Bible Commentaries
Micah 3

Verse 1

Mic 3:1. The hulk of this chapter is against the head men of the nation. Heads of Jacob would be the outstanding men whether they were prophets or men in high social rank. The class of men had for many years taken advantage of their position to impose on the poor and otherwise unfortunate people. The last clause means that the princes were expected to know how to act with good judgment.

Verse 2

Mic 3:2. Instead of being examples of righteousness, these leaders reversed the proper attitude toward good and evil as to which they loved and hated. The pronouns their and them, stand for the common people who were the victims of the cruelty of the leaders. Pluck off their skin, etc., is said figuratively and refers to the severe treatment they imposed on the people, similar to that mentioned in chapter 2; 8.

Verse 3

Mic 3:3. This is more along the same line as the preceding verse.

Verse 4

Mic 3:4. The pronouns change now and stand tor the heads and princes of Israel who are mentioned in verse 1. Then applies to the time when God would bring judgment upon the wicked men. When that time arrives it will be in vain for them to cry to God for mercy. He will turn his face away because they have behaved ill in their doings.

Verse 5

Mic 3:5. Bite with their teeth, and cry, peace. The selfishness of the leaders is still the topic in the mind of the inspired prophet. As long as they had food to bite they were peaceable and satisfied and not disposed to be unpleasant even in their teaching. They would even gratify their ear itching and servile brethren with visions of peace, though such predictions were false. But when those downtrodden people refused to contribute to their selfishness; when they puttcAh not into their mouths, then they became spiteful and prepared [predicted] war against them.

Verse 6

Mic 3:6. The thought in this verse is against the prophets personally. They made a selfish use of their ability to issue predictions, so the Lord was going to deprive them of that information. Right . . . not vision means that instead of giving them furtlver vlHtons as prophets, God would leave them in the dark as far as the future was concerned which would constitute the "night" of this phrase. Shall not divine denotes they will not be permitted to make predictions. The last clause of the verse means the same as the first part just explained.

Verse 7

Mic 3:7. Seers and diviners are names for the prophets who were supposed to be inspired of God for making tbeir predictions. But when they abused tbeir position by using it for their selfish enjoyment He determined to deprive them of all information and that was to make them ashamed and confused. They would cover their lips which means their lips woutd be closed because they had nothing to say. The reason for that will be that when they sought for divine instruction there was no answer from God,

Verse 8

Mic 3:8. The first personal pronoun is again to stand for Micah who was a faithful prophet, and the power of the spirit of the Lord was guiding him. Jacob and Israel are used in the same sense, having special reference to the 19tribe kingdom, but in a general sense t.he writing of the prophet applies (o all the Jewish nation. Declare is from wag An. and the word in Strong's definition that, especially applies in this case is "expose.” It was the work of the faithful prophet to expose and denounce the corruptions of Israel.

Verse 9

Mic 3:9. The leading men in the nation are still the ones especially in the mind of the prophet. Abhor judgment refers to the right judgment which they should have manifested instead of abhorring it. A result of such an attitude was to pervert or corrupt all equity (fairness In dealing).

Verse 10

Mic 3:10. Since Zion and Jerusalem were names of the capital of the 2 tribe kingdom, this indicates that the prophet was considering the whole nation somewhat in his book. See the comments on this subject in verse 8 and also at chapter 1:1.

Verse 11

Mic 3:11. This verse describes the same condition as Jer 5:31, but it goes further and states the motive for the corrupt conduct of the leaders. It verifies the statement, of Paul in 1 Timothy G: 10 that the love of money Is a root of all kinds of evil. After all tills wicked procedure these hypocrites had the boldness to lean upon the Lord or pretend to rely upon Him. They even pretended to believe that the Lord would preserve them from ll harm in spite of their inconsistent lives.

Verse 12

Mic 3:12. Zion was an important spot in Jerusalem which was the capita! of the 2-tribe kingdom. Heaps means ruins either material or political. and this prediction refers to the ruin of Jerusalem (2Ki 15:9-10).