8 Don't rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them has the light shined.
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, Gracious, merciful, and righteous.
Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Being bound in affliction and iron, Because they rebelled against the words of God, And condemned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, And he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their bonds in sunder. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, For his wonderful works to the children of men!
seeing it is God who said, "Light will shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."
Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out [the grain], and neigh as strong horses;
The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz: The cup shall pass through to you also; you shall be drunken, and shall make yourself naked. The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion; he will no more carry you away into captivity: He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom; he will uncover your sins.
For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel;
As you did rejoice over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you: you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
But don't look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don't rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don't speak proudly in the day of distress.
Then my enemy will see it, And shame will cover her who said to me, Where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, To those who sat in the region and shadow of death, To them light has dawned."
Most assuredly I tell you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.
There will be no night, and they need no lamp light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.
Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of Yahweh is risen on you. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Lest my enemy say, "I have prevailed against him;" Lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to Yahweh, Because he has been good to me.
But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn't know it. They tore at me, and didn't cease. Like the profane mockers in feasts, They gnashed their teeth at me.
Vindicate me, Yahweh my God, according to your righteousness; Don't let them gloat over me. Don't let them say in their heart, "Aha! That's the way we want it!" Don't let them say, "We have swallowed him up!" Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me.
The wicked borrow, and don't pay back, But the righteous give generously.
For I said, "Don't let them gloat over me, Or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."
But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, That I may repay them. By this I know that you delight in me, Because my enemy doesn't triumph over me. As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, And set me in your presence forever.
Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart.
House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.
For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity. Don't rejoice when your enemy falls. Don't let your heart be glad when he is overthrown; Lest Yahweh see it, and it displease him, And he turn away his wrath from him.
The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" They went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them.
Who is among you who fears Yahweh, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of Yahweh, and rely on his God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Micah 7
Commentary on Micah 7 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 7
Mic 7:1-20. The Universality of the Corruption; the Chosen Remnant, Driven from Every Human Confidence, Turns to God; Triumphs by Faith over Her Enemies; Is Comforted by God's Promises in Answer to Prayer, and by the Confusion of Her Enemies, and So Breaks Forth into Praises of God's Character.
1. I am as when, &c.—It is the same with me as with one seeking fruits after the harvest, grapes after the vintage. "There is not a cluster" to be found: no "first-ripe fruit" (or "early fig"; see on Isa 28:4) which "my soul desireth" [Maurer]. So I look in vain for any good men left (Mic 7:2).
2. The Hebrew expresses "one merciful and good in relation to man," rather than to God.
is perished out of the earth—(Ps 12:1).
3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly—literally, "Their hands are for evil that they may do it well" (that is, cleverly and successfully).
the great man, he—emphatic repetition. As for the great man, he no sooner has expressed his bad desire (literally, the "mischief" or "lust of his soul"), than the venal judges are ready to wrest the decision of the case according to his wish.
so they wrap it up—The Hebrew is used of intertwining cords together. The "threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ec 4:12); here the "prince," the "judge," and the "great man" are the three in guilty complicity. "They wrap it up," namely, they conspire to carry out the great man's desire at the sacrifice of justice.
4. as a brier—or thorn; pricking with injury all who come in contact with them (2Sa 23:6, 7; Isa 55:13; Eze 2:6).
the day of thy watchmen—the day foretold by thy (true) prophets, as the time of "thy visitation" in wrath [Grotius]. Or, "the day of thy false prophets being punished"; they are specially threatened as being not only blind themselves, but leading others blindfold [Calvin].
now—at the time foretold, "at that time"; the prophet transporting himself into it.
perplexity—(Isa 22:5). They shall not know whither to turn.
5. Trust ye not in a friend—Faith is kept nowhere: all to a man are treacherous (Jer 9:2-6). When justice is perverted by the great, faith nowhere is safe. So, in gospel times of persecution, "a man's foes are they of his own household" (Mt 10:35, 36; Lu 12:53).
guide—a counsellor [Calvin] able to help and advise (compare Ps 118:8, 9; 146:3). The head of your family, to whom all the members of the family would naturally repair in emergencies. Similarly the Hebrew is translated in Jos 22:14 and "chief friends" in Pr 16:28 [Grotius].
her that lieth in thy bosom—thy wife (De 13:6).
6. son dishonoureth the father—The state of unnatural lawlessness in all relations of life is here described which is to characterize the last times, before Messiah comes to punish the ungodly and save Israel (compare Lu 21:16; 2Ti 3:1-3).
7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord—as if no one else were before mine eyes. We must not only "look unto the Lord," but also "wait for Him." Having no hope from man (Mic 7:5, 6), Micah speaks in the name of Israel, who herein, taught by chastisement (Mic 7:4) to feel her sin (Mic 7:9), casts herself on the Lord as her only hope," in patient waiting (La 3:26). She did so under the Babylonian captivity; she shall do so again hereafter when the spirit of grace shall be poured on her (Zec 12:10-13).
8. Rejoice not—at my fall.
when I fall, I shall arise—(Ps 37:24; Pr 24:16).
when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light—Israel reasons as her divine representative, Messiah, reasoned by faith in His hour of darkness and desertion (Isa 50:7, 8, 10). Israel addresses Babylon, her triumphant foe (or Edom), as a female; the type of her last and worst foes (Ps 137:7, 8). "Mine enemy," in Hebrew, is feminine.
9. bear—patiently.
the indignation of the Lord—His punishment inflicted on me (La 3:39). The true penitent "accepts the punishment of his iniquity" (Le 26:41, 43); they who murmur against God, do not yet know their guilt (Job 40:4, 5).
execute judgment for me—against my foe. God's people plead guilty before God; but, in respect to their human foes, they are innocent and undeserving of their foes' injuries.
bring me forth to the light—to the temporal and spiritual redemption.
I shall behold his righteousness—His gracious faithfulness to His promises (Ps 103:17).
10. shame shall cover her—in seeing how utterly mistaken she was in supposing that I was utterly ruined.
Where is … thy God—(Ps 42:3, 10). If He be "thy God," as thou sayest, let Him come now and deliver thee. So as to Israel's representative, Messiah (Mt 27:43).
mine eyes shall behold her—a just retribution in kind upon the foe who had said, "Let our eye look upon Zion." Zion shall behold her foe prostrate, not with the carnal joy of revenge, but with spiritual joy in God's vindicating His own righteousness (Isa 66:24; Re 16:5-7).
shall she be trodden down—herself, who had trodden down me.
11. thy walls … be built—under Cyrus, after the seventy years' captivity; and again, hereafter, when the Jews shall be restored (Am 9:11; Zec 12:6).
shall the decree be far removed—namely, thy tyrannical decree or rule of Babylon shall be put away from thee, "the statutes that were not good" (Eze 20:25) [Calvin]. Ps 102:13-16; Isa 9:4. The Hebrew is against Maurer's translation, "the boundary of the city shall be far extended," so as to contain the people flocking into it from all nations (Mic 7:12; Isa 49:20; 54:2).
12. In that day also—rather, an answer to the supposed question of Zion, When shall my walls be built? "The day (of thy walls being built) is the day when he (that is, many) shall come to thee from Assyria," &c. [Ludovicus De Dieu]. The Assyrians (including the Babylonians) who spoiled thee shall come.
and from the fortified cities—rather, to suit the parallelism, "from Assyria even to Egypt." (Matzor may be so translated). So Assyria and Egypt are contrasted in Isa 19:23 [Maurer]. Calvin agrees with English Version, "from all fortified cities."
from the fortress even to the river—"from Egypt even to the river" Euphrates (answering in parallelism to "Assyria") [Maurer]. Compare Isa 11:15, 16; 19:23-25; 27:13; Ho 11:11; Zec 10:10.
13. However glorious the prospect of restoration, the Jews are not to forget the visitation on their "land" which is to intervene for the "fruit of (evil caused by) their doings" (compare Pr 1:31; Isa 3:10, 11; Jer 21:14).
14. Feed thy people—Prayer of the prophet, in the name of his people to God, which, as God fulfils believing prayer, is prophetical of what God would do. When God is about to deliver His people, He stirs up their friends to pray for them.
Feed—including the idea of both pastoral rule and care over His people (Mic 5:4, Margin), regarded as a flock (Ps 80:1; 100:3). Our calamity must be fatal to the nation, unless Thou of Thy unmerited grace, remembering Thy covenant with "Thine heritage" (De 4:20; 7:6; 32:9), shalt restore us.
thy rod—the shepherd's rod, wherewith He directs the flock (Ps 23:4). No longer the rod of punishment (Mic 6:9).
which dwell solitarily in the wood, in … Carmel—Let Thy people who have been dwelling as it were in a solitude of woods (in the world, but not of it), scattered among various nations, dwell in Carmel, that is, where there are fruit-bearing lands and vineyards [Calvin]. Rather, "which are about to dwell (that is, that they may dwell) separate in the wood, in … Carmel" [Maurer], which are to be no longer mingled with the heathen, but are to dwell as a distinct people in their own land. Micah has here Balaam's prophecy in view (compare Mic 6:5, where also Balaam is referred to). "Lo, the people shall dwell alone" (Nu 23:9; compare De 33:28). To "feed in the wood in Carmel," is to feed in the rich pastures among its woods. To "sleep in the woods," is the image of most perfect security (Eze 34:25). So that the Jews' "security," as well as their distinct nationality, is here foretold. Also Jer 49:31.
Bashan—famed for its cattle (Ps 22:12; Am 4:1). Parallel to this passage is Jer 50:19. Bashan and Gilead, east of Jordan, were chosen by Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, as abounding in pastures suited for their many cattle (Nu 32:1-42; De 3:12-17).
15. thy … him—both referring to Israel. So in Mic 7:19 the person is changed from the first to the third, "us … our … their." Jehovah here answers Micah's prayer in Mic 7:14, assuring him, that as He delivered His people from Egypt by miraculous power, so He would again "show" it in their behalf (Jer 16:14, 15).
16. shall see—the "marvellous things" (Mic 7:15; Isa 26:11).
confounded at all their might—having so suddenly proved unavailing: that might wherewith they had thought that there is nothing which they could not effect against God's people.
lay … hand upon … mouth—the gesture of silence (Job 21:5; 40:4; Ps 107:42; Isa 52:15). They shall be struck dumb at Israel's marvellous deliverance, and no longer boast that God's people is destroyed.
ears … deaf—They shall stand astounded so as not to hear what shall be said [Grotius]. Once they had eagerly drunk in all rumors as so many messages of victories; but then they shall be afraid of hearing them, because they continually fear new disasters, when they see the God of Israel to be so powerful [Calvin]. They shall close their ears so as not to be compelled to hear of Israel's successes.
17. lick the dust—in abject prostration as suppliants (Ps 72:9; compare Isa 49:23; 65:25).
move out of their holes—As reptiles from their holes, they shall come forth from their hiding-places, or fortresses (Ps 18:45), to give themselves up to the conquerors. More literally, "they shall tremble from," that is, tremblingly come forth from their coverts.
like worms—reptiles or crawlers (De 32:24).
they shall be afraid of the Lord—or, they shall in fear turn with haste to the Lord. Thus the antithesis is brought out. They shall tremble forth from their holes: they shall in trepidation turn to the Lord for salvation (compare Note, see on Ho 3:5, and Jer 33:9).
fear because of thee—shall fear Thee, Jehovah (and so fear Israel as under Thy guardianship). There is a change here from speaking of God to speaking to God [Maurer]. Or rather, "shall fear thee, Israel" [Henderson].
18. Grateful at such unlooked-for grace being promised to Israel, Micah breaks forth into praises of Jehovah.
passeth by the transgression—not conniving at it, but forgiving it; leaving it unpunished, as a traveller passes by what he chooses not to look into (Pr 19:11). Contrast Am 7:8, and "mark iniquities," Ps 130:3.
the remnant—who shall be permitted to survive the previous judgment: the elect remnant of grace (Mic 4:7; 5:3, 7, 8).
retaineth not … anger—(Ps 103:9).
delighteth in mercy—God's forgiving is founded on His nature, which delights in loving-kindness, and is averse from wrath.
19. turn again—to us, from having been turned away from us.
subdue our iniquities—literally, "tread under foot," as being hostile and deadly to us. Without subjugation of our bad propensities, even pardon could not give us peace. When God takes away the guilt of sin that it may not condemn us, He takes away also the power of sin that it may not rule us.
cast … into … depths of the sea—never to rise again to view, buried out of sight in eternal oblivion: not merely at the shore side, where they may rise again.
our … their—change of person. Micah in the first case identifying himself and his sins with his people and their sins; in the second, speaking of them and their sins.
20. perform the truth—the faithful promise.
to Jacob … Abraham—Thou shalt make good to their posterity the promise made to the patriarchs. God's promises are called "mercy," because they flow slowly from grace; "truth," because they will be surely performed (Lu 1:72, 73; 1Th 5:24).
sworn unto our fathers—(Ps 105:9, 10). The promise to Abraham is in Ge 12:2; to Isaac, in Ge 26:24; to Jacob, in Ge 28:13. This unchangeable promise implied an engagement that the seed of the patriarchs should never perish, and should be restored to their inheritance as often as they turned wholly to God (De 30:1, 2).