return of the Jews.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Mirror of Evangelical Repentance
1. Everything is open and manifest before God; the dumb earth is his witness. Hide not thyself (Mic_6:1-2).
2. How much has He done for thee? Hast thou ever considered it 1 (Mic_6:3-5).
3. Thou hast outwardly taken part in his worship, mayest even have gone further in it than. was necessary. But how is it with thee inwardly? (Mic_6:6-7.)
4. Thou knowest his law, but thy life accuses thee (Mic_6:8-12).
5. Thou knowest that He is judge, and art acquainted with his judgments. But thy ways show that thou regardest them not (Mic_6:13-16).
6. Yea. Lord, I confess (Mic_7:1-6).
7. But I believe also; therefore will I fain bear thy judgments (Mic_6:7-9).
8. For I know thy promises (Mic_6:10-16).
9. And will celebrate thy great compassion (Micah 6:18–21).
Or: The History of the congregation in God’s light (Isa_2:15). Exordium: The light of God a light of judgment (Mic_6:1-2).
1. The selection and establishment of the congregation (Mic_6:3-5).
2. The legislation (Mic_6:6-8).
3. Sin (Mic_6:9-16).
4. The acknowledgment of sin (Mic_7:1-6). Transitus: The light of God a light of grace (Mic_7:7-8).
5. The return (Mic_7:9).
6. The experience of grace (Mic_7:10-20).
Mic_6:1. The heart of man is harder than a stone. The rocks could not but be moved by the gratuitous beneficence of God, and his complaint. Men remain unaffected, “If these should keep silence the stones would cry out.”
Mic_6:2. Is there greater condescension than this, that the Lord of heaven and earth, before whom none living is just, and who sees through and through everything, will not judge Israel, unless He have seen his sins and consented to it. How soon, O Christian, art thou ready with thy judgments! and allowest thy brother no time for reply, and hast no ear for him!
Mic_6:3. What God has done for us from our youth up is nothing but benefits. Therefore we should, even in painful experiences, know that the hour cometh, when we shall recognizc them as mercies from God. What the deliverance from Egypt was for Israel, that is for us the redemption from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. Thus have we become his holy people and possession.
Mic_6:4. A great benefit is it when God at the right time puts the right people at the head of the congregation. To such right people it pertains also that they should meet opposition.
Mic_6:5. Balaam came to curse, but when he sought God (Num_23:3), his curse was turned into a blessing. Whatever thou wotrldst do, forget not to seek God, that thou mayest do all as his instrument. To the upright He gives success. The end of all earnest meditation on the ways of God is that one perceives them to be righteousness.
Mic_6:6-8. A sermon in time of war. The people seek their God and thereby become conscious of their guilt. Then seeking is equivalent to atonement. Wherewith? (1.) Not with outward behavior. Fast-days help not, and the first-born who lie dead on battle-fields, atone not for the sins of the people. Rather (2) with the heart. Holy wars like those of David are scarcely waged any more, but it ought to be the case that wars should be waged holily. Those who are at home, however, should show mildness and modesty.
Mic_6:6. That is the way of sinful man, to excuse himself as if he knew not God’s word. Then we speak as if we knew not what He really demands (Luk_10:29 ff.). Or we capriciously form notions of God as if He demanded things which no man can perform. No heart is so lazy that it would not find out how to reach what is good (Pro_12:13).
Mic_6:8. If thou seekest God, ask thyself above all, What does God seek in me? To do right, κατεργάζεσθαι δικαιοσύνην (Act_10:39), is a hard piece of work, and whoever reflects upon it deeply perceives that no man alive is just before God. The power for that, however, comes from the loving mercy. Clemency towards our neighbor is doubtless intended (Hos_6:6), but the expression is designedly so put that we are obliged to think of the undeserved mercy of Him who first loved us. He who imagines that he loved first has not attained to the third thing, walking humbly. However much he may outwardly show humility, it is only a wretched gloss upon a puffed up and proud heart. And pride in the house of God is a miserable thing.
Mic_6:9. The voice of the Lord calls ever, but not ever in the same way; sometimes for invitation, again to judgment. He who hears not the former at the time must hear the other after the time. O that men would not always regard merely the rod of correction, but ever also Him who hath appointed it! They would then complain of nothing but their own sin.
Mic_6:10. It is a helpful means to repentance, to inquire carefully in regard to each of our physical and intellectual possessions, how we came by them. Trade is a dangerous art; but God condemns not the art, only the fraud which is practiced with it. The grain speculators, even in Micah’s time, received the first curse.
Mic_6:11. He also has false weight who judges not his neighbor with the same measure as himself.
Mic_6:12. It soon comes to pass with a man that he believes his own lies, in fact no longer knows what lies he tells, so that his tongue is a demon to itself, deceit is in his mouth. When it has reached that point it is no wonder that God (Mic_6:13) carries away him who is himself sin with his sin.
Mic_6:14. The covetous pines after what he desires even in enjoying it. The feeling of perpetual emptiness is no longer a sign of sin merely, but already of the judgment of God. Save what thou canst, thou canst save nothing from God.
Mic_6:15. The curse that man should in the sweat of his face eat bread may still be aggravated. God’s eye looks about indeed for wisdom (Mic_6:9), but what He sees is men who with eyes open run into destruction as if they would do it by force. Generation after generation heaps up the curse; woe to the generation oh whom it breaks! Then the sins of fathers and children lie on one head. How canst thou excuse thy faults by maintaining that thou hast been a tender father or mother toward thine own, when they yet are to bear the punishment of thy faults? Take care that thou heap up the reward for the good works which thou hast done; that is the best inheritance.
Chap. 7. As the true Israel to the people of Israel, so Christ stands to his congregation. There an invisible head with many visible members, who can however be such only in name, as being called Israelites; here likewise with Christians.
What Christ’s congregation should say in an evil time.
1. Her complaint, Mic_7:1-4 a. That the saints have grown few and iniquity abundant. The complaint bears most hard upon the princes according to their various responsibility.
2. Their fear, Mic_7:4 b–6. The day of God must certainly come, and that with fearful signs.
3. Their comfort.
(a.) They know on whom they trust, know his name, and his readiness to hear, his wounding and healing, and his nature, that he is light (Mic_7:7-8). Therefore they wait patiently in the darkness.
(b.) They know that right must remain right (Mic_7:9). Therefore they patiently endure wrong.
(c.) They know that to their adversaries an evil lot is appointed (Mic_7:10). Therefore they weary not.
(d.) They know what is before them, namely, that the evil and narrow is to be torn down, in order to build again well and wide (Mic_7:11-13). Therefore they complain not that it is torn down.
(e.) They know their shepherd’s voice and works from of old (Mic_7:15-18). Therefore they meditate on the days of old (Psa_77:6), and hold before him his Word.
(f.) They have a complete revelation of God’s nature, that He is the only, and a sin-forgiving, God, gracious and powerful over sin and faithful (Mic_7:18-20). Therefore, they celebrate and praise Him even in the most wretched time.
A pious soul is for the Lord a refreshment. That is not said, however, to puff up, but for the encouragement of those who love God. Who would not willingly prepare a delight for Him!
Mic_7:2. When once the saints die out of a land, there is soon manifested a whole abyss of abominable things, which they alone, through their life and prayers, have kept down. The prayers of the pious restrain the judgment.
Mic_7:3. How would God’s kingdom be promoted, if only the same activity, invention, and perseverance were applied to its objects, which are spent in works of wickedness.—Every judge ought to think that he has an office from God, and that God’s cause should be cheap to no one.—It is also a bad sign when in a land unbridled words prevail. Sins of the tongue increase also the burden. The further a man’s voice is heard, the more honestly should he guard his mouth.
Mic_7:4. It is a bad thing to draw others into one’s own matters and interests. Many a one has thought he did God service while he was making a party for the accomplishment of his own plans, and was only a snare for the day of judgment. God alone makes his parties for Himself; his programme is not theses, but the Holy Scriptures; his leader is the Holy Spirit. When He works not (and He works in truthfulness and peace, without any human addition, as a spirit of willingness, without any harm or calumny toward others), then all work is vain. All partisanship leads to the state of things described in Mic_7:5. How can the kingdom of God be built up, when its original foundation tears itself in pieces. It is written that Abraham went out from his kindred, but not that he stood up against them and mocked them.
Mic_7:7. Martha is careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. To wait is the strongest power, to pray is the strongest weapon; for they both have God for an ally; and when He hears it is also effectually heard.
Mic_7:8. He who falls without God never rises again. What a fearful darkness is that in which they must sit who have no God! And what is all darkness for us if we have God? The name of God is a light shining in the depth of the heart, and therefore cannot be extinguished from without.
Mic_7:9. The evangelical call to repentance results in the conversion of the will with hearty sorrow. Evangelical repentance is not doing but suffering. Works of repentance (satisfactio operis) are not pain but pleasure, therefore self deception, or, if they were not a pleasure, but were imposed by authority, against one’s will, they would be wholly useless, since then not the will of him who renders them performs them, but properly the will of Him by whom they are imposed. But the pain resulting from a clear discernment of the misery of sitting deservedly far from God in our misery, is an unspeakable grief; and he who has not felt it knows not yet what repentance is. It is so profound that if faith were not present (9 b), it must inevitably become despair.
Mic_7:11. Where life in the kingdom of God.must first be propped up by statutes, there is no life begun, but whitewashed death. The kingdom of God begins in a man with the law of liberty. The embracing wall which God draws around the new Jerusalem is He himself (Zec_2:8). That is a very wide room. There all the peoples of the earth have a place.
Mic_7:13. But this birth also takes place amid pains.
Mic_7:14. The shepherd of the new congregation is the Messiah (Mic_5:3). Therefore is her room also (against Mic_7:11) a very narrow, separate room; there, namely, where good pasture is for his sheep (Psa_23:2); the wilderness remains for the morally wild.
Mic_7:15. In the history of the kingdom, of God there is a constant similarity in the main lines. Naturally, for God is unchanging, and his doings always divine, wonderful.
Mic_7:16. When He once begins to work there is also an end of human power. Desire not to bring on yourselves the wonder!
Mic_7:17. How has the serpent revived in so many persons! The seed of the woman, Abraham’s seed, has become as the sand of the sea, but the other not less. The final biting of the heel and the final crushing of the head are not yet come.
Mic_7:18. In all tiie world for Him whose look sees highest over the world and into eternity, there is nothing so commendable as the forgiveness of sins. He who said: Thy sins are forgiven thee, could be no other than God, unless he were more criminal than Adam; for he exercised the highest prerogative of God.
Mic_7:19. The last short sting of repentance : Belongest thou also to the “remnant?” The “remnant” is lame and crippled (Mic_4:7); it needs the physician. God takes pleasure in mercy; what a look does that give us into the deepest heart of God! There no man sees a bottom, but as deeply as he can see, nothing but delight.
Mic_7:20. God has a long memory; and his blessing extends to the thousandth generation.
On Mic_6:1. Luther: People are wont, especially if they hear of the anger of God, to believe that it will not go so fearfully with them. Hence they allow themselves to suppose that in the midst of sin they may hope to find forgiveness and pardon, and may either laugh at the prophet’s threatening or despise it as human fiction. Such mistake would the prophet guard against when Re says, not that men should hear him, but the Lord; the Lord speaks, and not he.
Taknov: From men who would not hear, the discourse turns to the hills and mountains, that it may be heard.
Mic_7:3. Chrysostom: He calls those his people who would not call Him God; those who strive to take from Him the kingdom He treats not as haughty rebels, but invites them to Him mildly, and says: My people, what have I done to thee? Have I been burdensome to thee? Thou canst say nothing of that kind. But even if thou couldst thou shouldst not have fallen away from Him. For who is the son whom his father chastiseth not? But not once hast thou occasion to speak of that. Cf. Jer_2:5.
Mic_7:4. Michaelis: It is an ungodly thing to injure him from whom thou hast received no evil, much more ungodly still to injure the most bountiful benefactor.
Mic_7:5. Hengstenberg: That also is regarded as a part of Balaam’s answer which served as its practical guaranty.
Mic_7:6. Luther: God had commanded sacrifices. But He would receive them as certain testimony of obedience toward Him if they were not disobedient in much greater and more important things. But since they neglect the greater acts of worship, and perform the lesser and more irrational acts with so ungodly a purpose, namely, that the sacrifices should be a payment for their sins, God regards their offerings as an abomination, and mocks them.
Michaelis: They are not able to deny their sins, but practice hypocrisy when they offer sacrifices and outward things, but are unconcerned about repentance.
Mic_7:8. Luther: That is also a service which all men in every position can render.
Michaelis: It is the most excellent things in the law which Christ, in opposition to the purely pedagogic Old Testament portions of the law, calls. τὰ βαρύτερα τοῦ νόμου. There is nothing more humble or more humbling than faith.
Mic_7:13. Luther: We Germans have experienced such things through war.
Mic_7:1. Burck: This is a complaint. To the pious teacher, namely, it is sad, that the perverseness of human nature is so great, that not only are the ungodly not improved, but in some sort actually with design and exertion become daily worse. On this account, however, we ought not to let the calling sleep nor be neglected. For on the teachers lie two things, says Luther: first, that they save their soul, as Ezekiel speaks, secondly, that the evil world should have a testimony against it. “Had I not come and spoken,” said Jesus, “they had not had sin.” To this may be added the third most important cause, that when all others blaspheme, God’s name may be hallowed.
Schlier: The prophet proclaims to his people the painful confession of sin, that they may learn by that what is necessary. The confession of sin is followed by the confession of faith.
Mic_7:2. Luther: There is none that walketh rightly. Because, namely, he sees that all men, when it goes well and prosperously, live without fear of God, and in the highest wantonness. Again when misfortune comes, they either faint or betake themselves to carnal helps and means.
Mic_7:3. Therefore should rulers let sins in them be freely punished (for it is God’s command), but they should stand clear of sins.
Mic_7:7. Calwer Bible: Thus speaks the prophet, in the name of the little flock, to the ungodly opposers.
Michaelis: But I: that is an antithesis to the foregoing, and means: It is even so; all is getting bad; the righteous and fearful judgments of God hang over men’s heads; but what shall I do in such a state of things?:—despair, or murmur, or speak impatiently? Rather, etc. He does not allow himself to be led away by the wickedness of the great mass, and what is more, he does not throw away hope; although the deluge must come, know that God can save even in the deluge. The ground of his hope lies in God: the God of my salvation. He will certainly save me, who has from ancient times been my salvation, and who is called God of salvation. Isa_18:1; Hab_3:18.
Mic_7:8. Calvin: The feeling of divine grace in adversity is quite peculiarly comparable to the light, as when one who has fallen into a deep pit yet perceives a distant gleam of the sun when he raises his eyes. So should we also not be confounded, however dense and gloomy the darkness may be in our trials, but ever keep the spark of light glowing for us, that is, faith should ever raise our eyes upward that we may have a feeling of the divine goodness.
Mic_7:9. Luther: It may seem an amusing thing, that Basilius, in a letter in which he laments his mother’s death, says that this has happened because of her sin. But, truly, whoever thinks that even the most trifling misfortune has its source in this fountain, mistakes not, but lives nobly in the fear of God.
Calwer Bible: Even the pious can never except themselves from the general guilt, and must therefore also take their part of the general punishment, although they may live innocently from the world and before the world. Cf. 1Pe_4:12-19.
Michaelis; Until; that is twofold, first, the immovable patience of the congregation, secondly, the end of the appointed suffering.
Mic_7:10. Michaelis: They rejoice not so much over the destruction of enemies as over the assurance of the favor of God, whose name hitherto has been so much profaned by them.
Mic_7:12. Hengstenberg: It is not enough that the people of God be free from the slavery of the world; they become also the object of the longing of the nations, even the strongest and most hostile; the magnet which attracts them.
Mic_7:13. Luther: In these words we should notice the special diligence of the Holy Spirit, which sees clearly what sort of thoughts the wicked synagogue will have, that they will hope for a carnal kingdom, and despise the preaching of the Gospel on that account. Such an error, which not I only obscures the Kingdom of Heaven but utterly takes it away, the Holy Spirit would here anticipate and forestall.
Mic_7:14. Tarnov: With thy staff; not with the iron rod of Moses, but with thine, the leading of the Holy Spirit, with thy Word and Spirit; for these are the instruments of the kingdom of God.
Cocceius: With the staff the shepherd numbers his sheep, smites, leads them, points oui whither they should go, from what they should turn aside, where they should find pasture.
Mic_7:18. Michaelis: The congregation whicK here speaks through the prophet, is sunk in an abyss, while it contemplates the riches of the divine grace and mercy, which in the last times is to come upon it.
Mic_7:18 ff. Burck: The Holy Scriptures re veal a new, rich depth of the divine fullness, and a truly inexhaustible treasure of “indulgence.” There are no casus reservati.
Starke: Mic_6:1. Teachers and preachers in their teaching should not make a show of strange languages, or clothe themselves in the writings of Church fathers, or even in unprofitable fables, but should abide by God’s Word alone, and speak that. On the mountains and hills in particular was idolatry practiced, so that they had evidence of men’s ungodliness.
Mic_7:3. God earnestly desires the salvation of all.
Mic_7:4. We should remember not only the benefits which God has shown to us, but particularly those also which our forefathers have experienced.—The teaching and the governing office should be in accord with each other.
Mic_7:5. The wish of the enemies of the Church, to destroy it, has never succeeded.
Mic_7:6-7. Most powerfully does our own conscience bear witness to the necessity of a vicarious atonement, in that it cannot otherwise be pacified. It makes a great difference whether pious or ungodly people ask: How shall we appease God? Even with such works as God has commanded can He not be served, if they are performed by an impenitent man. By self-appointed acts of worship He is only angered the more.
Mic_7:8. Believe, love, and endure. As it is a great sorrow when men whom God has created and Christ redeemed, know neither God nor Christ, so, on the contrary, it is a great blessing, when we know from God’s Word, and perceive what is good, and what God demands of us. On the ground of ignorance, since we can know but will not, we cannot excuse ourselves.
Mic_7:9. A man sees only what is before his eyes, but God sees the heart. Those who will not give ear to God’s paternal admonitions must taste his sharp rod.
Mic_7:10. There are ungodly men who knowingly have in their house goods gained by unrighteousness. Such goods are not treasures, but a coal, by which the rest also that has been honestly gained shall be consumed.
Mic_7:11. A Christian householder should endure no false balance or false weight in his house.
Mic_7:12. Rich people who love unrighteousness, meet unrighteousness also as a reward. Covetous people are generally lying people also. Those who possess goods wickedly acquired commonly oppress the poor also with great violence and pride; covetousness is insatiable.
Mic_7:13. Here He begins to display the rod which He had commanded in Mic_7:9 to hear. God begins with lighter punishments, but when these do not secure improvement, He makes them heavier in proportion as they are more prolonged.
Mic_7:14. Famine is one of God’s greatest plagues. As the pious, in all their conduct, have God about, with, and for them, so the wicked, on the other hand, have Him against them.
Mic_7:15. If we would enjoy our labor, we must fear God and pursue piety, fairness, and justice.—Vet. 16. Subjects are often much more submissive to their rulers in their wicked requirements than in just and commendable regulations.—Mic_7:1. When teachers see no fruit of their labors, they should not straightway lay them down, but faithfully do their own part and commend it to God’s blessing.
Mic_7:2. Religion should not be judged by the lives of men. Cain has in all times his brother. Before God sends the general calamities on a land, He is wont to remove the pious people by death, that they may not see the evil. Those also who go about with secret plots and wicked practices are murderers before God, for He seeth the heart.
Mic_7:4. The ungodly believe not what is threatened them until they have it in hand; then they are utterly cast down and disheartened, so that they can counsel neither themselves nor others.
Mic_7:5. Christians ought to be prudent.
Mic_7:6. When men first give themselves up to carnal lusts, and lose sight of all shame and respect for God, then natural affection also commonly dies out.
Mic_7:7. See how strenuously he insists that he has a God, much as if the other crowd had no God. The wicked have a God, doubtless, but an angry God, a God of vengeance and not of salvation. He that would be secure against evil example must look to the Lord in obedience and patience.
Mic_7:8. God sometimes leaves believers also to stumble and fall, that they may be humbled, but He helps them up again.
Mic_7:9. The righteous complains first of himself.
Mic_7:10. God punishes not only the blasphemies which are cast upon Him, but the calumnies against his children also.
Mic_7:11. The preaching of the Gospel is the means by which God maintains and enlarges his Church.
Mic_7:13. The earth is the Lord’s, the men, however, are its guests and inhabitants.
Mic_7:14. God would have us pray to Him for the good things which He promises us. Believers have in Christ no want, but full enjoyment.
Mic_7:16. It annoys the wicked greatly, when they see that the Gospel is spread abroad in spite of them.
Mic_7:17. It is among the items of the great mystery, that the unbelieving world has believed the Gospel.
Mic_7:18. Not only is there no other God, but also there is in heaven and on earth no such loving-kindness to be found as with God, who forgiveth sins. God is not so compassionate as to have no anger, but only so that He holds it not forever. Sin is Satan’s work, forgiveness God’s.—Var. 19. The sea is the blood of Jesus Christ. God not only forgives sins, but gives us the power also to subdue sin.
Mic_7:20. As God Himself is truth, so also is his Word truth, on which we may confidently rest.
Pfaff: Mic_6:6-8. Ye cannot excuse yourselves, ungodly men, as not having known the will of God. As clearly and richly as this has been made known to you, as many corrections, from the Good Spirit as ye have received in your souls, so often has conscience in you been awakened. But ye hold the truth in unrighteousness.
Mic_6:13. Public iniquity and deceit are certainly followed by heavy judgments; for the property gathered by them must become a disgrace (Mic_7:8). In the darkness of the greatest affliction, the pious still see the light, and find their pleasure in the Lord’s mercy, which is hidden in the cross.
Rieger: Ch. 6. (1) The forcible beginning, for the awakening of hearts, Mic_6:1-2. (2) The friendly direction, for the winning of hearts, Mic_6:3-8 (3) The sharp threatening against the sealed hearts, Mic_6:9-16. On Mic_6:6-7. As men now-a-days express their unreasonableness towards the service of God in spirit and in truth, when they say, One scarcely ever knows what one ought to do; they will be contented with nothing any more.
Mic_6:8. To conduct one’s self in all things earnestly, according to the divine and not the human standard, and in this to give to the Word of God its judicial power; to practice kindness with delight, and to walk in humble faith before and with God: in that light let each one consider his own heart and conscience.
Mic_6:9 ff. God has never accumulated presages of future events for the gratification of curious inquisitiveness, but to promote improvement at the present, thereby to render aid against unrighteousness.—Mic_7:1 ff. One must never rest satisfied with discourses and representations to men, but must support the public address by many words before and with the Father in secret; and if one will cover the unfruitfulness of the public labor with fatigue, one must refresh himself again by this intercourse with God.
Mic_6:2. For the righteous who doubtless yet remained it was a salutary prompting that they should not so conceal themselves (Pro_28:28), but be active also in the better spirit.
Mic_6:8 ff. There are always people who are glad to see it when the truth is so humbled, and her confessors brought into such straits, that it seems to be all over with religion, order, and discipline. They together make up the enemy that is hostile to Zion.
Mic_6:9. This makes one submissive under all the reproach upon the Church and her service, to observe that there is indignation at the bottom of it, that God thus withdraws Himself, and we no more attain to the blessing of former witnesses. But hope refreshes the heart.
Schmieder: Mic_6:3. This question of the conscience, cutting deep into the sinful heart, addresses itself still, and in a still more humiliating way, to the people whom the Lord has purchased with his blood. The liturgy of the Romish Church, on Good Friday, during the adoration of the cross (the so-called lamentations), has appropriated this complaint of the Lord to the holy people: “I led you forty years long through the wilderness, fed thee with manna, and brought thee into a good land, and thou hast therefor crucified thy Saviour. I planted thee as my beautiful vineyard, and thou hast become bitter for me, hast given me vinegar to drink in my thirst, with a spear hast pierced my side. For thy sake I scourged Egypt and her firstborn, and thou hast caused me to be scourged,” etc.
Mic_6:7. Not indeed, unless it is a sign of a heart offering itself to God.
Mic_6:8. Doing rightly is an exhibition of faith, complete devotion to God is the real spiritual burnt-offering. To love mercy toward others is the true daily meat-offering. To walk humbly, to be mindful that God is the Holy One, thou a poor sinner, that is the true spiritual sin-offering.
Mic_6:14. That is the curse of the covetous, that he is never satisfied; the blessing of God and contentment are wanting.—Mic_7:3. Thus ever the history of Naboth’s vineyard repeats itself. The prince demands it; since Naboth will not consent, judges are bribed, and the queen says what she lusts after; Naboth, though innocent, must die as a blasphemer; thus they weave the net.
Mic_6:4. The thorn, the hedge, is in the vegetable kingdom the type of what is evil, because it injures (2 Kings 14.; Judges 9.); as the vine, the olive, the fig tree are the type of the good, because they give fruit and shadow.
Mic_6:5 ff. Compare Mat_10:35 f., where by the use which our Lord makes of this prophetic office it is clear that the times of such domestic discord and insecurity, come then especially when, after the undisturbed dominion of evil, the Spirit of God arouses and enlivens the remnant of the pious, so that they with word and deed bear witness against wickedness, and contend with Satan. Then must the pious man contend and suffer for the Lord’s sake, but also watch lest he commit sin, and thus be rightfully chastised for his sin’s sake.
Mic_6:14. Since on Carmel, in Bashan and Gilead, was the best pasture, and since Israel is here compared to a flock, these good pasture grounds are here typically assigned to the people, while yet only the fruitful abodes in the land of Canaan are really meant.
Micah 6:18. That is the so-called angry God of the Old Testament.
Micah 6:19. Our misdeeds are our most dangerous enemy and accuser; but even this Satan will the God of peace subdue to Himself and us, and has already done it, if we trust wholly to Him who treads the serpent under foot. Happy he whose sin is buried (Rom_6:4).
Quandt: Ch. 6. Of Israel’s gratitude. (1) Israel’s unthankfulness for God’s previous mercy, Mic_6:1-5. (2) Mic_6:6-8. How Israel should thank God. (3) Mic_6:9-16. How God will punish thankless Israel.
Mic_6:1. The mountains and hills signify the prominent leaders of the people.
Mic_6:10. Cf. Amo_8:5-6.
Mic_6:11. Inquiry of the conscience terrified by the searching of the Lord. Not as if the grain-speculators actually inquired thus. But Micah wishes that they would so inquire, that they might come to themselves and repent.
Mic_6:12. The punishment of men on earth is never the ultimate end, but ever the means to the end of their conversion.—Ch. 7. Mercy glories over judgment.
Mic_6:2. The seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal were not wanting in Micah’s time either. But if one would picture the impression made by a barren landscape, he does not stop on the description of a flower or two which may bloom somewhere in concealment. The Redeemer also said universally: Ye would not, and leaves Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea out of the account.
Micah 6:20. God’s oath, on which Micah here at the end leans as on a rock, is that of Gen_13:16 ff. How God kept it, see in Luk_1:72-75.
[Matthew Henry: on Mic_6:4. When we are calling to mind God’s former mercies to us, we must not forget the mercy of good teachers and governors when we were young. Let those be made mention of, to the glory of God, who went before us, saying, This is the way, walk in it; it was God that sent them before us, to prepare the way of the Lord, and to prepare a people for Him.
Mic_6:6-8. Deep convictions of guilt and wrath will put men upon inquiries after peace and pardon, and then, and not till then, there begins to be some hope of them. Those that are thoroughly convinced of sin, of the malignity of it, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon. Men will part with anything rather than their sins, but they part with nothing, to God’s acceptance, unless they part with them.
Mic_6:9. It is a point of true wisdom to discover the name of God in the voice of God, and to learn what He is from what He says. Every rod has a voice, and it is the voice of God that is to be heard in the rod of God; and it is well for those that understand the language of it; which if we would do, we must have an eye to Him that appointed it. Every rod is appointed, of what kind it shall be, where it shall light, and how long it snail lie. The work of ministers is to explain the providences of God, and to quicken and direct men to the lessons that are taught by them.
Mic_6:16. If professors of religion ruin themselves, their ruin will be the most reproachful of any other; and they in a special manner will rise at the last day to everlasting shame and contempt.—Mic_6:1. Some think that this intimates not only that good people were few, but that those few who remained, who went for good people, were good for little; like the small withered grapes, the refuse that were left behind, not only by the gatherer, but by the gleaner. When the prophet observed this universal degeneracy, it made him desire the first-ripe fruit; he wished to see such worthy, good men as were in the former ages, were the ornaments of the primitive times, and as far exceeded the best of all the present age as the first and full-ripe fruits do those of the latter growth, that never come to maturity. When we read and hear of the wisdom and zeal, the strictness and conscientiousness, the devotion and charity, of the professors of religion in former ages, and see the reverse of this in those of the present age, we cannot but sit down and wish with a sigh, O,for primitive Christianity again! Where are the plainness and integrity of those that went before us? Where are the Israelites indeed, without guile? Our souls desire them, but in vain. The golden age is gone and past recall; we must make the best of what is, for we are not likely to see such times as have been.3
Mic_6:9. Those that are truly penitent for sin will see a great deal of reason to be patient under affliction.
Mic_6:15. God’s former favors to his Church are patterns of future favors, and shall again be copied out as there is occasion.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][Cf. Gram. and Text.—Tr.]
[2]This from of dialogue between god and the people is very common in the hymnistic style of the prophets; more particularly at the conclusion where the prophetic ecstasy has reached its climax. Hosea 14, e.g., cannot be unterstood at all without bearing in mind that we have a dialogue before us. This is the ענה, the solemn responsive song (Exo_15:21) at the time of the salvation, as Hosea (Micah 2:18 [Micah 2:16]) foretells.
[3][So good people have been wont to complain, in Church and State, since the Homeric heroes, at least, of the degeneracy of each generation, as compared with the preceding one. If such wailings were reasonable, what angelic piety and social virtue must have flourished three thousand years ago, and how dreadful to think of our posterity, three thousand years hence, looking back, over countless steps of deterioration, to us as paragons of lost perfection! This view of things is, rather, a lazy or helpless recognition of the remaining evil which it behooves each age to put away or diminish. As Henry himself says on Mic_7:9, “When we complain to God of the badness of our own heats.”—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain HOPELESSNESS OF THE NATION’S CONDITION, Mic_7:1-6.
HOPELESSNESS OF THE NATION’S CONDITION, Mic_7:1-6.
Scholars are not agreed on the person of the speaker in these verses; some think of the prophet, some of Zion, some of the “true Israel,” that is, Israel after the spirit. If there is any connection between Mic_7:1-6, and chapter 6, which is, to say the least, quite probable, it seems best to consider the prophet as the speaker. He attempts to describe “the desperate condition of the nation, anarchy, persecution, universal corruption of justice, the ties of society dissolved, even friendship and wedded love is no longer to be trusted.” If Zion is understood as the speaker the verses imply a humility and penitence out of place following immediately upon Mic_6:16; hence most recent commentators who make Zion the speaker deny the verses to Micah.
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In Mic_7:1 the prophet bewails, in figurative language, his sad and disappointing experience in preaching to the people.
Grape gleanings — He was looking for good clusters of grapes, but he found nothing but poor gleanings.
My soul desired the first ripe fruit — The context favors the rendering of R.V. margin, “nor first-ripe fig which my soul desired.” He looked for first-ripe figs (see on Hos_9:10), but found none.
The figures are explained in Mic_7:2-6. As he gazed about him he saw nothing but corruption and violence.
Earth… among men — Since the prophet is not thinking here of the whole earth, but of the land of Judah and its inhabitants, we should read “land” for “earth,” the Hebrew word having both meanings (otherwise in Mic_7:13). Good [“godly”] — This word is from the same root as that translated in Mic_6:8, “mercy,” R.V., “kindness” (see on Hos_2:19). Here the adjective has an active meaning, he who shows kindness toward his fellow men. Such men have disappeared entirely (Mic_3:2-3; Mic_6:10-16; compare Hos_4:1-2).
Upright — All have become crooked and corrupt.
They all lie in wait for blood — Anxiously they are looking for opportunities to commit robbery and violence; and to accomplish their desires they are quite ready to shed blood (see on Mic_3:10).
Brother — In the wider sense of “fellow citizen” or “neighbor.”
Hunt… with a net — They have quenched the instincts of love and sympathy; they are scheming continually to do harm to one another.
The interpretation of Mic_7:3-4 is very uncertain. To remove the obscurities various emendations of the text have been proposed. If the present Hebrew text is correct, R.V. presents a more satisfactory translation of Mic_7:3 : “Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together.” Following this translation the meaning seems to be:
Their hands — Literally, both hands. All hands are stretched out to do evil; selfishness rules everywhere, and all are bent upon satisfying their own selfish ambitions. The prophet now enumerates those whose guilt is the greatest.
Prince — See on Hos_3:4.
Judge — The one occupying a judicial position.
Great man — The man of wealth, power, and influence.
They weave it together — The three classes enumerated conspire together to carry out their evil schemes (compare 1Ki_21:13). How they work together is also indicated.
The prince asketh — Of the judge, to overlook a crime committed by a friend of the prince, or to condemn a man who has displeased him, though he may be innocent.
The judge… for a reward — The Hebrew has no verb; but if the present text is correct, R.V. undoubtedly reproduces correctly the thought. The judge is ready to accept a reward or bribe offered by the prince, and for such consideration he readily assents to the latter’s demands.
The great man… uttereth — The wealthy and powerful man freely makes known his desires, for he knows that his money and influence “talk,” and will secure for him the co-operation of others. Thus the nobles conspire together and rob and murder unhindered (compare Isa_1:21-23; Amo_5:12).
The best of them is as a briar — Which pricks, hurts, and injures. Corruption in Judah is so widespread that even he who stands out as the best and the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge (compare 2Sa_23:6; Pro_15:19).
Thus far the prophet has described the present hopeless condition; with the present deal also Mic_7:5-6. Hence the context would favor the interpretation of 4b also as dealing with the present. However, the text itself is generally thought to point to a future judgment. Song of Solomon 4 b be regarded as a marginal gloss based upon Isa_3:1-7?
The day of thy watchmen — The day foreseen by the watchmen of Jehovah or of Israel, the prophets (Isa_21:6); the day of Jehovah (see on Joe_1:15), a day to which the prophets preceding Micah refer quite frequently. This day is called “thy visitation” or “judgment,” because on it judgment will be executed on all the enemies of Jehovah. Cometh [“is come”] — The prophetic perfect (see on Mic_6:13).
Now — It is close at hand.
Their perplexity — The change from the second to the third person is not uncommon in prophetic discourse (G.-K., 144p.). The judgment will produce the wildest, confusion (Isa_22:5), so that they will not know what to do.
Some interpret Mic_7:5-6 as explanatory of “perplexity,” in the sense that “at the outbreak of judgment and of the visitation the faithlessness will reach the height of treachery to the nearest friends, yea, even to the dissolution of every family tie.” This interpretation is based upon the New Testament use of these verses (Mat_10:35-36; Luk_12:53). However, in the light of the context it seems better to regard the verses a continuation of 4a, describing, in the form of warnings, the awfulness of the present corruption. Friendship can be trusted no longer, truth and fidelity are unknown, all alike practice deceit.
Friend… guide… her that lieth in thy bosom — A climax. The friend (R.V., “neighbor”) is the person with whom one has ordinary, everyday intercourse; the guide (R.V., “friend”; margin, “confidant”), he to whom one is bound by closer ties of intimacy and friendship. Neither can be trusted any longer; and even the wife lying upon the bosom is not worthy of confidence, for she does not hesitate to betray her husband by revealing his secrets. “The closest ties of blood-relationship are trodden under foot, and all the bonds of reverence, love, and chastity are loosened.”
Dishonoreth — Literally, treats as a fool (Deu_32:15).
Men of his own house — These are not the persons already named, but others who formed a part of a Hebrew household, the servants (Gen_39:19; 2Sa_12:17-18).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. Woe is me …] The speaker in Mic_7:1-4,…
1. Woe is me …] The speaker in Mic_7:1-4, or at any rate in Mic_7:1, is not the prophet, but the true Israel, i.e. Israel within Israel, personified. He is like a garden at the time of the fruit-harvest, which has many delightful fruits, but of course no early figs; or, like a vineyard, after the grape-gathering. This the prophet expresses by saying that Israel is become ‘like the gatherings of the fruit-harvest, like the gleanings of the vintage,’ which in point of fact amount to nothing at all.
my soul desired …] Rather, ‘no early fig which my soul desireth.’
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Mic_7:1-6. These verses should be read in connexion with Chap. 6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Woe is me!—Micah gives here a fearful picture…
VII.
(1) Woe is me!—Micah gives here a fearful picture of the demoralised state of society in Judah which had called down the vengeance of God. As the early fig gathered in June is eagerly sought for by the traveller, so the prophet sought anxiously for a good man; but his experience was that of the Psalmist: “The godly man ceaseth; the faithful fail from among the children of men.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 1 Israel"s penitential acknowledgment of the general corruption.
Vers. 1 Israel"s penitential acknowledgment of the general corruption.
Woe is me!. (Job_10:15) Micah threatens no more; he represents repentant Israel confessing its corruption and lamenting the necessity of punishment. I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits; literally, I am as the gatherings of the fruit harvest. The point of comparison is only to be inferred from the context. At the fruit. harvest no early figs are to be found, and (in the next clause) after the vintage no more grapes; so in Israel there is none righteous left. The Septuagint gives a plainer exposition, Egenhyhn wv sunagwn kalamhn en amhtw , "I became as one that gathereth straw in harvest;" so the Vulgate, Factus sum sicut qui collegit in autumno racemos vindimiae, joining the two clauses together. My soul desired the first ripe fruit; better, nor early fig which my soul desired. The holiness and grace of more primitive times are wholly absent from this later period. (see Hos_9:10, where a similar figure is used; compare also Christ"s dealing with the barren fig tree, Mat_21:18, etc.) The first ripe figs were proverbially sweet and good. (see Isa_28:4 Jer_24:2; and Hosea, loc cit.)
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Vers. 1-13. The good in degenerate times.
We are not to understand these verses as referring specially to the prophet himself. In Mic_1:8, 9 we have his own lamentation in view of the prevailing ungodliness; here "the speaker is not the prophet, but the true Israel, i.e. Israel within Israel, personified" (Cheyne). God has never left himself without witnesses. Even in the most corrupt and degenerate times he has had a people to show forth his praise. It was so in the age to which this book of Scripture refers. Widespread though the depravity was, "a remnant" continued faithful, true, loyal to God and obedient to his will; and Micah here speaks simply as the mouthpiece of these, setting forth their sadness in view of the abounding wickedness, yet withal their unshaken confidence in the triumph of truth and righteousness; whilst then, as the prophet of the Lord, he declared that this confidence should not be disappointed, but the victory anticipated be most surely won. Notice here, concerning the Church of God
I HER BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT. (Vers. 1-6)
1. The desire for spiritual excellence was ardently cherished. This aspiration of the good is here expressed figuratively. "My soul desired the first ripe figs" (ver. 1). These were accounted the choicest and sweetest, and were very refreshing and very welcome to the weary traveller, and hence were chosen as the symbol of spiritual excellence. So elsewhere in the prophetical writings. (Hos_9:10 Jer 24) The meaning, then, is that the good longed for the prevalence of piety in the nation, and to see the people bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. This is the aspiration of the good in every age. As the sculptor ardently desires to see the rough block transformed into the perfect statue, or the artist to see the bare canvas before him covered with the creations of his genius, or the horticulturist to see the waste field transformed into a garden of delight, and bearing, in infinite variety, the flowers and fruits; so all good men yearn to see the spiritual transformation of the world. "My soul desired the first ripe figs" (ver. 1).
2. This ardently cherished desire was unrealized. (Ver. 1) The verse brings vividly before us the sense of disappointment arising from the spiritual barrenness and unproductiveness that prevailed in the land. The scene presented was not that of an abundant harvest, but of a land bare and barren, whose best days were of yore, in which so little good remained as to be but like gleanings when the vintage is over, not even a cluster remaining. "I am as when they have gathered," etc. (ver. 1). And as further illustrating this disappointment, a graphic description is given of the prevailing spiritual desolation.
(1) Mortality and martyrdom had impoverished the land in the removal from it of the tender, the trusty, the true. (ver. 2 Isa_57:1)
(2) Anarchy reigned, with its accompanying violence, treachery, and injustice (vers. 2, 3).
(3) The administration of justice had become a burlesque, its administrators working together, "wrapping it up," weaving it together so as to keep up the form, and to appear just, whilst really seeking their own selfish ends (ver. 3), and even "the best" amongst them being "hard and piercing," even as a briar, and "the most upright" being as "a thorn hedge which, set for protection, inflicts injury." (ver. 4).
(4) Friendship, "sweet"ner of life and solder of society," had become insincere and unreal; yea, even the most sacred relationships of life had become perverted, and natural affection sacrificed and changed to hate (vers. 5, 6).
3. This non-realization occasioned bitter disappointment. "Woe is me!" (ver. 1). A life of piety is marked by the experience of true joy. (Pro_3:17) Yet it is not always sunshine even with the good. "If we listen to David"s harp, we shall hear as many hearse-like harmonies as carols" (Bacon). And a very large ingredient in the cup of sorrow to the good is occasioned by the contemplation of the blighting effects of sin. As looking around them, and despite their endeavours to disseminate truth and righteousness, they see multitudes walking according to the world"s maxims, cherishing its spirit and reaping its sad harvest, sorrow fills their hearts, and they become desponding and sad. And hence the lament of the Church in view of her small numbers and the general corruption, as here expressed, "Woe is me!" etc. (ver. 1).
II HER UNSWERVING CONFIDENCE. (Vers. 7-10)
1. This confidence rested in God. "Therefore I will look unto the Lord" (ver. 7). In times of seeming non success in holy service we should cherish unswerving trust in the God of truth, and having faithfully discharged our duty, should commit the rest unto him.
2. This confidence as expressed in patient waiting for God. He had "spoken good concerning Israel," and had declared "glorious things" respecting Zion, the city of God. And in the dark days his servants were prepared patiently to wait for the fulfilment of these, even as she mariner waits for fair winds and favourable tide, or as the watchman waits through the long night for the coming of the day. "I will walt for the God of my salvation" (ver. 7).
3. This confidence was sustained by inspiring hope. "My God will hear me." So did hope cast her bow of promise across the stormy cloud and kindle the bright star in the dark sky.
4. This confidence triumphed even in the midst of adversity. The worm was very evil, and the good in the land were few. Iniquity, appeared to be victorious, and might to triumph over right. The hearts of the pious, full of patriotism and of the love of God, were sad; yet their reliance was unshaken and unswerving. Dark days were before them, severe chastisement must be experienced, and they would soon feel the rod of the oppressor and be exposed to the taunts of the heathen, who would mockingly ask, "Where is the Lord thy God?" But they could rest in the assurance that the Lord would be their Light in darkness; that he would interpose on their behalf, bringing them forth out of the gloom into the light covering their foes with shame, and vindicating his own righteousness. "Rejoice not against me," etc. (vers. 8-10).
III HER ASSURED VICTORY. (Vers. 11-13) In these verses, speaking, not as the mouthpiece of the good but prophetically as the seer, Micah delivers the assurance he was inspired by God to utter, and bearing upon the time to come. His words, as rendered in the Authorized Version, are somewhat obscure, but we gather from them that a brighter future should dawn upon the world sin had darkened and defiled, and of that glorious era he here speaks. And as his people, in the days when they "sat by the rivers of Babylon, and wept as they remembered Zion," and thought of the desolation sin had wrought, turned to these and similar assurances of the golden age yet to come, who can tell to what an extent they became nerved afresh and inspired with renewed courage and hope! Even so let those today who grieve, with the good through all ages, over the blighting effects of sin, rejoice in the prospect of the ultimate victory. "Lift up your heads redemption draweth nigh." Now death reigns and sin triumphs; but ere long grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Every throe of sorrow is bringing us nearer to the time of the world"s full deliverance from the power of evil. The triumph is sure. "The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." This suggestive paragraph closes with a note of warning. "Notwithstanding," etc. (ver. 13). There is a glorious future awaiting the Church of God, but meanwhile the work of judgment must be perfected. Notwithstanding the bright prospect here unfolded, sin will assuredly work its dire effects. The triumph of righteousness carries with it the defeat of unrighteousness. One of the poets sings of a bell suspended on the Inchcape rock, that the sound might warn the sailors of their nearness to danger; and tells how pirates cut the bell so as to silence the sound; and how that subsequently these same pirates struck upon the very rock which they had deprived of its means of warning them. Let us not thus treat this note of warning, but be constrained to "break off sin by righteousness," as it reminds us that "God is not mocked," and that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
HOMILIES BY E.S. PROUT Vers. 1, 2. A moral dearth in the land.
The prophet, speaking in the name of the godly remnant of the land, laments their terrible isolation. We are thus reminded of the sad condition of a land in which there is a dearth of good men. For:
1. They are the choice fruit of the land wholesome, fragrant, delicious. The ideal Israel is compared to "grapes" and "the first ripe in the fig tree". (Hos_9:10) The Lord "taketh pleasure" in such; they satisfy the hunger of the Divine heart for godliness in the creature. (Psa_147:11 Psa_149:4 Pro_11:20) So far as they share the spirit of Christ, they are, like him, "beloved of God," and should be attractive to men.
2. They are the salt of the earth the one element that preserves from universal corruption. The picture presented to us is the gradual dying out of the godly; they "cease", (Psa_12:1) they "perish". (Isa_57:1) Some few remain, "two or three in the top of the uttermost bough," which were not touched, or those unripe which were but imperfect and poor, or those which had fallen, "and thus were fouled and stained, and yet were not utterly carried away." The promise, "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children", (Psa_45:16) is no longer fulfilled. The sons and daughters of the godly do not rise up to fill their places in the Church The few godly survivors are heard lamenting and longing for the pious companions of former days; "my soul desireth the first ripe fig" (desiderio tam cari capitis). The fewer the good that remain, the more difficult it is for them to retain the fervour of their piety. Embers dispersed soon die out. It is hard to keep up a June temperature under December skies. From this dearth of the godly many evils follow. There is a loss of confidence, first in spiritual fellowship, and then in social relations (ver. 5). There is a loosening of the most sacred family bends. Depravity and degradation become deeper and darker (vers. 3, 4). The little remnant of God"s servants are increasingly depressed and discouraged: "Woe is me!". (cf. Psa_120:5 Isa_6:5) This results from constant contact with sin and from the heartsickness which it causes; "great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart". (Rom_9:2) Thus we learn:
a. The greatest calamity to a nation is not war, pestilence, or famine, but the withholding of the Spirit of grace to convert the hearts of men, and consequently the dying out of the righteous. The famine of bread is bad; the famine "of hearing the words of the Lord" is worse. But worst of all is the dearth of living witnesses for God in the land.
b. The winning of souls to God is the greatest wisdom and the most enlightened patriotism.
c. The welfare of a nation is bound up with the living God, the true Church, and believing prayer. E.S.P.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-6. The wail of a true patriot on the moral corruptions of his country.
"Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe fruit," etc. In these verses the prophet bewails the moral condition of his country. The picture he draws of its wickedness is a very hideous one. It answers not only to the character of the people in the reign of Ahaz, but to their character under the reign of other kings and in other times. Take the words as presenting the wail of a true patriot over the moral corruptions of his country. "Woe is me!" etc. He means to say, "It is with me as one seeking fruit after the harvest, grapes after the vintage; there is not one cluster." There are several things that he bemoans.
I THE DEPARTURE OF EXCELLENCE FROM HIS COUNTRY. "The good man is perished out of the earth." Who are the good men referred to here is not known. The statement is put in general terms, and may imply merely that there are no good men to be found in the country. Or do the words, as some think, point especially to Hezekiah, Josiah, or to good men unknown to fame? They had, however, departed. Whether they had emigrated to distant lands or gone into the great eternity, is not said. The latter is the more probable idea. In any case, the departure of such men is a great loss a loss which true patriots may well bemoan. Good men are the "lights of the world." They are the "salt of the earth." Their influence penetrates the mass, counteracts its tendency to corruption, removes its moral insipidity, gives it a new spirit a spirit pungent and savoury. They are the conservators of the good and the peaceful reformers of the bad. "Perished out of the earth." It does not say, "perished out of being." They had left the land, but not the universe. They were thinking, feeling, active still. There is a sense, indeed, in which they could not perish out of the land. Good men leave behind them principles, ideas, a character, which will live and spread and work to the end of time.
II THE RAMPANCY OF AVARICE IN HIS COUNTRY. The workings of avarice are Indicated in the latter end of the second and two following verses.
1. Here we have its working amongst the general community. "They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net." To get wealth for themselves was with them such a furious passion, that the rights and lives of others were disregarded. Their avarice was as ravenous as the passion of a wild beast. Nay, they looked upon men only as victims for their prey. Does not this avarice work thus in English society? Man has come to value man just in proportion as he can render him service, enrich his exchequer, and advance his aggrandizement. What nets are spread out in every street, in every mart and office, in every journal, in order to catch men! "They hunt every man.
2. Here we have its working amongst the higher classes. "That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up." The idea seems to be this that the "great man," the "prince," for some corrupt motive, seeks the condemnation of some innocent person; and the "judge," for a bribe, gratifies his wish. A judge from avarice will pronounce an innocent man guilty. All this is done very industriously "with two hands." The business must be despatched as soon as possible, lest some event should start up to thwart them; and when it is done "they wrap it up." "So they wrap it up." Avarice, like all sinful passions, seeks to wrap up its crimes. But the Authorized Version is probably wrong, and the rendering should be "they weave it together," i.e. join in plotting (see Exposition).
III THE MISCHIEVOUSNESS OF THE BEST IN HIS COUNTRY. "The best of them is as a briar: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." There is a gradation of wickedness of the men in the country, but the best of them is like a prickly thorn and worse than a thorn hedge. The prophet is so struck with this that the thought of retribution takes hold of him, and he says, "The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
IV THE LACK OF TRUTHFULNESS IN THE COUNTRY. "Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide," etc. "Place no faith in a companion; trust not a familiar friend; from her that lieth in thy bosom guard the doors of thy mouth. For the son despiseth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man"s enemies are the members of his own family" (Henderson). All social faith was gone; a man had lost all confidence in his brother. social scepticism and suspicion prevailed in all circles. No faith was to be put in a friend. The very lips were to be sealed. No confidence in the wife, no longer was she to be treated as an object of trust. No confidence in the son, the daughter, or the mother. The nearest relations were counted as enemies, "A man"s enemies are the men of his own house.
CONCLUSION. Such were the evils over which this patriotic prophet pours forth his lamentations. What right-hearted man would not bewail such a moral corruption in his country? Jeremiah said, "Oh that mine head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night!" etc. Paul said, "Would that I were accursed!" etc. Christ said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" etc. It is the characteristic of a true patriot that he feels a deeper concern for the moral state of his country than for its educational or commercial condition. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain There is no cluster to eat
Mic_7:1
There is no cluster to eat
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The unrevived church
The picture before the eye of the prophet is that of famine in the midst of plenty, want in time of harvest, sterility amid summer fruits, soul fasting and wretchedness in a season of external prosperity and fulness. The time of ingathering is at hand. And yet Israel knew not the day of Divine visitation; she had no appreciation of the golden fruit, no heart or no capacity to pluck and eat the ripe clusters. This is a truthful representation of the experience of very many Christians and churches. There is no heartfelt appreciation of Gods outward mercies, or of His gracious, spiritual manifestations. He comes to them in the summer fruits, and in the autumn vintage; but so dull are their spiritual perceptions, so vitiated are their tastes, so surfeited are they with the apples of Sodom and the wild grapes of sinful indulgence, that they know it not, and feel no hungering after righteousness; there is no cluster in all Gods vintage which they can eat. So have we seen souls in times of glorious revival, when sinners were pressing into the kingdom, and many souls were refreshed and full of rejoicing, unrevived, unblest, crying, Woe is me! There is no cluster to eat. So have we seen whole churches and communities left to darkness and desolation and death, while the mighty God had bared His arm for salvation, and was deluging the land with a wave of regenerating and sanctifying power. (Homiletic Monthly.)
My soul desired the first ripe fruit--
The joy of the harvest inaugural
The nation of Israel had fallen into so sad and backsliding a condition that it was not like a vine covered with fruit, but like a vineyard after the whole vintage has been gathered, so that there was not to be found a single cluster. The prophet, speaking in the name of Israel, desired the first fruit., but there was none to be had. The lesson of the text, as it stands, would be that good men are the best fruit of a nation; they make it worth while that the nation should exist; they are the salt which preserves it; they are the fruit which adorns it, and blesses it. But I take the text out of its connection, and use it as the heading of a discourse upon ripeness in grace. We can all say, My soul desired the first ripe fruit. We would go on to maturity, and bring forth fruit unto perfection, to the honour and praise of Jesus Christ.
I. The marks of ripeness in grace.
1. Beauty. There is no more lovely object in all nature than the apple blossom. Much loveliness adorns youthful piety. Can anything be more delightful than our first graces? Autumn has a more sober aspect, but still it rivals the glory of spring. Ripe fruit has its own peculiar beauty. What a delicacy of bloom there is upon the grape, the peach, the plum, when they have attained perfection! Nature far excels art. The perfumed bloom yields in value to the golden apple, even as promise is surpassed by fulfilment. The blossom is painted by the pencil of hope, but the fruit is dyed in the hue of enjoyment. There is in ripe Christians the beauty of realised sanctification which the Word of God knows by the name of the beauty of holiness. This consecration to God, this setting apart for His service, this avoidance of evil, this careful walking in integrity, this dwelling near God, this being made like unto Christ,--in a word, this beauty of holiness, is one of the surest emblems of maturity in grace.
2. Tenderness. The young green fruit is hard and stone-like; but the ripe fruit is soft, yields to pressure, can almost be moulded, retains the mark of the finger. The mature Christian is noted for tenderness of spirit. I think I would give up many of the graces if I might possess very much tenderness of spirit. An extreme delicacy concerning sin should be cultivated by us all.
3. Sweetness. The unripe fruit is sour, and perhaps it ought to be, or else we should eat all the fruits while they were yet green. As we grow in grace we are sure to grow in charity, sympathy, and love. We shall have greater sweetness towards our fellow Christians.
4. A loose hold of the earth. Ripe fruit soon parts from the bough. You shake the tree and the ripest apples fall. You should measure your state of heart by your adhesiveness, or your resignation, in reference to the things of this world. The master will not let his ripe fruit hang long on the tree.
II. The causes of this ripeness. So gracious a result must have a gracious cause.
1. The inward working of the sap. The fruit could never be ripe in its raw state were it taken away from the bough. Outward agencies alone may produce rottenness, but not ripeness; sun, shower, what not, all would fail,--it is the vital sap within the tree that perfects the fruit. It is especially so in grace. Everything between hell and heaven which denotes salvation is the work of the Spirit of God, and the work of the grace of Jesus. That blessed Spirit, flowing to us from Christ, as He is the former of the first blossom, so He is the producer of the fruit, and He is the ripener of it until it is gathered into the heavenly garner.
2. The teaching of experience. Some fruit, like the sycamore fig, never will ripen except it be bruised. Many of us seem as if we never would be sweet till first we have been dipped in bitterness; never would be perfected till we have been smitten. We may trace many of our sharp trials, our bereavements, and our bodily pains, to the fact that we are such sour fruit; nothing will ripen us but heavy blows. Ripeness in grace is not the necessary result of age. Little children have been ripe for glory. Many an aged Christian is not an experienced Christian. Time may be wasted as well as improved; we may be petrified rather than perfected by the flow of years.
III. The desirability of ripeness in grace. Many Christians appear to think that if they are just believers it is enough. To be just alive as a Christian is horrid work. The fruit which under proper circumstances does not ripen is not a good fruit,; it must be an unwholesome production. Your soul can surely not be as it should be if it does not ripen under the influence of Gods love and the work of His grace. It is the ripe fruit that proves the excellence of the tree. The Church wants mature Christians very greatly, and especially when there are many fresh converts added to it. The Church wants, in these days of flimsiness and time-serving, more decided, thorough going, well-instructed and confirmed believers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain CRITICAL NOTES. The Church now mourns itself, and confesses…
CRITICAL NOTES. The Church now mourns itself, and confesses that its condition is like a vintage after gleaning. No cluster] to be found. Ripe fruit] of excellent flavour chiefly desired.
Mic_7:2. Good] Heb. merciful and good to man (Psa_12:1); delivered from the evil to come (Isa_57:1); or cut off by those in wait for blood—lit. bloods, i.e. blood-shedding. Net] used for hunting (Hab_1:15). Brother] Bound by law to love another as himself (Lev_19:18).
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HOMILETICS
THE SCARCITY OF GODLY MEN.—Mic_7:1-2
The prophet mourns that he lives in a degenerate age. Good men have perished. Instead of finding the nation like a ripe vintage, there is not “a cluster to eat.” It is gleaned of the best and filled with the worst of men.
I. Godly men are scarce upon the earth. “The good man is perished out of the earth.” We should not complain, like Elijah, for we are not left alone in the present day. Yet good men are few.
1. Some are removed by cruelty. They are cut off by those who “lie in wait for blood.” In all ages the blood of martyrs has been freely spilt. The wicked plot and persecute, lie in ambuscade for the reputation and life of the godly now. All malice is cruelty, and would put to death those whom it hates. “Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.”
2. Others perish by moral defection. Iniquity abounds, and the love of many grows cold. Difficulties and dangers terrify some, others are not sincere, get disappointed, and “draw back unto perdition.” “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us no doubt they would have continued with us.”
3. Many are taken away by death. Good men ripen on earth for the blessedness of heaven. They are gathered like the summer fruits, and thus escape the severity of winter. “Merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.”
II. The scarcity of godly men upon the earth is a cause of regret. “Woe is me!” Godly men are precious and profitable as the first ripe fruits; useful to the Christian Church and the world.
1. They are a loss to the Christian Church. Their presence and example adorn and strengthen the Church. They are pillars, “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.” We require the wisdom and zeal, the faith and power, of former ages. Every death seems to diminish the faithful, and make them “as the grape-gleanings of the vintage.”
2. They are a loss to the world. As lights their influence is diffusive and blessed. “Like the sun,” says Hume, “they cheer, invigorate, and sustain the surrounding world.” As salt they preserve the earth from corruption, and quicken men to higher life. Their prayers draw blessings from heaven, and ward off judgments from men. They refresh and fructify the place in which they dwell. When they die, justice, benevolence, and beauty depart. “The world is upheld by the veracity of good men,” says Emerson; “they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious.” “The saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight.”
MATURITY REQUIRED BY GOD.—Mic_7:1
These words may be taken as expressing God’s desire for ripeness or maturity in grace. Hence they relate to our experience, character, and efforts.
I. God requires maturity in human experience. “My soul desired the first ripe fruit.”
1. The unconverted must be renewed. No clusters of grace and beauty adorn their conduct. They are like trees without foliage and fruit. Barren and unfruitful in the works and ways of God.
“Here elements have lost their uses,
Air ripens not, nor earth produces” [Swift].
2. The penitent must ripen in humility. Not mere blossoms of sorrow, but fruits meet for repentance must be produced. Penitence and pardon, faith and holiness, must be visible. “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.”
II. God requires maturity in Christian character. Christian character grows. In this growth are seed time and harvest; progress in knowledge and holiness. There are babes, but we must come to the full stature, not the mere outline, but the perfect likeness in Christ. “He is but the counterfeit of a Christian who hath not the life of a Christian,” says one. All the virtues of Christian conduct must ripen. God is glorified, and ministers glad, when we bring forth much fruit. “I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”
III. God requires maturity in personal effort. There must be thought and maturity in everything.
1. In efforts we must put forth our strength and work earnestly. Whatsoever our hands find to do, must be done with all our might. Decision and energy must be thrown into every undertaking.
2. In offerings we must give the first ripe fruit. In sacred worship and daily life let there be nothing sour and unripe. In the Sunday-school and the sick-room, think, prepare, and do your best. David would not offer to God of that which cost nothing. If we spare the seed we shall reap no harvest (Pro_11:24; 2Co_9:6); but thorough consecration will secure overflowing vintage. “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Mic_7:1. The moral contrast or,
1. What is desired. “The first ripe fruit.”
2. What is really found. “There is no cluster to eat” (Mic_7:1).
Mic_7:2. The picture of a good man.
1. The good man in his character. Good here means merciful, actively good and benevolent to men.
2. The good man in his influence. He upholds justice, checks corruptions, and testifies to God. When merciful men die, uprightness goes and cruelty enters the land. “The good man is perished, and there is none upright.”
3. The good man in his death. The Church and the servants of God lament the loss. “Woe is me!”
“A combination, and a form, indeed,
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man.” [Shakespeare.]
Brotherly cruelty. “They hunt every man his brother.”
1. Wicked men plan to assail others.
2. These plans are crafty. Nets of various kinds laid to ensnare.
3. These crafty plans often succeed. Fraud is added to force, and craft to cruelty. The guilt is greater because a brother, by race or grace, is humbled. Nearest friends are often entrapped like birds by the fowler.
Every man is the brother of every man, because he is a man, born of the same first parent, children of the same Father: yet they lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts (cf. Psa_35:7; Psa_57:7; Jer_5:26) [Pusey].
“O what are these?
Death’s ministers, not men: who thus deal death
Inhumanly to men; and multiply
Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew
His brother” [Milton].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Mic_7:1-2. Good men few. They say that fish smell first at the head, and when godly men decay, the whole commonwealth will soon go rotten. We must not, however, be rash in our judgment on this point, for Elijah erred in counting himself the only servant of God alive, when there were thousands whom the Lord held in reserve [Spurgeon].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain I. "Without hands." There are some good men who…
Mic 7:3
I. "Without hands." There are some good men who seem to be without hands altogether. From dawn of life until dusk they do nothing expressly for Christ. All the day passes thus in idleness with them. As to work: they could work with hands, because they do, in other things. But as soon as they come to any expressly Christian work both hands drop down, and there they stand—without hands.
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II. "With one hand." This is the second state. For so, many of God’s servants serve Him. And this is well when it is just at the beginning of the service. Let all the one-handed ones hear the "God speed" of the older workers. If the older hands in a manufactory, the men of skill and ready hand, were to come and look over the work of the apprentices in a mocking spirit, or even with an air of proud superiority, these young learners might feel justly aggrieved. But if these men come as instructed by the master; and, looking over the work in a spirit of kindliness, point out its deficiencies, and see how they can be remedied and supplied, will there be any cause of grievance then? If they say: "With both hands you must work, and watch with both eyes, if you wish to become prime and perfect workmen"—would not this be the greatest kindness to the young workers? Now this is just what we say to all learners in progress—in short, to all one-handed men, we say—
III. "With both hands." For after all there is no perfection, even of a relative kind, with one. And the continued use of only one is a shocking imperfection in the Christian service. For as both hands have been given for use, the other will not be idle. It will be working in forbidden ways. It will be grasping the world. Work "with both hands" for very safety.
There is yet, however, a higher stage of obedience, the highest of all, which is expressed by all the words of the text "with both hands earnestly." It is not enough that all the talents are laid out; they must be laid out to the best advantage. It is not enough that every power and passion shall be enlisted in the Lord’s service; they must all be baptized, inspired, and energized with a Christian’s earnestness. (1) Self-preservation requires an earnest life. (2) Honesty requires it. (3) Benevolence requires it. (4) Gratitude requires it. (5) Time requires it.
A. Raleigh, Quiet Resting Places, p. 299.
References: Mic 7:3.—J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 97. Mic 7:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1819; W. Jay, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 175.
Mic 7:8-9
I. Men commonly think a sin to be cancelled when it is done and over; or, in other words, that amendment is an expiation. They do not take the trouble to repent. Regret, vexation, sorrow,—such feelings seem to this busy, practical, unspiritual generation as idle; as something despicable and unmanly, just as tears may be. They are unbelieving, they are irrational, if they are nothing more than remorse, gloom, and despondency. Such is "the sorrow of the world," which "worketh death." Yet there is a "godly sorrow" also; a positive sorrowing for sin, and a deprecation of its consequences, and that quite distinct from faith or amendment; and this, so far from being a barren sorrow, worketh, as the Apostle assures us, "repentance to salvation, not to be repented of."
II. When Christians have gone wrong in any way, whether in belief or in practice, scandalously or secretly, it seems that pardon is not explicitly, definitely, promised them in Scripture as a matter of course; and the mere fact that they afterwards become better men, and are restored to God’s favour, does not decide the question whether they are in every sense pardoned; for David was restored, and yet was afterwards punished. It is still a question whether a debt is not standing against them for their past sins, and is not now operating, or to operate, to their disadvantage. What the payment consists in, and how it will be exacted, is quite another question, and a hidden one. God may spare us, He may punish. In either case, however, our duty is to surrender ourselves into His hands, that He may do what He will.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv., p. 94.
References: Mic 7:8.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 32; J. Keble, Sermons from Easter to Ascension Day, p. 220. Mic 7:9.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 210; J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 145. Mic 7:18.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 259; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 1870, p. 489. Mic 7:18-20.—G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 169. Mic 7:19.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1577.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Confession and Contrition Bring Back Hope
Confession and Contrition Bring Back Hope
1-6. Jerusalem laments her estate. The righteous among her children are taken from her by violence (Mic_7:1-2). The rulers misuse their position for their selfish ends (Mic_7:3-4). Worst of all, the trust of a man in his neighbour's honour, which makes the cement of all society, is gone. Even the ties of nature are disowned (Mic_7:5-6).
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1. Desired the firstripe fruit] RV 'desireth the firstripe fig,' which, now the harvest is past, is gone. The righteous (the early figs) have been gleaned out of the city.
2. Cp. Isa_57:1. Both passages speak of a scourge which has specially fallen on the righteous, and so point to a period of persecution.
3. The probable sense is: 'their hands are busy in evil, the prince asks the judge to do some knavery, the judge is ready to do it at a price, the great man needs but utter his bad desire to find ready instruments: so they weave together a web of fraud and violence.'
4. The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation] the day of God's visitation foretold by the prophets: cp. Isa_21:6. It will confound such men, since its principles are the opposite of theirs.
5. Guide] RM 'familiar friend.'
6. The final proof of social corruption is the death of men's trust in each other. See our Lord's adoption of these words (Mat_10:36).
7-20. Everything seems lost but God: therefore Micah looks more to God (Mic_7:7-8). His chastisements are tolerable, because they have meaning (Mic_7:9). Their end will be that through her sufferings Israel shall rise glorious and purified (Mic_7:10-13). God who called them will restore them and work through them (Mic_7:14-17). Micah closes with a doxology. Even Israel's sin cannot weary God's faithfulness and compassion (Mic_7:18-20).
7. Therefore] RV 'but as for me.' In such evil days the true man finds refuge in God.
8. When I fall] calamity, not sin, is meant.
11. Decree] RM 'boundary,' i.e. when God restores the nation and permits the walls to be rebuilt, He will give ample room: cp. Isa_33:17 rm.
12. RV 'In that day shall they come unto thee, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River,' i.e. Euphrates. From sea to sea is not meant of any specific sea: rather the exiles from West to East and from East to West shall return home.
13. The land] Canaan. Before this return must come chastisement.
14. The prophet passes abruptly to prayer. Solitarily] Israel was always separated from the nations as the flock of God: cp. Num_23:9.
Carmel.. Bashan.. Gilead] perhaps chosen because they were districts devoted to pasture, as contrasted with the cities and their vices.
15. According to] RV 'as in the days of.' God in answer points back to His past mercy.
16. Confounded] RV 'ashamed' to see how impotent is their might.
17. RV 'they shall come trembling out of their close places' (their useless fortresses); 'they shall come with fear unto the Lord out God.'
18. Who is, etc.] Micah's name means 'Who is like the Lord? 'The prophet concludes with an outburst of praise.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The prophet’s complaint (Mic 7:1-6)
CHAPTER 7
1. The prophet’s complaint (Mic 7:1-6)
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2. Confession, prayer and thanksgiving (Mic 7:7-20)
Mic 7:1-6. It is the prophet’s voice complaining over the conditions of the people. But he is also the typical representative of the remnant during the time of travail in Zion. It is to be noted that our Lord quotes from this portion of Micah. (See Mat 10:21, which dispensationally applies to the future remnant.) In the midst of the conditions the prophet describes we read that his refuge was prayer, looking to the Lord with the assurance that He will hear. “Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (Mic 7:7). This will be the attitude of the godly Israelites during the time of trouble.
Mic 7:7-20. It is Israel speaking in the remnant, represented by the prophet. The enemy is addressed; at the time of Micah it was the Assyrian, the type of the end Assyrian; but it includes all the world powers in their anti-Semitic attitude. The real Israel has always had this comfort, founded on the fact that God’s gifts and calling are without repentance, that they are the elect nation, that their fall must be followed by a spiritual and national resurrection Rom 11:1-36). Hence they say, “Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; when I fall I shall rise again; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light unto me.” This will be the case when their greatest darkness comes in the end of the age Isa 60:1-22. It is a willing submission to the chastisement of the Lord expressed in Mic 6:9; they acknowledge their sins and once more declare, “He will bring me forth to light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
This is followed by a prophetic declaration. The day is coming when her walls will be built again, and in that day shall the decree be far removed. The latter statement may mean the same which the prophet Jeremiah reveals in Jer 31:31 to the end of the chapter. The old decree, or law, will end, and there will be the new covenant into which Judah and Israel enter “in that day.” Then the nations will gather to restored Israel in the kingdom. (Compare Mic 7:12 with Isa 60:3-10.)
In the meantime the land will be desolate, as it is now, the fruit of their evil doings, till the day comes when the wilderness will be a fruitful field Isa 32:16 when the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose Isa 35:1 .
Once more the prophet’s voice is heard in supplication. The prayer in Mic 6:14 is answered by the Lord in Mic 7:15-17. The Lord will show again in that day the marvelous things as He did in their past redemption out of Egypt. The nations, their enemies, will be witness to it; they will be humiliated in the dust.
The three concluding verses belong to the greatest in the Old Testament Scriptures. Here we listen to a great praise and outburst of adoration. “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighted in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”
Such will be the future praise of the remnant of His heritage, when the Deliverer comes to Zion and turns away ungodliness from Jacob, when the covenant with them will be consummated and their sins will be taken away Rom 11:26-36). Once a year orthodox Jews go to a running stream and scatter into it bits of paper and small articles, repeating while they do it these three verses (the so-called Tashlik ceremony). It is but an outward act, yet testifying that there is still faith in Israel. It will be a glorious day when God forgives them their sins and remembers them no more.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Prayer of Repentance
The Prayer of Repentance
v. 1. Woe is me! so the prophet calls out in the name of the congregation, for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits, as when a few lonely stalks are left in the harvest-field, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage, when only a few berries are left, the entire picture being one of utter desolation; there is no cluster to eat, all the fruit having been removed; my soul desired the first-ripe fruit, panting for this delicacy, which was particularly relished by the people. The entire sentence may also be construed as an exclamation: Not a grape to eat! Not an early fig, such as my soul desired! The picture is now explained.
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v. 2. The good man is perished out of the earth, one who can be depended upon for faithfulness, and there is none upright among men, the upright having become as scarce as early figs after the grape-harvest. They all lie in wait for blood, Cf Psa 10:8 ff. ; they hunt every man his brother with a net, although they are the sons of one Father and each one is bound by the Law to love the other as himself.
v. 3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, literally, "upon evil are their hands to perform it well," they are glad, eager, full of zeal for the evil; the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward, seeking revenge for themselves whenever they consider their dignity hurt; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up, or, "and the great man—the mischief of his soul he utters, and together they plait it," all the mighty men of the nation intriguing together to weave webs of intrigues, snares for their unwary victims,
v. 4. The best of them is as a brier, from which one may expect only evil and harm; the most upright, the one considered an example of virtue, is sharper than a thorn hedge; the day of thy watchmen, the day foretold by the true prophets, and thy visitation cometh, the judgment is at hand; now shall be their perplexity, confusion, that men would not know where to turn for counsel and assistance. The extreme moral corruption of the people is now sketched in a few bold strokes.
v. 5. Trust ye not in a friend, in any with whom one might daily associate, put ye not confidence in a guide, in a most intimate friend; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom, for it was not safe to place unlimited confidence in one’s very wife.
v. 6. For the son dishonoreth the father, openly despising him, the daughter riseth up against her mother, refusing her the love and honor which she owes, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, all the most sacred relationships being utterly broken down; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Similar conditions preceded the fall of Jerusalem and will precede the end of the world. Cf Mat 10:21.
v. 7. Therefore, so the prophet cries out, because such were the conditions, I will look unto the Lord, lifting up his eyes for salvation from the God of the covenant; I will wait for the God of my salvation, holding out in spite of what seems a disheartening delay; my God will hear me, with an effectual, active answer. Cf Psa 27:9; Isa 17:10.
v. 8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, the hostile world-power in general being addressed, as from the standpoint of the Lord’s people; when I fall, I shall arise, for the restoration of Israel was thought of chiefly in the spiritual sense; when I sit in darkness, suffering with the affliction brought on by God’s judgments, the Lord shall be a light unto me. Cf Psa 27:1.
v. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, with the humble submission which characterizes the repentant heart, because I have sinned against Him, such a free and unequivocal confession being essential if the sorrow is genuine, until He plead my cause, taking the part of His people against the enemies, and execute judgment for me, maintaining and establishing His Church in spite of all hostility; He will bring me forth to the light, namely, out of the darkness of captivity and oppression, and I shall behold His righteousness, for the deliverance of His people was in agreement with the Lord’s ancient promises.
v. 10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, this being the confident expectation of the Lord’s people, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord, thy God? in the scornful question usually asked by the enemies of the Church. Mine eyes shall behold her, with quiet satisfaction; now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
v. 11. In the day that thy walls are to be built, rather, "a day of building thy walls" (is coming), so the prophet assures the believing members of His people, those who were truly awaiting the Messiah’s coming, in that day shall the decree be far removed, namely, the decree which fixed a sharp line of division between Israel and the heathen nations.
v. 12. In that day also He shall come even to thee, the restored Zion, from Assyria and from the fortified cities, from the cities of Egypt, and from the fortress, namely, Egypt, even to the river, the Euphrates, to indicate all the countries lying between, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain, from all the regions and countries of the earth, all those whom the Lord had chosen from the various countries of the world. Cf Isa 19:18-25.
v. 13. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate, the reference very likely being to the earthly Palestine, because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. While the Land of Promise, which formerly flowed with milk and honey, has largely lost its fertility, the spiritual Zion, the Church of God, is built up by members added from all the nations of the earth.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 I have become like the gathering of summer fruit,…
I have become like the gathering of summer fruit, and like the grapes that have been gleaned
Micah speaks of looking for faithful people but being unable to find any as if he were a person looking for food after the harvesters have taken it all. The idea of a person wanting to gather fruit can be stated clearly. AT: "I have become like someone looking for fruit after the gathering of summer fruit, like a gleaner after the grapes have been gleaned" (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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no grape cluster ... no ripe early fig
Micah speaks of faithful, upright people as if they were fruit that is good to eat. (See: Metaphor)
Faithful people have disappeared ... land; there is no upright person ... They all lie in wait ... blood; each one hunts
These are exaggerations. AT: "I feel as though faithful people have disappeared ... land and there is no upright person ... I feel as though they all lie in wait ... blood, and each one hunts" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
to shed blood
Blood is a metaphor for the death of innocent people. AT: "to kill innocent people" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
woe
glean
grape
vineyard
perish
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:1-20 Hopeless deception and corruption permeated God’s people (7:1-6);…
7:1-20 Hopeless deception and corruption permeated God’s people (7:1-6); God’s mercy, however, would triumph and Israel would be restored (7:11-13). God’s mercy, compassion, and unfailing love would prevail (7:14-20). Micah mourned his people’s condition and looked to the Lord for help (7:7-10).
7:1 the fruit picker after the harvest: After the second crop of figs and fruit in August–September, no further yield was produced for several months (cp. Isa 16:9; Jer 48:32). No one could be found to satisfy Micah’s hunger for righteousness (Mic 7:2-6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.