Bible Commentaries
Micah 7

Verses 1-6

MICAH - CHAPTER 7

Verse 1-6:

Jehovah’s Continued Controversy With His People, Israel

Verse 1 describes Israel’s mourning over her desolation as she confesses her condition to be like a vintage of the vineyard, after the gleanings are all gone. While she hungered and longed for a taste of the first-ripe (sweetest) flavor of the cluster, none was available; Such a search was in vain, for it pictured the fact that good men could no longer be found among even her leaders in

Israel any more, Isaiah 28:4; See also Psalms 28:4; Jeremiah 2:3; Hosea 9:10.

Verse 2 asserts that the "good man", (ideal man), one who followed, none remained upright in deportment in all the land; It was further charged that all couched, as a wild leopard, awaiting his blood-prey. Man sought, connived, to entrap his own brother, as a hunter or fisherman nets his prey; So covetous and greedy for wealth or gain were they, to their own destruction; Though the law directed a man to love his brother. Habakkuk 1:15; Leviticus 15:18.

Verse 3 charges that the rulers tried to get gain by greed and graft with both hands, zealously, by premeditated design. Both the ruling nobles and the judges yearned for rewards, "shake down" money, from all whose civil or criminal case came into their hands; They extended both hands for bribes, not to mete out mercy or just judgment. The "great man," "prince," and "judge" made a three fold wicked cord, to buy off justice at the bar, to "wrap up the case," Ecclesiastes 4:12.

Verse 4 charges the princes or nobles and judges are like briars and thorns in the hedges, only to cause pain and sharp injury. God is to visit them, as His judgment breaks forth like a volcano or a prairie fire on their watchmen, at which time they shall be perplexed victims, with nowhere to escape, for there is "no hiding place down here," Isaiah 22; Isaiah 5; 2 Samuel 23:6-7; Isaiah 55:13; Ezekiel 2:6.

Verse 5 warns against putting absolute trust in a friend (Psalms 2:2) who may become a traitor, as Judas did; And further cautions against placing absolute confidence in a guide, for Judas too was guide to them that took Jesus; And a solemn note of warning is given to avoid unwise talk, or confidential talk to her that is in your bosom, even your wife, as Samson did, Deuteronomy 13:6; Judges 16:13-30. Even so treachery was on every hand in Israel, in that day, Jeremiah 9:2-6. When justice is perverted by the greatest, faith in no man is safe, Matthew 10:35-36; Luke 12:53; Psalms 118:8-9; Psalms 146:3.

Verse 6 describes treachery among the entire members of an household in Israel, all because of their rebellion against their God, that led them into a pattern of heathen conduct, in matters of morals, ethics, and idolatrous religious worship, the three major causes of their chastening from the Lord, as also described Luke 21:16; 2 Timothy 3:1-13. They had become "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." See also Deuteronomy 22:15; Jeremiah 14; Jeremiah 21; Psalms 27:12; Treachery of the unfaithful breaches every family unit, to bring broken family ties, Matthew 24:10-12.

Verses 7-20

Verses 7-20:

The Cry Of The Remnant In The Last Days

Verse 7 sounds out the voice of Micah in behalf of- his people, as he identifies himself with Israel. He asserts that he would wait on and trust in the Lord, his personal God, his deliverer who would give heed to him. It was a resolve of prophetic faith and commitment to Him only, who can save men from the calamity and doom of their sins, Acts 4:12. Israel was taught by him to cast herself on the Lord, as her only hope, Lamentations 3:16; Zechariah 12:10-13; Psalms 145:18.

Verse 8 addresses Israel’s enemies, warning them not to rejoice over her fall, assuring them she shall rise again. She is assured that even when she sits in darkness, in a foreign land, God shall be (exists as) her light, or future hope, long promised, and sure to come, Psalms 9:6; Isaiah 1:7-8; Isaiah 1:10; Psalms 137:7-8; Psalms 37:24; Proverbs 24:16.

Verse 9 recounts Micah’s confession and testimony in behalf of his people Israel. He is to bear (endure) the judgment indignation of the Lord, because he had sinned against Him, and would keep on bearing until the Lord heard and plead his cause. God will then execute judgment against Israel’s oppressors, bring Israel forth to His ways, Psalms 103:17.

Verse 10 discloses that then her Gentile enemies will discover their mistake, fall down in shame, in the dust, before them and Him of whom they had asked in derision, "where is the Lord thy God?", Psalms 42:3; Psalms 79:10; Psalms 115:2. They shall also be trodden down as the dust or mire of the streets, Isaiah 10:6. Micah expected one day to behold this oppression of their oppressing enemies, when his God intervened, Isaiah 66:24; Revelation 16:5-7.

Verse 11 places this time of Divine retribution upon Israel’s enemies to be at the time the walls shall be built, under Cyrus, after the 70 years of Israel’s Babylonian captivity, and ultimately realized, when Israel shall be restored in her homeland, Amos 9:11; Zechariah 12:6; The wall or boundaries of the city of Jerusalem shall be far extended to receive those who flock to her from all nations, Isaiah 49:20; Isaiah 54:2.

Verse 12 discloses that the enemies (or foreign Gentile enemies) shall come from as far away as Egypt to the south, to the Euphrates river to the east, to the length of the Mediterranean Sea to the west, from all their former land-grant territory, as promised by the Lord, through Abraham, which had often been overrun by the Assyrians and Egyptians. It shall also extend from the northern mountains of Lebanon to the Sinai in the south, Isaiah 11:15-16; Isaiah 19:23-25; Isaiah 27:13; Hosea 11:11; Zechariah 10:10.

Verse 13 warns, however, that the land shall be desolate before that hour of restoration, because of their own sins in Israel; The desolation shall fall as a judgment for the "fruit of their own sins," Proverbs 1:31; Isaiah 3:10-11; Jeremiah 21:14.

Verse 14 recounts Micah’s cry, on the behalf of the nation of Israel, for God to free His people with the rod, as a caretaker or shepherd cares for his flock, from their solitary folds in the wooded mountains of Carmel to the lower lands of Bashan and Gilead, Psalms 80:1; Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 32:9. The rod was used to strike and guide the flock aright, Psalms 23:4; The mountains of Carmel had some of the land’s richest pastures, and to sleep in their woods suggests near perfect rest, the desire of Israel, Bashan and Gilead were lush pastureland for their cattle, Numbers 32:1; Psalms 22:12; Jeremiah 1:19; Deuteronomy 3:12-17; Deuteronomy 32:14.

Verse 15 prophesies of a period of forty years, in which the marvelous or miraculous manifestation of Divine grace and mercy shall be shown through the Messiah, to confound and silence the enemy. This perhaps has at least a two-fold prophetic allusion, first, to the miracle ministry of Jesus, from Cana of Galilee Gentiles, John 2:11, about 30 A.D., lasting to the giving of the last spiritual gifts, except faith, hope, and charity, about A.D. 70, about which time the special manifestation of spiritual gifts ceased, 1 Corinthians 13:13. Our Lord will surely manifest no less powers then, than He did through Moses and Aaron as He led Israel, confirming His power by special miraculous means, during the liberation of forty years, out of Egypt, through the desert, into the Holy Land. See also Psalms 78:12; Psalms 107:42; Isaiah 52:5; Jeremiah 16:14-15.

Verse 16 describes the reaction of dumbfounded heathen and heathen nations as they see visible evidences of the might of the Lord, Isaiah 26:11. They cover their mouths, are dumb before Him, can find no answer or power to overcome His claims or deeds. They become as the deaf in His presence, ashamed before Him whom thy have fought, Job 21:5; Job 40:4; Psalms 107:42; Isaiah 52:15.

Verse 17 declares that their enemies will lick the dust, "bite the dust," like serpents, so abject shall be their fall, Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 65:25; Psalms 72:9; These former enemies of Israel, and of God, shall crawl out of their holes or hiding places like worms, creepers of the earth, in trembling and fear of Almighty God, Deuteronomy 32:14; Psalms 18:46; Jeremiah 33:9.

Verse 18 recounts Micah’s praising God, as he prepared to close the book of prophecy. He extols God for His righteousness and goodness, for pardoning iniquity of confessed sins, and passing by or showing mercy toward His transgressing people, the remnant of His heritage from Egypt’s bondage, to the coming glory era of His return and reign; He witnesses that God is a God of mercy, who goes beyond judgment, to show love, Zephaniah 2:1-3; Zephaniah 2:7-9; Romans 11:5; Proverbs 19:11; Psalms 130:3.

Verse 19 witnesses the certainty of the Messiah’s turning again to show mercy and do good to His chosen people, both Israel and the church, casting their past iniquities into the depth of the sea, as He did the Egyptians, showing compassion to His own. His pardon and restoration, of Israel and the church, are to be complete and free, as they are taken unto Him, Hosea 14:4; Luke 1:33; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:10-11; Revelation 19:5-9.

Verse 20 recounts Micah’s trust in the Lord to fulfill the covenants (unconditional) he made to Abraham and to his seed, Israel, Jacob, and David, Psalms 105:9-10; Romans 11:25. There is no denunciation of judgment from God upon Israel that is not followed with a prophetic benediction of eventual restoration of Israel, Psalms 119:60. What God promises He performs, Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:13-14; Deuteronomy 30:1-2.