Micah 1:2

Hear, all ye people,.... Or, "the people, all of them" (m); not all the nations of the world, but the nations of Israel, so called from their several tribes; though some (n) think the rest of the

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.

Hear: the prophet here by proclamation requires earnest attention to his word. So Moses, 30:19 32:1; so the psalmist, ,4; and so Isaiah, 34:1. All ye people; either all the people of both kingdoms, all Israel and Judah, or else universally all people of all kingdoms whatever, both of that present age and all of future ages. Hearken, O earth: it may be taken for the meaner sort of people, the commonalty; but I rather incline to interpret it as both a tacit reproof of the deafness of this sinful and hardened people, with whom Micah now contends, and an appeal to the senseless creatures, or a summons to bring them in evidences for God against those kingdoms. All that therein is; animate or inanimate creatures, all that are on the earth. If we interpret earth for the meaner sort of people, then this fulness of the earth will be the whole multitude of the people. It is a lofty strain, such as those of Moses, , David, , ,2, and . Let the Lord God; the mighty, holy, gracious, and faithful God, Lord of heaven and earth; who knows all your ways, who is a just judge, and a severe avenger of obdurate sinners. Be witness against you, by his word, the voice of his law, by his prophets whom he hath sent, by the judgments he doth execute according to his menaces; as by his sovereignty he is supreme judge, so by his omniscience and truth he is an authentic witness against you, O house of Jacob. From his holy temple; either from his temple at Jerusalem, or else from heaven, as .

Micah 1:2 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.Ver. 2. Hear, all ye people] He beginneth as Isaiah, in a lofty and stately style, pouring himself out in a golden flood of words (as Cicero speaketh of Aristotle’ s Politics), and calling for utmost attention and affection; as knowing that he had to do with men more deaf than sea monsters, and more dull than the very earth they trod on; which is therefore here commanded to hearken, since men (that habitable part of God’ s earth, Proverbs 8:31) will not hear and give ear; wherein they are worse than the insensible creatures, Psalms 119:91. And let the Lord God be witness against you] Here he turneth his speech to the refractory Jews; speaking to God as a righteous judge and swift witness, Iudex, Iudex, vindex, against them if they hearkened not to his message: nisi pareant, ideoque pereant. The Lord from his holy temple] That is, let him testify from heaven, Psalms 11:4, that he is displeased with you, and that I have carefully sought your soul’ s health. Or, from his temple at Jerusalem, wherein ye glory, and where ye think ye have him as fast bound to you as the Tyrians had their idol Apollo, whom they chained and nailed to a post, that he might not forsake them, when Alexauder besieged their town, and took it (Macrob. lib. 8, cap. 9). The heathens had a trick, when they besieged a city, to call the tutelar gods out of it by a certain charm, as believing that it could not otherwise be taken (Virg. Aen. 2). In a like sense whereunto some have interpreted the following verses here.

(2) Hear, all ye people.—The three-fold repetition of the appeal, “Hear ye,” seems to mark three divisions in the book: 1. “Hear, all ye people” (Micah 1:2); 2. “Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob” (Micah 3:1); 3. Hear ye now what the Lord saith” (Micah 6:1). From his holy temple—i.e., from heaven; for “the Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalms 11:4). Micaiah, the son of Imlah, ended his appeal to Ahab and Jehoshaphat with the words with which Micah opens his prophecy, “Hearken, O people, every one of you” (1 Kings 22:28).

Verse 2. Hear, all ye people] The very commencement of this prophecy supposes preceding exhortations and predictions. Hearken, O earth] ארץ arets, here, should be translated land, the country of the Hebrews being only intended. And let the Lord God be Witness] Let him who has sent me with this message be witness that I have delivered it faithfully; and be a witness against you, if you take not the warning. The Lord from his holy temple.] The place where he still remains as your King, and your Judge; and where you profess to pay your devotions. The temple was yet standing, for Jerusalem was not taken for many years after this; and these prophecies were delivered before the captivity of the ten tribes, as Micah appears to have been sent both to Israel and to Judah. See Micah 1:5-9; Micah 1:12-13.

2–7. The Threat of Punishment 2. all ye people] Rather peoples. God’s judgment upon the world is now in progress (comp. Isaiah 3:13-14; Isaiah 34:1-5), and one of the principal acts in the great drama is the judgment impending over Israel. Hence all nations are summoned, not merely as legal witnesses (as when ‘heaven and earth’ are called upon in a figure in Deuteronomy 4:26; Deuteronomy 30:19; Deuteronomy 31:28, Isaiah 1:2), but that they may learn wisdom in time from Israel’s fate. Hence the next half of the verse continues, ‘… against you.’ The opening words of this verse are uttered by Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:28, which can hardly be an accidental coincidence, as Micah is a shortened form of Micaiah. Probably the words in 1 Kings were interpolated by some ill-advised scribe, who identified Micaiah with our prophet Micah. the Lord God] Rather, the Lord Jehovah. This is the reading of the Hebrew text; A. V. follows the vowel-points, which in this case merely express the exaggerated reverence of the later Jews for the sacred name. his holy temple] It is ‘the temple of heaven’ which is meant (Revelation 16:17). Comp. Habakkuk 2:20, Zechariah 2:13, Isaiah 63:15, Psalms 11:4.

Hear, all ye people - Literally, “hear, ye peoples, all of them.” Some 140, or 150 years had flowed by, since Micaiah, son of Imlah, had closed his prophecy in these words. And now they burst out anew.

The judgment upon Samaria, Micah 1:2-7.Micah 1:2-4 picture the coming of Jehovah in judgment. All ye people;… O earth,… all that therein is — A sublime apostrophe to the whole earth.