John Calvin Commentary Micah 7:16-17

"The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent; like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places; they shall come with fear unto Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee." — Micah 7:16-17 (ASV)

Here again the Prophet shows that though the Church should be assailed on every side and surrounded by innumerable enemies, no doubt should yet be entertained regarding the promised aid of God. For it is in His power to make all nations ashamed—that is, to cast down all the pride of the world, so as to make the unbelieving eventually acknowledge that they were elated by an empty confidence.

Hence he says that the nations shall see; as if he said, “I know what makes you anxious, for many enemies are intent on your ruin. And when any help appears, they are immediately prepared fiercely to resist; but their attempts and efforts will not prevent God from delivering you.”

They shall then see and be ashamed of all their strength. By these words the Prophet means that however strongly armed the unbelieving may think themselves to be to destroy the Church, and however many obstacles they may have in their power to restrain the power of God on its behalf, yet the whole will be in vain.

For God will, in fact, prove that the strength of men is mere nothing.

He adds, They shall lay their hand on their mouth; that is, they shall not dare to boast in the future, as they have until now done; for this phrase in Hebrew means to be silent. Since then the enemies of the Church made great boastings and exulted with open mouth, as if the people of God were destroyed, the Prophet says that when God would appear as the Redeemer of His people, they would become, as it were, mute.

He adds further, their ears shall become deaf; that is, they shall stand astounded; indeed, they shall hardly dare to open their ears, lest the rumor brought to them should cause them new trembling. Proud men, we know, when matters succeed according to their wishes, not only boast of their good fortune with open mouths, but also greedily catch at all rumors; for they think these are all so many messages of victories: “What is from this place? Or what is from that place?”

They even expect that the whole world will come under their power. The Prophet, on the other hand, says, “They shall lay the hand on the mouth, and their ears shall become deaf;” that is, they shall tremblingly shun all rumors, for they shall continually dread new calamities, when they shall see that the God of Israel, against whom they have until now fought, is armed with so much power.

Some apply this to the preaching of the Gospel, which I readily allow, provided the deliverance is always made to begin with the ancient people. For if anyone would have this understood exclusively of Christ, such a strained and remote exposition would not be suitable.

But if anyone considers the favor of God as continued from the return of the people to the restoration effected by Christ, he will rightly comprehend the real design of the Prophet.

What the Prophet says here, then, is truly fulfilled when God spreads the doctrine of His Gospel throughout the whole world. For those who previously boasted of their own inventions then begin to close their mouths so that, being silent, they may become His disciples.

They also close their ears, for they no longer give themselves up, as before, to foolish and childish fables, but consecrate their entire hearing to the only true God, so that they may attend only to His truth and no longer waver between contrary opinions.

All this, I allow, is fulfilled under the preaching of the Gospel. But the Prophet, no doubt, connected the whole time from the return of the people from the Babylonian exile to the manifestation of Christ.

Afterward, he adds, They shall lick the dust as a serpent. He intimates that however the enemies of the Church may have proudly exalted themselves before, they shall then be cast down and lie, as it were, on the ground, for to lick the dust is nothing else but to lie prostrate on the earth.

They shall then be low and creeping like serpents. And then, They shall move themselves as worms and reptiles of the ground.

The verb רגז, regez, as it has been stated elsewhere, means to raise an uproar, to be in tumult, and it also means to move oneself. This latter meaning is the most suitable here: namely, that they shall go forth or move themselves from their enclosures.

For the word סגר, sager, signifies to close up. By enclosures, he means hiding-places, though in the song of David, in Psalm 18, the word is applied to citadels and other fortified places—

‘Men,’ he (David) says, ‘trembled from their fortresses’ (Psalms 18:45);

Though they occupied well-fortified citadels, they still were afraid, because the very fame of David had broken down their boldness. But as the Prophet speaks here of worms, I prefer this rendering: ‘from their lurkingplaces.’

As if he said, “Though they have until now thought themselves safe in their enclosures, they shall still move and flee away like worms and reptiles. For when the ground is dug, the worms immediately leap out, because they think they are going to be taken. So also, when anyone moves the ground, the reptiles come forth and tremblingly run away in all directions.”

And the Prophet says that, in like manner, the enemies of the Church, when the Lord shall arise for its help, will be smitten with so much fear that they will run away in every direction.

And this comparison should be carefully noticed: that is, when the Prophet compares powerful nations, well-exercised in wars, who previously were audaciously raging and swollen with great pride, to worms and reptiles of the ground, and also to serpents.

He did this to show that there will be nothing to hinder God from laying prostrate every exalted thing in the world as soon as it shall please Him to aid His Church.

And hence the Prophet adds, On account of Jehovah our God they shall tremble, and they shall fear because of You. Here the Prophet shows that the faithful ought not to distrust on account of their own weakness but, on the contrary, to remember the infinite power of God.

It is indeed right that the children of God should begin with diffidence—sensible that they are nothing and that all their strength is nothing. But they ought not to stop at their own weakness but, on the contrary, to rise up to the contemplation of God’s power, so that they may not doubt that when His power appears, their enemies will soon be scattered.

This is the reason why the Prophet here mentions the name of God and then turns to address God Himself: Tremble then shall they at Jehovah our God, that is, on account of Jehovah our God; and then fear shall they because of You.