John Calvin Commentary Micah 1

This inscription, first, shows the time in which Micah lived and during which God employed his labors. This deserves to be noticed, for today his sermons would be useless, or at least lacking impact, unless his time were known to us, so that we are enabled to compare what is similar and what is different in the people of his age and in those of our own. For when we understand that Micah condemned this or that vice, as we may also learn from the other Prophets and from sacred history, we are able to apply more easily to ourselves what he then said, since we can view our own life as it were in a mirror. This is the reason why the Prophets usually mention the time in which they executed their office.

But how long Micah followed the course of his calling we cannot with certainty determine. It is, however, probable that he discharged his office as a Prophet for thirty years; it may be that he exceeded forty years, for he names here three kings, the first of whom, Jotham, reigned sixteen years, and he was followed by Ahab, who also reigned as many years.

If then Micah was called at the beginning of the first reign, he must have prophesied for thirty-two years, the time of the two kings. Then the reign of Hezekiah followed, which continued to the twenty-ninth year; and it may be that the Prophet served God until the death, or even beyond the death, of Hezekiah.

Hence, we see that the number of his years cannot with certainty be known, though it is sufficiently evident that he did not teach for only a few years, but that he so discharged his office that for thirty years he did not grow weary, but constantly persevered in executing the command of God.

I have said that he was contemporary with Isaiah; but as Isaiah began his office under Uzziah, we conclude that he was older. Why then was Micah joined to him? So that the Lord might thus break down the stubbornness of the people. It was indeed enough that one man was sent by God to bear witness to the truth, but it pleased God that a testimony should be borne by the mouth of two, and that holy Isaiah should be assisted by this friend and, as it were, his colleague.

And we shall later find that they adopted the very same words; but there was no rivalry between them, so that one accused the other of theft when he repeated what had been said. Nothing was more gratifying to each of them than to receive a testimony from his colleague; and what was committed to them by God they declared not only in the same sense and meaning, but also in the same words and, as it were, with one mouth.

Concerning the expression that the word was sent to him, we have reminded you elsewhere that it should not be understood as private teaching, as when the word of God is addressed to individuals. Instead, the word was given to Micah so that he might be God’s ambassador to us. It means then that he came equipped with commands, as one representing God himself, for he brought nothing of his own, but what the Lord commanded him to proclaim. But as I have elaborated on this subject elsewhere, I now only touch on it briefly.

This vision, he says, was given him against two cities, Samaria and Jerusalem. It is certain that the Prophet was specifically sent to the Jews; and Maresah, from where he came, as it appears from the inscription, was in the tribe of Judah, for Morasthite was a designation derived from the place Maresah. But it may be asked, why does he say that visions had been given him against Samaria?

We have said elsewhere that though Hosea was specifically and in a particular manner destined for the kingdom of Israel, he yet sometimes intermingled those things which referred to the tribe or kingdom of Judah. This was also the case with our Prophet; he was chiefly concerned with his own kindred, for he knew that he was appointed for them. However, at the same time, he did not wholly overlook the other part of the people, for the kingdom of Israel was not so divided from the tribe of Judah that no connection remained, because God was unwilling that His covenant should be abolished by their defection from the kingdom of David. Therefore, we see that though Micah primarily spent his labors on behalf of the Jews, he yet did not overlook or entirely neglect the Israelites.

But the title must be restricted to one part of the book, for only threatenings form the discourse here. However, we shall find that promises full of joy are also introduced. The inscription then does not include all the contents of the book; but as his purpose was to begin with threatenings and to terrify the Jews by presenting to them the punishment that was at hand, this inscription was intentionally given.

There is, at the same time, no doubt that the Prophet was poorly received by the Jews on this account, for they considered it a great indignity, and in no way to be endured, to be tied up in the same bundle with the Israelites. For Samaria was an abomination to the kingdom of Judah, and yet the Prophet here makes no difference between Samaria and Jerusalem. This was then an exasperating sentence. But we see how boldly the Prophet performs the office committed to him, for he did not regard what would be agreeable to people, nor did he endeavor to win them over with flattering words. Though his message was disliked, he still proclaimed it, for he was so commanded, nor could he shake off the yoke of his calling.

The Prophet here adopts an elevated style, not being content with a simple and calm manner of speaking. From this we may learn that, having previously tested the attitude of the people, he knew the stubbornness of almost all classes. For unless he was persuaded that the people would be rebellious and obstinate, he would certainly have used some mildness, or at least endeavored to lead them willingly rather than drive them so violently.

There is then no doubt that the obstinacy and wickedness of the people were already fully known to him, even before he began to address a single word to them. But this difficulty did not prevent him from obeying God’s command. He found it necessary, in the meantime, to add vehemence to his teaching, for he saw that he was addressing deaf, indeed, foolish men, who lacked any sense of religion. They had hardened themselves against God, had not only fallen away through thoughtlessness, but had also become immersed in their sins and were wickedly and abominably obstinate in them. Since the Prophet saw this, he makes a bold beginning here, addressing not only his own nation, for whom he was appointed as a teacher, but he also speaks to the whole world.

For what purpose does he say, Hear, all ye people? It was certainly not his object to proclaim God's truth indiscriminately to everyone for the same purpose. Instead, he summons all nations here as witnesses or judges, so that the Jews might understand that their impiety would be made evident to all, unless they repented. They had no reason to hope they could conceal their wickedness, for God would expose their hidden crimes as if on an open stage. Thus we see how emphatic the words are when the Prophet calls on all nations and wants them to be witnesses of the judgment God had resolved to bring upon His people.

He afterwards adds, Let also the earth give ear and its fullness. We may take "the earth," by metonymy, to mean its inhabitants. But as it is added, and its fullness, the Prophet, I do not doubt, meant here to address the very earth itself, though it lacks reason. He means that God's judgment would be so dreadful as to shake created things which are devoid of sense. In this way, he more severely rebukes the Jews for their stupor, because they heedlessly neglected God's word, which nevertheless would shake all the elements by its power.

He then immediately turns his discourse to the Jews. After having established God’s tribunal and summoned all the nations, so that they might form, as it were, a circle of a solemn assembly, he says, There will be for me the Lord Jehovah against you for a witness — the Lord from the temple of his holiness.

By saying that God would be a witness for him, he not only affirms that he was sent by God, but, as if inflamed with zeal, he appeals to God here and asks Him to be present, so that the wickedness and obstinacy of the people might not go unpunished. It is as if he said, “Let God, whose minister I am, be with me and punish your impiety. Let Him prove that He is the author of this doctrine, which I declare from His mouth and by His command. Let Him not allow you to escape unpunished, if you do not repent.”

So now we perceive the Prophet's meaning when he says that God would be a witness for him. It is as if he had said that there was no room here to trifle, for if the Jews thought to elude God’s judgment, they greatly deceived themselves. This is because when God has given a command to His servants to deal with His people, He is at the same time present as a judge and will not allow His word to be rejected without immediately taking up His own cause.

Neither is this addition superfluous, The Lord from the temple of his holiness: for we know how thoughtlessly the Jews used to boast that God dwelt among them. This presumption so blinded them that they despised all the Prophets, because they thought it unlawful for anything to be said to their disgrace, considering they were the holy people of God, His holy heritage and chosen nation.

Therefore, since the Lord had adopted them, they falsely boasted of His favors. Since the Prophet knew that the people insolently gloried in those privileges with which they had been honored by God, he now declares that God would be the avenger of impiety from His temple. It is as if he said, “You boast that God is bound to you, and that He has so bound His faithfulness to you as to make His name something for you to trifle with. He indeed dwells in His temple; but from there He will reveal Himself as an avenger, as He sees that you are perverse in your wickedness.”

Thus we see that the Prophet beats down that foolish arrogance with which the Jews were inflated; indeed, he turns back on their own heads what they used to boastfully bring forward. After having made this introduction, to awaken slumbering men with as much vehemence as he could, he adds—

The Prophet pursues the same subject, and he dwells especially on this: that God would be a witness against His people from His sanctuary. He therefore confirms this when he says that God would come from His place. Some interpreters at the same time take this view: that the temple would in the future be deprived of God’s presence and would therefore become profane, according to what Ezekiel declares.

For the Jews imagined that God was connected with them as long as the temple stood. This false imagination proved to them an allurement to sin, as it were, because on this account they took greater liberty for themselves. This was the reason why the Prophet Ezekiel declares that God was no longer in the temple; and the Lord had shown him by a vision that He had left His temple, so that He would no longer dwell there.

Some, as I have said, give a similar explanation of this passage, but this sense does not seem to suit the context. I therefore take another view of this sentence: that God would go forth from His place. Yet it is doubted what place the Prophet refers to, for many take it to be heaven, and this seems probable, for immediately after he adds, Descend shall God, and he will tread on the high places of the earth. This descent indeed seems to point out a higher place. But as the temple, we know, was situated on a high and elevated spot, on Mount Zion, there is nothing inconsistent in saying that God descended from His temple to chastise the whole of Judea as it deserved.

Then the going forth of God is by no means ambiguous in its meaning, for he means that God would finally go forth, as it were, in a visible form. With regard then to the place, I am inclined to refer it to the temple; and this clause, I have no doubt, has proceeded from the last verse.

But why is going forth here ascribed to God? Because the Jews had abused the forbearance of God in worshipping Him with vain ceremonies in the temple, and at the same time they thought that they had escaped from His hand. As long then as God spared them, they thought that He was, as it were, bound to them, because He dwelt among them.

Besides, as the legal and shadowy worship prevailed among them, they imagined that God rested in their temple. But now the Prophet says, “He will go forth: you have wished until now to confine God to the tabernacle, and you have attempted to pacify Him with your frivolous childishness. But you shall know that His hand and His power extend much farther. He shall therefore come and show what that majesty is which has been until now a derision to you.” For when hypocrites offer their ceremonies for sale to God, do they not openly trifle with Him, as though He were a child?

And do they not thus rob Him of His power and authority? Such was the senselessness of that people. The Prophet therefore does not say without reason that God would go forth, that He might prove to the Jews that they were deluded by their own vain imaginations, when they thus took away from God what necessarily belonged to Him, and confined Him to a corner in Judea and fixed Him there, as though He rested and dwelt there like a dead idol.

The particle, Behold, is emphatic, for the Prophet intended here to shake off from the Jews their lethargy, since nothing was more difficult for them than to be persuaded and to believe that punishment was near, when they flattered themselves that God was propitious to them. Hence, that they might no longer cherish this obstinacy, he says, Behold, come shall the Lord, forth shall he go from his place. Isaiah has a passage like this in an address to the people, Isaiah 26; but its object is different, for Isaiah intended to threaten the enemies of the Church and heathen nations. But here Micah denounces war on the chosen people and shows that God thus dwelt in His temple, that the Jews might perceive that His hand was opposed to them, as they had so shamefully despised Him and, by their false imaginations, reduced His power, as it were, to nothing.

He shall tread, he says, on the high places of the earth. By the high places of the earth I do not understand superstitious places, but well-fortified ones. We know that fortresses were then generally fixed on elevated situations. The Prophet then intimates that there would be no place into which God’s vengeance would not penetrate, however well fortified it might be. “No enclosures,” he says, “shall hinder God from penetrating into the innermost parts of your fortresses; he shall tread on the high places of the earth.”

At the same time, I do not doubt that he alludes, by this kind of metaphor, to the chief men, who thought themselves exempted from the common lot of mankind. For they excelled so much in power, riches, and authority that they would not be classed with the common people. The Prophet then intimates that those who had become proud through a notion of their own superiority would not be exempt from punishment.

And he afterwards adds that this going forth of God would be terrible: Melt, he says, shall the mountains under Him. Thus it appears that the Prophet did not speak in the last verse of the departure of God, as though He was going to forsake His own temple. On the contrary, he described His going forth from the temple, that He might ascend His tribunal and execute punishment on the whole people, and thus, in reality, prove that He would be a judge, because He had been very daringly despised.

Hence he says, Melt shall the mountains under Him, the valleys shall be rent, or cleave, as wax before the fire, as waters rolling into a lower place. The Prophets do not often describe God in a manner so awful; but this representation is to be referred to the circumstance of this passage, for he presents God here as the judge of the people. It was therefore necessary that He should be exhibited as furnished and armed with powers that He might inflict such vengeance on the Jews as they deserved.

And other similar passages we shall meet with later, like those which we found in Hosea. God then is said to melt the mountains, and He is said to strike the valleys with such terror that they cleave under Him. In short, He is said so to terrify all elements that the very mountains, however stony they may be, melt like wax or like waters which flow—because He could not otherwise produce a real impression on a people so obstinate, and who, as it has been said, so flattered themselves even in their vices.

We may further easily learn what application to make of this truth in our day. We find the Papists boasting of the title Church and, in a manner, with vain confidence, binding God to themselves because they have baptism (though they have adulterated it with their superstitions). And then, they think that they have Christ because they still retain the name of a Church.

Had the Lord promised that His dwelling would be at Rome, we yet see how foolish and frivolous such boasting would be: for though the temple was at Jerusalem, yet the Lord went forth from there to punish the sins of the people, indeed, even of the chosen people. We further know that it is folly to bind God now to one place, for it is His will that His name should be celebrated without any difference throughout the whole world.

Wherever, then, the voice of the Gospel sounds, God would have us to know that He is present there. What the Papists then proudly boast of—that Christ is joined to them—will turn out to their own condemnation. Why so? Because the Lord will prove that He is the avenger of such an impious and shameful profanation, as they not only presumptuously lay claim to His name, but also tear it in pieces and contaminate it with their sacrilegious abominations.

Again, since God is said to melt the mountains with His presence, let us therefore learn to rouse all our feelings whenever God comes forth—not so that we may flee to a distance from Him, but so that we may reverently receive His word, that He may afterwards appear to us as a kind and reconciled Father.

For when we become humble, and the pride and height of our flesh is subdued, He then immediately receives us, as it were, into His gentle bosom, and gives us easy access to Him; indeed, He invites us to Himself with all possible kindness.

So that the Lord may then thus kindly receive us, let us learn to fear as soon as He utters His voice. But let not this fear cause us to flee away; let it only humble us, so that we may render true obedience to the word of the Lord.

The Prophet teaches, in this verse, that God is not angry for nothing. Though when he appears rigid, men protest to him and clamor as though he were cruel.

Therefore, so that men may acknowledge that God is a just judge and that he never exceeds moderation in punishments, the Prophet here distinctly states that there was a just cause why God pronounced such a dreadful judgment on his chosen people. This cause was that not only a part of the people, but the whole body, had fallen away through their impiety. For by "the house of Jacob" and "the house of Israel," he means that impiety had prevailed everywhere, so that no part was untainted.

The meaning, then, is this: the contagion of sin had spread through all Israel, so that no portion of the country was free from iniquity, and no corner of the land could offer an excuse for its falling away. The Lord therefore shows that he would be the judge of them all and would spare neither small nor great.

So now we understand the Prophet’s purpose in this verse. Just as he had previously taught how dreadful God’s vengeance against all the ungodly would be, so now he mentions their crimes, so that they might not complain that they were unjustly treated or that God employed too much severity. The Prophet then testifies that the punishment, then imminent, would be just.

He now adds, What is the wickedness of Jacob? The Prophet, no doubt, indirectly reproves here the hypocrisy that was dominant among the people. For he does not ask for his own satisfaction or in his own person; but, on the contrary, he relates, by way of imitation (μιμητικῶς — imitatively), what he knew to be always on their lips: “Oh!

what sort of thing is this sin? Why! You assume here a false principle—that we are wicked men, ungodly and perfidious: you do us a grievous wrong.” Since, then, hypocrites thought themselves pure, having wiped, as it were, their mouths, whenever they eluded reproofs with their sophistries, the Prophet borrows a question, so to speak, from their own lips: “Of what kind is this wickedness?

Of what sort is that transgression?” It is as if he said, “I know what you are accustomed to do when any one of the Prophets severely reproves you: you instantly contend with him and are ready with your objections. But what do you gain? If you wish to know what your wickedness is, it is Samaria; and where your high places are, they are at Jerusalem.”

It is the same as if he had said, “I do not here contend with the common people, but I attack the foremost men. My dispute then is with the princes themselves, who surpass others in dignity and are, therefore, unwilling to be touched.”

But it sometimes happens that the common people become degenerate, while some integrity remains among the higher orders. However, the Prophet shows that the diseases among the people stemmed from the principal men. Hence, he names the two chief cities, Jerusalem and Samaria, as he had said before, in the first verse, that he proclaimed prophecies against these. And yet it is certain that the punishment was to be common to the whole people.

But as they thought that Jerusalem and Samaria would be safe, even if the whole country were destroyed, the Prophet threatens them by name. For, relying first on their strength, they thought themselves unassailable. Then, too, the eyes of nearly all, we know, were dazzled by empty splendor, power, and dignity. Thus the ungodly wholly forget that they are men and what they owe to God when they are elevated in the world. Such great arrogance could not be subdued except by sharp and severe words, such as the Prophet, as we see, here employs.

He then says that the wickedness of Israel was Samaria; the fountain of all iniquities was the royal city, which nevertheless ought to have ruled the whole land with wisdom and justice. But what more remains when kings and their counselors trample underfoot all regard for what is just and right and, having cast away all shame, rise up in rebellion against God and men? When, therefore, kings thus fall from their dignity, an awful ruin must follow.

This is the reason why the Prophet says that the wickedness of Israel was Samaria—that from there arose all iniquities. But we must at the same time bear in mind that the Prophet is not speaking here of gross crimes; on the contrary, he directs his reproof against ungodly and perverted forms of worship. This becomes more evident from the second clause, in which he mentions transgressions in connection with the high places.

Thus, we see that not all sins in general are reproved here, but their corrupt modes of worship, by which religion had been polluted among the Jews as well as the Israelites. But it might seem very unjust that the Prophet should charge with sin those forms of worship in which the Jews diligently engaged themselves with the aim of pacifying God.

But we see how God regards as worthless whatever men devise from their own minds to blend with his worship. And this is our principal contest in our own day with the Papists: we call their perverted and spurious modes of worship abominations, while they think that what is heavenly is to be blended with what is earthly.

“We diligently labor,” they say, “for this end—that God may be worshipped.” True; but, at the same time, you profane his worship by your inventions, and it is therefore an abomination.

So now we see how foolish and frivolous are those delusions when men follow their own wisdom in the duty of worshipping God. For the Prophet here, in the name of God, fulminates, as it were, from heaven against all superstitions and shows that no sin is more detestable than that preposterous caprice with which idolaters are inflamed when they observe such forms of worship as they have themselves invented.

Now with regard to the high places, we must notice that there was a great difference between the Jews and the Israelites at that time concerning idolatry. The Israelites had fallen so far that they were completely degenerate; nothing could be seen among them that had any resemblance to the true and legitimate worship of God. But the Jews had retained some form of religion; they had not abandoned themselves to such an extent.

Yet they had a mixture of superstitions, such as one would find if one were to compare the gross Popery of our own day with that middle course which those men invent who seem to themselves to be very wise, fearing, ostensibly, as they do, the offenses of the world. Hence they form for us a mixture—I know not what—from the superstitions of the Papacy and from what they call the Reformation. Something like this was the mixture at Jerusalem.

However, we see that the Prophet pronounces the same sentence against both the Jews and the Israelites: namely, that God will allow nothing that proceeds from human inventions to be joined to his word. Since, then, God allows no such mixtures, the Prophet here says that there was no less sin on the high places of Judea than there was in those filthy abominations which were then dominant among the people of Israel.

But the remainder we must defer until tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since you formerly showed so much grace to a perverse and in every way rebellious people as to exhort them continually to repentance and to stretch forth your hand to them by your Prophets—O grant that the same word may sound in our ears. When we do not immediately profit by your teaching, O do not cast us away, but by your Spirit so subdue all our thoughts and affections that we, being humbled, may give glory to your majesty, such as is due to you. Grant also that, being allured by your paternal favor, we may submit ourselves to you and, at the same time, embrace that mercy which you offer and present to us in Christ, so that we may not doubt that you will be a Father to us, until we at length enjoy that eternal inheritance which has been obtained for us by the blood of your only-begotten Son. Amen.

Although Micah especially intended to devote his services to the Jews, as we said yesterday, he nevertheless, in the first place, passes judgment on Samaria, for it was his purpose afterwards to speak more fully against Jerusalem and the whole of Judea.

This situation ought to be kept in mind, for the Prophet does not begin with the Israelites because he directs his discourse particularly to them. Rather, his purpose was to briefly reprove them and then to address his own people more especially, for it was for this purpose that he was called.

Now, as he threatens destruction to Samaria and the whole kingdom of Israel on account of their corrupted forms of worship, we may therefore learn how displeasing superstition is to God, and that he regards nothing so much as the true worship of his name.

There is no reason here for people to claim that they do not intentionally sin, for God shows how we are to worship him.

Whenever, then, we deviate in any way from the rule which he has prescribed, we manifest, in that respect, our rebellion and obstinacy.

Therefore, the superstitious always act like fools with regard to God, for they will not submit to his word, so as to be made wise by it alone.

And he says, I will set Samaria as an heap of the field; that is, the ruins will be such that they will differ in no way from the heaps in the fields.

For farmers, we know, when they find stones in their fields, throw them into some corner so that they are not in the way of the plow.

Therefore, like such heaps as are seen in the fields, Samaria would be, according to what God declared. He then says that the place would be empty, so that vines would be planted there;

In the third place, he says that its stones would be scattered through the valley. This would be just as when one casts stones onto a wide plain, where they run and roll far and wide; so would be the scattering of Samaria, according to what the Prophet says it was to be: like the rolling of stones in a wide field.

He adds, in the fourth place, I will uncover her foundations; that is, I will entirely demolish it, so that, as Christ says, a stone may not remain on a stone (Matthew 24:2).

We now perceive the meaning of these words. We also perceive that the reason the Prophet denounces so severe a judgment on Samaria was because it had corrupted the legitimate worship of God with its own inventions.

For it had devised, as we well know, many idols, so that the whole authority of the law had been abolished among the Israelites.