Bible Commentaries

CHAPTER 7

1. The prophet’s complaint (Micah 7:1-6)

2. Confession, prayer and thanksgiving (Micah 7:7-20)

Micah 7:1-6. It is the prophet’s voice complaining over the conditions of the people. But he is also the typical representative of the remnant during the time of travail in Zion. It is to be noted that our Lord quotes from this portion of Micah. (See Matthew 10:21, which dispensationally applies to the future remnant.) In the midst of the conditions the prophet describes we read that his refuge was prayer, looking to the Lord with the assurance that He will hear. “Therefore I will look unto the LORD I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7). This will be the attitude of the godly Israelites during the time of trouble.

Micah 7:7-20. It is Israel speaking in the remnant, represented by the prophet. The enemy is addressed; at the time of Micah it was the Assyrian, the type of the end Assyrian; but it includes all the world powers in their anti-Semitic attitude. The real Israel has always had this comfort, founded on the fact that God’s gifts and calling are without repentance, that they are the elect nation, that their fall must be followed by a spiritual and national resurrection Romans 11:1-36). Hence they say, “Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; when I fall I shall rise again; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light unto me.” This will be the case when their greatest darkness comes in the end of the age Isaiah 60:1-22. It is a willing submission to the chastisement of the Lord expressed in Micah 6:9; they acknowledge their sins and once more declare, “He will bring me forth to light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

This is followed by a prophetic declaration. The day is coming when her walls will be built again, and in that day shall the decree be far removed. The latter statement may mean the same which the prophet Jeremiah reveals in Jeremiah 31:31 to the end of the chapter. The old decree, or law, will end, and there will be the new covenant into which Judah and Israel enter “in that day.” Then the nations will gather to restored Israel in the kingdom. (Compare Micah 7:12 with Isaiah 60:3-10.)

In the meantime the land will be desolate, as it is now, the fruit of their evil doings, till the day comes when the wilderness will be a fruitful field Isaiah 32:16 when the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose Isaiah 35:1 .

Once more the prophet’s voice is heard in supplication. The prayer in Micah 6:14 is answered by the Lord in Micah 7:15-17. The Lord will show again in that day the marvelous things as He did in their past redemption out of Egypt. The nations, their enemies, will be witness to it; they will be humiliated in the dust.

The three concluding verses belong to the greatest in the Old Testament Scriptures. Here we listen to a great praise and outburst of adoration. “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighted in mercy. He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”

Such will be the future praise of the remnant of His heritage, when the Deliverer comes to Zion and turns away ungodliness from Jacob, when the covenant with them will be consummated and their sins will be taken away Romans 11:26-36). Once a year orthodox Jews go to a running stream and scatter into it bits of paper and small articles, repeating while they do it these three verses (the so-called Tashlik ceremony). It is but an outward act, yet testifying that there is still faith in Israel. It will be a glorious day when God forgives them their sins and remembers them no more.