John Calvin Commentary Micah 6:16

"For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people." — Micah 6:16 (ASV)

Some read the words in the future tense, “And they will observe the statutes of Omri,” and so forth, and gather this meaning—that the Prophet, by the Spirit, now foresees that the people would continue so perverse in their sins as to exclude every hope that they could be reformed by any punishments.

The meaning then would be, “The Lord has indeed determined to punish sharply and severely the wickedness of this people; but they will not repent; they will nevertheless remain dull in their obstinacy and go on in their superstitions, which they have learned from the kings of Israel.” There is, however, another view, and one more generally approved, and that is—that the Jews, having forsaken God and despised His Law, had turned aside to the superstitions of the kingdom of Israel.

Hence he says that observed were the decrees of Omri, and every work of the house of Ahab. Omri was the father of Ahab, who was made king by the election of the soldiers when Zimri, who had slain the king, was rejected. When Omri bought Samaria, he built a city there; and to secure honor for it, he added a temple, and thus idolatry increased.

Afterwards, his son Ahab abandoned himself to every kind of superstition. Thus matters became continually worse. Hence the Prophet, by mentioning king Omri and his posterity here (included in the words, “the house of Ahab”), clearly means that the Jews who had purely worshipped God eventually degenerated and were now wholly unlike Israelites, as they had embraced all those abominations which Omri and his son Ahab had devised.

True religion still prevailed in the tribe of Judah, though the kingdom of Israel had become corrupt, and filthy superstitions had gained dominance. But over time, the Jews also became implicated in similar superstitions. Of this sin the Prophet now accuses them; that is, that they made themselves associates with the Israelites: Observed then are the edicts of Omri, and the whole work of the house of Ahab: You walk, he says (the future here means a continued act, as often elsewhere), in their counsels.

It must be observed that the Prophet here uses respectable terms when he says that הקעת, chekut, statutes or decrees, were observed, and when he adds, “the counsels” of the kings of Israel. But this is in no way stated as an excuse for them; for though men may not only be pleased with, but also highly commend, their own devices, yet the Lord abominates them all.

The Prophet no doubt designedly adopted these words to show that those pretenses which superstitious men adduce, either to commend or to excuse their own inventions, were frivolous and of no account. They always refer to public authority—“This has been received by the consent of all; that has been decreed; it is not the mistake of one or two men, but the whole Church has so determined; and kings also command thus; it would be a great sin not to show obedience to them.”

Hence the Prophet, to show how puerile such excuses are, says, “I indeed allow that your superstitions are honorably distinguished by you, for they are approved by the edicts of your kings, are received by the consent of the many, and they seem not to have been inconsiderately and unadvisedly, but prudently contrived, even by great men who had become skillful through long experience.”

But however much they might have boasted of their statutes and counsels, and however plausibly they might have referred to prudence and power to disguise their idolatries, yet all those things were of no account before God. By “counsels,” the Prophet no doubt meant that false kind of wisdom which always shines forth in the traditions of men; and by “statutes,” he meant kingly authority.

Thus we see that it is a vain thing to gloss over what is idolatrous by alleging power on the one hand in its favor, and wisdom on the other. How so? Because God will not allow Himself to be dishonored by such absurd things; but He commands us to worship Him according to what is prescribed in His Word.

And now a denunciation of punishment follows: That I should deliver thee to desolation, and its inhabitants, and so on. There is a change of person; the Prophet continually addresses the land, and under that name, the people—that I should then deliver you to exile, or desolation, and thine inhabitants to hissing. It is a quotation from Moses; and by hissing he means the reproach and mockery to which men in a miserable state are exposed.

At last he adds, Ye shall bear the reproach of my people. Some take the word “people” in a good sense, as if the Prophet had said here that God would punish the wrongs which the rich had done to the distressed common people; but this view, in my judgment, is too confined.

Others understand by “the reproach of God’s people” that nothing would be more reproachful to the Jews than that they had been the people of God; for it would result in their dishonor and disgrace that they, who had been honored by such an honorable name, were afterwards given up to such great miseries.

But the passage may be otherwise explained: we may understand by “the people of God” the Israelites, as if the Prophet said, “Do you not perceive how the Israelites have been treated? Were they not a part of My people? They were descendants from the race of Abraham as well as you, nor can you boast of a higher dignity. They were then equal to you in the opinion of all; and yet this privilege did not hinder My judgment, did not prevent Me from visiting them as they deserved.”

Such a view harmonizes with the passage. But there is, as I think, something ironical in the expression “My people,” as if He said, “The confidence that you have until now been My people hardens you. But this false and wicked boasting shall increase your punishment; for I will not inflict on you an ordinary punishment, as on heathens and strangers, but I shall punish your wickedness much more severely. For it is necessary that your punishment should bear proportion to My favor, which has been so shamefully and basely despised by you.”

Hence, by “the reproach of God’s people,” I understand the heavier judgments justly prepared for all the ungodly whom God had favored with such special honor as to regard them as His people. For the servant who knew his master’s will and did not do it was on that account more severely corrected (Luke 12:47).

Commentary on Micah