Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 3:1

"And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?" — Micah 3:1 (ASV)

And I said - God’s love for us is the great stimulus, compelling force, and enlivener of His creature’s love. Micah had just spoken of God’s love for Israel: how He would gather them into one fold under One Shepherd, guard them, lead them, remove all difficulties before them, be Himself their Head, and enable them to follow Him.

He then turns to them. These are God’s doings; this, God has in store for you in the future. Even when mercy itself shall require chastisement, He does not cast off forever. The desolation is but the forerunner of future mercy.

What then do you do? The prophet appeals to them, class by class. There was a general corruption of every order of men through whom Judah could be preserved: princes (Micah 3:1–4), prophets (Micah 3:5–7), and priests (Micah 3:11).

The salt had lost its savor; with what could it be seasoned? By what means could the decaying mass of the people be kept from entire corruption?

Hear, I urge you, O heads of Jacob, and you princes of the house of Israel - He arraigns them by the same name under which He had first promised mercy. He had first promised mercy to all Jacob and the remnant of Israel. So now he upbraids the “heads of Jacob, and the princes of the house of Israel,” lest they should deceive themselves.

At the same time, he recalls them to the deeds of their father. Judah had succeeded to the birthright, forfeited by Reuben, Simeon, and Levi; and in Judah, all the promises of the Messiah were laid up. But Judah was not like the three great patriarchs: the father of the faithful (Abraham), the meek Isaac, or the much-tried Jacob. The name 'Jacob' or 'Israel' then did not have the same reminiscences or force of appeal as did the titles 'seed of Abraham,' 'seed of Isaac,' or 'seed of Israel.'

Is it not for you to know judgment? - It is a great increase of guilt when persons neglect or pervert what it is their special duty and office to guard; as when teachers corrupt doctrine, or preachers give in to a low standard of morals, or judges pervert judgment.

The “princes” spoken of here are so named from judging, that is, “deciding” causes. They are the same as the “rulers” whom Isaiah, at the same time, upbraids as being, because of their sins, rulers of Sodom, whose hands were full of blood (Isaiah 1:15). Those who do not do what is right, in time, largely cease to know it.

As God withdraws His grace, the mind is darkened and can no longer see it. So it is said of Eli’s sons, they were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12); and, Into a malicious soul Wisdom shall not enter, nor dwell in a body that is subject unto sin . Such people “do not attain to know the judgments of God, which are a great deep; and the evil mind does not find the depth of His justice.” But if people will not “know judgment” by doing it, they shall know it by suffering it.