Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 3:5

"Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:" — Micah 3:5 (ASV)

The prophets that make My people err - Flattering them in their sins and rebellions, promising that they shall go unpunished, that God is not so strict, and will not put in force the judgments He threatens. So Isaiah says (Isaiah 3:12): O My people, they who lead you, mislead you; and (Isaiah 9:16, and Isaiah 9:15 in Hebrew), the leaders of this people are its misleaders, and they that are led by them are destroyed. And Jeremiah says, “The prophets have seen for you vanity and folly; and they have not discovered your iniquity to turn away your captivity, and have seen for you false burdens and causes of banishment” (Lamentations 2:14). No error is hopeless, except what is taught in the Name of God.

That bite with their mouths - The word is used of no other biting than the biting of serpents. They were doing real, secret evil “while they cry, that is, proclaim peace;” they bit, as serpents, treacherously, deadly. They fed, not so much on the gifts for which they hired themselves to speak peace when there was no peace (Ezekiel 13:10), as on the souls of the givers. So God says by Ezekiel, “Will you pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to My people that hear your lies? Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life—therefore you shall see no more vanity nor divine divinations” (Ezekiel 19:1–14, 22-23). It was with a show of peace that Joab slew Abner and Amasa, and with a kiss of peace Judas betrayed our Lord.

And he that puts not into their mouths, they prepare war against him - Literally, and (that is, immediately; it was all one; bribes refused, war proclaimed) “they sanctify war against him.” Like those of whom Joel prophesied, they proclaim war against him in the Name of God, by the authority of God which they had taken to themselves, speaking in His Name who had not sent them.

So when our Lord fed the multitude, they would take Him by force and make Him a king; when their hopes were gone and they saw that His Kingdom was not of this world, they said, Crucify Him, crucify Him. Much more the Pharisees, who, because He rebuked their covetousness, their devouring widows’ houses, their extortion and excess, their making their proselytes more children of hell than themselves, said, You blaspheme.

So, when the masters of the possessed girl whom Paul freed (Acts 16:19–21) saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they accused him that he exceedingly troubled their city, teaching customs not lawful to be received.

So Christians were persecuted by pagans as “hating the human race,” because they would not partake of their sins; as “atheists,” because they did not worship their gods; as “disloyal” and “public enemies,” because they did not join in unholy festivals; as “unprofitable,” because they neglected things not profitable but harmful.

So men are now called “illiberal,” who will not take liberties with the truth of God; “intolerant,” who will not allow that all faith is a matter of opinion, and that there is no certain truth; “precise,” “censorious,” who will not connive at sin, or allow the levity which plays, mothlike, around it and jests at it. The Church and the Gospel are against the world, and so the world which they condemn must be against them; and such is the force of truth and holiness, that it must carry on the war against them in their own name.