Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
JONAH III.
God Eepenls of the Evil Threatened.
The Eepentance of tlie Ninevites.
Tlius God, who brings good from evil, made Jonah in his fall, punisliment, and restoration, a sign (an em' bodied lesson or living symbol) through wliich tlie Ninevites were roused to hear and repent, as they would not have -been likely to do, iiad he gone on the first commission before his living entombment and resurrection. I'o do evil that good may come, is a policy wiiich can only come from Satan; but from evil already done to extract an Instrument against tlie kingdom of darkness, is a trlumpliant display of the grace and wisdom of God. To the Pharisees in Ciirist's time, who, not content witii the many signs exhibited by Him, still demanded a sign from heaven. He gave a sign in the opposite quarter, viz., Jonah, who came " out of the belly of heW (the unseen region). They looked for a Messiali gloriously coming In the clouds of heaven; the Messiah, on the contrary, is to pass through a like though a deeper humiliation than Jonah; He is to lie "in the lieart of t7ie earth." Jonah and his Antitype alike appeared low and friendless among their hearers; both victims to death for God's wrath against sin, both preaching repentance. Repentance derives all Its efficacy from the death of Christ, just as Jonah's message derived its weight witli tlie Ninevites from his entombment. Tlie Jews stumbled at Christ's death, the very fact which ought to have led them to Him, as Jonah's entombment attracted the Ninevites to his message. As Jonah's restoration gave hope of Goil's placability to Nineveh,so Christ's resurrection assures us God is fully reconciled to man by Clirisfs death. But Jonali's entombment only had the effect of amoral suasive, Christ's death is an effl.cacious instrument of reconciliation between God and man. [Faikbairn.] MineveU vvaa an exceeding great city lit., great to God, i. e., before God. All greatness was in the Hebrew mind associated with God; hence arose the idiom (cf. Psalm 36. 6; 80. 10), "great mountains," Margin, "mountains of God;" "goodly cedars," Margin, "cedars of God." Genesis 10. 9, "a mighty hunter be/ore the Lord." three days' journey—
Jonah's very words in his prayer (Isaiah 3.S. 17), Just as Jonah appropriated the language of the Psalms. 7. soul fainted ... I remembered the Liord—beautifully exemplilying the triumph of spirit over flesh, of faith over sense (rsalm 73. 26; i2. 6). Kor a time troubles shut out hope; but faith revived when Jonah "remembered the Lord," what a gracious God he is, and how now He still preserves liis life and consciousness in his dark prisonhouse. Into tUlne lioly tejnple—tlie temple at Jerusalem (I'. -J). As there he looks in believing prayer towards.t, so liere he regards his prayer as already heard. 8. obse»-ve lying vanHles—regard or reverence idols, powerless to save (I'salm 31. 0). mercy—Jehovah, the very Idea of wliom is identified now in Jonah's mind with mercy and loving-ivindiiess. As the Psalmist (Psalm 144. 2) styles Him, "my goodness;" God wlio is to me all beneflceuce.
Cf. Psalm 59. 17, "tlie God of my mercy," lit., "my kindness-God." Jonah had " forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying vanities" (Idols) were worsliipped. But now, taught by his own preservation In conscious life in the fish's belly, and by the inability of the mariners' idols to lull the storm (ch. 1. 5), estrangement from God seems estrangement from his own happiness (Jeremiah 2.13; 17. 13). Prayer has been restrained in Jonali's case, so that he was " fast asleep " lu tlie midst of danger, heretofore; but now prayer Is the sure sign of his return to vrod. 9. I -vvUl sacriflce . . . thanksgiving—In tlie believing anticipation of sure deliverance lie offers tlianksgivings already. So Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20. 21) appointed singers to praise the Lord in front of the army before the battle with Moab and Ammon, as if the victory was already gained. God honours such confidence In Him. There is also herein a mark of sanctified affliction, that he vows amendment and thankful obedience (Psalm 119. 67). 10. upon tlie dry land—probably on the coast of Palestine.
CHAPTER III.
t. e., about sixty miles round, allowing about twenty miles for a day's Journey. Jonah's statement is confirmed by heathen writers, who describe Niueveli as 48i) stadia in circuit [Diodorus Siculus, 2. 3]. Herodotus defines a day's Journey to be 150 stadia; so three days' Journey will not be much below Diodorus' estimate. The parallelogram in Central Assyria covered with remains of buildings has Khorsabad north-east ; Koyunjik and Nebbi Yunus near the Tigris, nortli-west; Nimroud, between the Tigris and the Zab, south-west; and Knram-
Ver. 1-10. Jonah's Second Commission to Nineveh: THE NiNEVITES REPENT OF THEIR EVIL WAY: SO GOD Repents of the Evil threatened. 3. preacb . . . the preaching lit., proclaiin the proclamation. On the former occasion the specific object of his commission to Kineveh was declared ; here it is indeterminate. This is to show how freely he yields himself, in tlie spirit of unconditional obedience, to speak whatever God may please.
3. arose and went—like the son who was at first disobedient to the father's command, " Go work In my vineyard," but who afterwards "repented and went" (Matthew 21. 28, 29). Jonah was thus the fittest instrument for proclaiming judgment, and yet hope of mercy on repentance to Nineveh, being himself a living exemplification of both—Judgment in his entombment In the fish, mercy on repentance In his deliverance. Israel professing to obey, liut not obeying, and so doomed to exile in the same Nineveh, answers to the son who said " I go, sir, and went not." In Luke 11. 30 it Is said that Jonas was not only a sign to the men in Christ's time, but also " unto the Ninevltes." On the latter occasion (Matthew 16. 1-4) when the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Him, asking a sign /rom heaven. He answered, "No sign shall be given, but the sign of the prophet Jonas." Thus the sign had a ttvo/old aspect, a direct bearing on the Ninevltes, an indirect bearing on the Jews In Christ's time. To the Ninevites he was not merely a prophet, but himself a wonder In the earth, as one who had tasted of death, and yet had not seen corruption, but had now returned to witness among them for God. If the Ninevltes had indulged In a captious spirit, they never would have Inquired and BO known Jonah's wonderful history ; but being humbled by God's awful message, they learnt from Jonah himless, at a distance inward from the Zab, south-east. From Koyunjik to Nimroud is about eighteen miles; from Khorsabad to Karamless, the same; from. Koyunjik to Khorsabad, thirteen or fourteen miles; from Nimroud to Karamless, fourteen miles. The length thus was greater than the breadth; cf. v. i, "a day's journey," which' is confirmed by heathen writers and by modern measurements. The walls were 100 feet hlgii, and broad enough to allow three chariots abreast, and had moreover 1500 lofty towers. The space between, including large parka and arable ground, as well as houses, was Nineveh in its full extent. The oldest palaces are at Nimroud, which was probably the original site. Layard latterly has thought that the name Nineveh belonged originally to Koyunjik, rather than to Nimroud. Jonah (ch. 4. 11| mentions the children as numbering 120,000, which would give about a million to the whole population. Existing ruins show that Nineveh acquired its greatest extent under the kings of the second dynasty, i. e., the kings mentioned in Scripture; it was then that Jonah visited it, and the reports of Its magnificence were carried to the west. [Layard.] 4. a day'» journey—not going straight forward without stopping: for the city was but eigiiteen miles in length; but stopping in his progress from time to time to announce his message to the crowds gathering about him. Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be aver« thrown—The commission, given indefinitely at his setting out, assumes now on his arrival a definite form, and that severer than before. It is no longer a cry against th« Bins of Nineveh, but an announcement of Us ruin in forty self, that It was the previous concealing In his bosom of the game message of their own doom that caused blm to be entombed as an outcast from the living. Thus he was a " sign " to them of wrath on the one band, and, on the other, of mercy. Guilty Jonah saved from
(tie jaws of death gives a ray of hope to guilty Nineveh.
God Repents of the Evil Threatened. JONAH IV. Tonah Repines at God's Mercy to Nineveh, days. This number Is in Scripture associated often with humil ation. It was forty clays that Mcses, Elijah, and Christ fasted. Forty years elapsed from the beginning of Christ's ministry ;the antitype of Jonah's) to the destruction of Jerusalem. The more derinite form of the denunciation implies that Nineveh has now almost filled up the measure of her Kuilt. The change in the form which the Ninevites would hear from Jonah on anxious inquiry into his history, would alarm them the more, as implying the increasing nearness and certainty of their doom, and would at the same time reprove Jonah for his previous guilt in delaying to warn them. The very solitariness of the one message announced by the stranger thus suddenly appearing among them, would Impress them with the more awe. Learning from him, that so far from lightly prophesying evil against them, he had shrank from announcing a less severe denunciation, and thereabsolute, and not dependent on Nineveh's continued impenitence, was, that this form was the only one calculated to rouse them ; and at the same time it was a truf/i/iU representation of God's purpose towards Nineveh under its existing Btate, and of Nineveh's due. When that slate ceased, a new relation of Nineveh to God, not contemplated in the message, came in, and room was made for the word to take eflect, "the curse causeless sliall not come." [Fairbairn.] Prophecy is not meri ly for the sake of proving God's omniscience by the veriiication of predictions of the future, but is mainly designed to vindicate God's justice and mercy in dealing Willi the impenitent and pejiitent respectively (Romans 11. 22). Tlie Bible ever assigns the first place to the eternal principles of righteousness, rooted in the character of God, subordinating to them all Divine arrangements. God's sparing Nineveh when in thejaws of destruction on the first dawn of repentance encourages the timid penitent, and shows beforehand that Israel's doom, soon after accomplished, it) to be ascribed, not to unwillingness to forgive on Goit's part, but to their own obstinate impenitence.
fore had been cast into the deep and only saved by miracle, they felt how imminent was their peril, threatened MS they now were by a prophet whose fortunes were so closely bound up with theirs. In Noah's days 120 years of warning were given to men, yet they repented not till the flood came, and it was too late. But in the case of Nineveh, God granted a double mercy, first, that its people shonld repent inimediately after threatening; second, that jiardon should immediately follow their repentance. 5.belitv*-<l God—gave credit to Jonah's message from God ; thus recognizing Jehovah as the true God. fast . . . snckclotli—in the Eastoutward actionsare often used as sym-
CHAPTER IV.
Ver. 1-11. JojMAH Repines at God'-s Mercy to Nini;- VEH : IS Reproved BY THE TYPE OF A Gounn. 1. angry ^ —lit., hot, probably, with grief or vexation, ratlicr than anger. [FAiitBAlRN.] How sad the contrast between God's feeling on the repentance of Nineveh towards Him, and Jonah's feeling on the repentance of (Jod towards Nineveh. Strange in one who was himself a monunu-nt of mere./ on his repentance ! We all, like him, nceil the lesson l-iUght in the parable of the unforgiving, though lorgivi 'j, debtor (Matthew 18. 23-35). Jonah was grieved because Nineveh's preservation, after his denunciation, made him seem a false propliet. [Calvin. j But it would mal<e Jonah a demon, not a man, to have jirc terred the destruction of 600,000 men rather than his prophecy should be set aside tlirough God's mercy triunipiiing over judgment. And God in that case would have severely chastised, whereas he only expostulates mildly with him, and by a mode of dealing at once gentle and condescending bolic;il expressions of inward feelings. So fasting and clothing in sackcloth were customary in humiliation.
Cf. in Ahab's case, parallel to that of Nineveh, both receiving a respite on penitence (1 Kings 21. 27; 20.31,32; Joel 1. 13j. from the greatest ... to tUc least—the penitence was not partial, but pervading all classes. 6. In aslies—emblem of the deepest humiliation (Job 2. 8; Ezekiel 27. 30). iieitlier . . . beast . . . taste any thing the brute creatures share in the evil ef Tects of man's sin
(ch. 4. 11; Romans 8.20, 22); so they here, according to Eastern custom, are made to share in man's outward indications of humiliation. "When the Persian general lilasistias was slain, the horses and mules of the Persians were sliorn, as well as themselves." [Newcome from Plutakcii; also Hkbodotus, 9. 24. J 8. cry . . . turn prayer witliout reformation is a mockery of God (Psalm tries to show him liis error. Moreover, Jonali himself, in apologizing for his vexation, does not mention t/w failure of his prediction as tlie cause: but solely the thought of God's slowness to anger. This was what led him to llee to Tarshish at his first commission ; not the likelihood then of ills preiliction being falsified ; for in fact his commission then was not to foretell Nineveh's downfall, but simply to "cry against" Nineveh's "wickedness' as having "come up before God." Jonah could hardly have been so vexed for the letter of his prediction failing, when the end of Ills commission liad virtually been gained in leading Nineveh to repentance. This then cannot have been regarded l)y Jonah as the ultimate end of liis commission.
6G. 18; Isaiah 58. 6). Prayer, on the other hand, must precede ti uc reformation, as we cannot turn to God from our evil way unless God first turns us (Jeremiah 31. 18, 19). 9. Wlio can tell—(Cf. Joel 2. 14.) Their acting on a vague possibility of God's mercy, without any special ground of encouragement, is tlie more remarkable instance of faith, as tliey had to break through long-rooted prejudices in giving up idols to seek Jehovah at all. The only ground which their ready faith rested on, was, the fact of God Bending one to warn them. Instead of destroying tliem at once; this suggested the thought of a possibility of pardon. Hence they are cited by Christ as about to condemn In the judgment those who, with much greater light and privileges, yet repent not (Matthew 12. 41). 11. Goil repented of the evil—when the message was sent to them, tliey were so ripe for judgment that a purpose
If Nineveh had been the prominent object with him, he would have rejoiced at the result of his mission. But Israel was the prominent aim of Jonah, as a prophet of t he elect people. Probably then he regarded the destruction of Nineveh as fitted to be an example of God's judgment at last suspending His long forbearance so as to startle Israel from its desperate degeneracy, heightened by its new prosperity under Jeroboam II. at that very time, in a way that all other means had failed to do. Jonah, despairing of anything effectual belngdone for God in Israel, unless there were first given a striking example of severof destruction to take ef Tect In forty days was the only word God's righteous abhorrence of sin admitted of as to them. But when they repented, the position in whicli they stood towards God's righteousness was altered. So God's mode of dealing with them must alter accordity, thought when he proclaimed thedownlall of Nineveli ingly, if God is not to be Inconsistent with His own immutable character of dealing with men according to in forty days, that now at last Go<l is about to give such an example; so when this means of awakening Israel was their works and state of heart, taking vengeance at last on the hardened impenitent, and delighting to show mercy on the penitent. Cf. Abraham's reasoning, Geneset aside by God's mercy on Nineveh's repentance, he was bitterly disappointed, not from pride or mcrcilessness, but from hopelessness as to anything bring possible for the l el'ormation of Israel, now that his ciierislied hope is sis 18. 25; Ezekiel 18. 21-25; Jeremiah 18. 7-10. What was really a change in them and in God's corresponding dealings is, in condescension to human conceptions, represented as a change in God (cf. Exodus .32. 14), who, in His baflled. But God's plan was to teach Israel, by the example of Nineveh, how inexcusable is their own impenitence, and how inevitable their ruin if they persevere. Repenting Nineveh has proved herself more worthy of God's favour than apostate Israel ; the children of Uie essential righteousness and mercy, changeth not (Numbers 23. 19; 1 Samuel 15. 29; Malachl 3. 6; James 1. 17). The reason why the announcement of destruction was made
Inl:o(]ucuon. MICAH. Introdumm.
more mi'Bt Jehovah pity those hundreds of thousaods of immortal men and women in great Nineveli whom He has made with such a display of creative power, especially when many of them repent, and seeing that, if all in It were destroyed, "more than six score tliousand" of wnoffcnding children, besides "much cattle," would be involved in the common destruction. Cf. the same argument drawn from God's justice and mercy in Genesis 18. 2J-33. A similar illustration from the insignificance of a plant, which to-day is and to-morroiv is cast into Die oven, and which, nevertheless, is clothed by God witli surpassing beauty, i given by Christ to prove that God will care for the infinitely more precious bodies and souls of men who are to live for ever (Matthew 6. 28-30). One soul is of more value than the whole world ; surely, then, one soul covenant have not only fallen down to, but actually below t-ie level of a heathen people; Israel, therefore, must go (low 11, and the heathen rise above her. Jonah did not know the impoi Uint lessons of hope to the penitent, and condemnation to those amidst outward privileges impenitent, which Nineveh's preservation on repentance was to have for after times, and to all ages. He could not foresee that Messiah Himself was thus to apply that history. A lesson to us that If we could in any particular alter the plan of Providence, It would not be for the better, but for the worse. [Fairbairn.] a. my saying—my thought, or feeling, fled \iefor«—I anticipated by fleeing, the disappointment of ray design through thy long-suffering mercy, gracious . . . and merciful, &c.—Jonah nere has before his mind Exodus 34.6; as Joel (Joel 2. 18) in his turn quotes from Jonah. 3. Jonah's impatience of is of more value than many gourds. The point of comparison spiritually is, the need which Jonah for the time had of the foliage of the gourd; however he might dispense with it at other times, now it was necessary for his comfort, and almost for his life. So now that Ninelife under disappointed hopes of Israel's reformation through the destruction of Nineveh, is like that of Elijah at his plan for reforming Israel (1 Kings 18.) failing through Jezebel (1 Kings 19. 4). 4. Doest thou well to be angry t—or grieved; rather as Margin," Ari thou much angry," or "grieved?" [Fairbairn with LXX. and Syveil, as a city, fears God and turns to Him, God's cause needs it, and would suffer by its overthrow, just as Jonah's material well-being suffered by the withering of the gourd.
riac.] But English Version suits the spirit of the passage, and is quite tenable in the Jfefir-eM;. [Gesenius.J 5. made him a booth— i.e., a temporary hut of branches and leaves, so slightly formed as to be open to the wind and sun's heat, see what would become of the city—the terra of forty days had not yet elapsed, and Jonah did not know that anytliing more than a suspension, or mitigation, of
If there were any hope of Israel's being awakened by Nineveh's destruction to fulfil her high destination of beingaliglittosurroundingheathenism, then there would not have been the same need to God's cause of Nineveh's preservation, (though) there would have always been need of saving the penitent). But as Israel after judgments, now with returning prosperitj' turns back to apostasy, the means needed to vindicate God's cause, and provoke judgment had been granted to Nineveh. Therefore, not from sullenness, but in order to watch the event from a neighbouring station, he lodged in the booth. As a stran-
Israel, if possible, to jealousy, is the example of tlie great capital of heatliendom suddenly repenting at the first warning, and consequently being spared. Thus Israel would see the kingdom of heaven transplanted from its ancient seat to another which would willingly yield its spiritual fruits. The tidings which Jonali biought back to his countrymen of Nineveli's repentance and rescue, would, if believingly understood, be far more fitted than the news of its overthrow to recall Israel to tlie service of God. Israel failed to learn the lesson, and so was cast out of her land. But even this was not an unmitigated evil. Jonah was a type, as of Christ, so also of Israel. Jonah, though an outcast, was highly honoured of God in Nineveh; so Israel's outcast condition would prove no imger, he did know the depth of Nineveh's repentance; besides, from the Old Testament stand-point he knew that chastening judgments often followed, as In David's case
(2 8am uel 12. 10-12, 14), even where sin had been repented of. To show him what he knew not, the largeness and completeness of God's mercy to penitent Nlneveli, and tlie reasonableness of it, God made his booth a school of discipline to give liim more enlightened views. 6. gourd —Hebrew, kikaion ; the Egyptian kiki, the " ricinus" or castor-oil plant, commonly called jjaim-cArwUpalma christi).
It grows from eight to ten feet high. Only one leaf grows on a branch, but tliat leaf being often more than a foot large, the collective leaves give good shelter from the heat. It grows rapidly, and fades as suddenly when injured, to deliver him from his grief—it was tlierefore pediment to her serving God's cause still, if only she was faitliful to God. Ezekiel and Daniel were so at Babylon; and the Jews scattered in all lands as witnesses for the one true God, pioneered the way for Christianity, so that grief, not selfish anger, which Jonah felt {Note, v. 1). Some external comforts will often turn the mind away from its sorrowful bent. 7. a worm—of a particular kind, deadly to tlie ricinus. A small worm at the root destroys a large gourd. So it takes but little to make our creature comforts witlier. It should silence discontent to remember, it spread with a rapidity which otherwise was not likely to have attended it. [Fairbairn.] that cannot discern between their right hand and tUeir left— children under three or four years old (Deuteronomy 1. 39). Siz score Vwasand of these, allowing them to be a fifth of the whole, would give a total population of 600,000. much cattle—God cares even for the brute creatures, wliicli man takes little account of. These in wonderful powers and in tliat when our gourd is gone, our God is not gone, the next day—after Jonah was so "exceeding glad" (cf. Psalm
30. 7). B. vehement — rather, scorching; Margin, silent, expressing sultry stillness, not vehemence. 9. (Note, v.
4.) 1 do well to be angry, even unto death—" I am very much grieved, even to death." [Fairbairn.] So the Antitype (Matthew '26. 38). 10, 11. The main lesson of the book. If Jonah so pities a plant which cost him no toil to rear, and which is so short-lived and valueless, much utility are far above the shrub which Jonah is so concerned for. Yet Jonah is reckless as to their destruction and that of innocent children. The abruptness of the close of the book is more strikingly suggestive than if the thought had been followed out in detail.
MICAH. INTRODUCTION.
MiCAH was a native of Moresheth, not the same as Mareshah In ch. 1. 15, but the town called Moresheth-gath (ch. 1.
14), which lay near Eleutheropolls, west of Jerusalem, on the border of the Philistine country; so called to distinguish
It from Moresheth of Judah. The full name is Micaiah (not the Micaiah mentioned 1 Kings 22. 8, the son of Imlah), signifying, Wlwis like Jchovahf The time of his prophesying is stated In the introduction to be in the reigns of Joth«na Ahaz and Hezeklah, i. e., between 757 and 699 b. c. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28. 18) quotes ch. 3. 12, as deli vereu ^
68''
GocT s Wruih against Samaria and Judah. MICAH I. Micah Exhorts them to Mou. nvng.
the reign of Hezekiah. He was thus a cor. temporary of Isaiah and Hosea. The idolatries practised in the reign of Ahaz accord with Micali's denunciations of such gross evils, and contlrni the truth of the time assigned ch. 1. 1. Hla prophecies are partly against Israel (Samaria), partly against Judah. As Samaria, Israel's metropolis, was talieu first, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, subsequently, in the introductory heading ch. 1. I, Samaria Is put first, then Jenmnlem. He prophesies the capture of both : the Jews' captivity and restoration; and the coming and reign of Messiah. His style is full, round, and perspicuous ; his diction pure, and his parallelisms regular. His description of Jehovah (ch. 7. 18, 19) is not surpassed by any elsewhere in Scripture. The correspondence between Isaiah and Micah in some passages (of. ch. 4. 1-3, with IsaiaiT 2. 2-4) is to be accounted for by their being contemporaries, acquainted with each other's inspired writings, and having the same subjects as tlieir tlieme. Hengstenberg maintains that the passage in Micah is the original. Isaiah was somewhat the elder, being a prophet in the reign of Uzziah, Jotham's predecessor, whereas Micah began his prophecies under Jotham.
The ))ook consists of two parts : (I.) ch. I.-.5. ; (11.) ch. 6., 7., a dialogue or contestation between Jehovah and His people, in which he reproaches them with their unnatural and ungrateful conduct, and threatens judgment for their corruptions, but consoles them with the promise of restoration from captivity.
Micah stands sixth of the minor prophets In the Hebrew canon, but third in the LXX.
CHAPTER I.
foundations (Ezeklel 13. 14). Samaria was destroyed by Shalmaneser. 7. all the hires—the wealth which Israel boasted of receiving from her idols as the "rewards" or hire for worshipping them (Hosea 2. 5, 12). idols . . . will I . . . desolate—i. e., give them up to the foe to strip off the silver and gold with which they are overlaid, she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to tl»e hire of an harlot—Israel gathered (made for herself) her idols from the gold and silver received from false gods, as she thought, the hire of her worshipping them; and they shall again become what they had been before, the hire of spiritual harlotry, i.e., the prosperity of the foe, who also being worshippers of idols will ascribe the acquisition to their idols. [Maurer.] Grotius explains it. The offerings sent to IsraeVs temple by the Assyrians, whose idolatry Israel adopted, shall go back to the Assyrians, her teachers in idolatry, as the hire or fee /or having (aughl it. The image of a harlot's hire for the supposed temporal reward of spiritual fornication, is more common in Scripture (Hosea 9.1). 8. Therefore I will wail—The prophet first shows how the comingjudgraent
Ver. 1-16. God's Wrath against Samaria and Judah; THE Former IS to be Overthrown; such Judgments IN Prospect call for Mourning. 2. all that t!»erein is—Hebrew, whatever fills it. Micaiah, son of Imlah, our prophet's namesake, begins his prophecy similarly, " Hearken,. O people, every one of you." Micah designedly uses the same preface, implying that his ministrations are a continuation of his predecessor's of the same name. Bothprobably had before their mind Moses' similar attestation of heaven and earth in a like case (Deuteronomy 31. 2S; .e. l,cf. Isaiah 1.2). God be witness against you
—viz., that none of you can say, when the time of your punishment shall come, that you were not forewarned. The punishmentdenounced is stated att).3,&c. from Uisholy temple— i. e., heaven (1 Kings 8. 30; Psalm II. 4; Jonah 2. 7 cf. Romans 1. 18). 3. tread upon the high places of the earth—He shall destroy the fortified heights (cf. Deuteronomy 32. 13; 33. 29). [Grotius.] 4. Imagery from earthquakes and volcanic agency, to describe the terrors which attend Jeliovah's coming in judgment (cf. Judges 5. 5). Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low degree, as the valleys, can .sftcure themselves or their land from the judgments of God. as wax—(Psalm 97. 5; cf. IsaiaU 64.1-;?.) The third clause, "as wax," &c., answers aflfects himself, in order that he might affect tlie minds of his countrymen similarly, stripped i. e., of shoes, or sandals, as the LXX. translate. Otherwise " naked" would be a tautology. " Naked" means divested of tlie upper garment (Isaiah 20. 2). " Naked and barefoot," the sign of mourning (2 Samuel 15. 30). The prophet's upper garment was usually rough and coarse-haired (2 Kings 1.8; Zechariahl3. 4). like the dragons—so Jerome. Rather, "the wild dogs," jackals or wolves, which wail like an infant when in distress or alone. [Maurer.] (See iVo<e, Job 30.
to the first in the parallelism, "the mountains shall be molten ;" the fourth, "as the waters," Ac, to the second, " the valleys shall be cleft." As wax melts by lire, so the mountains before God, at His approach; and as waters poured down a steep cannot stand, but are diffused abroad, so the valleys shall be cleft before Jehovah. 5. For the transgression of Jacob Is all this—All these ter-
29.) Owls—rather, "ostriches," which give a shrill and long-drawn sigh-Uke cry, especially at night. 9. wound. . . incurable—her case, politically and morally, is desperate (Jeremiah 8. 22). It is come—the wound, or impending calamity (cf. Isaiah 10. 28). he Is come . . . even to Jerusalem—the evil is no longer limited to Israel. The prophet foresees Sennacherib coming even " to the gate" of the principal city. The use of " It" and " he" is appropriately distinct. It, the calamity, "came unto" Judah, many of the inhabitants of which suffered, but did not reach the citizens of Jerusalem, "the gate" of which the foe {he) " came unto," but did not enter (Isaiah rors attending Jehovah's coming are caused by the sins of Jacob or Israel, t e., the whole people. What is the transgression of Jacob T—Taking up the question often in the mouths of the people when reproved, "What is our transgression" (cf. Malachl 1.6, 7)? He answers. Is it not Samaria? Is not that city (the seat of the calf-worship) the cause of Jacob's apostasy (1 Kings 14.16; 15. 26,
16.13, 19, 2.5,30)? and what are the high places of Judalil—what city Is the cause of the idolatries on the liigh places of Judah 7 Is it not Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 18.
36. 1 ; 37. 3.3-37). 10. Declare ye It not at Gath—on the borders of Judea, one of the five cities of the Philistines, who would exult at the calamity of the Hebrews (2 Samuel 1. 20). Gratify not those who exult over t he falls of the Israel of God. weep ye not at all—do not betray your inward sorrow by outward weeping, within the <^ognf-- zance of the enemy, lest they should exult at It. Rel.\nd
4)7 6. Samaria's punishment is mentioned first, as It was to fall before Jerusalem, as an heap of the fleld—(Ch. 3.
12.) Sucli a heap of stones and rubbish as is gathered out of fields, to clear them (Hosea 12. 11). Palestine is of a soil abounding in stones, which are gathered out before the vines are planted (Isaiah 5.2). a» plantings of a vineyard—as a place where vines are planted. Vineyards were cultivated on the sides of hills exposed to the sun. The hill on which Samaria was built by Omri, had been, doubtless, planted with vines originally; now it is to be reduced again to Its original state (1 Kings 16. 24). pour down—rfai/i down the stones of the city into the valley beneath. A graphic picture of the present appearance of the ruins, which is as though " the buildings of the ancient translates, "Weep not in Acco," i. e., Ptolemais, now St. Jean d'Acre, near the foot of Mount Carmel ; allotted to Asher, but never occupied by that tribe (Judges 1. 31); Acco's inhabitants would, therefore, like Gath's, rejoice at Israel's disaster. Thus the parallelism Is best carried out In all the three clauses of the verse, and there is a similar play on sounds In each, in the Hebrew Oath, resembling In sound the Hebrew tor declare ; ^ ceo, resembling the Hebrew tor weep; and Aphrah, meaning dust. Whilst the Hebrews were not to expose their misery to foreigtterB, city had been thrown down from the brow of the hill." [Scottish Mission of Inquiry, pp. 293, 294.] discover the foundation*—destroy It so utterly as to lay bare its
Samaria and Judah Called ,o Mourn. MICAH II. Denunciation of the Evils Prevaleat by possessors who expelled the former lnhal)itants, so will I bring "yet" again the new possessor, viz., tlie Assyrian foe. Other heirs will supplant us in every inheritance but that of heaven. There is a play upon tlie meaning of Mareshah, an inheritance : there shall come the new heir of the inheritance. Adnllam the glory of Israel—so called as being superior in situation; when it and the neighbouring cities fell, Israel's glory was gone. JIauRER, as Margin, translates, " the glory of Israel (lier cliief citizens : answering to " thy delicate children," v. 16) sliall come In flight to AduUam." English Veision better preserves the parallelism, "the heir" in the first clause answering to "he" in the second. 16. Slake thee bnld, &c.—a token of deep mourning (Ezra 9. 3; Job 1. 20). Mourn, O land, for thy darling children, poll—siiave off thy hair, enlarge thy baldness—mourn grievousthey ought to bewail it In their own cities, e. g., Aplirah or Ophiah (Josliua 18.23; 1 Samuel 13. 17), in the tribe of Benjamin. To roll in the dust marked deep sorrow (Jeremiah (f.2(i; Ezekiel 27.30). 11. Pass ye away—i. c, Thou Shalt go into captivity, inhabitant of Saplilr—a village amidst the hills of Judah, between Eleutheropolis and AX'alon, called so, from the Hebrew word for beauty. Thougli thy name be beauty, which heretofore was thy characteristic, tliou shalt have thy "shame" made "naked." This city shall be dismantled of Its walls, which are tlie garments, as it were, of cities ; its citizens also shall be hurried into captivity, with persons exposed (Isaiah 47. 3; Ezekiel 16. 37; Hosea 2. 10). the Inhabitant of Zaanau came not forth—its inhabitants did not come forth to console the people of Beth-ezel in their mourning, because the calamity was universal, noue was exempt from it (cf. Jeremiah 6. 25). Zaanan Is the same as Zenan, in Judali (Joshua 15.37), meaning the place of floclcs. The form of the name used is made like the Hebrew for " came ly. The land Is compared to a mother weeping for her children, as the eagle—the bald eagle, or the darkwinged vulture. In the moulting season all eagles are comparatively bald (cf. Psalm 103. 5).
fortli." Thougli In name seeming to imply that thou dost come forth, tliou " earnest not forth,'" Beth-ezel—perhaps Azal (Zechariah \i. 5), near Jerusalem. It means a house on the side, or near. Though so near, as its name implies, lo Zaanan, Beth-ezel received no succour or sympathy from Zaauan. Ite shall receive of yon his standing "he," i.e., the foe; "his standing," i.e., his sustenance. [PiscATOK.] Or, "he shall be caused a delay by you, Zaanan." He shall be brought to a stand for a time in besieging you ; hence it is said just before, "Zaanan came not forth," i. e., shut herself up within her walls to withstand a siege. But It was only for a time. She, too, fell like Beth-ezel before her. [Vatablus.] Maurer construes thus: "The inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth;
CHAPTER II.
Ver. 1-13. Denunciation of the Evils prevalent : THE People's Unwillingness to Hear the Truth: THEIR Expulsion from the Land the fitting Fruit OF THEIR Sin: yet Judah and Israel are hereafter TO BE Restored. 1. devise . . . work . , . practise They do evil not merely on a sudden impulse, but with deliberate design. As in the former chapter sins against the first table are reproved, so In this chapter sins against the second table. A gradation: "devise" is the conception of the evil purpose ; " work" (Psalm 58. 2), or " fabricate," the maturing of the scheme; "practise," or "effect," the execution of It. because it is In the power of their hand —for the phrase see Genesis 31. 29 ; Proverbs 3. 27. Might, not right, is what regulates their conduct. Where they can, they commit oppression; where they do not, It Is because they cannot, a. Parallelism, " Take by violence," answers to "take away;" "fields" and "houses," to "house" and "heritage" {i. e., one's land). 3. against this family—against the nation, and esi?ecially against those reprobated in v. 1, 2. 1 devise an evil—a liappy. antithesis between God's dealings and the Jews' dealingsthe mourning of Beth-ezel takes away from you her shelter." Tliough Beth-ezel be at your side (t. e., near), according to her name, yet as she also mourns under the oppression of the foe, she cannot give you shelter, or be at your side as a helper (as her name might lead j'ou to expect), if you come forth and be intercepted by him from returning to Zaanan. IH. Maroth—possibly the same as Maarath (Joshua 15. 59). Perhaps a different town, lying between the previously mentioned towns and the capital, »nd one of those plundered by Rabshakeh on his way to
It. waited carefully for good—t. e., for better fortune, but in vain [Calvin.] QssEtivs translates, " is grieved lor her goods" taken away from her. This accords with
(v. 1). Ye "devise evil" against your fellow-countrymen.;
I devise evil against you. Ye devise It wrongfully, I by righteous retribution In kind, from which ye shall' not remove your necks—as ye have done from the law. The yoke I shall Impose shall be one which ye cannot shake off. They who will not bend to God's "easy yoke" (Matthew 11. 29, 30), shall feel His iron yoke, go haughtily—(Cf. Note, Jeremiah 6. 28.) Ye shall not walk as now with neck haughtily uplifted, for the yoke shall press down your " neck." this time Is evil-rather, " for that time shall be an evil time," viz., the time of the carrying away into captivity (cf. Amos 5.13; Epheslans 5.16). 4. onw take up a parable against yon viz., some of your foeashall do so, taking in derision from your own mouth your "lamentation," viz., "We be spoiled," Ac. lament with, a doleful lamentation lit., lament imth a lamentation of lamentations. Hebrew, "naha, nehl, nihyah," the repetl* tion representing the continuous and monotonous wall, he hath changed the portion of my people—a charge of Injustice against Jehovah. He transfers to other na» tlons the sacred territory assigned as the rightful portion, of our people (ch. 1. 15). turning away he liaith dlvldedi our fields—turning away from us to the enemy, he hathi divided among them our fields. CalviN) as Margin, ex» plains, "Instead of restoring OUT territory. He hath divided our fields among our enemies, each of whom hencefor* ward will have an interest in keeping wliat he hath gotten: so that we are utterly shut out from hope of restoration." Maurer translates as a noun,. "He batli divided oar fields to a rebel," i. e.,to the foe wiio Is a rebel against the true God, and a worshipper of idols. So " backsliding," t. e., backslider (Jeremiah 49. 4). IMfh tlie meaning of Maroth, " bitterness," to which allusion
Is made in " is grieved." But the antithesis favours JE>nglish Version, "waited carefully (i. e., anxiously) for good; l)ut evil came down." from the Ijord—not from chance. unto the gat« of Jerusalem—after the other cities of Judah have been taken. 13. " Bind the chariot to the swift steed," in order by a hasty flight to escape the invading foe. Cf. Note, Isaiah 36.2, on " Lachish," at which Sennacherib fixed his headquarters (2 Kings 18. 14, 17; Jeremiah 34. 7). she is the beginning of the sin to . . . Zlon—Lachish was the first of the cities of Judah, according to this passage, to introduce the worship of false gods, imitating what Jeroboam had introduced in Israel. As lying near the border of the north kingdom, Lachish was first to be infected by Its Idolatry, which thence spread to Jerusalem. 14. shalt thou give presents to Moreshcthgath—that Its inhabitants may send thee help. MAtJRER explains it, " thou shalt give a writing of renunciation to Moresheth-gath," i.e., thou shalt renounce all claim to it, being compelled to yield it up to the foe. "Thou," i. e., Judah. " Israel" In this verse is used for the kingdom of Judah, which was the chief representative of the whole nation of Israel. Moresheth-gath is so called, because it had fallen for a time under the power of the neighbouring Philistines of Gaih. It was the native town of Micah
(i). 1). Achzlb—meaning " lying." Achzlb, as its name Implies, shall prove a "lie to . . . Israel," i.e., shall disappoint Israel's hopes of succour from her (cf. Job 6. 15-
20; Jeremiah 15. 18). Achzlb was In Judah between Keilah and Mareshah (Joshua 15. 44). Perhaps the same as Chezib (Genesis 38. 6). IS. Tct will I bring an heir unto thee—rather, " the heir." As thou art now occupied 44 lish Version gives a good sense; and is quite tenable In the Hebrew. 5. Therefore—resumed from v. 3. On »om