Charles Ellicott Commentary Micah 7
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Micah 7
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Micah 7
"Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat; my soul desireth the first-ripe fig." — Micah 7:1 (ASV)
Woe is me! —Micah gives here a fearful picture of the demoralised state of society in Judah which had called down the vengeance of God. As the early fig gathered in June is eagerly sought by the traveller, so the prophet anxiously sought a good man; but his experience was that of the Psalmist: The godly man ceases; the faithful fail from among the children of men.
"The godly 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." — Micah 7:2 (ASV)
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.
"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." — Micah 7:3 (ASV)
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly. —Literally, well. Dr. Benisch, in his Old Testament newly translated under the supervision of the Rev. the Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of the British Empire (1852), avoids the oxymoron of doing “evil” “well” by translating the passage, “concerning the evil which their hands should amend,” which satisfactorily harmonizes with the rest of the passage.
So they wrap it up. —Literally, twist it, and pervert the course of justice.
"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." — Micah 7:4 (ASV)
The day of your watchmen — i.e., the time which your prophets have foreseen, about which they have continually warned you. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken (Jeremiah 6:17).
"Trust ye not in a neighbor; put ye not confidence in a friend; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son dishonoreth 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." — Micah 7:5-6 (ASV)
Trust you not...—All is now distrust and suspicion. The households are divided each against itself, and the relationships which should mean mutual confidence and support have become the occasion of the most bitter hostility. Our Lord adopts these words to express the strife and division which, He foresaw, would defile Christianity. (Mark 13:12; Luke 12:53).
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