Micah 7

The prophet, speaking in the person of the church, laments the decay of piety, and growth of wickedness: posscssing’her soul in patience by faith, she foresees her future restoration in the latter times; a subject with which most of the minor prophets conclude their prophecies. Vcr. 1. rrOE is me!for lam as ivhen they have gathered the summer-fruits, &c.] Good men arc become like a gleaning after the harvest or vintage, scarce two or three to be found after the most diligent search. (Compare Isa. xvii. G. xxiv. 13.) My soul desireth the first ripe fruit.] It would be the same refreshment to me to meet with a truly pious man, as it is to a thirsty traveller to find the early fruits in the summer season. (Compare Isa. xxviii. 4. Hos. ix. 10.) Vcr. 2. Hie good man is perished out of the earth, &c.] The same complaints we find in other holy writers, lamenting the scarcity of good men, and the increase of the wicked. (Sec Psal. xii. 1. xiv. 2, &c. Isa. lvii. 1.) TJiey hunt every man his brother with a net.] They make a prey of their neighbours, and even of their friends and nearest relations. (See Habak. i. 14, 15.)

Micah 7:3

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly. The words may, be translated, That they may prepare their hands, for committing evil: the verb herib sometimes signifies \ofit or prepare. (Sec Exod. xxx. 7. Hos. x. I.) TJie prince asketh, &‘c] See iii. 11. So they wrap it tip.] The prince, the judge, and the great man, agreeing in their ill designs, make a threefold cord of iniquity: or they twist one sin upon another, the latter to maintain or cover the former. The Chaldce renders it, So they deprave or pervert it; i. e. the soul, or mind; which word is found in the Hebrew of the foregoing sentence. Vcr. 4. Tliebest ofihemis as a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.] Those that have the fairest character among them are set upon mischief. Sinners are elsewhere compared to briers and thorns, both upon the’account of their unfruitfulness, and because of their hurtful qualities. (See the notes upon Isa. ix. 18. Iv. 13. and compare 2 Sam. xxiii. 6, 7. Heb. vi. 8.) Tlie day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation cometh, &c.] The time of vengeance is coming, which hath been foretold by the prophets of former times, as well as the present; called here watchmen, as they arc by Ezekicl, iii. 7. and by Hosca, ix. 8. then God mil visit for all the sins thou hast committed against him. Watchmen may signify magistrates, a£ well as prophets: (see the note upon Isa. Ivi. 10.) and then the words import the time when God will call both princes and prophets to account for their unfaithfulness in the discharge of their several offices. (Sec iii. 11.) Vcr. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord, &c] The church here expresses her confidence in God alone, since no trust can be placed in man.

Micah 7:8

*Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, &c. Let not the enemies of God and his truth insult over me, as if he had utterly forsaken me. (See ver. 10. Psal. Ixxix. 10.) After he hath chastened me for my sins, which I will patiently bear, out of a just sense of my demerits, he will deliver me out of my low and desolate condition, and will cause the light of his countenance to shine upon me, and plead the cause of his oppressed truth. (Compare Psal. xxvii. 1.) This was in some degree fulfilled in their deliverance from the captivity. (Sec vcr. 11. and compare iv. 10.)

Micah 7:10

Mine eyes shall behold her: for now shall she b& trodden down as the mire of the streets. As the heathen beheld the desolations of God’s church and temple with delight; (see iv. 11.) so it shall come to my turn to see Gods judgments executed upon tho Babylonish empire, and that brought down to as low a condition as ever they had reduced God’s people. (See Isa. li. 2G. and compare with the latter part of the sentence, 2 Sam. xxii. 43. Zech* x. 5.)

Micah 7:11

In the day that thy walls shall be built, in tluzt day shall the decree be far removed. When God shall visit his people, and repair their decayed estate, (comparo Amos ix. 11.) then the tyrannical edicts of their persecutors shall be utterly abolished. This may partly relate to the recalling those edicts which put a stop to the rebuilding tho city and temple of Jerusalem. (See Ezra iv. 23, 24. vi. 14. Nchcm. ii. 8. 17.) Vcr. 12. In that day.] The phrase signifies in the prophets some remarkable time prefixed by God for restoring the Jews’ affairs, or some other signal events of Providence. (See the note upon Isa. iv. 2. and the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield’s Defence of Christianity, p. 168.) He sJtall come unto thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, &c] By the single person, lie, is meant the people, or the dispersion of Israel:,so the Chaldce paraphrast understands it. (See ver. 15.) I observed in my notes upon Isa. xix. 6. that this text might more perspicuously be translated thus, He shall come unto thee from Assyria even to the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the river [Euphrates]: the word maU sor, fortress, likewise signifying Egypt; as Bochart observes, Phalcg. lib. iv. cap. 24. The words imply, that the “Jews shall return from their several dispersions whither they were scattered: this the prophets elsewhere express by their Tctum from Assyria and Egypt. (Sec Isa. xi. 15, 16. xix. 23—25. xxvii. 13. Hos. xi. 11. Zech. v. 10, 11.) Jeremiah compares the captivity of the ten tribes, who were carried away by Shalmanescr into Assyria, to the bondage of their forefathers in Egypt, and promises them a like deliverance, Jer. xxi. 14. xxiii. 7, 8. This may be the reason of joining Egypt and Assyria together in the forcmentioncd texts: though it be also true, that about the time of Shalmancser’s invasion, many of the Jews fled for refuge into Egypt; as appears from Hos. vii. 16. viii. 13. ix. 3. 6. Vcr. 13. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, &c] The marginal reading ■is to be preferred, After that the land hath been desolate, &c. The words import, that the general restoration of the Jews shall not be brought to pass till after their land hath iain desolate for some ages, as a testimony of God’s displeasure against its ancient inhabitants for their sins, especially that heinous one of rejecting the Mcssias. * For the fruit of their doings.] The miseries, which arc the effects of men’s sins, are called the fruit of their ways, or doings. (See Prov. i. 31. Jer. xxi. 14.)

Micah 7:14

Feed thy people ivith thy rod, even the flock of thine heritage. The words contain the prophet’s earnest wish or prayer to God that.he would send the Messiah to perform the office of the good Shepherd, in feeding or protecting his flock, the remnant of the true Israelites, in the age of renovation; as the Chaldee paraphrase explains it; i. e. in the times of the Messiah, when all things shall become new. The prophets describe the Messias under the character of a shepherd. (See above, v. 4. Isa. xl. 11. xlix. 10. Ezek. xxxiv. 23.) Wliich dwelt solitarily.’] The expression may relate to * the state of the Jews in their dispersions, where they are preserved separate from, and unmixed with, the several nations whither they are scattered. But I rather believe the expression is borrowed from Numb, xxiii. 9. and Deut. xxxiii. 2S. where Israel is described as dwelling alone; so our translators render the word badad in both those texts; k e. in a large and, plentiful country, secure under the Divine protection, without standing in need of foreign alliances. In this sense the words relate to their future happiness and security. (Compare Jer. xxiii. G.) In the wood, in the midst of CarmeL] The same place is called the forest of Carmel, Isa. xxxvii. 24. and spoken of there as a place remarkable for its. fruitfulness: compare Isa. x. 18. xxxv. 2. where our translation reads/ The glory of his forest and his fruitful field, or his Carmel, as it is in the original. Bashan, which follows here, and Carmel, are joined together as the most fruitful parts of Judea, Isa. xxxiii. 9. Nahum i. 4. Let them feed in Bashan and. Gilead, as in. the days of old.] These countries were noted for their rich and fat pastures. (See Numb, xxxii. 1. 33. Deut. xxxii. 14.) The expressions denote, that the Jews shall enjoy full and free possession of their land after their return to it,, with the same security and happiness with which they possessed it, in their most flourishing state, under the reigns,of David and Solomon. (See 1 Kings iv. 25. compare Zech. x. 10.) We are likewise to suppose these temporal blessings to be emblems and figures of the spiritual benefits conveyed by the gospel. (Compare Isa. lxv. 10.« Jer. 1. 19. Zeph. iii. 13. and see the notes there.)

Micah 7:15

According to the days of thy coming otit of Egypt will I shew him marvellous things. The words are an answer to the prophet’s prayer in the foregoing verse; wherein God tells him, that the wonders he will perform in bringing back his people into their own country, shall be as conspicuous as those which he shewed in their deliverance out of Egypt, and giving them the first possession of it. The sense is equivalent to that of Psal. Ixviii. 22. The Lord hath said, I will bring my people again as I did from Bashan; I will bring my people again from the deptlts of the sea. Ver. 1G. Tlie nations sliall see, and be confounded at all their might.] The heathen shall feel the same confusion as men do under a great disappointment, when they shall see that power and force defeated, which they had gathered together to oppose God’s people, and hinder them from enjoying the quiet possession of their land. (See Ezek. xxxviii. 8, &e.) Others understand their might of the might and power of God’s people, whom no force will be able to withstand. (See v. 8.) Tliey shall lay their hands upon their moutlis, their ears shall be deaf] The ovident tokens of a Divine presence with his people shall stop the mouths of their adversaries, so that they shall be struck dumb with admiration and astonishment. (See Job xxi. 5. xxix. 9. Isa. liL 15.) They shall hardly believe their own ears, when they hear those wonderful works which God hath wrought for them.’

Micah 7:17

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. The enemies of God’s people shall be very humble and submissive, and ready to fall down at their feet. (Compare Psal. Ixxii. 9. Rev. iii. 9. Isa. xlix. 23. Ix. 14. and see the notes there.) To the same sense we may understand those words of Isa. lxv. 25. Dust shall be the serpent’s meat: where the prophet applies the curse threatened to the serpent, Gen. iii. 14. to the times of the millennium; as if then that curse should be completely fulfilled, when the righteous should have an entire victory over -Satan and all his offspring, and tread them under their feet, so as never to rise up again to annoy them. (Compare Rom. xvi. 20.) They shall move out of their holes like tvorms of the earth.] They shall be afraid to stir out of their lurking holes; and if they creep out like worms, they shall presently hide their heads again. (See Psal. xviii. 45.) Tliey shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and fear because of thee.] When they see Almighty God appear so. conspicuously in thy favour. The text is parallel to that of Jer. xxxiii. 9. They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness, and for all the prosperity that 1 procure unto it.

Micah 7:18

IF7*o is a God like thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?. The remnant of God’s heritage, are those Jews, which are reserved to be partakers of the benefits which shall be made good to that nation, upon their conversion and restoration here spoken of. (Compare iv. 7. v. 7, 8.) God shall then make.manifest his mercy towards them, in pardoning all their former stubbornness and disobedience, and receiving them into his former favour, upon their repentance: (see Zech. iii. 10. xii. 10. compare Jer. 1. 20.) thereby fulfilling that gracious declaration he made to Moses, Exod. xxxiv. G, 7. * He retains not his anger, for ever, because he delights in mercy.] To the same purpose he is said to blot out men’s iniquities, and not remember their sins, to their condemnation, Isa. xliii. 25. because he delights in mercy, as it follows here; so acts of judgment are called his strange work, Isa. xxviii. 21. such as he would not put in execution, if they were not necessary for the great ends of government.

Micah 7:19

He will turn again, he ivill have compassion upon tis. Ox, He will again have compassion upon us; for the verb shub, to turn, is often used adverbially. (See the note upon Isa. vi. 13.) He will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.] Thou wilt utterly abolish them, that they shall not have dominion over us; as thou didst destroy Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, (Exod. xiv. 13.) This victory will be obtained by the merits of Christ, and the grace of the gospel. (See Colos. ii. 14. Rom. vi. 14.)

Micah 7:20

Thou wilt perform the truth to, Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers, &c. The promises given to Abraham were made to him, and to his seed after hi?n, Gen. xvii. 8. So the Scripture speaks of the blessings bestowed upon the children, as if 2 C 2 Microsoft® [chap. they were actually made good to their progenitors. * (Seo Gen. xlvi. 4. Exod. vi. 4.) Thus God is said to perform his truth unto Jacob, and his mercy unto Abraham; or to deal mercifully with oar fathers, as the sense runs in the original, Luke i. 72. by fulfilling the promises to thoir posterity, the whole family being reputed one aggregate body. And these promises will receive their final accomplishment in the conversion and restoration of the Jewish nation m the latter times. That people are said to be beloved for their fathers* sakes, Rom. xi. 28. and therefore we have reason to expect, that the mercies promised to their fathers should, in God’s due time, be made good to them: for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, Rom. xi. 29.