Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 1:4

"And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place." — Micah 1:4 (ASV)

And the mountains shall be melted under Him – It has been thought that this is imagery taken from volcanic eruptions; but, although there is a very remarkable volcanic district just outside Gilead, it is not thought to have been active at times as late as these, nor were the people to whom the words were said familiar with it. Fire, the real agent at the end of the world, is, meanwhile, the symbol of God’s anger, as being the most terrible of His instruments of destruction. For this reason, God revealed Himself as a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24), and at this same time said by Isaiah: “For behold, the Lord will come with fire ... to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire” (Isaiah 66:15).

And the valleys shall be split as wax before the fire – It seems natural that the mountains should be split, but the valleys, so low already! This speaks of a yet deeper dissolution, of lower depths beyond our sight or knowledge, into the very heart of the earth. Sanch.: “This should they fear, who choose to be so low; who, so far from lifting themselves to heavenly things, pour out their affections on things of earth, meditate on and love earthly things, and forgetful of the heavenly, choose to fix their eyes on earth. The wide, gaping earth, which they loved, shall swallow these; to them the split valleys shall open an everlasting tomb, and, having received them, will never release them.”

Highest and lowest, first and last, shall perish before Him. The pride of the highest, kings and princes, priests and judges, shall sink and melt away beneath the weight and Majesty of His glory; the hardness of the lowest, which would not open itself to Him, shall be split in two before Him.

As wax before the fire – , melting away before Him who did not soften them, vanishing into nothingness. Metals melt, changing their form only; wax melts so as to cease to exist.

As the waters poured down – (As a stream or cataract, so the word means.)

A steep place – Down to the very edge, it is carried along, one strong, smooth, unbroken current; then, at once, it seems to gather its strength for one great effort. But to what end? To fall with greater force, headlong, scattered in spray, foam and froth; dissipated, at times, into vapor, or reeling in giddy eddies, never to return.

In Judea, where the autumn rains set in with great vehemence, the waters must have often been seen pouring in their little tumultuous brooklets down the mountainside, hastening to disappear, and disappearing faster, the more vehemently they rolled along.

Both images exhibit the inward emptiness of sinners, humanity’s utter helplessness before God. They need no outward impulse to their destruction.

Jerome: “Wax cannot endure the nearness of the fire, and the waters are carried headlong. So all the ungodly, when the Lord comes, shall be dissolved and disappear.” At the end of the world, they shall be gathered into bundles and cast away.