Micah 3:11

The heads thereof judge for reward,.... That is, the heads or principal men of Zion and Jerusalem; the kings, or sanhedrim, according to Kimchi; but as this prophecy was delivered in the times of

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.

The heads thereof judge for reward; whereas the judges were God’ s deputies, to hear and determine causes, as the merit of the causes were found, without respect of persons, they should have been careful to give such judgment as God would give; for the judgment is the Lord’ s, and he sits in the midst of the judges. These corrupt judges attended little to the cause, but much to rewards, and with them the greatest bribe made the justest cause, and he was most guilty who was poor and could not, or honest and would not, give the expected reward. This was most directly against the law of God, , and expressly cursed, yet it was the common course and practice with them. The priests thereof teach for hire: these men should have impartially declared the law of God to all, told them what was clean or unclean, what was prohibited, what permitted, what commanded; what was safe to them, being pleasing to God, and what dangerous to them, being offensive to their God: but these for hire would direct them how to please themselves, and though they broke the law, not be guilty; to extort, yet not be guilty of usury; to kill an enemy, yet not be guilty of murder, nor break the sixth commandment; to be unnatural to parents, yet not sin. Who paid them well, should find them most excellently skilled in the casuistical divinity the Jesuits at this day are masters of. The prophets thereof divine for money; which being extraordinary persons raised of God, and sent by him to deliver his message impartially to all his people, to all ranks of men among them, without fear, flattery, prejudice, or any by respects; there were in this people at this day a sort of men called prophets, but were indeed mere fortune-tellers, as we call a vagabond sort of persons among us, and these made a trade of divining, and as if it were in their power to frame future things to the mind and humour of men, for a good round sum of money they would sell prosperity to them; for they never told great good to come to any but such as gave a great reward, and little money with them never purchased the news of a great advantage; and whoso had first the misery to be poor, that they could not buy, or else were wiser than to believe these impostors, these were sure to be told a sad story of troubles and afflictions. There were many disciples of Balaam, , they loved the wages of unrighteousness. Yet will they lean upon the Lord; whilst magistrates, priests, and prophets are thus abominably corrupt, yet they will presumptuously lean upon the Lord, and flatter themselves that he is present with them, that he owneth them as his peculiar people. And say; yea, they boast so. Is not the Lord among us, as our God, our Shield?

Micah 3:11 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.Ver. 11. The heads thereof judge for reward] Being so many locusts, et latrones cum privilegio, both robbers with immunity, as one saith. Well might St Paul say that covetousness is the root of all evil, 1 Timothy 6:10. It is here assigned as one cause, and carnal security as another, of that regiment without righteousness, here justly complained of. And it was the worse, because it had overrun all sorts of such as were in place of power, whether civil or ecclesiastical. The princes and judges took gifts, which they should not only not have taken, but have hated, Proverbs 15:27, they should have shaken their hands from holding of bribes, Isaiah 33:15, since there is a curse to such magistrates with an Amen to it, Deuteronomy 27:25 Psalms 25:5, exclusion out of heaven: Olim didici quid sint munera, said one once. Rain is good (said another), and ground is good, sed ex eorum coniunctione fit lutum, of the mixture of these two is dirt: so, giving is kind and taking is courteous; yet the mixing of them maketh the smooth paths of justice foul and uneven. Nec prece nec pretio, neither by request or reward, should be the magistrate’ s motto. And Justice justice (as Moses phraseth it, Deuteronomy 16:20 margin), that is, clear sheer justice without mud should run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty torrent, Amos 5:24. And the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money] They were merely mercenary; and as Apollo’ s oracles, corrupted by Philip’ s gold, were said φιλιππαζειν, to speak as he would have them, so was it here. Both priests and prophets were ignava ventris mancipia Micah 3:5, greedy dogs, slow bellies, they all looked to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter, Isaiah 56:11. Albertus Magnus complained of the covetousness of pastors in his time. Bernard for this cause calleth them impostors and byseers. Hugo Cardinalis said that the devil had two daughters, Avarice and Luxury; the former whereof he had married to the Jews, the latter to the Gentiles; but now, saith he, the priests have taken away both of them from their right husbands, and make use of them for their own. Si posui aurum in coniugium meum, so the Septuagint read that text, Job 31:24, signifying the covetous man’ s great love to money; whence St James calleth such adulterers and adulteresses, James 4:4. St Paul saith they mind only earthly things (sc. their purses and paunches), Philippians 3:19, and incessantly woe this Mundus immundus, this vile strumpet, the world; having eyes full of the adulteress, and that cannot cease to sin, 2 Peter 2:14.

(11) For reward.—Every function is carried out by judges, priests, and prophets through bribery, and yet they claim and count upon the protection of Jehovah. They rely for safety upon the presence of the sacred buildings; they cry, “The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these!” “Is not the Lord among us?” Isaiah contrasts in scathing terms the profession of holiness with the vicious life as seen in Jerusalem, and likens the city, with its rulers, to Sodom (Micah 1:10-15).

Verse 11. The heads thereof judge for reward] This does not apply to the regular law officers, who have their proper salaries for giving up their whole time and attention to the conscientious discharge of the duties of their office; but to those who take a reward, who take BRIBES, for the perversion of justice; who will decide in favour of those from whom they get the greatest reward. The prophets - divine for money] These are evidently the false prophets; for none, professing to be sent by God, used any kind of divination. Yet will they lean upon the Lord] They will prescribe fasts and public thanksgivings, while not one sin is repented of or forsaken, and not one public grievance is redressed. Is not the Lord among us?] Here is his temple, here are his ordinances, and here are his people. Will he leave these? Yes, he will abandon the whole, because all are polluted.

11. the priests thereof teach for hire] ‘The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law (rather, ‘law,’ lit. ‘teaching’) at his mouth,’ Malachi 2:7. The nature of the teaching appears from Deuteronomy 17:9-13; comp. Haggai 2:11-13, Jeremiah 2:8. It was explanatory of the Law, and based upon ancient tradition (comp. Deuteronomy 24:8, ‘as I commanded them’). See note on Micah 4:2. divine for money] This was the custom of the ‘seers’ in former times; even Samuel appears to have received fees (1 Samuel 9:7-8). But it had been given up by the later prophets, when they devoted themselves more entirely to moral and spiritual functions. lean upon the Lord] The priests and prophets, then, whom Micah so severely chastises, were like himself worshippers of Jehovah. But their worship was formal, and their faith mechanical. They said, Is not Jehovah among us? i.e. is not Jehovah’s favour assured by his presence within the temple (comp. Jeremiah 7:4), forgetting that, as Milton puts it, in the spirit of Isa 1:11-13, he doth ‘prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure.’ For the phrase, comp. Exodus 17:7, ‘they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?’

The heads thereof judge for reward - Every class was corrupted. One sin, the root of all evil 1 Timothy 6:10, covetousness, entered into all they did. It, not God, was their one end, and so their God.

Renewed condemnation of the nation’s religious and political leaders — Doom of Jerusalem, Micah 3:9-12.After the direct denunciation of the prophets, Micah sums up the sins and crimes which may be