Charles Ellicott Commentary Micah 1
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Micah 1
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Micah 1
"The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem." — Micah 1:1 (ASV)
Micah the Morasthite: Unlike Joel, who identifies himself by his father’s name, Micah introduces his personality with reference to his native village, Moresheth-gath, which was situated in the lowland district of Judah. The name—a shortened form of Micaiah, meaning “Who is like Jehovah”—was not an uncommon one among the Jews, but it was chiefly famous in times prior to the prophet, through Micaiah, the son of Imlah, who, about 150 years previously, had withstood Ahab and his false prophets.
Samaria and Jerusalem: The younger capital is placed first because it was the first to fall through the greater sinfulness of the northern kingdom. The chief cities are mentioned as representatives of the wickedness of the respective nations.
"Hear, ye peoples, all of you: hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord Jehovah be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple." — Micah 1:2 (ASV)
Hear, all ye people. —The threefold repetition of the appeal, “Hear ye,” seems to mark three divisions in the book:
- “Hear, all ye people” (Micah 1:2);
- “Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob” (Micah 3:1);
- “Hear ye now what the Lord saith” (Micah 6:1).
From his holy temple — that is, from heaven; for “the Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalms 11:4).
Micaiah, the son of Imlah, ended his appeal to Ahab and Jehoshaphat with the words with which Micah opens his prophecy, “Hearken, O people, every one of you” (1 Kings 22:28).
"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)
The mountains shall be molten. The manifestations of the presence of God are taken from the description of the giving of the Law, when the hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth (Psalms 97:5).
Dean Stanley refers the imagery to the memorable earthquake mentioned in Amos 1:1: “Mountains and valleys are cleft asunder, and melt as in a furnace; the earth heaving like the rising waters of the Nile; the sea bursting over the land; the ground shaking and sliding as, with a succession of shocks, its solid framework reels to and fro like a drunkard” (Jewish Church, Lect. 37).
"For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?" — Micah 1:5 (ASV)
The transgression of Jacob ... the sins of the house of Israel. — The corruption of the country came from the capital cities. Samaria, on her hill, set an example of idolatry, drunkenness, and all the evils of a most profligate society; and even Jerusalem, the city set on an hill, gave a home in the Temple of Jehovah to heathen deities.
"Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, [and] as places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations thereof." — Micah 1:6 (ASV)
Samaria as a heap of the field. —Samaria was to be reduced to what it had been before the days of Ahab; the palatial city of the kings of the northern kingdom should return to the normal condition of a vineyard, which it had before Shemer sold it to Omri. The fruitfulness of its vines suggests one cause of its ruin. Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine (Isaiah 28:1).
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