John Gill Commentary Micah 1

The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite. So called, either from Mareshah, mentioned (Micah 1:15); and was a city in the tribe of Judah, (Joshua 15:44); as the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Zacutus ^F9; or rather from Moresheth, from which Moreshethgath, (Micah 1:14); is distinguished; which Jerom ^F11 says was in his time a small village in the land of Palestine, near Eleutheropolis.

Some think these two cities to be one and the same; but they appear to be different from the account of Jerom ^F12 elsewhere.

The Arabic version reads it, Micah the son of Morathi; so Cyril, in his commentary on this place, mentions it as the sense of some, that Morathi was the father of the prophet; which can by no means be assented to.

in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah. By which it appears that he was contemporary with Isaiah, Hoses, and Amos, though they began to prophesy somewhat sooner than he, even in the days of Uzziah; very probably he conversed with these prophets, especially Isaiah, with whom he agrees in many things; his style is like his, and sometimes uses the same phrases: he, being of the tribe of Judah, only mentions the kings of that nation most known to him; though he prophesied against Israel, and in the days of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and Hoshea.

which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. In the vision of prophecy; Samaria was the metropolis of the ten tribes of Israel, and is put for them all; as Jerusalem was of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and is put for them Samaria is mentioned first, because it was the head of the greatest body of people; and as it was the first in transgression, it was the first in punishment.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Juchashin, fol. 12. 1.
• F11: Prolog. in Mic.
• F12: Epitaph. Paulae, ut supra. (tom. 1. operum, fol. 60. A. B.)

Hear, all you people
Or, "the people, all of them" ^F13 ; not all the nations of the world, but the nations of Israel, so called from their several tribes; though some ^F14 think the rest of the inhabitants of the earth are meant: these are the same words which are used by Micaiah the prophet in the times of Ahab, long before this time, from whom they might be borrowed, (1 Kings 22:28) . The phrase in the Hebrew language, as Aben Ezra observes, is very wonderful, and serves to strike the minds and excite the attention of men; it is like the words of a crier, in a court of judicature, calling for silence: hearken, O earth, and all that therein is ;
or, "its fulness" ^F15 ; the land of Israel and Judah, the whole land of promise, and all the inhabitants of it; for to them are the following words directed:

and let the Lord God be witness against you ;
or, "in you" ^F16 ; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; let him who is the omniscient God, and knows all hearts, thoughts, words, and actions, let him bear witness in your consciences, that what I am about to say is truth, and comes from him; is not my own word, but his; and if you disregard it, and repent not, let him be a witness against you, and for me, that I have prophesied in his name; that I have faithfully delivered his message, and warned you of your danger, and reproved you for your sins, and have kept back nothing I have been charged and entrusted with:

and now, you are summoned into open court, and at the tribunal of the great God of heaven and earth; let him be a witness against you of the many sins you have been guilty of, and attend while the indictment is read, the charge exhibited, and the proof given by the Lord from his holy temple ,
from heaven, the habitation of his holiness; whose voice speaking from there should be hearkened to; who from there beholds all the actions of men, and from where his wrath is revealed against their sins, and he gives visible tokens of his displeasure; and especially when he seems to come forth from there in some remarkable instances of his power and providence, as follows:

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (Mlk Myme) "populi omnes ipsi", Montanus, Drusius, Piscator, Tarnovius.
• F14: So Burkius.
• F15: (halmw) "et plenitude ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius, Burkius.
• F16: (Mkb) "in vobis", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius.

For, behold, the Lord comes out of his place
Out of heaven, the place of the house of his Shechinah or Majesty, as the Targum; where his throne is prepared; where he keeps his court, and displays his glory;

from where he removes, not by local motion, since he is everywhere; but by some manifest exertion of his power, either on the behalf of his people, or in taking vengeance on his and their enemies; or on them sinning against him, in which sense it is probably to be understood. It signifies not change of place, but of his dispensations; going out of his former customary method into another; removing, as Jarchi has it, from the throne of mercies to the throne of judgment; doing not acts of mercy, in which he delights, but exercising judgment, his strange work.

So the Cabalistic writers ^F17 observe on the passage, that ``it cannot be understood of place properly taken, according to (Isaiah 40:12) (1 Kings 8:27) ; for God is the place of the world, not the world his place; hence our wise men so expound the text, he comes forth out of the measure of mercy, and goes into the measure of justice;'' or property of it.

Some understand this of his leaving the temple at Jerusalem, and giving it up into the hands of the Chaldeans; but the former sense is best:

and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth ;
which are his footstool;

Samaria and Jerusalem, built on mountains, and all other high towers and fortified places, together with men of high looks and haughty countenances, who exalt themselves like mountains, and swell with pride:

these the Lord can easily subdue and humble, bring low and tread down like the mire of the street; perhaps there may be an allusion to the high places where idols were worshipped; and which were the cause of the Lord's wrath and vengeance, and of his coming forth, in this unusual way, in his providences.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: Kabala Denudata, par. 1. p. 408.

And the mountains shall be molten under him
As Sinai was when he descended on it, and as all nations will be at the general conflagration; but here the words are to be taken, not literally, but figuratively, for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and for the kings, and princes, and great men in them, that lifted up their heads as high, and thought themselves as secure, as mountains; yet when the judgments of God should fall upon them, their hearts would melt through fear under him; as well as all their glory and greatness depart from them, and they be no more what they were before, but levelled with the meanest subject.

and the valleys shall be cleft :
have chasms made in them by the melting of the mountains, or by the flow of water from the hills: these may design the lower sort of people, who shall have their share in this calamity; the inhabitants of the valleys and country villages; who, though mean and low, shall be lower still, and lose that little substance, that liberty and those privileges, they had; as valleys may be cleft, and open, and sink into the lower parts of the earth; so it is signified that these people should be in a more depressed state and condition.

as wax before the fire ;
melts, and cannot stand the force of it; so the mountains should melt at the presence of the Lord; and kingdoms and states, and the greatest and mightiest of men in them, would not be able to stand before the fierceness of his wrath; see (Psalms 68:2) ;

[and] as the waters [that are] poured down a steep place ;
that run with great swiftness, force, and rapidity, and there is no stopping them; so should the judgments of God come down upon the lower sort of people, the inhabitants of the valleys; neither high nor low would escape the indignation of the Lord, or be able to stand against it, or stand up under it.

For the transgression of Jacob [is] all this, and for the sins
of the house of Israel
All this evil, all these calamities and judgments, signified by the above metaphorical phrases, these did not come by chance, nor without reason; but were or would be inflicted, according to the righteous judgment of God, upon the people of Israel and Judah, for their manifold sins and transgressions, especially their idolatry:

and should it be asked, what [is] the transgression of Jacob ?
what notorious crime has he been guilty of? or what is the iniquity the two tribes are charged with, that is the cause of so much severity?

the answer is, [is it] not Samaria ?
the wickedness of Samaria, the calf of Samaria? as in (Hosea 7:1) (8:6) ; that is, the worship of the calf of Samaria; is not that idolatry the transgression of Jacob, or which the ten tribes have given into? it is; and a just reason for all this wrath to come upon them:

or, "who [is] the transgression of Jacob?" ^F18 who is the spring and source of it; the cause, author, and encourager of it? are they not the kings that have reigned in Samaria from the times of Omri, with their nobles, princes, and great men, who, by their edicts, influence, and example, have encouraged the worship of the golden calves? they are the original root and motive of it, and to them it must be ascribed; they caused the people to sin:

or, as the Targum, ``where have they of the house of Jacob sinned? is it not in Samaria?'' verily it is, and from thence, the metropolis of the nation, the sin has spread itself all over it:

and what [are] the high places of Judah ?
or, "who [are] they?" ^F19 who have been the makers of them? who have set them up, and encouraged idolatrous worship at them?

[are] they not Jerusalem ?
are they not the king, the princes, and priests, that dwell at Jerusalem? certainly they are; such as Ahaz, and others, in whose times this prophet lived; see (2 Kings 16:4) ;

or, as the Targum, ``where did they of the house of Judah commit sin? was it not in Jerusalem?'' truly it was, and even in the temple; here Ahaz built an altar like that at Damascus, and sacrificed on it, and spoiled the temple, and several of the vessels in it, (2 Kings 16:10–18) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (bqey evp ym) "quis est praevaricatio Jacobi?" De Dieu; so Pagninus, Burkius; "quis defectio Jacobi?" Cocceius; "quis scelus Jacobi?" Drusius.
• F19: (hdwhy twmb ym) "quis est excelsa Judae?" Montanus, Drusius, De Dieu; "quis cesla Judae?" Cocceius; "quis fuit causa excelsorum Jehudae?" Burkius; so Kimchi.