John Calvin Commentary Micah 1:5

"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 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.