John Gill Commentary Micah 2

Woe to them that devise iniquity Any kind of iniquity; idolatry, or worshipping of idols, for the word is used sometimes for an idol; or the sin of uncleanness, on which the thoughts too often dwell in the night season; or coveting of neighbours' goods, and oppressing the poor; sins which are instanced in (Micah 2:2); and every thing that is vain, foolish, and wicked, and in the issue brings trouble and distress: now a woe is denounced against such that think on such things, and please themselves with them in their imaginations, and contrive ways and means to commit them.

and work evil upon their beds ; when, the senses being less engaged, the thoughts are more free; but should not be employed about evil; but either in meditating on the divine goodness, and praising the Lord for his mercies; or in examining a man's heart, state, and case, and mourning over his sins, and applying to God for the remission of them; but, instead of this, the persons here threatened are said to "work evil on their beds", when they should be asleep and at rest, or engaged in the above things; that is, they plot and contrive how to accomplish the evil they meditate; they determine upon doing it, and are as sure of effecting it as if it was actually done; and do act it over in their own minds, as if it was real; see (Psalms 36:4).

when the morning is light, they practise it ; they wish and wait for the morning light, and as soon as it appears they rise; and, instead of blessing God for the mercies of the night, and going about their lawful business, they endeavour to put in practice with all rigour and diligence, and as expeditiously as they can, what they have projected and schemed in the night season.

because it is in the power of their hand ; to commit it; and they has no principle of goodness in them, nor fear of God before them, to restrain them from it: or, "because their hand is unto power" ^F2 ; it is stretched out, and made use of in the commission of sin to the utmost of their power, without any regard to God or man. The Vulgate Latin version is, "because their hand is against God"; their hearts are enmity to God, and therefore they oppose him with both their hands, and care not what iniquity they commit; they are rebels against him, and will not be subject to him. The Septuagint and Arabic versions are, "because they lift not up their hands to God"; they do not pray to him, and therefore are bold and daring to perpetrate the grossest iniquity, which a praying man dared not do; but the Syriac version is the reverse, "they do lift up their hands to God"; make a show of religion and devotion, when their hearts and their hands are deeply engaged in, sinning; which shows their impudence and hypocrisy; but the passages in (Genesis 31:29) (Deuteronomy 32:28) (Proverbs 3:27) favour and confirm our version, and the sense of it; so the Targum.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: (Mdy lal vy yk) "quia est ad potentiam manus ipsorum", Calvin.

And they covet fields, and take [them] by violence

The fields of their poor neighbours, which lie near them, and convenient for them; they wish they were theirs, and they contrive ways and means to get them into their possession; and if they cannot get them by fair means, if they cannot persuade them to sell them, or at their price, they will either use some crafty method to get them from them, or they will take them away by force and violence; as Ahab got Naboth's vineyard from him.

and houses, and take [them] away

They covet the houses of their neighbours also, and take the same course to get them out of their hands, and add them to their own estates.

so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage

Not only dispossess him of his house to dwell in, but of his paternal inheritance, what he received from his ancestors, and should have transmitted to his posterity, being unalienable; and so distressed a man and his family for the present, and his posterity after him. The Vulgate Latin version is, "they calumniate a man and his house"; which seems to be designed to make it agree with the story of Ahab, (1 Kings 21:13) .

Therefore thus says the Lord, behold, against this family do I devise an evil Because of those evils of covetousness, oppression, and injustice, secretly devised, and deliberately committed, the Lord, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, declares, and would have it observed, that he had devised an evil of punishment against the whole nation of Israel, the ten tribes particularly, among whom these sins greatly prevailed; even an invasion of their land by the Assyrians, and the carrying of them captive from it into foreign parts:

from which you shall not remove your necks; that is, they should not be able to deliver themselves from it; they would not be able to stop the enemy in his progress, having entered their land; nor oblige him to break up the siege of their city, before which he would sit, and there continue till he had taken it; and being carried captive by him, they would never be able to free themselves from the yoke of bondage put upon them, and under which they remain unto this day. The allusion is to beasts slipping their necks out of the collar or yoke put upon them: these sons of Belial had broke off the yoke of God's commandments, and now he will put another yoke upon them, they shall never be able to cast off until the time of the restitution of all things, when all Israel shall be saved:

neither shall you go haughtily; as they now did, in an erect posture, with necks stretched out, and heads lifted up high, and looking upon others with scorn and contempt; but hereafter it should be otherwise, their heads would hang down, their countenances be dejected, and their backs bowed with the burdens upon them:

for this time [is] evil; very calamitous, afflictive, and distressing; and so not a time for pride and haughtiness, but for dejection and humiliation; see (Ephesians 5:16) .

In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you Making use of your name, as a byword, a proverb, a taunt, and a jeer; mocking at your calamities and miseries: or, "concerning you" ^F3 ; take up and deliver out a narrative of your troubles, in figurative and parabolical expressions; which Kimchi thinks is to be understood of a false prophet, finding his prophecies and promises come to nothing; or rather a stranger, a bystander, a spectator of their miseries, an insulting enemy, mimicking and representing them; or one of themselves, in the name of the rest:

and lament with a doleful lamentation ; or, "lament a lamentation of lamentation" ^F4 : a very grievous one; or, "a lamentation that is", or "shall be", or "is done" ^F5 ; a real one, and which will continue:

[and] say, we be utterly spoiled ; our persons, families, and friends; our estates, fields, and vineyards; our towns and cities, and even our whole land, all laid waste, spoiled, and plundered:

he has changed the portion of my people ; the land of Israel, which was the portion of the people of it, given unto them as their portion by the Lord; but now he, or the enemy the Assyrian, or God by him, had changed the possessors of it; had taken it away from Israel, and given it to others:

how has he removed [it] from me ! the land that was my portion, and the portion of my people; how comes it to pass that he has taken away that which was my property, and given it to another! how strange is this! how suddenly was it done! and by what means!

turning away, he has divided our fields ; either God, turning away from his people, because of their sins, divided their fields among their enemies; "instead of restoring" ^F6 , as some read it, he did so; or the enemy the Assyrian, turning away after he had conquered the land, and about to return to his own country, divided it among his soldiers: or, "to the perverse", or "rebellious one ^F7 , he divides our fields"; that is, the Lord divides them to the wicked, perverse, and blaspheming king of Assyria; so the word is used of one that goes on frowardly, and backslides, (Isaiah 57:17) (Jeremiah 3:14Jeremiah 3:22) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (Mkyle) "super vos", Pagninus, Montanus; "de vobis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "super vobis", Cocceius.
• F4: (hyhn hyn hhnw) "et lamentabitur lamentum lamenti", Montanus.
• F5: (hyhn) "factum est", De Dieu; "ejulatu vero", Cocceius; "actum est", Burkius.
• F6: (bbwvl) "pro reddendo", Castalio.
• F7: (bbwv) "aversus, refractarius", Drusius; "ingrato et rebelli", De Dieu.

Therefore you shall have none that shall cast a cord by lot ,
&c.] This confirms what was before delivered in a parabolical way, and as a lamentation; and is spoken either to the false prophet, as Kimchi; who should not be, nor have any posterity to inherit by lot the land of Israel; or to those oppressors that took away houses and fields from others, these should have no part nor lot in the land any more; or rather to the whole people of Israel, who should no more inherit their land after their captivity, as they have not to this day.

The allusion is to the distribution of the land by lot, and the dividing of it by a cord or line, as in Joshua's time; but now there should be no land in the possession of Israelites to be divided among them; nor any people to divide it to, being scattered up and down in the world, and so no need of any person to be employed in such service; nor any sanhedrim or court of judicature to apply to for a just and equal division and distribution, who perhaps may be meant in the next clause:

in the congregation of the Lord ;
unless this is to be understood of the body of the people, who were formerly called the congregation of the Lord, (Deuteronomy 23:1Deuteronomy 23:2) ; though now they had forfeited this character, and are only called so ironically, as some think. Aben Ezra interprets it, when the Lord returns the captivity of his people; and so Kimchi, who applies it to the false prophet, as before observed, who at this time should have no part nor lot in the land.