First strophe. - Micah 3:1. "And I said, Hear ye, O heads of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know the right? Micah 3:2. Ye who hate good, and love evil; who draw off their skin from them, and their flesh from their bones. Micah 3:3. And who have eaten the flesh of my people, and stripped off their skin from them; and broken their bones, and cut them in pieces, as if in the pot, and like flesh in the midst of the caldron. Micah 3:4. Then will they cry to Jehovah, and He will not hearken; and let Him hide His face from them at the same time, as they have made their actions evil." By the expression "And I said" (vâ'ōmar), the following address is indicated as a continuation of the preceding one. The reproofs of this chapter are also a still further expansion of the woe pronounced in Micah 2:1-2 upon the godless chiefs of the nation. The heads of Jacob are addressed, that is to say, the princes of the tribes and families of Israel, and the qetsı̄nı̄m, lit., deciders (answering to the Arabic qâḍy, a judge) of the house of Israel, i.e., the heads of families and households, upon whom the administration of justice devolved (cf. Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 22:3). הלוא לכן, is it not your duty and your office to know justice? Da‛ath is practical knowledge, which manifests itself in practice; mishpât, the public administration of justice. Instead of this, they do the opposite. The description of this conduct is appended by participles, in the form of apposition to the heads and princes addressed in Micah 3:1. Hating good and loving evil refer to the disposition, and indicate the radical corruption of these men. רעה, generally misfortune, here evil; hence the Masoretes have altered it into רע; but the very fact that it deviates from the ordinary rule shows that it is the original word. Instead of administering justice to the people, they take off their skin, and tear the flesh from the bones. The suffixes attached to עורם and שׁארם point back to בּית־ישׂראל in Micah 3:1. The words answer to the German expression, "to pull the skin over the ears." In Micah 3:3 the expression is still stronger; but the address is continued in the form of a simple description, and instead of the participles, אשׁר is used with the finite verb. They not only flay the people, i.e., rob them of all their means of subsistence, but even devour them - treat them like cattle, which men first of all flay, then break their bones, but the flesh into pieces, and boil it in the pot. In this figure, which is carried out into the most minute details, we must not give any special meaning to the particular features, such as that "the skin, and boiling portions, which are cut up and put into the pot, are figures signifying the pledged clothing and coveted fields (Micah 2:2, Micah 2:8)." The prophet paints in very glaring colours, to make an impression upon the ungodly. Therefore, in the time of judgment, God will not hear their crying to Him for help, but will hide His face from them, i.e., withdraw His mercy from them. אז and בּעה ההיא point back to the evil time announced in Micah 2:3. For Micah 3:4, compare Proverbs 1:28. Veyastēr in Micah 3:4 is an optative. The prophet continues the announcement of the punishment in the form of a desire. כּאשׁר, as equals according to the way in which, as in 1 Samuel 28:18; Numbers 27:14, etc., i.e., answering to their evil doings.

Habakkuk 2:10 Parallel Commentaries

consulted.

2 Kings 9:26 Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, said the LORD; and I will requite you in this plat...

2 Kings 10:7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons...

Isaiah 14:20-22 You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, and slain your people...

Jeremiah 22:30 Thus said the LORD, Write you this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper...

Jeremiah 36:31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem...

Nahum 1:14 And the LORD has given a commandment concerning you, that no more of your name be sown...

Matthew 27:25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

sinned.

Numbers 16:38 The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar...

1 Kings 2:23 Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also...

Proverbs 1:18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privately for their own lives.

Proverbs 8:36 But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

Isaiah 33:11 You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.