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Micah Chapter
Three
Micah 3
Chapter Contents
The cruelty of the princes, and the falsehood of the
prophets. (1-8) Their false security. (9-12)
Commentary on Micah 3:1-8
Men cannot expect to do ill, and fare well; but to find
that done to them which they did to others. How seldom do wholesome truths
reach the ears of those in high stations or in authority! Those who deceive
others are preparing confusion for their own faces. The prophet had ardent love
to God and to the souls of men; deep concern for his glory and their salvation,
and zeal against sin. The difficulties he met with did not drive him from his
work. He had this strength; not from and of himself, but he was full of power
by the Spirit of the Lord. Those who act honestly, may act boldly. And those
who come to hear the word of God, must be willing to be told of their faults,
must take it kindly, and be thankful.
Commentary on Micah 3:9-12
Zion's walls owe no thanks to those that build them up
with blood and iniquity. The sin of man works not the righteousness of God.
Even when men do that which in itself is good, but do it for filthy lucre, it
becomes abomination both to God and man. Faith rests in the Lord as the soul's
foundation: presumption only leans upon the Lord as a prop, and would use him
to serve a turn. If men's having the Lord among them will not keep them from
doing evil, it never can secure them from suffering evil for so doing. See the
doom of wicked Jacob; Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a
field. This was exactly fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans, and is so at this day. If sacred places are polluted by sin, they will
be wasted and ruined by the judgments of God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Micah》
Micah 3
Verse 1
[1] And
I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of
Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
Is it not for you —
Ought not you to understand, and conform to, the just laws of your God. You
princes, magistrates, and ruling officers, ought of all men to know and do
right.
Verse 2
[2] Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off
them, and their flesh from off their bones;
The good — Ye
who hate not only to do good, but the good which is done, and those that do it.
The evil —
Chuse, and delight in, both evil works and evil workers.
Who pluck it off — Ye
who use the flock as cruelly as the shepherd, who instead of shearing the
fleece, would pluck off the skin and flesh.
Verse 3
[3] Who
also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they
break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within
the caldron.
The flesh — Ye
who devour the goods, and livelihood of your brethren.
Break their bones — An
allusion to wolves, bears, or lions, which devour the flesh, and break the
bones of the defenceless lambs.
Verse 4
[4] Then
shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his
face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their
doings.
Then —
When these miseries come upon them.
Verse 5
[5] Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that
bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their
mouths, they even prepare war against him.
That bite —
When they are furnished with gifts, and well fed.
Prepare war —
They do them all the mischief they can.
Verse 6
[6]
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it
shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down
over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
Night —
Heavy calamities.
A vision —
You shall no more pretend to have a vision, or dare to foretell any thing.
And the sun —
The hand of God shall be against them, making their sorrows the more dreadful,
as darkness by the sun going down at noon.
Verse 7
[7] Then
shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all
cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
The seers — So
called by the deceived people.
Cover their lips —
Mourners did thus, Ezekiel 24:17,22. So these shall mourn and pine
in their shame.
No answer —
Because the answer they had formerly, pretended to be from God, now appears not
to have been from him.
Verse 8
[8] But
truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of
might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
Power —
Courage, and vivacity.
Of judgment — To
discern times and seasons, right from wrong.
Might —
Resolution.
Verse 10
[10] They
build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
They —
The heads and great ones enlarge, beautify, and fortify, the house in Zion,
particularly the temple and the royal palace.
Blood —
With wealth, which they made themselves masters of by violence, taking away the
life of the owners.
Verse 11
[11] The
heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the
prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say,
Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
Lean —
Pretend to trust in him.
Among us — As
our God and our shield.
Verse 12
[12]
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
For your sake —
Because of your sins.
The mountain —
The mountain, on which the temple stood. This is that passage, which is quoted,
Jeremiah 26:18, which Hezekiah and his princes
took well: yea, they repented and so the execution of it did not come in their
days.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Micah》
03 Chapter 3
Verses 1-12
Verses 1-4
Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of
Israel
Civil rulers
I.
What
civil rulers ought always to be. They ought always to “know judgment,” that is,
always practically to know the right. What is the standard of right? Not public
sentiment, not human law, but the Divine will. God’s being is the foundation of
right; God’s will is the standard of right; God’s Christ is the completest
revelation of that standard.
II. What civil
rulers often are. What were these rulers?
1. Morally corrupt.
2. Socially cruel.
3. Divinely abandoned.
The Monarch of the universe is no respecter of persons. (Homilist.)
Verses 5-7
Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make My people
err
False prophets
Here the prophet attacks the false prophets, as before he had
attacked the “princes.
”
I. They are
DECEIVING. God says, they “make My people err” Preachers often make their
hearers err.
II. They are
avaricious. They “bite with their teeth, and cry peace.” Greed governs them in
all their ministries.
III. They are
confounded.
1. Confounded in darkness. “Night shall be unto you, that ye shall
not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and
the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.”
2. Confounded in shame. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the
diviners be confounded. Jehovah ignores them. “There is no answer of God.”
“Those,” says Matthew Henry, “who deceive others are but preparing confusion
for their own faces.” (Homilist.)
Verse 8
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of
Judgment, and of might
The prophetic endowment
The three gifts, power, judgment, might, are the fruits of the one
Spirit of God, through whom the prophet was filled with them.
Of these, power is always strength residing in the person, whether it be the
“power, or might of wisdom” of Almighty God Himself, or power which He imparts
or implants. But it is always power lodged in the person, to be put
forth on him. Here it is Divine power, given through God the Holy Ghost, to
accomplish that for which He was sent. “Judgment” is, from its form, not so
much discernment in the human being as “the thing judged,” pronounced by God,
the righteous judgment of God, and righteous judgment in man conformably
therewith. “Might” is courage or boldness to deliver the message of God; not
awed or hindered by any adversaries. “Whoso is so strengthened and arrayed
uttereth fiery words, whereby hearers’ hearts are moved and changed. But whoso
speaketh of his own mind doth good neither to himself nor others.” So then, of
these three gifts, power expresses the Divine might lodged in him; judgment,
the substance of what he had to deliver; might or courage, the strength to
deliver it in face of human power, persecution, ridicule, death. These gifts
the prophets know are not their own, but are from the Spirit of God, and are by
Him inspired into them. Such was the spirit of Elijah, of John Baptist, of
Paul, of the apostles. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
The Holy Spirit the Author of all ministerial qualifications
The work of the ministry is the most arduous, the most important,
the most honourable work in which a man can be engaged. Arduous, because it
requires constant diligence, watch fulness, zeal, and perseverance. Important,
because it involves the eternal interests of man. Honourable, because it is the
work of God, and in the due discharge of it the glory of God is most promoted.
I. The minister’s
appointment. This is not of man, but of God; of God the Holy Spirit. God has
set apart certain persons to this office, who from time to time, as the
services of His Church require, are raised up, converted, qualified, and sent
for this office. Jesus sends His ministers whither He Himself will come. All
the qualifications of ministers for their office are of God, both gifts and
graces. Ministers are men of God sent from God to work for God, and bring
sinners to God.
I. Their
faithfulness in the discharge of their holy duties is of God the Holy Spirit.
The first ministers were commanded to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they
were endued with “power from on high” (Acts 1:8). The prophets under the Old
Testament and all the ministers of Christ in the present day have been and are
equally indebted to this gracious operation. Nor can we be surprised at this,
when the blessed Saviour Himself is represented in His mediatorial character as
qualified and sustained by the Holy Ghost. Ministers know not what to preach,
except as the Holy Spirit teaches them.
III. That ministers’
success is of the spirit. And this Spirit is poured out just in proportion as
Christ is preached. Learn--
1. Where to look for a blessing. All our fresh springs are in Jesus.
2. Ask whether the Lord is among us or not?
3. To whom we should give the glory, all the glory, for any benefit
that we at any time receive from the ministry. (R. Simpson, M. A.)
The true prophet
It is supposed that this chapter belongs to the reign of Hezekiah;
if so, the mournful state of matters which it depicts cannot have begun until
towards its close. These words lead us to consider the true prophet.
I. The work of a
true prophet. “To declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”
It is a characteristic of all true prophets that they have a keen moral sense
to discern wrong, to loathe it, and to burn at it. No man is a true prophet who
is not roused to thunder by the wrong. Where have we men now to “declare unto
Jacob his transgression, and unto Israel his sin”?
1. This is a painful work. It will incur the disfavour of some and
rouse the antagonism of the delinquents.
2. This is an urgent work. No work is more needed in England to day.
To expose wrong goes a great way towards its extinction. St. Peter on the day
of Pentecost charged home the terrible crime of the crucifixion to the men he
addressed!
II. The power of a
true prophet. “Truly, I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of
judgment and of might.” There is no egotism in this. A powerful man knows his
power and will ascribe it to the right source--the “Spirit of the Lord.” His
power was moral; it was the might of conscience, moral conviction of invincible
sympathy with eternal right and truth. This is a very different power to that
of mere intellect, imagina tion, or what is called genius. It is higher, more
creditable, more influential, more Godlike.
III. The fidelity of
a true prophet. This is seen here in three things--
1. In the class he denounces. “Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the
house of Jacob, princes of the house of Israel.” He struck at the higher
classes of life.
2. The prophet’s fidelity is seen in the charges he makes. “They
build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.”
Money was the motive power of all. The prophet’s faithfulness is
seen--
3. In the doom he proclaims. The reference may be to the destruction
of Jerusalem by the Romans. (Homilist.)
A faithful prophet
During the Chartist agitation many of Kingsley’s friends
and relations tried to withdraw him from the people’s cause, fearful lest his
prospects in life might be seriously prejudiced; but to all of them he turned a
deaf ear, and in writing to his wife on the subject he says: “I will not be a
liar. I will speak in season and out of season. I will not shun to declare the
whole counsel of God. My path is clear, and I will follow in it,” (A. Bell,
B. A.)
Showing the transgression
The great power of Charles G. Finney in dealing with awakened
souls consisted in this: he used to pin a man down to his favourite sins, and
say to him: “Are you willing to give up this in order to obey Christ?” At that
decisive point came the defeat or victory. He once knelt down beside an
inquirer, and as he enumerated various sins the man responded that he would
surrender them. At length Mr. Finney said: “I agree to serve God in my
business.” The man was silent. “What is the matter?” said Mr. F. kindly; “can
you not do that?. . .No,” stammered the poor fellow; “I am in the liquor
trade.” And in it he continued. He rose from his knees and went back to his
cursed business, with a fresh weight of guilt upon his head.
Verse 10-11
Hear this . . . ye heads of the house of Jacob . . . that abhor
judgment, and pervert all equity
Rectitude
I.
There
is an eternal law of “right” that should govern man in all his relations.
Right, as a sentiment, is one of the deepest, most ineradicable and operative
sentiments in humanity. All men feel that there is such a thing as right. What
the right is is a subject on which there has been and is a variety of opinion.
Right implies a standard, and men differ about the standard. Some say the law of
your country is the standard; some say public sentiment is the standard; some
say temporal expediency is the standard. All these are fearfully mistaken.
Philosophy and the Bible teach that there is but one standard, that is the will
of the Creator. That will He reveals in many ways--in nature, in history, in
conscience, in Christ. Conformity to that will is right.
1. The law of Christ should govern man in his relations with God.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” etc.
2. The law of right should govern man in his relation to his fellow
men--“Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto
them.” This law of right is immutable. It admits of no modification. It is
universal. It is binding alike on all moral beings in the universe. It is benevolent.
It seeks the happiness of all.
II. That a
practical disregard of this law leads to fraud and violence. “For they know not
to do right, saith the Lord, who store up violence and robbery in their
palaces.” The magnates of Samaria had no respect for the practice of right,
hence they “stored up violence and robbery in their palaces.” Fraud and
violence are the two great primary crimes in all social life.
III. That fraud and
violence must ultimately meet with condign punishment. “Therefore thus saith the
Lord God: An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall
bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.” How was
this realised? “Against him came up Shalmaneser, king of Assyria; and Hoshea
became his servant, and gave him presents. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king
of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them
in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes” (2 Kings 17:3; 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:9-11). The cheats and
murderers of mankind will, as sure as there is justice in the world, meet with
a terrible doom. “Punishment is the recoil of crime; and the strength of the
backstroke is in proportion to the original blow.” (Homilist.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》