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CHAPTER I.

1 Micah sheweth the wrath of God against Judah for idolatry. 10 He exhorteth to mourning.

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HE 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 T'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 an 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 an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

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.

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10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

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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.

1 Heb. Hear, ye people all of them. 2 Deut. 32. 1. Isa. 1. 2. 3 Heb. the fulness thereof.
4 Isa. 26. 21. 5 Psal. 115. 3.
Deut. 32. 13, and 33. 29.
7 Psal. 97. 5.
8 Heb. a descent.
9 Heb. daughters of the owl.
10 Or, she is grievously sick of her wounds. 11 2 Sam. 1. 20. 12 That is, dust.
13 Jer. 6. 26. 14 Or, thou that dwellest fairly.
15 Heb. inhabitress.
16 Isa. 47. 3.
17 Or, the country of flocks.
18 Or, a place near.
19 Or, was grieved.
21 That is, A lie.
22 Or, the glory of Israel shall come, &c.
23 Isa. 22.12.

20 Or, for.

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Verse 6. I will make Samaria as an heap of the field.'— The following illustration of this is from the Narrative of the Scottish Mission of Inquiry, p. 219: We read over the prophecy of Micah regarding Samaria as we drew near to it, and conversed together as to its full meaning. We asked Dr. Keith what he understood by the expression "I will make Samaria as an heap of the field." He replied that he supposed the ancient stones of Samaria would be found, not in the form of a ruin, but gathered into heaps in the same manner as in cleaning a vineyard, or as our farmers at home clean their fields by gathering the stones together. In a little after we found the conjecture to be completely verified. We halted at the eastern end of the hill, beside an old aqueduct, and immediately under the ruin of an old Greek church, which rises on this side above the miserable village of Subuste. The ruin is one of the most sightly in the whole of Palestine. We

ascended on foot by a narrow and steep pathway, which soon divides into two, and conducts past the foundations of the ruined church to the village. The pathway is enclosed by rude dykes, the stones of which are large, and many of them carved, and these are piled rather than built upon one another. Some of them are loose and ready to fall. Many are peculiarly large, and have evidently belonged to ancient edifices.'

I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley. -The travellers cited in the preceding note state, in continuation, that 'the whole of the face of this part of the hill (on which Samaria stood) suggests the idea that the building of the ancient city had been thrown down from the brow of the hill. Ascending to the top, we went round the whole summit, and found marks of the same process everywhere. The people of the country, in order to make room for their fields and gardens, have swept off the old

houses, and poured the stones down into the valley. Masses of stone, and in one place two broken columns, are seen, as it were, on their way to the bottom of the hill. In the southern valley we counted thirteen large heaps of stones, most of them piled up round the trunks of the olive-trees.' 8. Stripped and naked.'-That is, as having thrown off the outer garment and ornaments, and remaining in the under gown or tunic. This is on several occasions described as 'nakedness' in Scripture.

'Mourning as the owls.'-Rather as the ostriches,' here distinguished by their poetical title, my benothyaanah, 'daughters of screeching.' See the note on Job xxxix. 13, where the elucidation of this name is included in the account given of the bird. We may add from Shaw (p. 455): During the lonesome part of the night they often make a very doleful and hideous noise. I have often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies: an action beautifully alluded to by Micah.'

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10. The house of Aphrah.'-The name of Aphrah, and some of the others that follow which do not elsewhere occur in Scripture, have given occasion to some speculation. 1. Some suppose them to be proper names of towns. 2. Others regard them as significant names, imposed, some upon Samaria and others upon Jerusalem, by the prophet, to give him occasion to apply their meanings to the existing and future condition of those places and their people. 3. Those who translate the words, instead of retaining them as proper names, do not understand them differently from the former. And our own translators leave us the choice of explanations by giving the words as proper names in the text, and translating them in the margin. By consulting the marginal explanations the reader will see the play upon the significations, which is involved: and after having premised the interpretations to which each example is open, we will so far defer to the first as to see what information can be found, on the hypothesis that they are proper names of towns.

The present Aphrah is thought by some to be the same as the Öphrah of Josh. xviii. 23, where it is mentioned as a city of Benjamin. This was in Jerome's time a village, then called Effrem, five Roman miles east of Bethel, and which Dr. Robinson is disposed to identify with the site of a village called Taiyibeh, which now crowns a conical hill in that quarter. The mention of Bethel (house of God) gives one occasion to recollect that the nickname Beth-aven (house of vanity), given to that place by the prophets, suggests an example, applicable to the instances before us, of the practice of imposing a nickname--sometimes by only slightly altering the real one-to express the character of the place, or to point the allusion intended to be conveyed. The present example, Beth-aphrah, 'house of dust,' is remarkably analogous.

11. Saphir.'-The name Shamir occurs, in Josh. xv. 48, as that of a town in the hill country of Judah. That name is read Sophir in the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint, and is thought by some to be the place intended by the prophet. A place of this name is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, as a village in the hilly country between Eleutheropolis and Askelon, in which quarter Dr. Robinson found three villages near each other bearing the name of Sawâfir, which he is disposed to regard as the plural form of the Hebrew Saphir.-Researches, ii. 370.

'Zaanan.'-This name is not very different from that of Zenan in Josh. xv. 37; and concerning which we

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can find no other information than that text conveys, namely, that it was a town in the valley' of Judah.

Beth-ezel.'-There might not be much difficulty in supposing this a name for Bethel.

12. Maroth.'-No place of this name occurs elsewhere. Grotius and some others think that, by a transposition of the m and r, Ramoth may be understood. Of this name, or, in the singular, Ramah, there were several places in Israel and Judah; and if this conjecture be probable, all or the principal of them may be intended by the plural name; but from the connection with Jerusalem, implying vicinity, we should rather be disposed to understand the noted Ramah, a few miles to the north of that metropolis. Hiller's conjecture, that Jarmuth should be understood, seems to us not very probable.

13. Lachish.'-This we know to have been one of the strongest fortified towns of Judah; and we are very much disposed to consider that the occurrence of this, and other real and known names of the list, sufficiently indicates that all of them are actual names of places, selected by the prophet either on account of their importance in his time, or on account of some special circumstances in the events related or foreseen, or because their names had such significance as pointed the allusions he intended to convey. Pococke, after allowing the difficulty of identifying some of the places, says: But the taking them otherwise than as the proper names of cities, doth but open the way to more uncertain conjectures and doubtful interpretations.'

14. Moresheth-gath.'-The addition 'Gath,' taken with the context, shews clearly that the place belonged to the Philistines of Gath, if that city itself be not, as some suppose, intended. The sacred history is silent as to the occasion on which Lachish sought the aid of the Philistines: perhaps when apprehensive of a siege, or actually besieged, by the king of Assyria.

'Achzib.'-Another town of the Philistines, noticed under Josh. xii. 20.

15. Adullam.'-See the note on Josh. xii. 15. 16.Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle.'-We were once inclined to think that the circumstance of baldness might afford a clue to the identification of the species of eagle here intended. There is, for instance, the osprey, or bald buzzard, of which see the note on Lev. xi. 13; and an eagle is mentioned by Bruce, known in Ethiopia by the name nisser, or eagle, but by him called the golden eagle (seemingly erroneously), and vulgarly called abu duch'n, 'father long beard,' from the tuft of hair under his chin. 'A forked brush of strong hair, divided at the point into two, proceeded from the cavity of his lower jaw, at the beginning of his throat. He had the smallest eye I ever remember to have seen in a large bird, the aperture being scarcely half an inch. The crown of his head was bare or bald, so was the front where the bill and scull joined.' We are unable to determine the species of this bird, and cannot, therefore, say whether or not it exists in Palestine. If so, it might be supposed the subject of the present reference, if the baldness' of any particular species is intended. But it rather appears to us that the allusion is to the moulting of the bird-at which time it loses its spirits, no longer hunts for prey as usual, and ceases to be an object of dread to other birds. This is surely a more suggestive similitude than mere head-baldness in any one kind of eagle.

CHAPTER II.

1 Against oppression. 4 A lamentation. 7 A reproof of injustice and idolatry. 12 A promise of restoring Jacob.

WOE to them that devise iniquity, and work

evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2 And they covet 'fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away:

1 Isa. 5. 8.

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

3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament "with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.

5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

67 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

7 TO thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD 'straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

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8 Even "of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe "with the gar

2 Or, defraud.

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10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13 The breaker is come up before them : they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.

4 Or, instead of restoring. 5 Deut. 32. 8, 9. 8 Isa. 30. 10. 9 Or, shortened. 10 Heb. upright. 13 Or, wives. 14 Or, walk with the wind and lie falsely.

3 Heb. with a lamentation of lamentations. 7 Heb. Drop, &c. 12 Heb. over against a garment.

6 Or, Prophesy not as they prophesy. 11 Heb. yesterday.

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Verse 5. Cast a cord by lot.'-This probably alludes to the division of the lands by a cord or measuring line, and to their distribution by lot to the congregation of the Lord' the Hebrew nation-in the time of Joshua.

8. Ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely.'-This shews their extreme rapacity, that, not content with the outer garment, which was the most valuable article of dress, and the most obvious object of depredative assaults, they must have also the inner garment or tunic-an article of attire less valuable to the spoiler and more essential to the wearer. They were thus

as bad as the Bedouin Arabs, who seldom leave any article of dress of the least value upon those who fall into their hands, and who think themselves liberal in casting an old rag of their own to cover the nakedness of those whom they have plundered. The plunder of the raiment, of which we so often read in the Bible and in modern travel, arises from the loose character of the Oriental dress, so that a garment for a person of average size will fit a great number of persons quite as well as the one for whom it is made; whence a garment is a more available object for sale or use than dresses that fit more nicely

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CHAPTER III.

1 The cruelty of the princes. 5 The falsehood of the prophets. 8 The security of them both.

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?

2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

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.

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.

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:

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

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the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

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.

ST 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.

9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

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10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

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.

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.

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Verse 2. 'Who pluck off their skin from off them,' etc.This expression marks, hyperbolically, the avidity and cruelty of the chiefs of Israel, who acted towards the

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people as would shepherds who flayed alive their own sheep, to devour their flesh-acting more like wolves than shepherds. This brings to mind the saying of Tiberius,

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who, when urged by the governors of the provinces to augment the tributes, answered, 'Boni pastoris esse tondere, non deglubere,'-the good shepherd shears his sheep, but does not skin them.-Sueton in Tiber. 32.

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12. Therefore shall Zion...be plowed as a field.Whether this received any literal fulfilment when the city was ruined by the Babylonians we do not know; but we do know that Jerusalem then became heaps,' as the next clause expresses. The prediction has, however, been literally accomplished in more ways than one. It was an insulting act of ancient conquerors to pass a plough over a conquered and ruined city, to express that the site should be built upon no more, but be devoted to agriculture. Horace mentions it as a Roman custom :

From hence proud cities date their overthrow, When, insolent in ruin, o'er their walls

The wrathful soldier draws the hostile plough,
That haughty mark of total overthrow.'

Carmin. 1. i. Ode xvi. FRANCIS.

And these very Romans did draw the hostile plough' over Jerusalem. For we are told by various old Hebrew writers, whose testimony is confirmed by Jerome, that after the city and temple of Jerusalem had been by them destroyed, Turnus Rufus, or, as Jerome calls him, Titus Annius Rufus, passed the plough over the site, according to an order which he received from the emperor; and in consequence of which the site remained for many years utterly desolate.

Another interesting corroboration of this passage, if understood as applying specially to Mount Zion, might be found in its present condition, as described by Dr. Richardson, in a passage quoted under Ps. xlviii. 2; and in which its application to the illustration of the present text is particularly mentioned.

CHAPTER IV.

1 The glory, 3 peace, 8 kingdom, 11 and victory of the church.

BUT 'in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into "pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;

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8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jeru salem.

9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail : for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

11 ¶ Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the LORD of the whole earth. 4 Zeph. 3. 19.

3 Or, scythes.

5 Dan. 7. 14. Luke 1. 33.

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