2The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
3Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
4The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.
5Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!
6For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
2 The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
4 The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.
5 Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!
6 For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
KJVKing James Version
2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 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.
4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
2 The godly man is perished out of the earth, and the upright among men is no more; they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
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.
4 The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge; the day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity.
5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a familiar friend; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
Jeremiah 9:4(v5)“Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go…
Matthew 10:35-36(v6)For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A…
Psalms 118:8-9(v5)It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in…
Matthew 10:16(v5)“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Luke 12:53(v6)They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law…
Show all 69 cross-references
Job 6:14-15(v5)“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers…
Matthew 10:21(v6)“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to…
Judges 16:5-20(v5)The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we…
Psalms 41:9(v6)Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.
Isaiah 22:5(v4)For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision, a breaking…
Micah 3:11(v3)Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh,…
Psalms 12:1(v2)Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Psalms 14:1-3(v2)The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. Yahweh…
Psalms 55:12-14(v6)For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me,…
Isaiah 57:1(v2)The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from…
Isaiah 59:7(v2)Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in…
Jeremiah 5:26(v2)For wicked men are found among my people. They watch, as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap. They catch men.
Ezekiel 2:6(v4)You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among…
Ezekiel 22:7(v6)In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the…
2 Timothy 3:2-3(v6)For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without…
Proverbs 1:11(v2)If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause.
Isaiah 10:3(v4)What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you…
Matthew 26:23(v6)He answered, “He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me.
Matthew 26:49-50(v6)Immediately he came to Jesus, and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, why are you here?” Then they came and…
Luke 21:16(v6)You will be handed over even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will cause some of you to be put to death.
2 Samuel 23:6-7(v4)But all the ungodly will be as thorns to be thrust away, because they can’t be taken with the hand, But the man who touches them must be…
Proverbs 4:16-17(v3)For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness…
Proverbs 30:11(v6)There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn’t bless their mother.
Jeremiah 12:6(v6)For even your brothers, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you! Even they have cried aloud after you!…
Obadiah 1:7(v6)All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and…
John 13:18(v6)I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has…
Genesis 9:22-24(v6)Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it…
2 Samuel 16:21-23(v6)Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines that he has left to keep the house. Then all Israel will hear that you are…
Jeremiah 16:16(v2)“Behold, I will send for many fishermen,” says Yahweh, “and they will fish them up. Afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will…
Genesis 49:4(v6)Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
1 Samuel 24:11(v2)Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn’t kill you,…
2 Samuel 15:10-12(v6)But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you shall say,…
2 Samuel 16:11(v6)David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite,…
Proverbs 30:17(v6)“The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall…
Jeremiah 8:10(v3)Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the…
Jeremiah 20:10(v6)For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who…
Hosea 9:7-8(v4)The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is…
Amos 5:12(v3)For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in…
1 Samuel 26:20(v2)Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea,…
1 Kings 21:9-14(v3)She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and…
Psalms 57:6(v2)They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They dig a pit before me. They fall into the middle of it themselves.
Proverbs 12:6(v2)The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
Isaiah 1:23(v3)Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless,…
Isaiah 26:21(v3)For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her…
Isaiah 55:13(v4)Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up. It will make a name for Yahweh,…
Jeremiah 3:5(v3)“ ‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”
Jeremiah 5:16(v2)Their quiver is an open tomb. They are all mighty men.
Jeremiah 8:12(v4)Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall…
Jeremiah 10:15(v4)They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will perish.
Lamentations 4:18(v2)They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.
Ezekiel 12:23-24(v4)Tell them therefore, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will make this proverb to cease, and they will no more use it as a proverb in Israel;” ’ but…
Ezekiel 22:6(v3)“ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.
Ezekiel 22:27(v3)Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
Hosea 4:18(v3)Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.
Amos 8:2(v4)He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then Yahweh said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will…
Micah 3:10(v2)They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
Nahum 1:10(v4)For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.
Habakkuk 1:15-17(v2)He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.…
Matthew 26:15(v3)and said, “What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?” They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.
Luke 12:1-2(v3)Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his…
Luke 21:25(v4)There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the…
Romans 3:10-18(v2)As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. They have…
1 Corinthians 4:5(v3)Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the…
Hebrews 6:8(v4)but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv2–5In the second verse he expresses more clearly his…
In the second verse he expresses more clearly his mind, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land, and there is none upright among men. Here now he does not personify the land. It was indeed a forcible and an emphatic language, when he complained at the beginning, that he groaned as though the land was ashamed of its dearth: but the Prophet now performs the office of a teacher, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land; there is no one upright among men; all lay in wait for blood; every one hunts his brother as with a net In this verse the Prophet briefly shows, that all were full both of cruelty and perfidy, that there was no care for justice; as though he said, In vain are good men sought among this people; for they are all bloody, they are all fraudulent. When he says, that they all did lay in wait for blood, he no doubt intended to set forth their cruelty, as though he had said, that they were thirsting for blood. But when he adds, that each did lay in wait for their brethren, he alludes to their frauds or to their perfidy.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: and the manner he adopts is more emphatical than if God, in his own name, had pronounced the words: for, as men were fixed, and as though drowned, in their own carelessness, the Prophet introduces here the land as speaking, which accuses its own children, and confesses its own guilt; yea, it anticipates God’s judgment, and acknowledges itself to be contaminated by its own inhabitants, so that nothing pure remained in it. It follows —
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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv2–4He showeth that the prince, the judge, and the…
He showeth that the prince, the judge, and the rich man are linked together all to do evil, and to cloak the doings one of another.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv2–6Mic 7:2 The good [man] is perished out of…
Mic 7:2 The good [man] is perished out of the earth: and [there is] none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
Ver. 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] Heb. The saint, or, gracious man, that out of mercy obtained from God, can extend mercy to men. Rari quippe boni. Of such it may be said, as one doth of faithful friends in this age, that they are all (for the most part) gone on pilgrimage; and their return is uncertain.
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And there is none upright among men] None (to speak of) that maketh straight paths for his feet, Heb 12:13, that foots it aright (ορθοπαδει), according to the truth of the gospel, Gal 2:14, that walketh evenly, Gen 17:1, and accurately (ακριβως), as it were by line and by rule, Eph 5:15, and that halts not between two opinions, as those Israelites; but is right in his judgment, and undefiled in his way, Psa 119:1, rather desiring to be good than to seem to be so: few such to be found surely; black swans you may count and call them.
“ Sed nec Brutus erit, Bruti nec avunculus usquam ”( Juven.).
They all lie in wait for blood] A company of sanguinaries, blood suckers, hunting for the precious lives of men; but especially of such as reprove them in the gate. If you touch them in their lusts, they will seek to touch you in your life, as Joash did Zechariah, and as the priests and people said of Jeremiah, This man worthy to die. All malice is bloody, and wisheth him out of the world whom it spiteth.
They hunt every man his brother with a net] They add fraud to their force and craft to their cruelty; these seldom go sundered: as some write of the asp, he never wanders alone without his companion with him; and as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey and desolation, none of them shall want their mate, Isa 34:16. The matter is made the worse, because it is a brother whom they hunt: whether he be so by race, place, or grace, a brother should be better dealt with.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv2–6The good man; who loves and is kind to…
The good man; who loves and is kind to men in need, and is so from the sense of God’s goodness, and in a designed imitation of God, is godly in the frame of his heart and course of life towards God, and beneficent to men for God’s sake.
Is perished; is dead and gone, and left no heir of his godlike virtues.
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Out of the earth; out of Israel and Judah too, though Hezekiah was (probably) now their king.
None upright; an honest, plain-hearted man, who thinketh no deceit, but speaketh the truth, that is, without crooked and perverse designs; such a one may possibly, but not easily, be found among the people of the ten anti of the two tribes.
They all lie in wait for blood: this proves the prophet’s charge against this people, for the good and upright man imagineth not evil against any, but it is evident that in Israel (and Judah too) the temper of the most was sly, designing, and watching to do mischief, to the ruining of families, the murdering of. innocents, and seizing their estates, Ahab like, 1Ki 21; Pr 1:19.
They hunt; they proceed with all diligence, craft, and power, as a hunter that hath set his toils, and is now by all his arts endeavouring to bring the prey into the toils, that he may make his advantage by it.
Every man his brother; were they strangers they so hunted it were barbarous, but this is inhumanly barbarous, these bloody men hunt and destroy their brethren, the seed of Jacob, the worshippers of the God of Jacob, their own circumcised brethren.
With a net; which is spread beforehand, and laid close; so it is secret, premeditated cruelty and rapine they do universally exercise against each other.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv2–6The good man is perished out of the earth,....…
The good man is perished out of the earth,.... Here the prophet expresses in plain words what he had before delivered in figurative terms. The "good" or "godly" man, as in Psa 12:1; is one that has received the grace of God, and blessings of grace from him, and lives a godly life and conversation; who has the good work of grace begun in him and is found in the performance of good works, and does his duty both to God and man from godly principles; and particularly is kind and merciful to the poor and needy, and those in distress. The complaint is, that there were few, or scarce any, of this character in the earth, in the land of Israel, where there used to be great numbers of them, but now they were all dead and gone; for this is to be understood, not of the perishing of their graces or comforts, much less of their perishing in their sins, or perishing eternally, but of their corporeal death:
and there is none upright among men; that are upright in heart and life; that have right spirits renewed in them, are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; and walk uprightly, according to the rule of the divine word, truly honest, faithful men; very few such were to be found, scarce any; see Psa 12:1;
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they all lie in wait for blood; for the substance, wealth, and riches of men, which is as their blood and life; is their livelihood, that on which they live; this they wait for an opportunity to get from them, and, when it offers, greedily seize it; and stick not even to shed blood, and take away life, for the sake of gain:
they hunt every man his brother with a net; as men lay nets for fish, and fowl, and beasts, and hunt them till they have got them into them; so these men laid snares, not for strangers only, but for their own brethren, to entangle them in, and cheat and defraud them of their substance; and this they would do, even to the destruction of them, as some (s) render it; for the word also signifies "anathema", destruction, as well as a "net". So the Targum.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv3–4Both hands - With all diligence. The great man…
Both hands - With all diligence. The great man - The great man at court, who can do what he will there. Uttereth - Is bold to speak plainly. Desire - His unjust, oppressive design. They - They all jointly promote violence and cruelty.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv2–6Verse 2. The good man is perished out of…
Verse 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] A similar sentiment may be found, Ps 12:1; Isa 57:1. As the early fig of excellent flavour cannot be found in the advanced season of summer, or a choice cluster of grapes after vintage, so neither can the good and upright man be discovered by searching in Israel. This comparison, says Bp. Newcome, is beautifully implied.
They hunt every man his brother with a net.] This appears to be an allusion to the ancient mode of duel between the retiarius and secutor. The former had a casting net, which he endeavoured to throw over the head of his antagonist, that he might then despatch him with his short sword. The other parried the cast; and when the retiarius missed, he was obliged to run about the field to get time to set his net in right order for another throw. While he ran, the other followed, that he might despatch him before he should be able to recover the proper position of his net; and hence the latter was called secutor, the pursuer, as the other was called retiarius, or the net man. I have explained this before on Job, and other places; but because it is rarely noticed by commentators, I explain the allusion here once more. Abp. Newcome by not attending to this, has translated איש את אחיהו יצודו חרם ish eth achihu yatsudu cherem, "They hunt every man his brother for his destruction;" though he put net in the margin.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv3, 5Mic 7:3-4. That they may do evil with both…
Mic 7:3-4. That they may do evil with both hands, &c. — With all diligence; earnestly — Hebrew, להישׂיב, to good it; that is, to do it thoroughly and effectually. “Their hands are bent on iniquity, to execute it fully.” So Dr. Wheeler. The prince asketh — Namely, a gift; to do any one a favour, or good. And the judge asketh for a reward — And the judge will not pass a decision till he has had a bribe to engage him to do it. And the great man uttereth his mischievous desire — The great man at court, who can do what he will there, is bold to declare plainly his unjust, oppressive design; or, the mischief of his soul, as הות נפשׁוproperly signifies. So they wrap it up — The prince, the judge, and the great man, agreeing in their ill designs, make a threefold cord of iniquity: or, they twist one sin upon another, the latter to maintain or cover the former, and all jointly promote injustice, violence, and cruelty. The best of them is a brier — Or, like a brier. They catch fast hold on, and retain, whatever they can lay their hands on. The most upright is sharper than a thorn — Even the best among them would wound and injure on every side all that come near them. The day of thy watchmen — The day in which they shall sound the alarm; and thy visitation cometh — Namely, surely and speedily. The time of vengeance is coming, which hath been foretold by the prophets of former times, as well as the present, called here watchmen, as they are by Eze 3:7, and by Hos 9:8; then God will visit for all the sins thou hast committed against him. Watchmen may signify magistrates as well as prophets, (see note on Isa 56:10,) and then the words import the time when God will call both princes and prophets to account for their unfaithfulness in the discharge of their several offices. Now — When that day is come; shall be their perplexity — They shall be so entangled and insnared, as not to know what way to take.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv2–5The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English…
The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English margin
Man - The Hebrew word contains all. It is “he who loveth tenderly and piously” God, for His own sake, and man, for the sake of God. Mercy was probably chiefly intended, since it wits to this that the prophet had exhorted, and the sins which he proceeds to speak of, are against this. But imaginary love of God without love of man, or love of man without the love of God, is mere self-deceit. “Is perished out of the earth,” that is, by an untimely death. The good had either been withdrawn by God from the evil to come Isa 57:1, or had Leon cut off by those who laid wait for blood; in which case their death brought a double evil, through the guilt which such sin contracted, and then, through the loss of those who might be an example to others, and whose prayers God would hear. The loving and upright, all, who were men of mercy and truth, had ceased. They who were left, “all lie in wait for blood,” literally, bloods , that is, bloodshedding; all, as far as man can see; as Elijah complains that he was left alone.
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Amid the vast number of the wicked, the righteous were as though they were not. Isaiah, at the same time, complains of the like sins, and that it was as though there were none righteous; “Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips hate spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth” Isa 59:2-3. Indirectly, or directly, they destroyed life . To violence they add treachery. The good and loving had perished, and all is now violence; the upright had ceased, and all now is deceit. “They hunt every man his brother with a net.” Every man is the brother of every man, because he is man, born of the same first parent, children of the same Father: yet they lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts (Compare Psa 35:7; Psa 57:7; Psa 140:6; Jer 5:26).
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv2–5Holy man. Hebrew chasid, (Haydock) "the pious" Assidean, 2…
Holy man. Hebrew chasid, (Haydock) "the pious" Assidean, 2 Machabees xiv. 6. The disorder of Israel was great, though some were religious. (Calmet) --- Such expressions only mean that few could be found, and that the far greatest number rejected the prophet’s advice. (Worthington)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv2–6The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation…
The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation to man," rather than to God.
is perished out of the earth-- (Psa 12:1).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv2–62. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious…
2. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious man,’ he who makes love his rule of action—love to God and love to man. ‘The idea of khâsîdh is not passive [he who experiences grace or love], for God Himself is called khâsîdh, Psa_145:17, but he who exercises khesedh (Pro_11:17), i.e. makes men, according to God’s will, and God Himself (comp. Jon_2:8, Psa_144:2) ‘the object of his loving endeavours’ (Delitzsch on Psa_16:10). Observe, ‘The pious man,’ not ‘pious men’ is the phrase employed, ‘indicating the fewness and isolation of these Abdiels.’ There is a striking parallel to the first half of this verse in Isa_57:1, ‘The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart, and men of piety are gathered,’ &c. Both passages must have been written in time of persecution.
they all lie in wait for blood] Not merely persecution, but anarchy seems to have been the order of the day: at least the rich and powerful were under no legal restraint; they did that which was right in their own eyes. Similar circumstances are described in many of the Psalms (see e. g. Psa_10:8-9).
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every man his brother] Although, as children of Abraham, they ought to love each other; comp. Lev_19:18.
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 Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv2–5(2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew…
(2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew term comes from a verb meaning to shut up, was used both by the fisherman and the fowler. “They lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv2–6This verse explains the preceding comparison; the grape and…
This verse explains the preceding comparison; the grape and the early fig represent the righteous man. The good man; LXX, eusebhv , the godly, pious man. The Hebrew word (khasidh) implies one who exercises love to others, who is merciful, loving, and righteous. Is perished out of the earth; has disappeared from the world. (comp. Psa_14:2, Psa_14:3; and especially Isa_57:1) They all lie in wait for blood. They all practise violence and rapine, and meditate how they may pursue their evil designs, even to the shedding of blood. LXX, pantev eiv aimata dikazontai , which narrows the charge to one special kind of iniquity, vie. committing judicial murders. They hunt every man his brother with a net. They ought to love their brethren, their fellow countrymen, partakers of the same hope and privileges. (Lev_19:18) Instead of this, they pursue them as the fowler traps birds, or the hunter beasts. The word rendered "net" (cherem) is in most versions translated "destruction." Thus, Septuagint, ekylibousin ekylibh : Vulgate, ad mortem venatur; so the Syriac and Chaldee. In the present connection it is best taken as "net". (Hab_1:15)
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv2–3The good man is perished out of the earth
Mic_7:2-6
The good man is perished out of the earth
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The wail of a true patriot over the moral corruption of his country
He bemoans--
I.
The departure of excellence from his country. The good man is perished out of the earth. Probably they had emigrated to distant lands, perhaps they had gone into eternity. Goodmen are the lights of the world. Their influence penetrates the mass as salt, counteracts its tendency to corruption, removes its moral insipidity, gives it a new spirit--a spirit pungent and savoury.
II. The rampancy of avarice in this country.
1. The working amongst the general community. To get wealth for themselves was with them such a furious passion that the rights and lives of others were disregarded.
2. Its working amongst the higher classes. That they may do evil with broth 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. 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.
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 visitation. Another thing which the patriot here bemoans is--
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 mans 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. (Homilist.)
The lack of good men
These words are the cause of the prophets sorrow. So deep a concern it was, that the words of Mic_7:1 may signify not only mourning but howling. It arises from the scarcity of men truly good. Such a passion as this for the want of good men became the prophet in all capacities, as a man, as a subject, and as a prophet. As a man, he could not but be concerned to see a nation of men so changed and degenerated by vice and luxury. As a subject, he could but consider what misery would suddenly betide the nation, for want of goodness and religion. As a prophet, he could but note how they slighted his errand, and were sturdy and resolute in their vices.
I. Wherein the goodness of this good man, the prophet mentions, did express itself. The Christian Church, as well as the prophet, may justly bewail her barren Christians, and the scarcity of men truly good. We call ourselves saints and elect, but where is the patience, the temper, and the spirit of them? Let our religion be never so primitive and apostolical, except it makes us really good it is but wrangling hypocrisy and noise.
1. True goodness doth express itself in plainness and sincerity in all our respective dealings with men.
2. Goodness expresses itself in the exercise of good nature, and charitable allowances for the errors of others.
3. The good man is of a spirit truly public, whose care and attention looks abroad.
4. The good man takes up religion only to serve a spiritual purpose. Religion without this good purpose is only fashion or faction, hypocrisy and formality, superstition or interest.
II. What grew up and prevailed in the prophets time in the place of true religion or goodness.
1. Superstition and false religion, which naturally produce trouble and disquiet in all governments.
2. Wicked lives in the professors of the true religion, which will surely cause misery and ruin in a nation.
3. Atheistical persuasions prevailed, or there was no religion at all.
III. What particular reasons may move us to bewail the want of real goodness.
1. The want of it is the principal cause of our distractions about religion.
2. Real goodness is the best way to unite us among ourselves. Real goodness purges our judgment, removes our prejudices. (Gregory Hascard, D. D.)
Ancient and modern pessimism
When we ourselves are down it is hard to believe that anybody else is up; when our prayer is choked in our throat it is easy to believe that God hears no prayer at all, nor cares for petitioning and supplicating men. We interpret all things by ourselves. There is a curious self-projection of the soul upon the disc of history, and we read according to the shadow which we throw upon that disc. This is what we call pessimism. We are always inventing strange words, and imagining that thereby we are making some kind of progress. Man has a fatal gift of giving names to things, and once give a name and it will be almost impossible to obliterate it. We call this pessimism,--that is, seeing all the wickedness, and none of the goodness; seeing all the darkness, and none of the light; seeing the utter desolation of all things, and not seeing in all the wilderness one green blade, one tiny flower, or hearing in the grim silence one trill of lark or soft note of thrush or nightingale. There are persons gifted with the genius of darkness. It may do us good to visit them occasionally; but on the whole it is better to live in the sunshine, and to hear the music, and to come under the influence of intelligent vivacity and cheerfulness. If people will shut themselves up in their own little houses--for the biggest house is little, the palace is a mere hut--and never keep any company but their own, they will go down. It is so ecclesiastically. There are persons who never see the universe except through their own church window, and as no window is as big as the horizon, there steals insidiously upon the mind a disposition to deny the existence of the horizon itself. It is so with reading. There are those who read only a certain set of books. They go down; there is no mental range, no scope, no variety, no mystery of colour, no hopefulness, no imagination. The very earth needs to have its crops changed. If you will go on growing the same crops you will cease to have any crop that is worth gathering. There is, on the other hand, what is termed optimism. That is the exact contrary of pessimism. Optimism sees the best of everything. There is a danger along that line also; the danger is that we may not be stern enough, real enough, penetrating enough, going into the heart and inmost fibre of things to find out reality and truth, how bad or good soever the case may be. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
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 Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v3Mic_7:3. Evil] Lit. Their hands are for evil, that…
CRITICAL NOTES.
Mic_7:3. Evil] Lit. Their hands are for evil, that they may do it earnestly, i.e. well, cleverly. Great] man. He] Emphatic, expresses desire, lit. the lust of his soul. They] Venal judges are ready to wrap, Heb. to weave or twist together; they pervert the cause of the poor.
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Mic_7:4. Best] The prince asks, the judge grants, and the rich co-operate; all resemble the brier and thorn-bush, which only prick and injure. Visit.] Corruption is so high that judgment will break in upon them. Perplex.] They will be caught as victims, and not know what to do.
Mic_7:5. Trust] All are treacherous and pervert justice (Jer_9:2-6); confidence will be unsafe. Guide] And heads of families to whom we naturally look, unworthy of confidence.
Mic_7:6. Dishon.] Treats the father as a fool (Deu_32:15; Jer_14:21). Daughter] witnesses against her mother (Psa_27:12). Treachery and faithlessness reach the nearest friends, and dissolve every family tie (cf. Mat_24:10-12).
HOMILETICS
WITH BOTH HANDS EARNESTLY.—Mic_7:3
There is little of excellence in mere earnestness. The more earnest a man is in vital error, he inflicts, of necessity, the deeper injury on the interests of truth and men. The wicked men, in this picture of the prophet, stand in the very attitude which every good man should assume in the work of God.
I. Without hands. Some good men seem to be without hands. “They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not.” They work with hands in other things; strive manfully in a political struggle, or in a question of social right. They are diligent in business, but in Christian work idle, both hands drop down and there they stand—without hands. “Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly!” Why? What had Meroz done to merit the curse? Nothing. That was the sin, that she had “not come up to the help of the Lord.”
II. With one hand. This is the second state in which many serve God. This is well to begin with, but a little more must be added, and so the service must grow into fulness. The Apostles were grand workers, learned by watching and following him who went about doing good. They were but one-handed men, made many mistakes, but got the use of both hands in time. The Master has always a great company of young workers, some young in life, some young in toil, but all learning and needing the word of encouragement from those of more experience. If you are speaking for Christ, anywhere, at any time, doing but a little service in a quiet way; God speed you in your work.
III. With both hands we say to all one-handed men; for there is no perfection, even of a relative kind, with one. Both hands are given for use; the other will not be idle, but will grasp at something, raise up another force of evil to balance Christian activity; so life in a little while will be in poise, not in motion; then in a little longer there will be motion, but in a wrong way. “With both hands” for safety. With all the powers and with all the talents given. None of them must rust, all must go out in use. How few things there are in the house, in labour, in business, that we can do with one hand! David’s men “were mighty men, helpers of the war; they were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left.” These are the men whom Christ needs to fight his battles and do his work; “workmen needing not to be ashamed” of the work they do, or of the way in which they do it.
IV. There is a higher, the highest stage of obedience, expressed by all the words of the text, with both hands earnestly. It is not enough that the talents be laid out; they must be laid out to the best advantage. Every power and passion must be enlisted, baptized, inspired and energized in Christian service. This is just the thing to make some happy, heroic, and victorious. They work with both hands—the mechanism is perfect and the action steady—but it is mechanical not vital action. Christian earnestness is not mere vehemence and heat: it is “zeal according to knowledge.” Many reasons might be urged for an earnest life: Self-preservation requires it. Our faculties and senses cannot be kept bright and clear without use. The rust of moral decay will be within us unless we work “with our might.” Honesty requires it. We have undertaken a great service—if at all—on certain terms, clear conditions laid down by the Master. We must fulfil them or we do not live fairly. Benevolence requires it. If we love our fellow-men, the one thing we can do for them above all other things in value is, to live truly and intensely before them. Gratitude requires it. This is all we can do for Christ. He will take nothing from us but this. Time requires it. Not one of us would go out of the world without having lived for some time in it in this way. The future is unknown, and carries secrets undisclosed. We are not fully matched with the day unless working “with both hands earnestly” [Raleigh].
UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION AND UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT.—Mic_7:3-6
Corruption is prevalent in all ranks of the community, rests upon a compromise of the ruling classes, and thus the foundations of morality are destroyed.
I. Universal corruption. Sin was veiled under the name of virtue, or committed in the pretence of justice.
1. In official ranks. Men in authority expose justice for sale and avow bribery. They play into the hands of others to strengthen themselves in evil.
(1.) The prince asks for gifts.
(2.) The judge seeks reward.
(3.) The nobleman utters his mischievous desires.
2. In religous professions. “The best of them is as a briar.” The most upright and moral were carried away with the sins of the day. They were crooked in their dispositions, and sharper than thorns in their ways. Instead of being a protection to others, they were positively injurious and oppressive.
3. In social circles. Faith was not kept anywhere; all to a man were treacherous (Jer_9:2-6).
(1.) A friend was not to be trusted.
(2.) The heads of families would not help and advise. The guide or counsellor, and the wife of his bosom (Deu_13:6), were alike guilty.
(3.) The members of families were in a state of lawlessness and impiety. Natural relationship was perverted. The son called the father a fool. The daughter testifies against her mother, and a man’s foes were found in his own household. Oppression was followed by inhumanity. The strongest ties of nature and religion were dissolved. A moral condition descriptive of the last times of the gospel dispensation (Luk_21:16; 2Ti_3:1-3).
II. Universal judgment. When men become oppressive and dangerous, and moral disease becomes universal, it is a sign of approaching ruin.
1. There will be a day of visitation. “Thy visitation cometh.” Men’s actions and lives are seen by God. God will reckon with them and visit them with punishment for sin.
2. This day of visitation is foretold. Watchmen and prophets foresee it and warn men of its speedy approach. 3. When it comes and finds men unprepared it is terrible. “Now shall be their perplexity.” Sinners are heedless, and the day breaks suddenly upon them. They will be caught in their own snares and, as they entangled others, they will not be able to escape their own retribution. “For it is a day of trouble and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Mic_7:3. The triple alliance for evil. Union is good, is necessary and advantageous, but alliance for evil is disgraceful and injurious.
1. The Prince asks i.e. for the condemnation of the righteous and innocent.
2. The Judge grants for recompense or reward.
3. The great man co-operates with both. “So they wrap it up,” turn and twist their efforts into a threefold cord which cannot easily be broken.
Mic_7:4. Men as briers. Giving grief for help, and fleecing when they ought to protect. Hard and sharp in their dealings; piercing and injurious in their conduct. “Folden together as thorns” (Nah_1:10).
Mic_7:5-6. It is a part of the perplexity of crooked ways, that all relationships are put out of joint. Selfishness rends each from the other, and disjoints the whole frame of society. Passions and sin break every band of friendship, kindred, gratitude, nature. The words describe partly the inward corruption, partly the outward causes which shall call it forth. There is no real trust in any, where all are corrupt. The words deepen as they go on. First, the friend, or neighbour, the common band of man and man; then the guide (or, as the word also means, one familiar, united by intimacy, to whom by continual intercourse the soul was used); then the wife who lay in the bosom, nearest to the secrets of the heart; then those to whom also reverence is due, father and mother [Pusey].
1. There is no sure hold upon any man, however strictly he be bound, who is declining from God, and hath not a tender conscience standing in awe of him; for in this declining time, friends, guides, wives, &c., are not to be trusted in.
2. In times of defection and backsliding, the godly out of love should believe all things (1Co_13:7), and not easily take prejudice, and to walk warily and prudently; Trust not, saith he, put no confidence, keep the doors of thy mouth, especially trust in or look to none for help, but only in God [Hutcheson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Mic_7:3-4. Man is nothing but insincerity, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in regard to himself and in regard to others. He does not wish that he should be told the truth; he shuns saying it to others; and all these moods, so inconsistent with justice and reason, have their roots in his heart [Pascal].
“Faithless is earth, and faithless are the skies!
Justice is fled, and truth is now no more.” [Virgil, Æneid.]
Mic_7:5-7.
“Lean not on earth; twill pierce thee to the heart:
A broken reed at best, but oft a spear:
On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires.” [Young.]
Mic_7:7-9. A holy silence unstrings every affliction, it takes off the weight of every burden, it adds sweet to every bitter, it changes dark nights into sunshiny days. The smallest sufferings will easily vanquish an unquiet spirit, but a quiet spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest sufferings [Brooks]. Mic_7:9. Indignation. Though of all burdens the indignation of the Lord be the greatest burden, yet Divine indignation is but a light burden in comparison of sin. A gracious soul can better stand under the burden of God’s indignation for sin, than it can stand under the burden of sin itself, which hath kindled that indignation [Ibid.].
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.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v5(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv3, 5General Information:
General Information:
Micah continues speaking about the people of Israel.
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Their hands are very good
The hand is a synecdoche for the person. AT: "The people are very good" (See: Synecdoche)
The best of them is like a brier, the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge
Briers and thorns are good for nothing and harm those who touch them. The Israelite rulers and judges did nothing good and harmed people. (See: Simile)
the most upright
"those of them who try hardest to do what is good"
It is the day foretold by your watchmen, the day of your punishment
Micah speaks to the people of Israel, so both instances of "your" are plural. The word "watchmen" is a metaphor for prophets. AT: "Their prophets have told them that Yahweh would punish them" (See: Active or Passive and Forms of You and Metaphor)
Now is the time of their confusion
The abstract noun "confusion" can be translated as a verb. AT: "Now is when they do not understand what is happening" (See: Abstract Nouns)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv2–57:2-6 The people of Israel were without law, justice,…
7:2-6 The people of Israel were without law, justice, or righteousness. Everyone took advantage of others for self-aggrandizement; they had created a society in which all forms of oppression were the norm.
7:2 not one honest person is left: This complaint is frequent in the prophets (see Isa 59:16; Jer 5:1; Ezek 22:30). • In the ancient Near East, people fished and hunted by setting traps and using nets (cp. Ps 10:9; Prov 1:17; Isa 51:20). • their own brothers: All fellow Israelites were regarded as brothers.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2–5 In the second verse he expresses more clearly his…
In the second verse he expresses more clearly his mind, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land, and there is none upright among men. Here now he does not personify the land. It was indeed a forcible and an emphatic language, when he complained at the beginning, that he groaned as though the land was ashamed of its dearth: but the Prophet now performs the office of a teacher, Perished, he says, has the righteous from the land; there is no one upright among men; all lay in wait for blood; every one hunts his brother as with a net In this verse the Prophet briefly shows, that all were full both of cruelty and perfidy, that there was no care for justice; as though he said, In vain are good men sought among this people; for they are all bloody, they are all fraudulent. When he says, that they all did lay in wait for blood, he no doubt intended to set forth their cruelty, as though he had said, that they were thirsting for blood. But when he adds, that each did lay in wait for their brethren, he alludes to their frauds or to their perfidy.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet: and the manner he adopts is more emphatical than if God, in his own name, had pronounced the words: for, as men were fixed, and as though drowned, in their own carelessness, the Prophet introduces here the land as speaking, which accuses its own children, and confesses its own guilt; yea, it anticipates God’s judgment, and acknowledges itself to be contaminated by its own inhabitants, so that nothing pure remained in it. It follows —
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 On vv2–4 He showeth that the prince, the judge, and the…
He showeth that the prince, the judge, and the rich man are linked together all to do evil, and to cloak the doings one of another.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Mic 7:2 The good [man] is perished out of…
Mic 7:2 The good [man] is perished out of the earth: and [there is] none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
Ver. 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] Heb. The saint, or, gracious man, that out of mercy obtained from God, can extend mercy to men. Rari quippe boni. Of such it may be said, as one doth of faithful friends in this age, that they are all (for the most part) gone on pilgrimage; and their return is uncertain.
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And there is none upright among men] None (to speak of) that maketh straight paths for his feet, Heb 12:13, that foots it aright (ορθοπαδει), according to the truth of the gospel, Gal 2:14, that walketh evenly, Gen 17:1, and accurately (ακριβως), as it were by line and by rule, Eph 5:15, and that halts not between two opinions, as those Israelites; but is right in his judgment, and undefiled in his way, Psa 119:1, rather desiring to be good than to seem to be so: few such to be found surely; black swans you may count and call them.
“ Sed nec Brutus erit, Bruti nec avunculus usquam ”( Juven.).
They all lie in wait for blood] A company of sanguinaries, blood suckers, hunting for the precious lives of men; but especially of such as reprove them in the gate. If you touch them in their lusts, they will seek to touch you in your life, as Joash did Zechariah, and as the priests and people said of Jeremiah, This man worthy to die. All malice is bloody, and wisheth him out of the world whom it spiteth.
They hunt every man his brother with a net] They add fraud to their force and craft to their cruelty; these seldom go sundered: as some write of the asp, he never wanders alone without his companion with him; and as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey and desolation, none of them shall want their mate, Isa 34:16. The matter is made the worse, because it is a brother whom they hunt: whether he be so by race, place, or grace, a brother should be better dealt with.
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 On vv2–6 The good man; who loves and is kind to…
The good man; who loves and is kind to men in need, and is so from the sense of God’s goodness, and in a designed imitation of God, is godly in the frame of his heart and course of life towards God, and beneficent to men for God’s sake.
Is perished; is dead and gone, and left no heir of his godlike virtues.
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Out of the earth; out of Israel and Judah too, though Hezekiah was (probably) now their king.
None upright; an honest, plain-hearted man, who thinketh no deceit, but speaketh the truth, that is, without crooked and perverse designs; such a one may possibly, but not easily, be found among the people of the ten anti of the two tribes.
They all lie in wait for blood: this proves the prophet’s charge against this people, for the good and upright man imagineth not evil against any, but it is evident that in Israel (and Judah too) the temper of the most was sly, designing, and watching to do mischief, to the ruining of families, the murdering of. innocents, and seizing their estates, Ahab like, 1Ki 21; Pr 1:19.
They hunt; they proceed with all diligence, craft, and power, as a hunter that hath set his toils, and is now by all his arts endeavouring to bring the prey into the toils, that he may make his advantage by it.
Every man his brother; were they strangers they so hunted it were barbarous, but this is inhumanly barbarous, these bloody men hunt and destroy their brethren, the seed of Jacob, the worshippers of the God of Jacob, their own circumcised brethren.
With a net; which is spread beforehand, and laid close; so it is secret, premeditated cruelty and rapine they do universally exercise against each other.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–6 The good man is perished out of the earth,....…
The good man is perished out of the earth,.... Here the prophet expresses in plain words what he had before delivered in figurative terms. The "good" or "godly" man, as in Psa 12:1; is one that has received the grace of God, and blessings of grace from him, and lives a godly life and conversation; who has the good work of grace begun in him and is found in the performance of good works, and does his duty both to God and man from godly principles; and particularly is kind and merciful to the poor and needy, and those in distress. The complaint is, that there were few, or scarce any, of this character in the earth, in the land of Israel, where there used to be great numbers of them, but now they were all dead and gone; for this is to be understood, not of the perishing of their graces or comforts, much less of their perishing in their sins, or perishing eternally, but of their corporeal death:
and there is none upright among men; that are upright in heart and life; that have right spirits renewed in them, are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile; and walk uprightly, according to the rule of the divine word, truly honest, faithful men; very few such were to be found, scarce any; see Psa 12:1;
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they all lie in wait for blood; for the substance, wealth, and riches of men, which is as their blood and life; is their livelihood, that on which they live; this they wait for an opportunity to get from them, and, when it offers, greedily seize it; and stick not even to shed blood, and take away life, for the sake of gain:
they hunt every man his brother with a net; as men lay nets for fish, and fowl, and beasts, and hunt them till they have got them into them; so these men laid snares, not for strangers only, but for their own brethren, to entangle them in, and cheat and defraud them of their substance; and this they would do, even to the destruction of them, as some (s) render it; for the word also signifies "anathema", destruction, as well as a "net". So the Targum.
"betray or deliver his brother to destruction.''
(s) "ad necem", Tigurine version; "anathema, caedes", Drusius; "ad occasuinem", ibid.
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 On vv3–4 Both hands - With all diligence. The great man…
Both hands - With all diligence. The great man - The great man at court, who can do what he will there. Uttereth - Is bold to speak plainly. Desire - His unjust, oppressive design. They - They all jointly promote violence and cruelty.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Verse 2. The good man is perished out of…
Verse 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] A similar sentiment may be found, Ps 12:1; Isa 57:1. As the early fig of excellent flavour cannot be found in the advanced season of summer, or a choice cluster of grapes after vintage, so neither can the good and upright man be discovered by searching in Israel. This comparison, says Bp. Newcome, is beautifully implied.
They hunt every man his brother with a net.] This appears to be an allusion to the ancient mode of duel between the retiarius and secutor. The former had a casting net, which he endeavoured to throw over the head of his antagonist, that he might then despatch him with his short sword. The other parried the cast; and when the retiarius missed, he was obliged to run about the field to get time to set his net in right order for another throw. While he ran, the other followed, that he might despatch him before he should be able to recover the proper position of his net; and hence the latter was called secutor, the pursuer, as the other was called retiarius, or the net man. I have explained this before on Job, and other places; but because it is rarely noticed by commentators, I explain the allusion here once more. Abp. Newcome by not attending to this, has translated איש את אחיהו יצודו חרם ish eth achihu yatsudu cherem, "They hunt every man his brother for his destruction;" though he put net in the margin.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Mic 7:3-4. That they may do evil with both…
Mic 7:3-4. That they may do evil with both hands, &c. — With all diligence; earnestly — Hebrew, להישׂיב, to good it; that is, to do it thoroughly and effectually. “Their hands are bent on iniquity, to execute it fully.” So Dr. Wheeler. The prince asketh — Namely, a gift; to do any one a favour, or good. And the judge asketh for a reward — And the judge will not pass a decision till he has had a bribe to engage him to do it. And the great man uttereth his mischievous desire — The great man at court, who can do what he will there, is bold to declare plainly his unjust, oppressive design; or, the mischief of his soul, as הות נפשׁוproperly signifies. So they wrap it up — The prince, the judge, and the great man, agreeing in their ill designs, make a threefold cord of iniquity: or, they twist one sin upon another, the latter to maintain or cover the former, and all jointly promote injustice, violence, and cruelty. The best of them is a brier — Or, like a brier. They catch fast hold on, and retain, whatever they can lay their hands on. The most upright is sharper than a thorn — Even the best among them would wound and injure on every side all that come near them. The day of thy watchmen — The day in which they shall sound the alarm; and thy visitation cometh — Namely, surely and speedily. The time of vengeance is coming, which hath been foretold by the prophets of former times, as well as the present, called here watchmen, as they are by Eze 3:7, and by Hos 9:8; then God will visit for all the sins thou hast committed against him. Watchmen may signify magistrates as well as prophets, (see note on Isa 56:10,) and then the words import the time when God will call both princes and prophets to account for their unfaithfulness in the discharge of their several offices. Now — When that day is come; shall be their perplexity — They shall be so entangled and insnared, as not to know what way to take.
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 On vv2–5 The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English…
The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English margin
Man - The Hebrew word contains all. It is “he who loveth tenderly and piously” God, for His own sake, and man, for the sake of God. Mercy was probably chiefly intended, since it wits to this that the prophet had exhorted, and the sins which he proceeds to speak of, are against this. But imaginary love of God without love of man, or love of man without the love of God, is mere self-deceit. “Is perished out of the earth,” that is, by an untimely death. The good had either been withdrawn by God from the evil to come Isa 57:1, or had Leon cut off by those who laid wait for blood; in which case their death brought a double evil, through the guilt which such sin contracted, and then, through the loss of those who might be an example to others, and whose prayers God would hear. The loving and upright, all, who were men of mercy and truth, had ceased. They who were left, “all lie in wait for blood,” literally, bloods , that is, bloodshedding; all, as far as man can see; as Elijah complains that he was left alone.
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Amid the vast number of the wicked, the righteous were as though they were not. Isaiah, at the same time, complains of the like sins, and that it was as though there were none righteous; “Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips hate spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth” Isa 59:2-3. Indirectly, or directly, they destroyed life . To violence they add treachery. The good and loving had perished, and all is now violence; the upright had ceased, and all now is deceit. “They hunt every man his brother with a net.” Every man is the brother of every man, because he is man, born of the same first parent, children of the same Father: yet they lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts (Compare Psa 35:7; Psa 57:7; Psa 140:6; Jer 5:26).
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 On vv2–5 Holy man. Hebrew chasid, (Haydock) "the pious" Assidean, 2…
Holy man. Hebrew chasid, (Haydock) "the pious" Assidean, 2 Machabees xiv. 6. The disorder of Israel was great, though some were religious. (Calmet) --- Such expressions only mean that few could be found, and that the far greatest number rejected the prophet’s advice. (Worthington)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–6 The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation…
The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation to man," rather than to God.
is perished out of the earth-- (Psa 12:1).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious…
2. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious man,’ he who makes love his rule of action—love to God and love to man. ‘The idea of khâsîdh is not passive [he who experiences grace or love], for God Himself is called khâsîdh, Psa_145:17, but he who exercises khesedh (Pro_11:17), i.e. makes men, according to God’s will, and God Himself (comp. Jon_2:8, Psa_144:2) ‘the object of his loving endeavours’ (Delitzsch on Psa_16:10). Observe, ‘The pious man,’ not ‘pious men’ is the phrase employed, ‘indicating the fewness and isolation of these Abdiels.’ There is a striking parallel to the first half of this verse in Isa_57:1, ‘The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart, and men of piety are gathered,’ &c. Both passages must have been written in time of persecution.
they all lie in wait for blood] Not merely persecution, but anarchy seems to have been the order of the day: at least the rich and powerful were under no legal restraint; they did that which was right in their own eyes. Similar circumstances are described in many of the Psalms (see e. g. Psa_10:8-9).
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every man his brother] Although, as children of Abraham, they ought to love each other; comp. Lev_19:18.
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 On vv2–5 (2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew…
(2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew term comes from a verb meaning to shut up, was used both by the fisherman and the fowler. “They lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts.”
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 On vv2–6 This verse explains the preceding comparison; the grape and…
This verse explains the preceding comparison; the grape and the early fig represent the righteous man. The good man; LXX, eusebhv , the godly, pious man. The Hebrew word (khasidh) implies one who exercises love to others, who is merciful, loving, and righteous. Is perished out of the earth; has disappeared from the world. (comp. Psa_14:2, Psa_14:3; and especially Isa_57:1) They all lie in wait for blood. They all practise violence and rapine, and meditate how they may pursue their evil designs, even to the shedding of blood. LXX, pantev eiv aimata dikazontai , which narrows the charge to one special kind of iniquity, vie. committing judicial murders. They hunt every man his brother with a net. They ought to love their brethren, their fellow countrymen, partakers of the same hope and privileges. (Lev_19:18) Instead of this, they pursue them as the fowler traps birds, or the hunter beasts. The word rendered "net" (cherem) is in most versions translated "destruction." Thus, Septuagint, ekylibousin ekylibh : Vulgate, ad mortem venatur; so the Syriac and Chaldee. In the present connection it is best taken as "net". (Hab_1:15)
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 On vv2–3 The good man is perished out of the earth
Mic_7:2-6
The good man is perished out of the earth
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The wail of a true patriot over the moral corruption of his country
He bemoans--
I.
The departure of excellence from his country. The good man is perished out of the earth. Probably they had emigrated to distant lands, perhaps they had gone into eternity. Goodmen are the lights of the world. Their influence penetrates the mass as salt, counteracts its tendency to corruption, removes its moral insipidity, gives it a new spirit--a spirit pungent and savoury.
II. The rampancy of avarice in this country.
1. The working amongst the general community. To get wealth for themselves was with them such a furious passion that the rights and lives of others were disregarded.
2. Its working amongst the higher classes. That they may do evil with broth 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. 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.
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 visitation. Another thing which the patriot here bemoans is--
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 mans 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. (Homilist.)
The lack of good men
These words are the cause of the prophets sorrow. So deep a concern it was, that the words of Mic_7:1 may signify not only mourning but howling. It arises from the scarcity of men truly good. Such a passion as this for the want of good men became the prophet in all capacities, as a man, as a subject, and as a prophet. As a man, he could not but be concerned to see a nation of men so changed and degenerated by vice and luxury. As a subject, he could but consider what misery would suddenly betide the nation, for want of goodness and religion. As a prophet, he could but note how they slighted his errand, and were sturdy and resolute in their vices.
I. Wherein the goodness of this good man, the prophet mentions, did express itself. The Christian Church, as well as the prophet, may justly bewail her barren Christians, and the scarcity of men truly good. We call ourselves saints and elect, but where is the patience, the temper, and the spirit of them? Let our religion be never so primitive and apostolical, except it makes us really good it is but wrangling hypocrisy and noise.
1. True goodness doth express itself in plainness and sincerity in all our respective dealings with men.
2. Goodness expresses itself in the exercise of good nature, and charitable allowances for the errors of others.
3. The good man is of a spirit truly public, whose care and attention looks abroad.
4. The good man takes up religion only to serve a spiritual purpose. Religion without this good purpose is only fashion or faction, hypocrisy and formality, superstition or interest.
II. What grew up and prevailed in the prophets time in the place of true religion or goodness.
1. Superstition and false religion, which naturally produce trouble and disquiet in all governments.
2. Wicked lives in the professors of the true religion, which will surely cause misery and ruin in a nation.
3. Atheistical persuasions prevailed, or there was no religion at all.
III. What particular reasons may move us to bewail the want of real goodness.
1. The want of it is the principal cause of our distractions about religion.
2. Real goodness is the best way to unite us among ourselves. Real goodness purges our judgment, removes our prejudices. (Gregory Hascard, D. D.)
Ancient and modern pessimism
When we ourselves are down it is hard to believe that anybody else is up; when our prayer is choked in our throat it is easy to believe that God hears no prayer at all, nor cares for petitioning and supplicating men. We interpret all things by ourselves. There is a curious self-projection of the soul upon the disc of history, and we read according to the shadow which we throw upon that disc. This is what we call pessimism. We are always inventing strange words, and imagining that thereby we are making some kind of progress. Man has a fatal gift of giving names to things, and once give a name and it will be almost impossible to obliterate it. We call this pessimism,--that is, seeing all the wickedness, and none of the goodness; seeing all the darkness, and none of the light; seeing the utter desolation of all things, and not seeing in all the wilderness one green blade, one tiny flower, or hearing in the grim silence one trill of lark or soft note of thrush or nightingale. There are persons gifted with the genius of darkness. It may do us good to visit them occasionally; but on the whole it is better to live in the sunshine, and to hear the music, and to come under the influence of intelligent vivacity and cheerfulness. If people will shut themselves up in their own little houses--for the biggest house is little, the palace is a mere hut--and never keep any company but their own, they will go down. It is so ecclesiastically. There are persons who never see the universe except through their own church window, and as no window is as big as the horizon, there steals insidiously upon the mind a disposition to deny the existence of the horizon itself. It is so with reading. There are those who read only a certain set of books. They go down; there is no mental range, no scope, no variety, no mystery of colour, no hopefulness, no imagination. The very earth needs to have its crops changed. If you will go on growing the same crops you will cease to have any crop that is worth gathering. There is, on the other hand, what is termed optimism. That is the exact contrary of pessimism. Optimism sees the best of everything. There is a danger along that line also; the danger is that we may not be stern enough, real enough, penetrating enough, going into the heart and inmost fibre of things to find out reality and truth, how bad or good soever the case may be. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
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 On v3 Mic_7:3. Evil] Lit. Their hands are for evil, that…
CRITICAL NOTES.
Mic_7:3. Evil] Lit. Their hands are for evil, that they may do it earnestly, i.e. well, cleverly. Great] man. He] Emphatic, expresses desire, lit. the lust of his soul. They] Venal judges are ready to wrap, Heb. to weave or twist together; they pervert the cause of the poor.
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Mic_7:4. Best] The prince asks, the judge grants, and the rich co-operate; all resemble the brier and thorn-bush, which only prick and injure. Visit.] Corruption is so high that judgment will break in upon them. Perplex.] They will be caught as victims, and not know what to do.
Mic_7:5. Trust] All are treacherous and pervert justice (Jer_9:2-6); confidence will be unsafe. Guide] And heads of families to whom we naturally look, unworthy of confidence.
Mic_7:6. Dishon.] Treats the father as a fool (Deu_32:15; Jer_14:21). Daughter] witnesses against her mother (Psa_27:12). Treachery and faithlessness reach the nearest friends, and dissolve every family tie (cf. Mat_24:10-12).
HOMILETICS
WITH BOTH HANDS EARNESTLY.—Mic_7:3
There is little of excellence in mere earnestness. The more earnest a man is in vital error, he inflicts, of necessity, the deeper injury on the interests of truth and men. The wicked men, in this picture of the prophet, stand in the very attitude which every good man should assume in the work of God.
I. Without hands. Some good men seem to be without hands. “They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not.” They work with hands in other things; strive manfully in a political struggle, or in a question of social right. They are diligent in business, but in Christian work idle, both hands drop down and there they stand—without hands. “Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bitterly!” Why? What had Meroz done to merit the curse? Nothing. That was the sin, that she had “not come up to the help of the Lord.”
II. With one hand. This is the second state in which many serve God. This is well to begin with, but a little more must be added, and so the service must grow into fulness. The Apostles were grand workers, learned by watching and following him who went about doing good. They were but one-handed men, made many mistakes, but got the use of both hands in time. The Master has always a great company of young workers, some young in life, some young in toil, but all learning and needing the word of encouragement from those of more experience. If you are speaking for Christ, anywhere, at any time, doing but a little service in a quiet way; God speed you in your work.
III. With both hands we say to all one-handed men; for there is no perfection, even of a relative kind, with one. Both hands are given for use; the other will not be idle, but will grasp at something, raise up another force of evil to balance Christian activity; so life in a little while will be in poise, not in motion; then in a little longer there will be motion, but in a wrong way. “With both hands” for safety. With all the powers and with all the talents given. None of them must rust, all must go out in use. How few things there are in the house, in labour, in business, that we can do with one hand! David’s men “were mighty men, helpers of the war; they were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left.” These are the men whom Christ needs to fight his battles and do his work; “workmen needing not to be ashamed” of the work they do, or of the way in which they do it.
IV. There is a higher, the highest stage of obedience, expressed by all the words of the text, with both hands earnestly. It is not enough that the talents be laid out; they must be laid out to the best advantage. Every power and passion must be enlisted, baptized, inspired and energized in Christian service. This is just the thing to make some happy, heroic, and victorious. They work with both hands—the mechanism is perfect and the action steady—but it is mechanical not vital action. Christian earnestness is not mere vehemence and heat: it is “zeal according to knowledge.” Many reasons might be urged for an earnest life: Self-preservation requires it. Our faculties and senses cannot be kept bright and clear without use. The rust of moral decay will be within us unless we work “with our might.” Honesty requires it. We have undertaken a great service—if at all—on certain terms, clear conditions laid down by the Master. We must fulfil them or we do not live fairly. Benevolence requires it. If we love our fellow-men, the one thing we can do for them above all other things in value is, to live truly and intensely before them. Gratitude requires it. This is all we can do for Christ. He will take nothing from us but this. Time requires it. Not one of us would go out of the world without having lived for some time in it in this way. The future is unknown, and carries secrets undisclosed. We are not fully matched with the day unless working “with both hands earnestly” [Raleigh].
UNIVERSAL CORRUPTION AND UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT.—Mic_7:3-6
Corruption is prevalent in all ranks of the community, rests upon a compromise of the ruling classes, and thus the foundations of morality are destroyed.
I. Universal corruption. Sin was veiled under the name of virtue, or committed in the pretence of justice.
1. In official ranks. Men in authority expose justice for sale and avow bribery. They play into the hands of others to strengthen themselves in evil.
(1.) The prince asks for gifts.
(2.) The judge seeks reward.
(3.) The nobleman utters his mischievous desires.
2. In religous professions. “The best of them is as a briar.” The most upright and moral were carried away with the sins of the day. They were crooked in their dispositions, and sharper than thorns in their ways. Instead of being a protection to others, they were positively injurious and oppressive.
3. In social circles. Faith was not kept anywhere; all to a man were treacherous (Jer_9:2-6).
(1.) A friend was not to be trusted.
(2.) The heads of families would not help and advise. The guide or counsellor, and the wife of his bosom (Deu_13:6), were alike guilty.
(3.) The members of families were in a state of lawlessness and impiety. Natural relationship was perverted. The son called the father a fool. The daughter testifies against her mother, and a man’s foes were found in his own household. Oppression was followed by inhumanity. The strongest ties of nature and religion were dissolved. A moral condition descriptive of the last times of the gospel dispensation (Luk_21:16; 2Ti_3:1-3).
II. Universal judgment. When men become oppressive and dangerous, and moral disease becomes universal, it is a sign of approaching ruin.
1. There will be a day of visitation. “Thy visitation cometh.” Men’s actions and lives are seen by God. God will reckon with them and visit them with punishment for sin.
2. This day of visitation is foretold. Watchmen and prophets foresee it and warn men of its speedy approach. 3. When it comes and finds men unprepared it is terrible. “Now shall be their perplexity.” Sinners are heedless, and the day breaks suddenly upon them. They will be caught in their own snares and, as they entangled others, they will not be able to escape their own retribution. “For it is a day of trouble and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of Hosts.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Mic_7:3. The triple alliance for evil. Union is good, is necessary and advantageous, but alliance for evil is disgraceful and injurious.
1. The Prince asks i.e. for the condemnation of the righteous and innocent.
2. The Judge grants for recompense or reward.
3. The great man co-operates with both. “So they wrap it up,” turn and twist their efforts into a threefold cord which cannot easily be broken.
Mic_7:4. Men as briers. Giving grief for help, and fleecing when they ought to protect. Hard and sharp in their dealings; piercing and injurious in their conduct. “Folden together as thorns” (Nah_1:10).
Mic_7:5-6. It is a part of the perplexity of crooked ways, that all relationships are put out of joint. Selfishness rends each from the other, and disjoints the whole frame of society. Passions and sin break every band of friendship, kindred, gratitude, nature. The words describe partly the inward corruption, partly the outward causes which shall call it forth. There is no real trust in any, where all are corrupt. The words deepen as they go on. First, the friend, or neighbour, the common band of man and man; then the guide (or, as the word also means, one familiar, united by intimacy, to whom by continual intercourse the soul was used); then the wife who lay in the bosom, nearest to the secrets of the heart; then those to whom also reverence is due, father and mother [Pusey].
1. There is no sure hold upon any man, however strictly he be bound, who is declining from God, and hath not a tender conscience standing in awe of him; for in this declining time, friends, guides, wives, &c., are not to be trusted in.
2. In times of defection and backsliding, the godly out of love should believe all things (1Co_13:7), and not easily take prejudice, and to walk warily and prudently; Trust not, saith he, put no confidence, keep the doors of thy mouth, especially trust in or look to none for help, but only in God [Hutcheson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 7
Mic_7:3-4. Man is nothing but insincerity, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in regard to himself and in regard to others. He does not wish that he should be told the truth; he shuns saying it to others; and all these moods, so inconsistent with justice and reason, have their roots in his heart [Pascal].
“Faithless is earth, and faithless are the skies!
Justice is fled, and truth is now no more.” [Virgil, Æneid.]
Mic_7:5-7.
“Lean not on earth; twill pierce thee to the heart:
A broken reed at best, but oft a spear:
On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires.” [Young.]
Mic_7:7-9. A holy silence unstrings every affliction, it takes off the weight of every burden, it adds sweet to every bitter, it changes dark nights into sunshiny days. The smallest sufferings will easily vanquish an unquiet spirit, but a quiet spirit will as easily triumph over the greatest sufferings [Brooks]. Mic_7:9. Indignation. Though of all burdens the indignation of the Lord be the greatest burden, yet Divine indignation is but a light burden in comparison of sin. A gracious soul can better stand under the burden of God’s indignation for sin, than it can stand under the burden of sin itself, which hath kindled that indignation [Ibid.].
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v5 (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
trust
(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5 General Information:
General Information:
Micah continues speaking about the people of Israel.
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Their hands are very good
The hand is a synecdoche for the person. AT: "The people are very good" (See: Synecdoche)
The best of them is like a brier, the most upright is worse than a thorn hedge
Briers and thorns are good for nothing and harm those who touch them. The Israelite rulers and judges did nothing good and harmed people. (See: Simile)
the most upright
"those of them who try hardest to do what is good"
It is the day foretold by your watchmen, the day of your punishment
Micah speaks to the people of Israel, so both instances of "your" are plural. The word "watchmen" is a metaphor for prophets. AT: "Their prophets have told them that Yahweh would punish them" (See: Active or Passive and Forms of You and Metaphor)
Now is the time of their confusion
The abstract noun "confusion" can be translated as a verb. AT: "Now is when they do not understand what is happening" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
hand
rule
judge, judges
bribe
punish
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 On vv2–5 7:2-6 The people of Israel were without law, justice,…
7:2-6 The people of Israel were without law, justice, or righteousness. Everyone took advantage of others for self-aggrandizement; they had created a society in which all forms of oppression were the norm.
7:2 not one honest person is left: This complaint is frequent in the prophets (see Isa 59:16; Jer 5:1; Ezek 22:30). • In the ancient Near East, people fished and hunted by setting traps and using nets (cp. Ps 10:9; Prov 1:17; Isa 51:20). • their own brothers: All fellow Israelites were regarded as brothers.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.