Micah 3:5

Thus saith the Lord, concerning the prophets that make my people err,.... The false prophets, as the Targum; and as the description given of them shows; who, instead of directing the people in the

Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

Thus saith the Lord: now Micah in the name of the Lord foretells what shall become of false prophets, he had frankly dealt with the seculars, now he deals as plainly with the ecclesiastics. Concerning the prophets that make my people err: though he give them the title they assume to themselves, yet he doth very fully describe them, and shows they are false prophets; they err, and make others to err with them. Israel is too apt to mistake his God, and his ways; these false prophets make them err more, both concerning their former ways of religion and civil policy, and concerning their present danger and duty, and concerning future judgments and punishments. That bite with their teeth, when they are furnished with gifts, and well fed. And cry, Peace; they promise great prosperity, they pretend to give assurance from God that all shall go well with Israel, and none of the dismal woes threatened by Micah and such-like prophets should ever be verified on them. And he that putteth not into their mouths; but those who will not feed these false prophets, that bid them not welcome to their tables, nor make good cheer for them, They even prepare war against him; they do threaten with war, and all calamities that attend it; or else, as enemies prepared, they work them all the mischief they can, and show what god they serve, even the god of this world, and their own bellies.

Micah 3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.Ver. 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets] False prophets, who pretended Divine authority, when as God never sent them, but expressly declareth here against them, and threateneth them. Those profane princes had their fleshflies, those court parasites, to soothe and smooth them up in their sins; to promise them peace, albeit they walked in the imagination of their own hearts, "to add drunkenness to thirst," and to live as they wanted, Deuteronomy 29:19. Mirifica est sympathia inter Magnates et parasites, saith Bucholcer. There is a strange sympathy between great men and clawbacks: nothing so troublesome to such as truth, nothing so toothsome as flattery: this is the fruit of sinful selflove; and the end thereof are the ways of death Proverbs 16:25. That make my people to err] That seduce them and carry them out of the right way into bypaths and blind thickets of error, where they are lost for ever, Deuteronomy 13:18. Seducers are said to draw men violently, αποσταν, Acts 20:30, or to thrust them onward. Jeroboam is said to have "driven Israel from following the Lord"; and the false apostles to drag disciples after them, Acts 20:29-30, compelling them, by their persuasions, to embrace those distorted doctrines that cause convulsions of conscience. That bite with their teeth] The dogs of Congo bite though they bark not, saith Mr Purchas (Pilgr. of Religion): there are a sort of cur dogs, saith another, that suck a man’ s blood only with licking (Christ’ s Politician, by The. Scot). Seducers are such: "Beware of false prophets for they come to you in sheep’ s clothing; but inwardly they are ravening wolves." And in this sense Jerome and Theodoret take this text: they devour those they make prize of, as the apostle’ s word signifieth, συλαγωγειν, Colossians 2:8. Others think their covetousness and gormandise is noted. “ O Monachi, vestri stomachi sunt amphora Bacchi: Vos estis, Deus est testis, certissima pestis. ” As hungry dogs they snap at a crust, and make clean work, such is their voracity and unsatisfiableness. “ Ingluvies, et tempestas, barathrumque macelli. ” And cry, Peace] Pαντακαλωςεσται. All shall be as well as heart can wish or need require. Let these Cerberuses but be morselled and you shall hear no worse of them. Like they are to the ravens of Arabia, that, full gorged, have a tuneably sweet record, but empty, screech horribly. Si veatri bene si lateri, as Epicurus saith in Horace; Let their bellies be filled and their backs fitted, and they will prophesy all good to you: as those false prophets, nourished by Jezebel, did to Ahab; as the Pharisees cried up to the centurion, who had built them a synagogue, Luke 7:5; as the Popish clergy canonize their benefactors, and extol them to the skies.

(5) That bite with their teeth.—The concluding statement that the false prophets declare war against those who do not put into their mouth indicates the meaning of the former expression, namely, “they say peace to those who feed and bribe them.” The Hebrew word, nashak, which is rendered “bite,” is strictly applied to serpents, to “an adder in the path,” and is therefore especially appropriate to the false and lying nature of the prophets.

Verse 5. That bite with their teeth] That eat to the full; that are well provided for, and as long as they are so, prophesy smooth things, and cry, Peace! i.e., Ye shall have nothing but peace and prosperity. Whereas the true prophet, "who putteth not into their mouths," who makes no provision for their evil propensities, "they prepare war against him." קדשו עליו מלחמה kiddeshu alaiu milchamah, "They sanctify a war against him." They call on all to help them to put down a man who is speaking evil of the Lord's people; and predicting the destruction of his temple, and Israel his inheritance.

5–8. The fate of the false prophets, whose unauthorized smooth-speaking Micah contrasts with his own divinely inspired courage 5. that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace] i.e. who, when they are given something to eat, cry, Peace. To ‘bite with the teeth’ is a quaint, rough expression in harmony with the foregoing image from cannibalism. Choice language would have been thrown away on such seared consciences. Comp. the description of the priests, 1 Samuel 2:13-16. they even prepare war against him] Lit., they consecrate war, a prophetic formula (Jeremiah 4:4, Joe 3:9, comp. Isaiah 13:3, ‘my consecrated ones’). The meaning is, that if at any time the rulers of the people are behindhand with the accustomed fee to these mercenary prophets, the tone of the latter at once begins to change. Instead of announcing peace, they declare that Jehovah is wroth with his people, and will send war. Strictly speaking, to ‘consecrate war’ is to open a campaign (with sacred rites), but here the antithesis with ‘that cry, Peace’ requires us to take it in a modified sense.

The prophets that make My people err - Flattering them in their sins and rebellions, promising that they shall go unpunished, that God is not so strict, will not put in force the judgments tie threatens.

Condemnation of the mercenary prophets, Micah 3:5-8.5. Micah considers the mercenary prophets largely responsible for the moral and spiritual decline of the nation.