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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
M I C A H.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter we have,
I. The title of the book
(ver. 1)
and a preface demanding attention,
II. Warning given of desolating judgments hastening upon the kingdoms
of Israel and Judah
(ver. 3, 4),
and all for sin,
III. The particulars of the destruction specified,
IV. The greatness of the destruction illustrated,
1. By the prophet’s sorrow for it,
2. By the general sorrow that should be for it, in the several places
that must expect to share in it,
These prophecies of Micah might well be called his lamentations.
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1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the
days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he
saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein
is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from
his holy temple.
3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will
come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys
shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that
are poured down a steep place.
5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the
sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of
Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of
Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and
as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones
thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations
thereof.
7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces,
and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all
the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of
the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an
harlot.
Here is,
I. A general account of this prophet and his prophecy,
v. 1.
This is prefixed for the satisfaction of all that read and hear the
prophecy of this book, who will give the more credit to it when they
know the author and his authority.
1. The prophecy is the word of the Lord; it is a divine
revelation. Note, What is written in the Bible, and what is preached by
the ministers of Christ according to what is written there, must be
heard and received, not as the word of dying men, which we may be
judges of, but as the word of the living God, which we must be judged
by, for so it is. This word of the Lord came to the prophet, came
plainly, came powerfully, came in a preventing way, and he saw it, saw
the vision in which it was conveyed to him, saw the things themselves
which he foretold, with as much clearness and certainty as if they had
been already accomplished.
2. The prophet is Micah the Morasthite; his name Micah is a
contraction of Micaiah, the name of a prophet some ages before (in
Ahab’s time,
his surname, the Morasthite, signifies that he was born, or
lived, at Moresheth, which is mentioned here
(v. 14),
or Mareshah, which is mentioned
The place of his abode is mentioned, that any one might enquire in that
place, at that time, and might find there was, or had been, such a one
there, who was generally reputed to be a prophet.
3. The date of his prophecy is in the reigns of three kings of
Judah–Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Ahaz was one of the worst of Judah’s
kings, and Hezekiah one of the best; such variety of times pass over
God’s ministers, times that frown and times that smile, to each of
which they must study to accommodate themselves, and to arm themselves
against the temptations of both. The promises and threatenings of this
book are interwoven, by which it appears that even in the wicked reign
he preached comfort, and said to the righteous then that it
should be well with them; and that in the pious reign he
preached conviction, and said to the wicked then that it should be
ill with them; for, however the times change, the word of the
Lord is still the same.
4. The parties concerned in this prophecy; it is concerning Samaria
and Jerusalem, the head cities of the two kingdoms of Israel and
Judah, under the influence of which the kingdoms themselves were.
Though the ten tribes have deserted the houses both of David and Aaron,
yet God is pleased to send prophets to them.
II. A very solemn introduction to the following prophecy
(v. 2),
in which,
1. The people are summoned to draw near and give their attendance, as
upon a court of judicature: Hear, all you people, Note, Where
God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear; we all must, for
we are all concerned in what is delivered. “Hear, you people” (all
of them, so the margin reads it), “all you that are now within
hearing, and all others that hear it at second hand.” It is an unusual
construction; but those words with which Micah begins his prophecy are
the very same in the original with those wherewith Micaiah ended his,
2. The earth is called upon, with all that therein is, to hear
what the prophet has to say: Hearken, O earth! The earth shall
be made to shake under the stroke and weight of the judgments coming;
sooner will the earth hear than this stupid senseless people; but God
will be heard when he pleads. If the church, and those in it, will not
hear, the earth, and those in it, shall, and shame them.
3. God himself is appealed to, and his omniscience, power, and justice,
are vouched in testimony against this people: “Let the Lord God be
witness against you, a witness that you had fair warning given you,
that your prophets did their duty faithfully as watchmen, but you would
not take the warning; let the accomplishment of the prophecy be a
witness against your contempt and disbelief of it, and prove, to your
conviction and confusion, that it was the word of God, and no word of
his shall fall to the ground.” Note, God himself will be a witness, by
the judgments of his hand, against those that would not receive his
testimony in the judgments of his mouth. He will be a witness from
his holy temple in heaven, when he comes down to execute judgment
(v. 3)
against those that turned a deaf ear to his oracles, wherein he
witnessed to them, out of his holy temple at Jerusalem.
III. A terrible prediction of destroying judgments which should come
upon Judah and Israel, which had its accomplishment soon after in
Israel, and at length in Judah; for it is foretold,
1. That God himself will appear against them,
v. 3.
They boasted of themselves and their relation to God, as if that would
secure them; but, though God never deceives the faith of the upright,
he will disappoint the presumption of the hypocrites, for, behold,
the Lord comes forth out of his place, quits his mercy-seat, where
they thought they had him fast, and prepares his throne for judgment;
his glory departs, for they drive it from them. God’s way towards this
people had long been a way of mercy, but now he changes his way, he
comes out of his place, and will come down. He had seemed to
retire, as one regardless of what was done, but now he will show
himself, he will rend the heavens, and will come down,
not as sometimes, in surprising mercies, but in surprising judgments,
to do things not for them, but against them, which they looked not
for,
Isa. lxiv. 1; xxvi. 21.
2. That when the Creator appears against them it shall be in vain for
any creature to appear for them. He will tread with contempt and
disdain upon the high places of the earth, upon all the powers
that are advanced in competition with him or in opposition to him; and
he will so tread upon them as to tread them down and level them. High
places, set up for the worship of idols or for military fortifications,
shall all be trodden down and trampled into the dust. Do men trust to
the height and strength of the mountains and rocks, as if they were
sufficient to bear up their hopes and bear off their fears? They shall
be molten under him, melted down as wax before the fire,
Ps. lxviii. 2.
Do they trust to the fruitfulness of the valleys, and their products?
They shall be cleft, or rent, with those fiery streams
that shall come pouring down from the mountains when they are melted.
They shall be ploughed and washed away as the ground is by the
waters that are poured down a steep place. God is said to cleave
the earth with rivers,
Hab. iii. 9.
Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low
degree, as the valleys, shall be able to secure either themselves
or the land from judgments of God, when they are sent with commission
to lay all waste, and, like a sweeping rain, to leave no
food,
Prov. xxviii. 3.
This is applied particularly to the head city of Israel, which they
hoped would be a protection to the kingdom
(v. 6):
I will make Samaria, that is now a rich and populous city, as
a heap of the field, as a heap of dung laid there to be spread,
or as a heap of stones gathered together to be carried away, and as
plantings of a vineyard, as hillocks of earth raised to plant vines
in. God will make of that city a heap, of that defenced city
a ruin,
Isa. xxv. 2.
Their altars had been as heaps in the furrows of the
fields
and now their houses shall be so, as ruinous heaps. The stones of
the city are poured down into the valley by the fury of the
conqueror, who will thus be revenged on those walls that so long held
out against him. They shall be quite pulled down, so that the very
foundations shall be discovered, that had been covered by
the superstructure; and not one stone shall be left upon another.
IV. A charge of sin upon them, as the procuring cause of these
desolating judgments
(v. 5):
For the transgression of Jacob is all this. If it be asked, “Why
is God so angry, and why are Jacob and Israel thus brought to ruin by
his anger?” the answer is ready: Sin has done all the mischief; sin has
laid all waste; all the calamities of Jacob and Israel are owing to
their transgressions; if they had not gone away from God, he would
never have appeared thus against them. Note, External privileges and
professions will not secure a sinful people from the judgments of God.
If sin be found in the house of Israel, if Jacob be guilty of
transgression and rebellion, God will not spare them; no, he will
punish them first, for their sins are of all others most provoking to
him, for they are most reproaching. But it is asked, What is the
transgression of Jacob? Note, When we feel the smart of sin it
concerns us to enquire what the sin is which we smart for, that we may
particularly war against that which wars against us. And what is it?
1. It is idolatry; it is the high places; that is the
transgression, the great transgression which reigns in Israel; that is
spiritual whoredom, the violation of the marriage-covenant, which
merits a divorce. Even the high places of Judah, though not so
bad as the transgression of Jacob, were yet offensive enough to God,
and a remaining blemish upon some of the good reigns. Howbeit the
high places were not taken away.
2. It is the idolatry of Samaria and Jerusalem, the royal cities of
those two kingdoms. These were the most populous places, and where
there were most people there was most wickedness, and they made one
another worse. These were the most pompous places; there men lived
most in wealth and pleasure, and they forgot God. These were the places
that had the greatest influence upon the country, by authority and
example; so that from them idolatry and profaneness went forth
throughout all the land,
Jer. xxiii. 15.
Note, Spiritual distempers are most contagious in persons and places
that are most conspicuous. If the head city of a kingdom, or the chief
family in a parish, be vicious and profane, many will follow their
pernicious ways, and write after a bad copy when great ones set it
for them. The vices of leaders and rulers are leading ruling vices, and
therefore shall be surely and sorely punished. Those have a great deal
to answer for indeed that not only sin, but make Israel to sin.
Those must expect to be made examples that have been examples of
wickedness. If the transgression of Jacob is Samaria, therefore shall
Samaria become a heap. Let the ringleaders in sin hear this and
fear.
V. The punishment made to answer the sin, in the particular destruction
of the idols,
v. 7.
1. The gods they worshipped shall be destroyed: The graven images
shall be beaten to pieces by the army of the Assyrians, and all
the idols shall be laid desolate. Samaria and her idols were ruined
together by Sennacherib
(Isa. x. 11),
and their gods cast into the fire, for they were no gods
and this was the Lord’s doing: I will lay the idols desolate.
Note, If the law of God prevail not to make men in authority destroy
idols, God will take the work into his own hands, and will do it
himself.
2. The gifts that passed between them and their gods shall be
destroyed; for all the hires thereof shall be burnt with fire,
which may be meant either of the presents they made to their idols for
the replenishing of their altars, and the adorning of their statues and
temples (these shall become a prey to the victorious army, which shall
rifle not only private houses, but the houses of their gods), or of the
corn, and wine, and oil, which they called the rewards, or
hires, which their idols, their lovers, gave them
(Hos. ii. 12);
these shall be taken from them by him whom (by ascribing them to their
dear idols) they had defrauded of the honour due to him. Note, That
cannot prosper by which men either are hired to sin or hire others to
sin; for the wages of sin will be death. She gathered it of
the hire of the harlot, and it shall return to the hire of a
harlot. They enriched themselves by their leagues with the
idolatrous nations, who gave them advantages, to court them into the
service of their idols, and their idols’ temples were enriched with
gifts by those who went a whoring after them. And all this wealth shall
become a prey to the idolatrous nations, and so be the hire of a
harlot again, wages to an army of idolaters, who shall take it as a
reward given them by their gods. It shall be a present to king
Jareb,
Hos. x. 6.
What they gave to their idols, and what they thought they got by them,
shall be as the hire of a harlot; the curse of God shall be upon it,
and it shall never prosper, nor do them any good. It is common that
what is squeezed out by one lust is squandered away upon another.
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8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked:
I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he
is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the
house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame
naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of
Beth-ezel; he shall receive of you his standing.
12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but
evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift
beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion:
for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath: the
houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of
Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.
16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children;
enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into
captivity from thee.
We have here a long train of mourners attending the funeral of a ruined
kingdom.
I. The prophet is himself chief mourner
(v. 8, 9):
I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked, as a man
distracted with grief. The prophets usually expressed their own grief
for the public grievances, partly to mollify the predictions of them,
and to make it appear that is was not out of ill-will that they
denounced the judgments of God (so far were they from desiring the
woeful day that they dreaded it more than any thing), partly to show
how very dreadful and mournful the calamities would be, and to stir up
in the people a holy fear of them, that by repentance they might turn
away the wrath of God. Note, We ought to lament the punishments of
sinners as well as the sufferings of saints in this world; the weeping
prophet did so
(Jer. ix. 1);
so did this prophet. He makes a wailing like the dragons, or
rather the jackals, ravenous beasts that in those countries used
to meet in the night, and howl, and make hideous noises;
he mourns as the owls, the screech-owls, or
ostriches, as some read it. Two things the prophet here thus
dolefully laments:–
1. That Israel’s case is desperate: Her wound is incurable; it
is ruin without remedy; man cannot help her; God will not, because she
will not by repentance and reformation help herself. There is indeed
balm in Gilead and a physician there; but they will not apply to the
physician, nor apply the balm to themselves, and therefore the wound
is incurable.
2. That Judah likewise is in danger. The cup is going round, and is
now put into Judah’s hand: The enemy has come to the gate of
Jerusalem. Soon after the destruction of Samaria and the ten
tribes, the Assyrian army, under Sennacherib, laid siege to Jerusalem,
came to the gate, but could not force their way any further; however,
it was with great concern and trouble that the prophet foresaw the
fright, so dearly did he love the peace of Jerusalem.
II. Several places are here brought in mourning, and are called upon to
mourn; but with this proviso, that they should not let the Philistines
hear them
(v. 10):
Declare it not in Gath; this is borrowed from David’s
lamentation for Saul and Jonathan
(2 Sam. i. 20),
Tell it not in Gath, for the uncircumcised will triumph in
Israel’s tears. Note, One would not, if it could be helped, gratify
those that make themselves and their companions merry with the sins or
with the sorrows of God’s Israel. David was silent, and stifled his
griefs, when the wicked were before him,
Ps. xxxix. 1.
But, though it may be prudent not to give way to a noisy sorrow, yet it
is duty to admit a silent one when the church of God is in distress.
“Roll thyself in the dust” (as great mourners used to do) “and
so let the house of Judah and every house in Jerusalem become a
house of Aphrah, a house of dust, covered with dust,
crumbled into dust.” When God makes the house dust it becomes us to
humble ourselves under his mighty hand, and to put our mouths in the
dust, thus accommodating ourselves to the providences that concern us.
Dust we are; God brings us to the dust, that we may know it, and own
it. Divers other places are here named that should be sharers in this
universal mourning, the names of some of which we do not find
elsewhere, whence it is conjectured that they are names put upon them
by the prophet, the signification of which might either indicate or
aggravate the miseries coming upon them, thereby to awaken this secure
and stupid people to a holy fear of divine wrath. We find Sennacherib’s
invasion thus described, in the prediction of it, by the impressions of
terror it should make upon the several cities that fell in his way,
&c. Let us observe the particulars here,
1. The inhabitants of Saphir, which signifies neat and
beautiful (thou that dwellest fairly, so the margin reads it),
shall pass away into captivity, or be forced to flee, stripped
of all their ornaments and having their shame naked. Note, Those
who appear ever so fine and delicate know not what contempt they may be
exposed to; and the more grievous will the shame be to those who have
been inhabitants of Saphir.
2. The inhabitants of Zaanan, which signifies the country of
flocks, a populous country, where the people are as numerous and
thick as flocks of sheep, shall yet be so taken up with their own
calamities, felt or feared, that they shall not come forth in the
mourning of Bethezel, which signifies a place near, shall
not condole with, nor bring any succour to, their next neighbours in
distress; for he shall receive of you his standing; the enemy
shall encamp among you, O inhabitants of Zaanan! shall take up a
station there, shall find footing among you. Those may well think
themselves excused from helping their neighbours who find they have
enough to do to help themselves and to hold their own.
3. As for the inhabitants of Maroth (which, some think, is put
for Ramoth, others that it signifies the rough places), they
waited carefully for good, and were grieved for the want of it,
but were disappointed; for evil came from the Lord unto the gate of
Jerusalem, when the Assyrian army besieged it,
The inhabitants of Maroth might well overlook their own particular
grievances when they saw the holy city itself in danger, and might well
overlook the Assyrian, that was the instrument, when they saw the evil
coming from the Lord.
4. Lachish was a city of Judah, which Sennacherib laid siege to,
The inhabitants of that city are called to bind the chariot to the
swift beast, to prepare for a speedy flight, as having no other way
left to secure themselves and their families; or it is spoken
ironically: “You have had your chariots and your swift beasts, but
where are they now?” God’s quarrel with Lachish is that she is the
beginning of sin, probably the sin of idolatry, to the daughter
of Zion
(v. 13);
they had learned it from the ten tribes, their near neighbours, and so
infected the two tribes with it. Note, Those that help to bring sin
into a country do but thereby prepare for the throwing of themselves
out of it. Those must expect to be first in the punishment who have
been ringleaders in sin. The transgressions of Israel were found in
thee; when they came to be traced up to their original they were
found to take rise very much from that city. God knows at whose door to
lay the blame of the transgressions of Israel, and whom to find guilty.
Lachish, having been so much accessory to the sin of Israel, shall
certainly be reckoned with: Thou shalt give presents to
Moresheth-gath, a city of the Philistines, which perhaps had a
dependence upon Gath, that famous Philistine city; thou shalt send to
court those of that city to assist thee, but it shall be in vain, for
(v. 14)
the houses of Achzib (a city which joined to Mareshah, or
Moresheth, and is mentioned with it,
shall be a lie to the kings of Israel; though they depend upon
their strength, yet they shall fail them. Here there is an allusion to
the name. Achzib signifies a lie, and so it shall prove
to those that trust in it.
5. Mareshah, that could not, or would not, help Israel, shall herself
be made a prey
(v. 15):
“I will bring a heir (that is, an enemy) that shall take
possession of thy lands, with as much assurance as if he were heir at
law to them, and he shall come to Adullam, and to the glory
of Israel, that is, to Jerusalem the head city;” or “The glory
of Israel shall come to be as Adullam, a poor despicable place;”
or, “The king of Assyria, whom Israel had gloried in, shall come to
Adullam, in laying the country waste.”
6. The whole land of Judah seems to be spoken to
(v. 16)
and called to weeping and mourning: “Make thee bald, by tearing
thy hair and shaving thy head; poll thee for thy delicate
children, that had been tenderly and nicely brought up; enlarge
thy baldness as the eagle when she casts her feathers and is all
over bald; for they have gone into captivity from thee, and are
not likely to return; and their captivity will be the more grievous to
them because they have been brought up delicately and have not been
inured to hardship.” Or this is directed particularly to the
inhabitants of Mareshah, as
That was the prophet’s own city, and yet he denounces the judgments of
God against it; for it shall be an aggravation of its sin that it had
such a prophet, and knew not the day of its visitation. Its being thus
privileged, since it improved not the privilege, shall not procure
favour for it either with God or with his prophet.
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