Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin
Micah 2
Micah 2:1
1. Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
1. Vae cogitantibus iniquitatem et fabricantibus malitiam super cubilibus suis!
Quum illuxerit mane, exequentur eam, quia est ad potentiam manus ipsorum.
The Prophet does not here speak only against the Israelites, as some think, who have incorrectly confined this part of his teaching to the ten tribes; but he, on the contrary, (in discharging his ofÏce, addresses also the Jews. He refers not here to idolatry, as in the last chapter; but inveighs against sins condemned in the second table. As then the Jews had not only polluted the worship of God, but also gave loose reins to many iniquities, so that they dealt wrongfully with their neighbors, and there was among them no attention to justice and equity, so the prophet inveighs here as we shall see, against avarice, robberies, and cruelty: and his discourse is full of vehemence; for there was no doubt such licentiousness then prevailing among the people, that there was need of severe and sharp reproofs. It is at the same time easy to perceive that his discourse is mainly directed against the chief men, who exercised authority, and turned it to wrong purposes.
Woe, he says, to those who meditate on iniquity, and devise 154 evil on their beds, that, when the morning shines, they may execute it Here the Prophet describes to the life the character and manners of those who were given to gain, and were intent only on raising themselves. He says, that in their beds they were meditating on iniquity, and devising wickedness. Doubtless the time of night has been given to 154Literally, work; but {{פעלmeans to work not only with the hands, but also with the mind; and hence, to contrive, to devise, to machinate. Henderson has ``fabricate,'' while Newcome, less suitably, retains the word, ``work.'' Marckius justly observes, that the working here is not external but internal, the framing, the setting in order, the preparation of evil in the mind.
The Prophet points out here that source from which outward evils proceed. What numberless schemes, both good and evil, are concocted and arranged by men on their beds! ``They set their wits on work to invent ways of accomplishing their desire. They devise iniquity with a great deal of cursed art and policy; they plot how to do it effectually, and yet so as not to expose themselves.
This is called working evil; they are working it in their heads.'' --- Henry.