Bible Commentaries

Micah 3:1-8. The Unjust Rulers and False Prophets of Judah.—Micah first addresses those whose official duty it is to "know" justice, i.e. sympathetically, and declares that in fact they love its opposite, and cruelly oppress (cf. Isaiah 3:15) those they govern. In their (coming) distress, Yahweh will not heed them (cf. Isaiah 1:15). Micah then turns to the false prophets, whose utterances are dictated by self-interest, and proclaims against them, instead of the well-being they have foretold, the darkness of the "Day of Yahweh" (Amos 5:18), when there shall be no response to the diviners, and they shall go mourning. In contrast with them, Micah declares that Yahweh's Spirit has given him the inner qualities of independent strength and of justice, which underlie true prophecy, and are seen in the rebuke of sin.

Micah 3:2. pluck off their skin, etc.: the description is, of course, figurative.

Micah 3:5. J. M. P. Smith aptly compares the test of disinterestedness applied to prophets by the Didache, 11:3-6.

Micah 3:7. cover their lips: a sign of mourning (cf. Ezekiel 24:17; Ezekiel 24:22, Leviticus 13:45).

Micah 3:8. Cf. Micaiah ben Imlah in 1 Kings 22; "by the Spirit of the Lord" is perhaps a gloss, though a correct one.

Micah 3:9-12. False Confidence issuing in the Destruction of Jerusalem.—Micah again addresses the rulers, who have founded the prosperity of the capital on violence and injustice (Micah 3:9 f.; cf. Jeremiah 22:13 ff.). The sentence of the judge, the oracle of the priest, the divination of the prophet, are dictated by gain, not God; yet they flatter themselves that all is well, since Yahweh is in their midst (being visibly represented by His dwelling-place, the Temple; cf. Isaiah 1:10 ff., Amos 5:21 ff., Jeremiah 7:4). But Yahweh will lay Jerusalem in ruins, and the Temple-mount shall become a mere wooded hill-top. As Micah began (Micah 1:5), so here he ends his prophecy on the keynote of the sin of the capital city. For the vivid impression left even a century later by this unprecedented conclusion, see Intro.

Micah 3:12. high places: "height" (sing. with LXX).