Micah 1:14

Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath,.... Since Lachish was the cause of leading Judah into idolatry, and was a city so very wicked; therefore it should be reduced to such distress as

Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel. Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath - that its inhabitants may send thee help.

Therefore; forasmuch as thou hast imitated Israel in sin, and been at least an occasion to Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah to commit the same sins. Shalt thou, Lachish, give presents: though I do not remember the sacred story reporting this in matter of fact, we read not what presents were given, or by whom sent, or when; yet as it was foretold by the prophet, so no doubt it was fulfilled, and the inhabitants of Lachish courted the assistance of the Philistines against the Assyrian, and possibly against the Babylonian. Moresheth-gath; a known city or town of the Philistines, called here Moresheth-gath to distinguish it from a town of the same name in the tribe of Judah and in the valley of Zephathah, where Asa smote Zerah, the Ethiopian king, who invaded Asa with a million of men. Achzib: this was also a city of the Philistines not far from Mareshah, Ashkelon, and Gaza; it was a maritime town and strong. There was another city of that name toward Tyre also, but of this the prophet doth not speak in this place. A lie; a lying refuge, or a prop that should break under them that leaned upon it, as Egypt proved a broken reed to Judah when trusted to: in the Hebrew there is an elegant allusion, which the translation cannot express. To the kings of Israel; some say it is meant of the kings of Judah, but we find not that Hezekiah made any use of the houses of Achzib when Sennacherib invaded him. It is more probable the kings of the ten tribes are meant, and that Hoshea did rely on Gath. Achzib, &c., and on the friendship of the rest of the Philistines, to join with the Egyptians, or to give them a quiet passage through their country to help Israel against the Assyrian.

Micah 1:14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib [shall be] a lie to the kings of Israel.Ver. 14. Therefore shalt thou give presents, &c.] And so seek to make thee friends among the Philistines; but such carnal confederacies never prosper. The Greek Churches, A. D. 1438, afraid of the Turks, sent and subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome, that they might have the help of the Latin Churches; but shortly after they were destroyed, their empire subdued, and swallowed up by the Ottoman greatness, &c. How much better were it to send a lamb to the ruler of the earth! Isaiah 16:1, to bring presents unto him that ought to be feared! Psalms 76:11, even to God, who cutteth off the spirits of princes, and is terrible to the kings of the earth! Micah 1:12. Was he not so to Sennacherib, whom Lachish here feared, and fled from? to Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Xerxes, who, after he had wasted over two million men into Greece, and whipped the Hellespont (for battering his bridge of boats over it) with three hundred stripes, was defeated, routed, and forced to flee back in a poor fisher’ s boat, to save his own life? (Herod.) The houses of Achzib (that is, of a lie) shall be a lie to the kings of Israel] Or have been a lie to the kings of Israel; never true to those that trusted them: and wilt thou confederate with them, and confide in them?

(14) Give presents—i.e., thou shalt cease to give to Moresheth-gath the protection due from a husband to a wife: thou shalt give her a bill of divorce. The Hebrew word means either the presents sent with a daughter or the dismissal sent to a wife. Achzib.—A town on the sea-coast between Accho and Tyre. Its name means false, deceptive; it is used of a river drying up, and disappointing the traveller. In like manner Achzib shall fulfil the import of its name, and prove a lie, a broken reed, to the kings of Israel. (See also Jeremiah 15:18, where the prophet asks God, “Wilt Thou be altogether unto me as a liar [Heb., Achzab], as waters that fail?”)

Verse 14. Give presents to Moresheth-gath] Calmet says that Moresa or Morashti, and Achzib, were cities not far from Gath. It is possible that when Ahaz found himself pressed by Pekah, king of Israel, he might have sent to these places for succour, that by their assistance he might frustrate the hopes of the king of Israel; and this may be the meaning of "The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel." In these verses there are several instances of the paronomasia. See Micah 1:10, עפר aphar, dust, and עפרה aphrah, the name of the city. Micah 1:11. צאנן tsaanan, the city, and יצאה yatsah, to go out. Micah 1:13, לכיש lachish, the city, and רכש rechesh, the swift beast. Micah 1:14, אכזיב achzib, the city, and אכזב achzab, a lie. Such paronomasias were reputed ornaments by the prophets. They occur in Isaiah with great effect. See Isaiah 5:7.

14. Therefore] There is no logical sequence implied: ‘therefore’ often introduces a threatening passage—sin leading to punishment. The prophet abruptly turns to the people of Judah. shalt thou give presents, &c.] More strictly, farewell-presents. The meaning of the whole clause is that Judah will have to give up Moresheth-gath. True, it was to an enemy that this town was to be surrendered, and ‘farewell presents’ seems to have been a technical term for the marriage-portion of a bride (so 1 Kings 9:16). But a loose use of the phrase is quite intelligible; the literal meaning is simply ‘dismissal.’ Moresheth-gath] The birth-place of the prophet (see Introduction), who here makes an allusion to its meaning—‘possession of Gath.’ Achzib] Mentioned as in the Shephélah, Joshua 15:44. Its name suggests the thought of deception or disappointment; hence the following words. It is probably the same as Chezib, and, remarkably enough, the passage where Chezib is mentioned contains a similar reference to the ominous purport of the name. ‘He (Judah) was at Chezib,’ we read in Genesis 38:5, ‘when she (Tamar) bare him.’ It was an appropriate birthplace for Shelah, who afterwards disappointed the just expectations of Tamar in regard to Judah. a lie] Rather, a disappointing brook. The word for ‘brook’ is omitted as in Jeremiah 15:18, where the parallel clause explains the phrase to mean ‘waters that fail.’ the kings of Israel] ‘Israel,’ after the fall of the northern kingdom (predicted in Micah 1:6-7) is legitimately applied to Judah.

Therefore shalt thou give - (bridal) presents to Moresheth Gath Therefore!

Lament over the fall of Judah, 8-16.The sins of the south (Micah 1:5) demand the punishment of Judah.