Micah 7:3

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly,.... Or "well" (t), strenuously, diligently, to the utmost of their power, labouring at it with all their might and main; as wicked men generally are

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly: as we render the words, their plain sense will be, that all their diligence, that with both hands they can use, is to set forward evil and mischief. Possibly this clause might bear this reading, Both hands are towards evil; and then the following clause thus, To do good the prince asketh. The prince; the chief ruler, who commissioneth the judge, and should awe him from perverse judging, who should charge the judges as Jehoshaphat did, ,6; but, contrarily, here the prince set a price upon his own act in evil. The judge; the inferior magistrate, commissioned to be judge. Asketh for a reward: shameless injustice! to sell the innocent, and condemn their cause and persons, and to acquit the guilty, and pronounce them just! for a bribe to make God’ s authority which is in them to act so directly against itself, is abominably wicked, for God’ s authority to them is given that they might relieve the poor oppressed, and acquit innocency, but here innocency must buy its safety, or else is sold to danger. The great man; either the advocates in their courts of judicature, or the great man of interest at court, who can do what he will there. He uttereth; is bold to speak plainly what bribe he will have, he makes his own demand, whereas they did (whilst a little modest) treat by others, and a servant or under-officer must make the bargain. His mischievous desire; his unjust, oppressive design and purpose, knowing that his greatness and interest will bear him out in whatever violence he attempts against poor, weak, and unbefriended innocence; he dares for gain set any thing forward. So they, all three, prince, judge, and great man, wrap it up, or twist it together, consent each to other, and jointly promote violence and bloody cruelty.

Micah 7:3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge [asketh] for a reward; and the great [man], he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.Ver. 3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly] Heb. for good and all, or, for ado; that they may speak and do evil as they can, Jeremiah 3:5, and seek to outsin one another; like unhappy boys that strive who shall go farthest in the dirt. Nolunt solita peccare, saith Seneca: Et pudet non esse impudentes, saith Austin. Luther testifieth of the monks in Germany, that they were so desperately wicked, ut nihil cogitent quod non idem patrare ausint, that they could not devise that wickedness which they dared not do. The prince asketh] A beggarly practice for a prince, but so base they were grown, and so greedy of filthy lucre. "The prince asketh," and, by asking only, compelleth; for who dare deny him? If some Naboth do, he shall die for it. There is a memorable story of a poor man in Spain, to whom, when the lord’ s inquisitors sent for some of his pears, which they had cast their eye upon, he, for fear of offending, brought them his pears, tree and all by the roots. And the judge asketh for a reward] Heb. The judge for a reward, sc. will gratify that sordidum poscinummium, the prince (Plaut.); who, when he giveth him his commissions, hinteth to him haply, as Nero did to his public officers, Scis quid nobis opus est (Dio.), Thou knowest what I want, and must have; see then that thou help me to it. Such trading there was likewise between our Richard II and judge Belknap with his fellows. To this purpose the Chaldee paraphrast here. The prince, saith he, requireth supplies of the judge, and this bespeaketh him, Fac pro me, et retribuam tibi; Negotiate for me, and I will be thy paymaster; favour me, help me at my need, and I will requite thy courtesy, whensoever thou wilt. Thus muli mutuo scabunt, one hand scratches another; and between the oppressive prince and unconscionable judge "the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth," Habakkuk 1:4. And the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire] Heb. he speaketh out the corruption of his soul. "He" doth it. Emphaticum est pronomen Ipse, saith Calvin. This same "he" hath a special emphasis in it, q.d. This impudent man, being now past all grace (for Illum ego periisse dico, cui perit pudor), boasteth of his villany; and thinks to bear it out bravely, because it is facinus maiores abollae, the fact of a great one. But who is this "he," this great man in the text, that dares thus obtrude, and justify to the world his most malapert misdemeanour?

(3) That they may do evil with both hands earnestly.—Literally, well. Dr. Benisch, in his Old Testament newly translated under the supervision of the Rev. the Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of the British Empire (1852), avoids the oxymoron of doing “evil” “well” by translating the passage, “concerning the evil which their hands should amend,” which satisfactorily harmonises with the rest of the passage. So they wrap it up.—Literally, twist it, and pervert the course of justice.

Verse 3. That they may do evil with both hands] That is, earnestly, greedily, to the uttermost of their power. The Vulgate translates: Malum manuum suarum dicunt bonum; "The evil of their hands they call good." The prince asketh] A bribe, to forward claims in his court. The judge asketh for a reward] That he may decide the cause in favour of him who gives most money, whether the cause be good or evil. This was notoriously the case in our own country before the giving of Magna Charta; and hence that provision, Nulli vendemus justitiam aut rectum: "We will not sell justice to any man." And this was not the only country in which justice and judgment were put to sale. The great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire] Such consider themselves above law, and they make no secret of their unjust determinations. And so they wrap it up - they all conjoin in doing evil in their several offices, and oppressing the poor; so our translators have interpreted the original ויעבתוה vayeabtuha, which the versions translate variously. Newcome has, "And they do abominably."

3. That they may do evil …] This verse and the first half of the following verse are extremely obscure, and it is most improbable that the text as it stands is correct. In any case, the A.V. rendering of the first clause cannot be maintained; a better one is, ‘(Their) hands are (only) for evil, to do (it) skilfully.’ the prince asketh] ‘Asketh’ the judge to shut his eyes to some act of violence, or to put some righteous man out of the way. the judge asketh] Rather, ‘the judge doeth it,’ or ‘agreeth to his demand;’ but the ellipsis is harsh, and the probability is that there is some corruption of the text, or that the letters are wrongly grouped in the Massoretic text. so they wrap it up] Rather, ‘and they weave it together.’ It requires ‘weaving’ to carry an evil desire into effect, for, bad as the times are, it is needful to keep up the forms of justice. Thus, when Ahab wished to get rid of Naboth, it was necessary to persuade the people that his victim had ‘renounced God and the king’ (1 Kings 21:13).

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly - (Literally, upon evil both hands to do well,) that is, “both their hands are upon evil to do it well,” or “earnestly” , as our translation gives the

OF THE NATION’S , Micah 7:1-6.Scholars are not agreed on the person of the speaker in these verses; some think of the prophet, some of Zion, some of the “true Israel,” that is, Israel after the spirit.