John Calvin Commentary Micah 2:5

John Calvin Commentary

Micah 2:5

1509–1564
Protestant
John Calvin
John Calvin

John Calvin Commentary

Micah 2:5

1509–1564
Protestant
SCRIPTURE

"Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah." — Micah 2:5 (ASV)

Here the Prophet concludes his discourse concerning God’s design to cleanse Judea of its perverse and wicked inhabitants, so that it might no longer be the inheritance of one people. For we know the land had been given to Abraham's descendants on the condition that they were to hold it as an inheritance. We also know that a boundary line was determined by lot whenever the year of Jubilee returned, so that everyone might regain their own possession. The Prophet now testifies that this advantage would be taken away from the Jews, and that from now on they would possess the land by no right of inheritance, for God, who had given it, would now take it away.

There shall not then be one to cast a line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah. And he seems here to subtly censure the Jews by calling them the assembly of Jehovah. Indeed, He had adopted them. They were the people of God. But he intimates that they were repudiated because they had made themselves unworthy of His favor. Therefore, by ironically calling them the assembly of Jehovah, he denies that they rightly retained this name, since they had deprived themselves of this honor and dignity.