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Micah 3:2-4 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

2 Who hate H8130 the good, H2896 and love H157 the evil; H7451 who pluck off H1497 their skin H5785 from off them, and their flesh H7607 from off their bones; H6106

3 Who also eat H398 the flesh H7607 of my people, H5971 and flay H6584 their skin H5785 from off them; and they break H6476 their bones, H6106 and chop them in pieces, H6566 as for the pot, H5518 and as flesh H1320 within H8432 the caldron. H7037

4 Then shall they cry H2199 unto the LORD, H3068 but he will not hear H6030 them: he will even hide H5641 his face H6440 from them at that time, H6256 as they have behaved themselves ill H7489 in their doings. H4611

Commentary on Micah 3 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 3

Mic 3:1-12. The Sins of the Princes, Prophets, and Priests: The Consequent Desolation of Zion.

1. princes—magistrates or judges.

Is it not for you?—Is it not your special function (Jer 5:4, 5)?

judgment—justice. Ye sit in judgment on others; surely then ye ought to know the judgment for injustice which awaits yourselves (Ro 2:1).

2. pluck off their skin … flesh—rob their fellow countrymen of all their substance (Ps 14:4; Pr 30:14).

3. pot … flesh within … caldron—manifold species of cruel oppressions. Compare Eze 24:3, &c., containing, as to the coming punishment, the same figure as is here used of the sin: implying that the sin and punishment exactly correspond.

4. Then—at the time of judgment, which Micah takes for granted, so certain is it (compare Mic 2:3).

they cry … but he will not hear—just as those oppressed by them had formerly cried, and they would not hear. Their prayer shall be rejected, because it is the mere cry of nature for deliverance from pain, not that of repentance for deliverance from sin.

ill in their doings—Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well.

5. Here he attacks the false prophets, as before he had attacked the "princes."

make my people err—knowingly mislead My people by not denouncing their sins as incurring judgment.

bite with … teeth, and cry, Peace—that is, who, so long as they are supplied with food, promise peace and prosperity in their prophecies.

he that putteth not into their mouths, they … prepare war against him—Whenever they are not supplied with food, they foretell war and calamity.

prepare war—literally, "sanctify war," that is, proclaim it as a holy judgment of God because they are not fed (see on Jer 6:4; compare Isa 13:3; Joe 1:14).

6. night … dark—Calamities shall press on you so overwhelming as to compel you to cease pretending to divine (Zec 13:4). Darkness is often the image of calamity (Isa 8:22; Am 5:18; 8:9).

7. cover their lips—The Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard ("upper lip," Margin). To cover it, therefore, was a token of shame and sorrow (Le 13:45; Eze 24:17, 22). "They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths or boast of the name of prophet" [Calvin].

there is no answer of God—They shall no more profess to have responses from God, being struck dumb with calamities (Mic 3:6).

8. I—in contrast to the false prophets (Mic 3:5, 7).

full of power—that which "the Spirit of Jehovah" imparts for the discharge of the prophetical function (Lu 1:17; 24:49; Ac 1:8).

judgment—a sense of justice [Maurer]; as opposed to the false prophets' speaking to please men, not from a regard to truth. Or, "judgment" to discern between graver and lighter offenses, and to denounce punishments accordingly [Grotius].

might—moral intrepidity in speaking the truth at all costs (2Ti 1:7).

to declare unto Jacob his … sin—(Isa 58:1). Not to flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.

9. Hear—resumed from Mic 3:1. Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a demonstration of his assertion that he is "full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah" (Mic 3:8).

10. They—change of person from "ye" (Mic 3:9); the third person puts them to a greater distance as estranged from Him. It is, literally, "Whosoever builds," singular.

build up Zion with blood—build on it stately mansions with wealth obtained by the condemnation and murder of the innocent (Jer 22:13; Eze 22:27; Hab 2:12).

11. heads thereof—the princes of Jerusalem.

judge for reward—take bribes as judges (Mic 7:3).

priests teach for hire—It was their duty to teach the law and to decide controversies gratuitously (Le 10:11; De 17:11; Mal 2:7; compare Jer 6:13; Jude 11).

prophets … divine—that is, false prophets.

Is not the Lord among us?—namely in the temple (Isa 48:2; Jer 7:4, 8-11).

12. Jer 26:18 quotes this verse. The Talmud and Maimonides record that at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, Terentius Rufus, who was left in command of the army, with a ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple.

mountain of the house—the height on which the temple stands.

as the high places of the forest—shall become as heights in a forest overrun with wild shrubs and brushwood.