Bible Commentaries
Micah 3

Verses 1-12

Chapter 3

Now the Lord speaks of the coming judgment that is going to come against those that have gone into captivity.

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and the flesh within the caldron. Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. 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 ( Micah 3:1-5 ):

So God is speaking out against the people now because of their evil deeds. The judgments of God that are going to come, though they don't want to hear of it, but it must come. Their prophets are saying unto them, "Peace," but by that they are causing the people to error.

Therefore night shall be unto you, and ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that you will not divine; and the sun will go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers [or the prophets] be ashamed, and the diviners will be confused: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God ( Micah 3:6-7 ).

God is not going to speak to them any longer. The voice of God will be silent and, of course, such became the case for four hundred years until John the Baptist came in the wilderness.

But truly [the Lord said] I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Hear this, I pray you, you heads of the house of Jacob, and the princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. For the heads of the people are taking bribes, and the priests are teaching for hire, and the prophets are divining for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? no evil can come upon us ( Micah 3:8-11 ).

So here was a corrupted leadership, both municipal and spiritual. The heads of the people, the judges of the people, the city councilmen were taking bribes and the county supervisors. The ministry had become a profession; professional ministers teaching for hire and the prophets divining for money and yet saying, "Hey, the Lord is with us. No evil is going to come."

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest ( Micah 3:12 ).

Jerusalem became a heap. At the present time Professor Shiloh is digging through the heap that was Jerusalem at the time that Micah prophesied. For though Jerusalem was spared from the Assyrians, the Babylonians later came and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, ravaged the city, broke down the temple, the walls of Jerusalem, and destroyed the houses. And even now, interesting excavations are being made in what they call the hill of Ophel, which is just above the pool of Siloam. And it is that hill that goes from the Gihon Springs and Siloam where Hezekiah had tunneled underneath, above that the hill that goes on up, which is actually what they call Ophel the city of David, but continues on up to the Temple Mount. So it would be a part of the Mount Moriah.

As they are uncovering now the rubble of these houses where the people lived at the time that Micah was prophesying, these very houses in which the people were living then are being uncovered today by the archeologists. And the interesting thing is that as they are uncovering these houses, they are finding just multitudes of little idols, false gods, that the people were worshiping. And they've come across a collection of little idols like you can't believe. They've made quite a display of them. Where these people, just as the prophets were warning them, had turned to idolatry and because of that idolatry they were going to be destroyed. Now the prophets were saying everything was all right. "Is not God with us?" But God was ready to bring His judgment. "