Micah 6 commentary

The people are called upon to declare why they were weary of God's worship, and prone to idolatry. Sin causes the controversy between God and man. God reasons with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. Let them remember God's many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their unworthy, ungrateful conduct toward him.

These verses seem to contain the substance of Balak's consultation with Balaam how to obtain the favour of Israel's God. Deep conviction of guilt and wrath will put men upon careful inquiries after peace and pardon, and then there begins to be some ground for hope of them. In order to God's being pleased with us, our care must be for an interest in the atonement of Christ, and that the sin by which we displease him may be taken away. What will be a satisfaction to God's justice? In whose name must we come, as we have nothing to plead as our own? In what righteousness shall we appear before him? The proposals betray ignorance, though they show zeal. They offer that which is very rich and costly. Those who are fully convinced of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon. Yet they do not offer aright. The sacrifices had value from their reference to Christ; it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And all proposals of peace, except those according to the gospel, are absurd. They could not answer the demands of Divine justice, nor satisfy the wrong done to the honour of God by sin, nor would they serve at all in place of holiness of the heart and reformation of the life. Men will part with any thing rather than their sins; but they part with nothing so as to be accepted of God, unless they do part with their sins. Moral duties are commanded because they are good for man. In keeping God's commandments there is a great reward, as well as after keeping them. God has not only made it known, but made it plain. The good which God requires of us is, not the paying a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but love to himself; and what is there unreasonable, or hard, in this? Every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into obedience to God, if we would walk comfortably with him. We must do this as penitent sinners, in dependence on the Redeemer and his atonement. Blessed be the Lord that he is ever ready to give his grace to the humble, waiting penitent.

God, having showed how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows how plain it was that they had done unjustly. This voice of the Lord says to all, Hear the rod when it is coming, before you see it, and feel it. Hear the rod when it is come, and you are sensible of the smart; hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks. The voice of God is to be heard in the rod of God. Those who are dishonest in their dealings shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. What is got by fraud and oppression, cannot be kept or enjoyed with satisfaction. What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not soon plucked up again. Their being the people of God in name and profession, while they kept themselves in his love, was an honour to them; but now, being backsliders, their having been once the people of God turns to their reproach.

Here the Prophet avowedly assumes that the people were sufficiently proved guilty; and yet they resisted through a hardiness the most obdurate, and rejected all admonitions without shame, and without any discretion. He is therefore commanded to direct his discourse to the mountains and to the hills; for his labor had now for a long time been useless as to men. The meaning then is that when the Prophet had spent much labor on the people and derived no fruit, he is at length bidden to call the mountains and the hills to bear their testimony to God; and thus before the elements is made known and proved the ungodliness and the obstinacy of the people. But before he relates what had been committed to him, he makes a preface, in order to gain attention.

Hear ye what Jehovah says. The Prophets are wont, on very serious subjects, to make such a preface as is here made by Micah: and it is indeed sufficiently evident from the passage, that he has here no ordinary subject for his teaching, but that, on the contrary, he rebukes their monstrous stupidity; for he had been addressing the deaf without any advantage. As then the Prophet was about to declare no common thing, but to be a witness of a new judgment, — this is the reason why he bids them to be unusually attentive. Hear, he says, what Jehovah saith. What is it? He might have added, “Jehovah has very often spoken to you, he has tried all means to bring you to the right way; but as ye are past recovery, vengeance alone now remains for you: he will no more spend labor in vain on you; for he finds in you neither shame, nor meekness, nor docility.” The Prophet might have thus spoken to them; but he says that another thing was committed to his charge by the Lord, and that is, to contend or to plead before the mountains. And this reproach ought to have most acutely touched the hearts of the people: for there is here an implied comparison between the mountains and the Jews; as though the Prophet said, — “The mountains are void of understanding and reason, and yet the Lord prefers to have them as witness of his cause rather than you, who exceed in stupidity all the mountains and rocks.” We now then perceive the design of God.

Some take mountains and hills in a metaphorical sense for the chief men who then ruled: and this manner of speaking very frequently occurs in Scripture: but as to the present passage, I have no doubt but that the Prophet mentions mountains and hills without a figure; for, as I have already said, he sets the hardness of the people in opposition to rocks, and intimates, that there would be more attention and docility in the very mountains than what he had hitherto found in the chosen people. And the particle את, at, is often taken in the sense of before: it means also with; but in this place I take it for ל, lamed, before or near, as many instances might be cited. But that this is the meaning of the Prophet it is easy to gather from the next verse, when he says —

Hear, ye mountains, the controversy of Jehovah, Henry says, “Sin begets a controversy between God and man. The righteous God has an action against every sinner, an action of debt, an action of trespass, an action of slander.” how? and ye strong foundations of the earth, he says. He speaks here no more of hills, but summons the whole world; as though he said, “There is not one of the elements which is not to bear witness respecting the obstinacy of this people; for the voice of God will penetrate to the farthest roots of the earth, it will reach the lowest depths: these men will at the same time continue deaf.” And he says not, the Lord threatens you, or denounces judgment on you; but Jehovah has a contention with his people. We now then see that there is no metaphor in these words; but that the Prophet merely shows how monstrous was the stupor of the people, who profited nothing by the celestial doctrine delivered to them, so that the very mountains and the whole machinery of earth and heaven, though destitute of reason, had more understanding than these men. And it is not unusual with the Prophets, we know, to turn their discourse to mute elements, when there remains no hope of success from men. But our Prophet does not abruptly address mountains and hills as Isaiah does, (Isaiah 1:2,) and as also Moses had done,

‘Hear, ye heavens, what I shall say, let the earth hear the words of my mouth,’ (Deuteronomy 32:1,)

but he prefaces his discourse by saying, that it had been specially commanded to him to summon the mountains and hills to God’s judgment. By saying then, “Hear ye what Jehovah saith,” he prepares as I have said, the Jews to hear, that they might know that something uncommon and altogether unusual was to be announced, — that the Lord, in order more fully to convict them of extreme impiety, intended to plead his cause before the mountains.

Arise, then, and plead before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. What sort of voice was this? They who think that the judges are here figuratively pointed out may be easily refuted; for Micah in the next verse mentions the substance of this pleading, namely that the Lord expostulated with his people. We hence see that God had no contention with the mountains, but that, on the contrary, the mountains were summoned, that they might understand God’s pleading, not against them, but against the people. Hear then, ye mountains, Jehovah’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth, that is, the very rocks. There is nothing so hard in the world, he says, that shall not be inane to hear; for this pleading shall reach the lowest depths. Jehovah then has a controversy with his people, and he will plead, or contend, with Israel It follows —

Micah 6:3

3. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.

3. Popule mi, quid feci tibi? Et in quo exhibui tibi molestiam? Testificare contra me.

Here God, in the first place, offers to give a reason, if he was accused of any thing. It seems indeed unbecoming the character of God, that he should be thus ready as one guilty to clear himself: but this is said by way of concession; for the Prophet could not otherwise express, that nothing that deserved blame could be found in God. It is a personification, by which a character; not his own, is ascribed to God. It ought not therefore to appear inconsistent, that the Lord stands forth here, and is prepared to hear any accusation the people might have, that he might give an answer, My people! what have I done? By using this kind expression, my people, he renders double their wickedness; for God here descends from his own elevation, and not only addresses his people, in a paternal manner, but stands as it were on the opposite side, and is prepared, if the people had anything to say, to give answer to it, so that they might mutually discuss the question, as it is usually done by friends. Now the more kindly and indulgently the Lord deals with his people, the more enhanced, as I have said, is their sin.

He says first, What have I done to thee? that is, what hast thou to accuse me with? He adds In what have I caused trouble The verb is הלאתיך, I have wearied, or caused thee to be weary. Quo fatigavi te — In what have I wearied thee? Jun. and Trem. Τι ελυπησα σε — how have I caused thee to grieve? Sept. Quo labore te pressi — with what labor have I oppressed thee? Jerome. This last contains the full meaning. — Ed. to thee? or, In what have I been troublesome to thee? Testify, he says, against me. This testifying was to be made to the mountains and hills; as though he said, “I am ready to plead my cause before heaven and earth; in a word, before all my creatures.” Some render the passage, “Answer me:” and ענה, one, is also to answer; but the context requires the former meaning; for God conceded so much liberty to the Jews, that they might bring forward against him any fault they had to allege. Testify, he says, against me; that is, there are witnesses present; make public now thy case by stating particulars, I am ready for the defense. We hence see the truth of what I have before stated, — that a character, not his own is ascribed to God: but this is done by way of concession. He afterwards adds —

Micah 6:4

4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

4. Certe (vel, quia, vel, nempe quod ascendere te feci e terra AEgypti, et ex domo servorum redemi te, et misi coram te Mosen, Aaron, et Mariam.

God, having testified that he had in nothing been troublesome to the people, now states with how great and with how many benefits he had bound them to himself. But we may prefer taking the words as explanatory and somewhat ironical that he records his benefits in the place of trouble or vexation; though, in my judgment, it is better to read the two clauses apart. I have brought thee, he says, from the land of Egypt, from that miserable bondage; and then he says, I have redeemed thee The complete sentence is, “from the house of servants,” or rather, slaves: for they were not properly what we call servants, but slaves, in Egypt. The Septuagint has εξ οικου δουλειας — from the house of slavery. “The house of slaves,” is the version both of Newcome and of Henderson. They are the same words as we find in Exodus 20:2, rendered, “out of the house of bondage;” which ought to be translated slavery rather than bondage, if we depart from the literal rendering — the house of slaves. — Ed. By the word, redeem, he expresses more clearly and more fully illustrates his kindness. Then he adds, I have set over thee as leaders Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam, the sister of them both. Benefits, we know, are often accompanied with injuries; and he who obliges another destroys all his favor, when he turns kindness as it often happens, into reproach. It is hence frequently the case, that he who has been kind to another brings so serious an injury, that the memory of his kindness ought not to continue. God mentions here these two things, — that he had conferred vast benefits on the people, — and yet that he had in nothing been burdensome to them; as though he said “Many are those things which I can, if necessary, on my part bring forward, by which I have more than a hundred times made thee indebted to me; now thou canst not in thy turn bring anything against me; thou canst not say that I have accompanied my benefits with wrongs, or that thou hast been despised, because thou were under obligations to me, as it is often the case with men who proudly domineer, when they think that they have made others bound to them. I have not then thought proper to accompany my great favors with anything troublesome or grievous to thee.” We now understand why the Prophet expressly mentions these two things, — that God had in nothing been vexatious to his people, — and that he had brought them up from the land of Egypt.

That redemption was so great, that the people ought not to have complained, had it been the will of God to lay on their shoulders some very heavy burdens: for this answer might have been ever readily given, — “Ye have been delivered by me; ye owe to me your life and your safety. There is therefore no reason why any thing should be now burdensome to you; for the bondage of Egypt must have been bitterer to you than hundred deaths; and I redeemed you from that bondage.” But, as the Lord had treated his redeemed people so kindly and so humanely, yea, with so much indulgence, how great and how intolerable was their ingratitude in not responding to his great kindness? We now more fully understand the Prophet’s meaning in these words.

I have made thee to ascend, he says, from Egypt; and then, I have redeemed thee. He goes on, as we have said, by degrees. He afterwards adds, I have sent before thy face Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. God means here that it had not been a momentary kindness; for he continued his favor towards the Jews when he set over them Moses and Aaron, and Miriam, which was an evidence of his constant care, until he had completed his work of delivering them. For Moses was a minister of their deliverance in upholding civil order, and Aaron as to the priesthood and spiritual discipline. With regard to Miriam, she also performed her part towards the women; and as we find in Exodus 15, she composed a song of thanksgiving after passing through the Red Sea: and hence arose her base envy with regard to Moses; for being highly praised, she thought herself equal to him in dignity. It is at the same time right to mention, that it was an extraordinary thing, when God gave authority to a woman, as was the case with Deborah that no one may consider this singular precedent as a common rule. It now follows —

Micah 6:5

5. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.

5. Popule mi, recordare nunc (vel, quaeso, est eadem particula) quid cogitaverit Balak, rex Moab, et quid responderit ei Balaam, filius Beor, a Sittim usque ad Gilgal, ut cognosceres (vel, cognoscas) justitias Jehovae.

God briefly records here what happened in the desert, — that the people had need of some extraordinary help in addition to the many benefits which he had conferred on them. For though the people lived safely in the desert as to the Egyptians, though they were fed by manna and water from the rock flowed for them, though the cloud by day protected them from the heat of the sun, and the pillar of fire shone on them during the night, yet the stream of God’s mercy seemed to have been stopped when Balaam came forth, who was a Prophet, and then, as one armed with celestial weapons, fought against the people and opposed their deliverance. Now, had God permitted Balaam to curse the people, what could have taken place, but that they must have been deprived of all their blessings? This is the reason why the Prophet specifically refers to this history, — that the cursing of Balaam was miraculously turned into a blessing, even through the secret purpose of God. Micah might indeed have referred to all those particulars by which God could have proved the ingratitude of the people; but he deemed it sufficient to touch on the fact of their redemption, and also to mention by the way this extraordinary instance of God’s kindness.

Remember, he says, what Balak devised, that is, how crafty was his counsel: for the verb יעף, iots, is to be taken here in a bad sense, and is very emphatical; as though the Prophet had said, that there was more danger in this fraud than in all the violence of enemies; for Balak could not have done so much harm, had he prepared a great army against the Israelites, as by hiring a Prophet to curse the people. For certain it is, that though Balaam was an impostor and full of deceits, as it is probable that he was a man given to profane superstitions, he was yet endued with the gift of prophecy. This was the case no doubt; and we know that God has often so distributed the gifts of his Spirit, that he has honored with the prophetic office even the ungodly and unbelieving: for it was a special gift, distinct from the grace of regeneration. Balaam then was a Prophet. Now when Balak saw that he was unequal in power to oppose the people, he thought of this expedient — to get some Prophet to interpose for the purpose of exciting the wrath of God against the people. This is the reason why it is here said, Remember what Balak consulted against thee; that is, “Thou were then in the greatest danger, when a Prophet came, hired for the purpose, that he might in God’s name pronounce on thee a curse.”

It may be asked, Whether Balaam could really curse the people of Israel? The answer is easy: the question here is not what might have been the effect, without God’s permission; but Micah here regards only the office with which Balaam was honored and endued. As then he was God’s Prophet, he could have cursed the people, had not God prevented him. And no doubt Balak was wise enough to know, that the Israelites could not be resisted by human power, and that, therefore, nothing remained for him but the interposition of God; and as he could not bring down God from heaven, he sent for a Prophet. God puts his own power in his word, — as God’s word resided in Balaam, and as he was, as it were, its depositary, it was no wonder that Balak thought that he would become the conqueror of the people of Israel, provided they were cursed by Balaam’s mouth; for this would have been as it were, the announcement of God’s wrath.

He now subjoins, And what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him. There is here shown, on the one hand, a danger, because Balaam was craftier than all the other enemies of the people, for he could have done more by his artifice than if he had armed against them the whole world: here then was the danger. But, on the other hand, we know what he answered; and it is certain that the answer of Balaam did not proceed from himself, but, on the contrary, from the Spirit of God. As Balaam spoke by the secret influence of the Spirit, contrary to the wish of his own heart, God thus proved that he was present at that very time, when the safety of the people was endangered. Think, then, or remember, what Balaam answered; as though he said, — “Balaam was very nigh cursing thee, for his mouth was opened: for he had sold himself to an ungodly king, and nothing could have pleased him more than to have poured forth many anathemas and many curses: but he was constrained to bless your fathers. What did this mean? Did not the wonderful favor of God shine forth in this instance?” We now perceive the Prophet’s design, and what a large meaning there is in these words.

He afterwards adds generally, From Shittim even to Gilgal. This is not connected with the last clause; for Balaam did not follow the people from Shittim to Gilgal; but a verb is to be understood, Various have been the ways to complete this evidently defective sentence; and there is no assistance from any MSS., or from the Septuagint. Shittim was in the land of Moab, and Gilgal was beyond Jordan, in the land of Canaan. Grotius and many others repeat the word “Remember,” and supply, “what I have done,” or, “what happened.” This is a sort of omission, which we can hardly think a writer would have made. It is far more probable that a word or words have been somehow left out: and the Targum, though generally no safe guide, has so given the passage as to countenance this conjecture. “Were not great things done for you,” is the supplement of the Targum. “And what I did,” seems to be the most natural addition: such words as ומה עשיתי appear to have been left out by transcribers. I would then render the verse thus: —

My people, remember, I pray, What did Balak, the king of Moab, consult, And what did Balaam, the son of Beor, answer him, (And what I did) from Shittim even to Gilgal, That ye may know the faithful dealings of Jehovah.

— Ed. as though he said, — “Thou knowest what things happened to thee from Shittim to Gilgal, from the beginning to the end; at the time when thou didst enter the wilderness, thou hadst begun to provoke the wrath of God.” And we know that even in Shittim the Israelites fell away into idolatry; and that defection, in a manner, alienated them from God. Hence God shows here that he, in his goodness and mercy, had contended with the ungodly ways of the people even to Gilgal; that is, “Thou hast never ceased to provoke me.” We indeed know that the people continually excited against themselves the displeasure of God, and that their defections were many and various. In short, then the Prophet shows that God had so mercifully dealt with the people, that he had, in a most astonishing manner, overcome their wickedness by his goodness.

He at length subjoins, That thou mayest know the righteousnesses of Jehovah. By righteousnesses he means acts of kindness, as the sense of the word is in many other passages: for the righteousness of God is often taken not only for uprightness, but also for the faithfulness and truth which he manifests towards his people. It betokens therefore the relation between God and his Church, whenever the word, righteousness, is to be understood in this sense. That thou mayest then know the righteousnesses of Jehovah; that is, that experience itself may prove to thee how faithful, how beneficent, how merciful has God ever been towards your race. “His justice in destroying the Canaanites, his goodness in giving rest to his people Israel, and his faithfulness to his promises made unto the Fathers.” — Henry. Since then the righteousness of God was conspicuous, the people must surely have been mute, and had nothing for which they could justly expostulate with God: what remained, but that their extreme impiety, fully detected before heaven and earth and all the elements, exposed them to his judgment? It now follows —

Micah 6:6-8

6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

6. In quo occurram Jehovae? Incurvabo me coram Deo excelso? Occurramne ei in holocaustis? In vitulis anniculis?

7. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

7. An complacitum erit Jehovae in millibus arietum? In decem millibus vallium olei (vel, pinguedinis?) An dabo primogenitum peccatum meum (hoc est, piaculum peccati mei? Fructum ventris mei, piaculum sceleris animae mea?

8. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

8. Indicavit tibi, homo, quid bonum; et quid Jehova quaerit abs te nisi facere judicium et deligere clementiam (vel, bonitatem,) et humiliari ut ambules cum Deo tuo.

The Prophet now inquires, as in the name of the people, what was necessary to be done: and he takes these two principles as granted, — that the people were without any excuse, and were forced to confess their sin, — and that God had hitherto contended with them for no other end and with no other design, but to restore the people to the right way; for if his purpose had only been to condemn the people for their wickedness, there would have been no need of these questions. But the Prophet shows what has been often stated before, — that whenever God chides his people, he opens to them the door of hope as to their salvation, provided those who have sinned repent. As this then must have been well known to all the Jews, the Prophet here asks, as with their mouth, what was to be done.

He thus introduces them as inquiring, With what shall I approach Jehovah, and bow down before the high God? Literally, “the god of the height,” that is, of heaven, אלהי מרום. See Psalm 68:18

Shall I approach him with burnt-offerings, This clause is omitted in my Latin copy; and viewing it as an accidental omission, I have supplied it. — Ed. with calves of a year old? But at the same time there is no doubt, but that he indirectly refers to that foolish notion, by which men for the most part deceive themselves; for when they are proved guilty, they indeed know that there is no remedy for them, except they reconcile themselves to God: but yet they pretend by circuitous courses to approach God, while they desire to be ever far away from him. This dissimulation has always prevailed in the world, and it now prevails: they see that they whom God convicts and their own conscience condemns, cannot rest in safety. Hence they wish to discharge their duty towards God as a matter of necessity; but at the same time they seek some fictitious modes of reconciliation, as though it were enough to flatter God, as though he could be pacified like a child with some frivolous trifles. The Prophet therefore detects this wickedness, which had ever been too prevalent among them; as though he said, — “I see what ye are about to say; for there is no need of contending longer; as ye have nothing to object to God, and he has things innumerable to allege against you: ye are then more than condemned; but yet ye will perhaps say what has been usually alleged by you and always by hypocrites, even this, — ‘We wish to be reconciled to God, and we confess our faults and seek pardon; let God in the meantime show himself ready to be reconciled to us, while we offer to him sacrifices.’” There is then no doubt, but that the Prophet derided this folly, which has ever prevailed in the hearts of men: they ever think that God can be pacified by outward rites and frivolous performances.

He afterwards adds, He has proclaimed to thee what is good. The Prophet reproves the hypocrisy by which the Jews willfully deceived themselves, as though he said, — “Ye indeed pretend some concern for religion when ye approach God in prayer; but this your religion is nothing; it is nothing else than shamelessly to dissemble; for ye sin not either through ignorance or misconception, but ye treat God with mockery.” — How so? “Because the Law teaches you with sufficient clearness what God requires from you; does it not plainly enough show you what is true reconciliation? But ye close your eyes to the teaching of the Law, and in the meantime pretend ignorance. This is extremely childish. God has already proclaimed what is good, even to do judgment, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God.” We now perceive the design of the Prophet.

As then he says here, With what shall I appear before God? we must bear in mind, that as soon as God condescends to enter into trial with men, the cause is decided; for it is no doubtful contention. When men litigate one with another, there is no cause so good but what an opposite party can darken by sophistries. But the Prophet intimates that men lose all their labor by evasions, when God summons them to a trial. This is one thing. He also shows what deep roots hypocrisy has in the hearts of all, for they ever deceive themselves and try to deceive God. How comes it that men, proved guilty, do not immediately and in the right way retake themselves to God, but that they ever seek windings? How is this? It is not because they have any doubt about what is right except they willfully deceive themselves, but because they dissemble and willfully seek the subterfuges of error. It hence appears that men perversely go astray when ever they repent not as they ought, and bring not to God a real integrity of heart. And hence it also appears that the whole world which continues in its superstitions is without excuse. For if we scrutinize the intentions of men, it will at length come to this, — that men carefully and anxiously seek various superstitions, because they are unwilling to come before God and to devote themselves to him, without some dissembling and hypocrisy. Since it is so, certain it is, that all who desire to pacify God with their own ceremonies and other trifles cannot by any pretext escape. What is said here is at the same time strictly addressed to the Jews, who had been instructed in the teaching of the Law: and such are the Papists of this day; though they spread forth specious pretenses to excuse their ignorance, they may yet be refuted by this one fact, — that God has prescribed clearly and distinctly enough what he requires: but they wish to be ignorant of this; hence their error is at all times wilful. We ought especially to notice this in the words of the Prophet; but I cannot proceed farther now.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast made known to us thy Law, and hast also added thy Gospel, in which thou callest us to thy service, and also invites us with all kindness to partake of thy grace, — O grant, that we may not be deaf, either to thy command or to the promises of thy mercy, but render ourselves in both instances submissive to thee and so learn to devote all our faculties to thee, that we may in truth avow that a rule of a holy and religious life has been delivered to us in thy law, and that we may also firmly adhere to thy promises, lest through any of the allurements of the world, or through the flatteries and crafts of Satan thou shouldest suffer our minds to be drawn away from that love which thou hast once manifested to us in thine only-begotten Son and in which thou daily confirmest us by the teaching of the Gospel, until we at length shall come to the full enjoyment of this love in that celestial inheritance, which has been purchased for us by the blood of thy only Son. Amen.

Lecture Ninety-fourth

We have seen in the last lecture that hypocrites inquire how God is to be pacified, as though they were very solicitous about the performance of their duty; and that in the meantime these are mere disguises; for by circuitous windings they turn here and there, and never wish to come directly to God. The way might have been easily known by them; but they closed their eyes, and at the same time pretended that they had some concern for religion. And this is also very commonly the case in our day; and common experience, if any one opens his eyes, clearly proves this, — that the ungodly, who deal not sincerely with God, profess a very great concern, as though they were wholly intent on serving God, and yet turn aside here and there, and seek many bypaths, (diverticula,) that they may not be constrained to present themselves before God. We have already seen, that this false pretense is fully exposed, inasmuch as God has enough, and more than enough, demonstrated in his Law, what he approves and what he requires from men. Why then do hypocrites, as still uncertain, make the inquiry? It is because they are willfully blind at mid-day; for the doctrine of the Law ought to have been to them as a lamp to direct their steps; but they smother this light, yea, they do what they can wholly to extinguish it: they ask, as though perplexed, how can we pacify God?

But it ought also to be observed, (for the Prophet says, Shall I give my first-born, and the fruit of my loins, as an expiation for my soul? The substance of the two lines is given here, not in their literal version. He evidently gives somewhat a different meaning from our translation; and probably the original admits better of the construction adopted here. If פשע, a transgression or trespass, be taken for a trespass-offering, and חטאה, for a sin-offering, as it is often, then the rendering would be this, —

Shall I make my first-born my trespass-offering, The fruit of my loins a sin-offering for my soul?

The verb נתן is not only to give, to present, to offer, but also to make, to constitute, to appoint. But if the first be rendered transgression, the law of parallelism requires that the second should be rendered sin. — Ed. ) that hypocrites will withhold nothing, provided they are not to devote themselves to God. We see the same thing under the Papacy at this day; they spare no expense, nor even the greatest toils: provided the ungodly have always a freedom to live in sin, they will easily grant to God all other things. For through a false conceit they make a sort of agreement with God: if they mortify themselves, and toil in ceremonies, and if they pour forth some portion of their money, if they sometimes deprive nature of its support, if with fastings and by other things, they afflict themselves, they think that by these means they have fully performed their duties. But these are frivolous trifles; for in the meantime they consider themselves exempt from the duty of obeying God. Being yet unwilling to be regarded as alienated from God, they, at the same time, obtrude on him their meritorious works, to prevent his judgment, and to exempt themselves from the necessity of doing the principal thing, that which he especially requires — to bring a sincere heart. Thus then hypocrites wish to divide things with God, that they may remain within such as they are; and they spread forth outwardly many frivolous things for the purpose of pacifying him. And this is the reason why the Prophet says now, Shall I give my first-born? for hypocrites wish to appear as though they were burning with the greatest zeal, — “Rather than that God should remain angry with me, I would not spare the life of my first-born; I would rather be the executioner of my own son: in short, nothing is so valuable to me, which I would not be really to part with, that God may be propitious to me.” This indeed is what they boast with their mouth; but at the same time they will not offer their heart as a sacrifice to God: and as they deal dishonestly with God, we see that all is nothing but dissimulation.

If any one objects, and says, — that the other rites, of which the Prophet speaks here, had been enjoined by God’s Law, the answer is easy; but I shall not now but briefly touch on what I have elsewhere more largely handled: The Prophet denies, that sacrifices avail any thing for the purpose of propitiating God. This may seem inconsistent with the teaching of the Law, but in fact it altogether agrees with it. God indeed wished sacrifices to be offered to him; and then this promise was always added, Iniquity shall be atoned. But the object must be noticed; for God did not command sacrifices, as though they were of themselves of any worth; but he intended to lead the ancient people by such exercises to repentance and faith. It was therefore his design to remind the Jews that they did no good, except they themselves became sacrifices; and it was also his will that they should look to the only true sacrifice, by which all sins are expiated. But hypocrites, like falsifiers of documents, abused the command of God, and adulterated the sacrifices themselves. It was then a profane sacrilege for them to think that God would be propitious to them, if they offered many oxen and calves and lambs. It was the same thing as if one asked the way, and after having known it, rested quietly and never moved a foot. God had shown the way, by which the Jews might come to repentance and faith: and they ought to have walked in it; but they wickedly trifled with God; for they thought that it would be a satisfaction to his justice, if they only performed outward rites. Whenever then the Prophets in God’s name repudiate sacrifices, the abuse, by which God’s Law was corrupted, is ever to be considered, that is, when the Jews brought sacrifices, only, and had no respect to the end in view, and did not exercise themselves in repentance and faith. It is for this reason that our Prophet declares, that all sacrifices were of no account before God, but were vain things: they were so, when they were separated from their right end.

He then says that God had shown by his Law what is good; and then he adds what it is, to do justice, to love mercy, or kindness, and to be humbled before God. It is evident that, in the two first particulars, he refers to the second table of the Law; that is to do justice, and to love mercy The expression is remarkable — to love mercy, or benevolence, beneficence, or kindness; it is not only to show mercy or kindness, but to love it, so as to take pleasure and delight in it. — Ed. Nor is it a matter of wonder that the Prophet begins with the duties of love; for though in order the worship of God precedes these duties, and ought rightly to be so regarded, yet justice, which is to be exercised towards men, is the real evidence of true religion. The Prophet, therefore, mentions justice and mercy, not that God casts aside that which is principal — the worship of his name; but he shows, by evidences or effects, what true religion is. Hypocrites place all holiness in external rites; but God requires what is very different; for his worship is spiritual. But as hypocrites can make a show of great zeal and of great solicitude in the outward worship of God, the Prophets try the conduct of men in another way, by inquiring whether they act justly and kindly towards one another, whether they are free from all fraud and violence, whether they observe justice and show mercy. This is the way our Prophet now follows, when he says, that God’s Law prescribes what is good, and that is, to do justice — to observe what is equitable towards men, and also to perform the duties of mercy.

He afterwards adds what in order is first, and that is, to humble thyself to walk with God: The words are, והצנע לכת עם-אלהיך. The verb צנע occurs nowhere else but as a passive participle in Proverbs 11:2; but its meaning there is evident, for it is opposed to pride, זדון, which means a swelling pride, such as fills one with high notions of one’s self. Then the opposite of this is to be humble from a sense of one’s own emptiness. As it is here to the infinitive Hiphil, its literal meaning is what Calvin assigns to it — tohumble one’s self. And the best rendering of this line would be — “And to humble thyself to walk with God.” The Septuagint renders it ετοιμον εναι — to be ready; Theodotion, ασφαλιζου; Vulgate, solicitum But these seem not to have understood the word. The Welsh version is exactly and literally the Hebrew — Ac ymostwng I rodio gyda ‘th Dduw. Gostwng is to humble, and by adding ym, and dropping the g, the verb has exactly the meaning of the Hiphil in Hebrew—to humble one’s self. They are, indeed, some verbs in Welsh which admit of all the modifications of the Hebrew verbs, being active, passive, causative, and reflective. — Ed. it is thus literally, “And to be humble in walking with thy God.” No doubt, as the name of God is more excellent than any thing in the whole world, so the worship of him ought to be regarded as of more importance than all those duties by which we prove our love towards men. But the Prophet, as I have already said, was not so particular in observing order; his main object was to show how men were to prove that they seriously feared God and kept his Law: he afterwards speaks of God’s worship. But his manner of speaking, when he says, that men ought to be humble, that they may walk with their God, is worthy of special notice. Condemned, then, is here all pride, and also all the confidence of the flesh: for whosoever arrogates to himself even the least thing, does, in a manner, contend with God as with an opposing party. The true way then of walking with God is, when we thoroughly humble ourselves, yea, when we bring ourselves down to nothing; for it is the very beginning of worshipping and glorifying God when men entertain humble and low opinion of themselves. Let us now proceed —

Micah 6:9

9. The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

9. Vox Jehovae ad civitatem (vel, ad expergefaciendum) clamat (ad verbum, clamabit;) et vir intelligentiae videbit nomen tuum: audite virgam, et quis testificetur eam.

The Prophet complains here that he and other teachers did but little, though their cry resounded and was heard by the whole people. He therefore says, that the voice of God cried; as though he had said that there was no excuse for ignorance, for God had indiscriminately exhorted them all to repentance. Now, since what was taught was common to them all, the Prophet deplores their perverseness, for very few were attentive; and the fable was sung, according to the proverb, to the deaf. We must then notice the word cry; the voice of God, he says, crieth. God did not whisper in the ear of one or two, but he designed his voice to be heard by all from the least to the greatest. The Prophets then did cry loud enough, but there were no ears to hear them.

We may take the word לעיר, laoir, in two ways. עיר, oir, means a city. But some derive it from עור, our, and render it as if it were written להעיר, laeoir. If ה, he is put in, it must be rendered, To rouse; and the letter ה, he, may be concealed under the point chamets; and this sense would be the most suitable, The voice of Jehovah cries to arouse or awaken; that is though the people are torpid, and as it were overpowered with sleep, for they indulged themselves in their sins; yet the voice of God ought to be sufficient to arouse them all: however sleepy they might have been, there was yet power enough in the doctrine of the Law, which the Prophet daily proclaimed. But still this voice, by which the whole people ought to have been awakened, was not heard!

The man of understanding, he says will see thy name The word תושיה, tushie, means properly understanding, as it is clear from many other passages; but the Prophet means that there was a very small number who were teachable; and he calls them men of understanding. At the same time, he indirectly reproves the sottishness of the people, though they all boasted that they were wise, and boasted also that they were the learners of the Law. The Prophet shows here by implication, that understanding was a rare thing among that people; for few hearkened to the voice of God. And thus we see what his object was; for he wished to touch the Jews to the quick, that they might acknowledge that they were without mind and understanding, because they had hardened themselves against God, so that his voice did not reach their hearts. He therefore shows that they were all besides themselves; for had they any right understanding, they would have hearkened to God speaking to them, as they were his disciples. What indeed could have been more strange, nay more inhuman, than for men to reject the doctrine of their salvation, and to turn aside from hearing even God himself? Thus the madness of the people was reproved; for though the voice of God sounded in the ears of them all, it was not yet listened to.

If one prefers reading, In the city, then no doubt the Prophet means, that the voice of God was proclaimed through all the cities: for to confine it, as some interpreters do, to Jerusalem, or to Samaria, appears frigid. We must then understand a change of number, and take city for any large concourse of people; as though he had said, that there was no city in which God did not cry and yet that there were ears no where.

It afterwards follows, Shall see thy name. Some render it, Shall fear, And so Newcome renders it, and there are a few copies in favor of this reading, in which יראי is found: but a fact of this kind is not sufficient to make a change, except there will be other reasons. And then in the next line there is a change made, without the authority of one MS. Indeed these two lines are rendered as though the Archbishop had another text; and indeed it is another: his version is this, —

And there is a sound wisdom with them that fear his name: Hear, O ye tribes, him that testifieth.

This version is partly derived from the Septuagint; which could not have been wholly followed, as it differs so widely from the Hebrew, and hardly presents any meaning. There is far more correspondence in the passage, as it is rendered in our version, and by Calvin, and also by Henderson; and the Hebrew is closely followed. Drusius and others agree with Calvin, that תושיה, which is rendered often “sound wisdom,” is to be taken here as concrete, signifying a wise man. מטה is evidently the rod of correction, and is used in this sense in Isaiah 10:5, 24; and it is more consistent with the whole passage to consider יעדה as a future, construed, as in the present tense, with an affix, from עד, to testify, than from יעד to appoint, — “Hear ye the rod,” the chastening rod, “and who testifies of it.” Newcome viewed it as being this verb; but he takes no notice of its affix ה, which refers to the rod, by which chastisement is signified. — Ed. as though it was from ירא, ira; but it comes on the contrary from ראה, rae; and rules of grammar will not allow it to be viewed otherwise. And the Prophet speaks in a striking manner, when he says, that the intelligent man seeth the name of God. For whence proceeded the contempt of wicked men, so that they disregarded the voice of God, except from this — that his majesty had no effect on them; that is, they did not acknowledge that they had to do with God? For if they really understood what I have said, — that God spoke to them, his majesty would have immediately come to view, it would have arrested all their thoughts. God then would have constrained even the most heedless to fear him, had it not been, that they imagined the voice which sounded in their ears was that of man. Significantly then does the Prophet say, that it was the act of singular prudence to see the name of God, that is to understand from whom the doctrine proceeded. For as soon as we hearken to God, his majesty, as I have said, must so penetrate all our thoughts, as to humble us before him, and to constrain us to do him homage. The contempt then of spiritual doctrine, and also the perverseness of ungodly men, proceed from this, — that they see not the name of God, that they understand not that it is his name.

He afterwards adds, Hear ye the rod, and him who proclaims it to you By rod he means threatening; as though he said, — “Your arrogance in mocking God shall not go unpunished, as though his voice were an empty sound: there is then no reason for you to deceive yourselves with the hope of impunity; for God will avenge the contempt of his word.” Now the Prophet’s design was, to denounce an approaching vengeance on those who came not willingly to God, and received not his word with genuine docility of mind. Whenever, then, men despise the voice of God, as though it proceeded only from a mortal being, on such Micah denounces an impending vengeance; for the contempt of his word is a thing intolerable to God. This is the reason why he immediately adds, after having complained of the contempt of his word, that vengeance was not afar off; Hear ye then the rod, and who declares or testifies concerning it

This last clause ought to be especially noticed; for the ungodly are not terrified when God declares that he will be an avenger, because they think not that they must give an account of their life, or they look only on mortal man, “Ah! who speaks? Is he indeed our God? Is he armed with celestial power? Do we not see a mortal man and one like ourselves?” We daily see that the ungodly do thus cast away every fear, and willfully harden themselves against God’s judgments. It is not then without reason that the Prophet bids the Jews seriously to consider who testifies of the rod; as though he said, — “I indeed confess that I am a mortal man, but remember who has sent me; for I go not forth as a private individual, nor have I presumptuously intruded into this office; but I am armed with God’s command; nay, God himself speaks through my mouth. If then ye despise me, the Lord is present, who will vindicate his own commands for he will not suffer himself to be despised in his servants though they may be contemptible according to the flesh, he will yet have the reverence which it deserves to be paid to his word.” We now perceive the real meaning of the Prophet. It now follows —

Micah 6:10-11

10. Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

10. Adhuc an sunt in domo impii thesauri impietatis? Et modius macilentus deterestabilis (vel, provocans iram?)

11. Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

11. An justificabo stateras impietatis, et sacculum ponderum doli?

Interpreters differ as to the word האש, eash: some think that it ought to be read האיש, eaish, with an addition of two letters, and render it, “Is it yet man?” But this would render the passage abrupt. Others translate, “Is there yet fire?” As though it was אש, ash; and they suppose that wealth, wickedly and unjustly got, is so called, because it consumes itself. But as this is against what grammar requires, I am more inclined to take their view, who think that האש, eash, is to be taken here for היש, eish, One MS. Has היש, which no doubt is the true reading. The Septuagint has μηπυρ, which seems to have no sense whatever. Many copies have האיש, and this is the reading followed by Junius and Tremelius, and their version is this, —

Has any one still the house of a dishonest man? The treasures of dishonesty? And the small detestable ephah?

— Ed. , aleph being put for jod: and they rightly consider that the sentence is to be read as a question, Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the ungodly? If this view be approved, then we must consider the Prophet as proposing a question respecting a thing really monstrous, — How can it be that treasures, gathered by plunder and wickedness, still remain with you, since ye have been so often warned, and since God daily urges you to repentance? How great is your hardness, that no fear of God lays hold on your minds? But the meaning would not be unsuitable were we to regard God as a Judge examining them concerning a matter unknown, Are there still the treasures of impiety in the house of the ungodly? that is, “I will see whether the ungodly and wicked hide their treasures:” for God often assumes the character of earthly judges; not that any thing escapes his knowledge, but that we may know that he is not precipitant in deciding a question. This view, then, is by no means inappropriate, that is, that God here assumes the character of an earthly judge, and thus speaks, “I will see whether there are still treasures concealed by the ungodly; I will search their houses; I will know whether they have as yet repented of their crimes.” thus, then, may be understood the words of the Prophet, Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the ungodly? For God, as I have already said, shows that he would know respecting the plunders and the various kinds of cruelty which they had exercised.

He then adds, Is there the bare measure, that is, a measure less than it ought to be, which is detestable? Literally it is, “And the ephah of detestable scantiness?” Marckius renders the words, “Et ephah tenuitatis abominabilis?” Henderson, “And the accursed scanty ephah?” Then he says,

Shall I justify? etc. האזכה. It is not true what Henderson says, that the verb זכה is not used transitively. See Psalm 73:13; Proverbs 20:9 Jerome renders the phrase, numquid approbabo? Our own version is no doubt correct. — Ed. This verse is connected with the last, and is added as an explanation. For God having come forth as a Judge, now shows what sort of Judge he is, even one who is not biased by favor, who does not change his judgment, who shows no respect of persons. But men, for the most part, greatly deceive themselves, when they transform God according to their own will, and promise to themselves that he will be propitious to them, provided they only make false pretensions to him. God then here declares, that he differs widely from earthly judges, who now incline to one side and then to another, who are changeable, and often deviate from the right course: but, on the contrary, he says here, Shall I justify wicked balances? shall I justify weights of fraud, or deceitful? that is, “Shake off all those delusions by which ye are wont to deceive yourselves; for I do not change either my nature or my purpose; but according to the true teaching of my Law, I will punish all the wicked without any respect of persons: wherever wickedness and iniquity are found, there punishment will be inflicted.”

We now then understand how these two verses harmonize together. God shows that he will be a judge, and then, that he differs from men, who often change, as it has been said, in their decisions.

I will mention another meaning, which will perhaps be preferred by some. The question, after the manner of the Hebrews, may be taken as an affirmation, as though he had said, that within a short time, (for עוד, oud, means sometimes a short time,) the treasures of iniquity would not be found, for they would be taken away: then follows a confirmation, for frauds and robberies by false measures and deceitful weights could not escape God’s judgment. The meaning then would be, that as God must necessarily, according to his own office, punish thefts, it cannot be that he will suffer men, who cheat by false weights to continue always unpunished. It now follows —

Micah 6:12

12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

12. Quia (sic enim verto; nam qui putant esse relationum, frigide exponunt, cujus divites ejus impleverunt rapinis; potius est, quia There is nothing in what goes before for which a reason is given here: hence this אשר cannot be rendered as here proposed. It is an instance of a peculiarity in Hebrew, when a double pronoun is used. Literally it is, “Which the rich men of hers;” the reference is to the city mentioned in verse 9. Grotius, Newcome, and Henderson, render the words thus, “Whose rich men,” etc. The Welsh is very nearly the same, which no more than the Hebrew can with propriety be literally rendered in English or in the learned languages, — Yr hon y mae ei chyvoethogion yn llawn trais — The which her rich men are full of violence. But this mode of speaking has a more distinct and fuller reference to what is gone before than the simple relative “whose:” the connection is made more evident. — Ed. nam אשר saepe loco causalis particulae accipitur, quia ergo) divites ejus impleverunt (vel seipsos, vel domos suas, subaudiendum est) חמס, rapina (vel, violentia;) et incolae ejus locuti sunt fallaciam, et lingua eorum fallax (vel, fraudulenta) in ore ipsorum.

The Prophet means that the people were so given to avarice and plunder, that all the riches they had heaped together had been got by iniquitous robberies or by wicked gain. He now addresses the citizens of Jerusalem: for though iniquity then prevailed through the whole of Judea, there was yet a reason why he should distinctly accuse the inhabitants of Jerusalem; for they must have led the way by their example, and they were also worse in wickedness than the rest of the people: they were at least more obstinate, as they daily heard God’s Prophets.

Hence he says, her rich men gather not their wealth except by violence. It is indeed certain, that the rich were not then alone guilty before God; but this evil has too much prevailed, that the more liberty any one possesses, the more he employs it to do wrong. Those indeed who have not the power refrain, not because they are not inclined to do harm, but because they are as it were restrained; for poverty is often a bridle to men. As then the rich could spread their snares, as they had power to oppress the poor, the Prophet addresses his words to them, not that the rest were without fault or guilt, but because iniquity was more conspicuous in the rich, and that, because their wealthy as I have already said, gave them more power.

He afterwards extends his address to all the inhabitants, They all, he says, speak falsehood, that is, they have no sincerity, no uprightness; they are wholly given to frauds and deceits. And their tongue is false in their mouth This mode of speaking seems apparently absurd; for where can the tongue be except in the mouth? It appears then a sort of redundancy, when he says that their tongue was deceitful in their mouth. But it is an emphatical mode of speaking, by which the Hebrews mean, that men have falsehoods in readiness as soon as they open their mouth. It is then the same as though the Prophet had said, that no pure word and free from guile could come from them, for as soon as they opened their mouth, falsehoods instantly came forth; their tongue was fraudulent, so that none could expect from these men any truth or faithfulness. — How so? Because as soon as they began to speak, they instantly discovered some guile, there was ever in readiness some falsehood to circumvent the simple.

We now then see that not a few men were summoned before God’s tribunal, but that all without exception were condemned; as though the Prophet had said, that there was no more any integrity in the city, and that corruptions prevailed everywhere, for all were intent on deceiving one another. It follows —

Micah 6:13-14

13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

13. Et ego etiam affligam te percutiendo, et te disperdam super peccatis tuis (secundum tua scelera.)

14. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

14. Tu comedes, et non satiaberis; et dejectio tua in medio tui; et apprehendes, et non servabis; et quod servaveris gladio tradam.

God, after having declared that he would be the Judge of the people, speaks now more clearly of their punishment. He says therefore that he was armed with vengeance: for it often happens, when a judge, even one who hates wickedness, is not able to punish, for he dreads the fierceness of those whom he thinks himself unequal to restrain. Hence God intimates here, that there will not be wanting to him a power to punish the people, I will afflict thee, he says, by striking or wounding thee; for so some render the words. Newcome renders this line differently, —

Wherefore I will begin go smite thee.

Following a few MSS. And the Septuagint, he takes the verb here to be החלתי, which means, to begin; but the rendering seems flat, and suits not the passage; and it is not true, for the Lord has often smitten them before. The verb is in the past tense, and this has created a difficulty. The verbs in the following verse, which is connected with this, are all in the future tense, referring to a coming judgment. To remove this difficulty I propose the following version, —

But even I, who have made thee to grieve by striking thee, Will make thee wholly desolate on account of thy sins:

Then the threatened desolation is specified. The verb השמם, making desolate, is evidently a participle connected with אני I, at the beginning of the verse, the rest being an intervening clause: and when a participle follows a nominative case, which often occurs in Hebrew, the auxiliary verb must be supplied in a translation, which in its tense must be regulated by the context, and here by the verse which follows. Piscator renders it Desolabo, and says, that it is an infinitive put for the future. Grief or sorrow had already been produced, but now entire desolation is threatened. — Ed. The sum of what is said is, — that nothing would be an obstacle to prevent God from inflicting punishment on the people, for there would be no want of power in his case. There is therefore no reason for men to promise themselves any escape when God ascends his tribunal; for were they fortified by all possible means they could not ward off the hand of God.

And he points out what sort of punishment it would be; and he mentions even two kinds in this verse. He says first, Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied. One of God’s plagues, we know, is famine: and so the Prophet here declares, that the people would be famished, but not through the sterility of the fields. God indeed brings a famine in two ways: now the land yields no fruit; the corn withers, or, being smitten with hail, gives no fruit; and thus God by the sterility of the fields often reduces men to want and famine: then another mode is adopted, by which he can consume men with want, namely, when he breaks the staff of bread, when he takes away from bread its nourishing virtues so that it can no more support men, whatever quantity they may swallow; and this is what experience proves, if only we have eyes to observe the judgments of God. We now see the meaning of this clause, when he says, Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied; as though he said, “I can indeed, whenever it pleases me, deprive you of all food; the earth itself will become barren at my command: but that ye may more clearly understand that your life is in my hand, a good supply of fruit shall be produced, but it shall not satisfy you. Ye shall then perceive that bread is not sufficient to support you; for by eating ye shall not be able to derive from bread any nourishment.”

He then adds, And thy dejection Newcome, without the authority of a single MS., but following the Septuagint and Houbigant, has changed ישחך into יחשך, “it shall be dark.” Though the meaning of the passage is not thus materially affected, it is an alteration without sufficient reasons, there being no MS. in its favor, and no necessity arising from the passage itself: indeed, dejection or depression, or casting down, is more suitable to the context, and more emphatical. — Ed. shall be in the midst of thee; that is, though no man from without disturb or afflict thee yet thou shalt pine away with intestine evils. This is the real meaning; and interpreters have not sufficiently considered what the Prophet means, through too much negligence. But the passage ought to be noticed: for the Prophet, after having threatened a famine, not from want, but from the secret curse of God, now adds, Thy dejection shall be in the midst of thee; that is “Though I should rouse against thee no enemies, though evidences of my wrath should not appear, so as to be seen at a distance, yea, though no one should disturb thee, yet thy dejection, thy calamity, shall be in the midst of thee, as though it were cleaving to thy bowels; for thou shalt pine away through a hidden malady, when God shall pronounce his curse on thee.”

He now subjoins another kind of punishment, Thou shalt take hold, The verb is תסנ, which Henderson considers to be in Hephil, the י being left out, which is sometimes the case: with Drusius and others, he renders it, “remove,” that is not goods, as he says, but wives and children; for if any were for a time removed to a place of safety, they were afterwards to be given up to the sword. Several copies have ש instead of ס, which makes it to be the verb נשג, and this has the meaning of laying hold or apprehending. But either meaning will suit the context. — Ed. but shalt not deliver, and what thou shalt deliver, I will give up to the sword Some read, “A woman shall lay hold,” that is, conceive seed, “and shall not preserve it;” and then, “though she may bring forth in due time, I will yet give up what may be born to the sword.” But this meaning is too strained. Others apply the words to fathers, “Thou, father, shalt lay hold;” that is thou shalt endeavor to preserve thy children, “and thou shalt not preserve them.” But I wonder that interpreters have thus toiled in vain in a matter so simple and plain. For he addresses here the land, or he addresses the city: as though he said, “The city shall take hold,” or embrace, as every one does who wishes to preserve or keep any thing; for what we wish to keep safe, we lay hold on it, and keep it as it were in our arms; “and what thou shalt preserve, I will give up to the sword: thou wilt try all means to preserve thyself and thy people, but thou shalt not succeed: thou shalt then lose all thy labor, for though thou shouldest preserve some, yet the preserved shall not escape destruction.”

If any one prefers to refer what is said to women, with regard to conception, as the third person of the feminine gender is used, let him have his own opinion; for this sense may certainly be admitted, that is, that the Lord would render the women barren, and that what they might bring forth would be given up to the slaughter, inasmuch as the Lord would at length destroy with the sword both the parents and their children.

Prayer.

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou canst find in us cause enough to execute not only one kind of vengeance, but innumerable kinds of vengeance, so as to destroy us at length altogether, — O grant, that we may of our own accord anticipate thy judgment, and with true humility so abhor ourselves, that there may be kindled in us a genuine desire to seek what is just and right, and thus endeavor to devote ourselves wholly to thee, that we may find thee to be propitious to us: and since we in so many ways offend thee, grant, that in true and sincere faith we may raise up all our thoughts and affections to thy only-begotten Son, who is our propitiation, that thou being appeased, we may lay hold on him, and remain united to him by a sacred bond, until thou at length gatherest us all into that celestial kingdom, which he has procured for us by his own blood. Amen.

Lecture Ninety-fifth

Micah 6:15

15. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

15. Tu seres, et non metes; tu calcabis (vel, premes) oleum, et non unges te oleo; et mustum, et non bibes vinum.

The Prophet adds another kind of punishment, which was to follow the calamity threatened in the last verse. He had said, that those who escaped would at length be destroyed by the sword; he says now, that the whole land would become a prey to enemies: and he took his words from Moses; for it was usual with the prophets, when they wished to secure greater authority to themselves, to quote literally the curses contained in the Law, as in the present instance: see Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. Now it is well known, that God denounced this punishment, with others, on the people, — that when they sowed their fields, another would reap, — that when they cultivated with great labor their vineyards, others would become the vintagers. The meaning is that whatever fruit the land produced, would come into the hands of enemies, for all things would be exposed to plunder. Now it is a very grievous thing, when we see not only our provisions consumed by enemies, but also the fruit of our labor; which is the same as though they were to drink our blood: for the labor of man is often compared to blood, for labor occasions perspiration. It now follows —

Micah 6:16

16. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

16. Et observata sunt edicta Amri, et omne opus domus Ahab; et ambulabitis consiliis eorum, ut tradam te in excidium (vel, vastitatem,) et incolas ejus in sibilum; et opprobrium populi mei portabitis.

Some read the words in the future tense, “And they will observe the statutes of Omri,” etc., and gather this meaning, — that the Prophet now foresees by the Spirit, that the people would continue so perverse in their sins, as to exclude every hope that they could be reformed by any punishments. The meaning then would be, “The Lord has indeed determined to punish sharply and severely the wickedness of this people; but they will not repent; they will nevertheless remain stupid in their obstinacy, and go on in their superstitions, which they have learned from the kings of Israel.” There is however another view, and one more generally approved and that is, — that the Jews, having forsaken God, and despised his Law, had turned aside to the superstitions of the kingdom of Israel. Hence he says, that observed were the decrees of Omri, and every work of the house of Ahab Omri was the father of Ahab, who was made king by the election of the soldiers, when Zimri, who had slain the king, was rejected. When Omri bought Samaria, he built there a city; and to secure honor to it, he added a temple; and hence idolatry increased. Afterwards his son Ahab abandoned himself to every kind of superstition. Thus matters became continually worse. Hence the Prophet, by mentioning here king Omri and his posterity, (included in the words, “the house of Ahab”) clearly means, that the Jews who had purely worshipped God, at length degenerated, and were now wholly unlike Israelites, as they had embraced all those abominations which Omri and his son Ahab had devised. True religion as yet prevailed in the tribe of Judah, though the kingdom of Israel was become corrupt, and filthy superstitions had gained the ascendancy: but in course of time the Jews became also implicated in similar superstitions. Of this sin the Prophet now accuses them; that is, that they made themselves associates with the Israelites: Observed The verb, ישתמר, is in the singular, and is followed by its nominative case, which is in the plural number. Grammarians are at a loss to account for this, and hence propose several modes of construction. But it is evidently an anomalous idiom, somewhat similar to that in Greek, when plural neuters take a verb in the singular number. As it has been already observed, such a construction as we find here, is very common in the Welsh language. The verb is in Hithpael, the reflective mood, the ת, as often the case, changing place with the first letter of the verb. It is not always that this mood is reflective, but is sometimes passive, as we find to be the case with סתר, in Isaiah 29:14, and עבר, in Deuteronomy 3:26. And so here it does not retain its reflective meaning. But it may be, that intensity, diligence, or earnestness, is intended to be conveyed; that is, that the statutes of Omri were diligently and carefully observed. — Ed. then are the edicts of Omri, and the whole work of the house of Ahab: Ye walk, he says, (the future here means a continued act, as often elsewhere,) ye walk in their counsels.

It must be observed, that the Prophet here uses respectable terms, when he says that הקעת, chekut, statutes or decrees, were observed; and when he adds, “the counsels” of the kings of Israel: but yet this is in no way stated as an excuse for them; for though men may not only be pleased with, but also highly commend, their own devices, yet the Lord abominates them all. The Prophet no doubt designedly adopted these words, in order to show that those pretenses were frivolous and of no account, which superstitious men adduce, either to commend or to excuse their own inventions. They ever refer to public authority, — “This has been received by the consent of all; that has been decreed; it is not the mistake of one or two men; but the whole Church has so determined: and kings also thus command; it would be a great sin not to show obedience to them.” Hence the Prophet, in order to show how puerile are such excuses, says, “I indeed allow that your superstitions are by you honorably distinguished, for they are approved by the edicts of your kings, and are received by the consent of the many, and they seem not to have been inconsiderately and unadvisedly, but prudently contrived, even by great men, who were become skillful through long experience.” But how much soever they might have boasted of their statutes and counsels, and however plausibly they might have referred to prudence and power in order to disguise their idolatries, yet all those things were of no account before God. By counsels, the Prophet no doubt meant that false kind of wisdom which always shines forth in the traditions of men; and by statutes, he meant the kingly authority.

We hence see that it is a vain thing to color over what is idolatrous, by alleging power on the one hand in its favor, and wisdom on the other. — How so? Because God will not allow dishonor to be done to him by such absurd things; but he commands us to worship him according to what is prescribed in his Word.

And now a denunciation of punishment follows, That I should deliver thee to desolation, and its inhabitants, etc. There is a change of person; the Prophet continually addresses the land, and under that name, the people, — that I should then deliver thee to exile, or desolation, and thine inhabitants to hissing It is a quotation from Moses: and by hissing he means the reproach and mockery to which men in a miserable state are exposed.

At last he adds, Ye shall bear the reproach of my people Some take the word, people, in a good sense, as though the Prophet had said here, that God would punish the wrongs which the rich had done to the distressed common people; but this view, in my judgment, is too confined. Others understand this by the reproach of God’s people, — that nothing would be more reproachful to the Jews, than that they had been the people of God; for it would redound to their dishonor and disgrace, that they, who had been honored by such an honorable name, were afterwards given up to so great miseries. But the passage may be otherwise explained: we may understand by the people of God the Israelites; as though the Prophet said, “Do ye not perceive how the Israelites have been treated? Were they not a part of my people? They were descendants from the race of Abraham as well as you; nor can you boast of a higher dignity: They were then equal to you in the opinion of all; and yet this privilege did not hinder my judgment, did not prevent me from visiting them as they deserved.” Such a view harmonizes with the passage: but there is, as I think, something ironical in the expression, “my people;” as though he said, “The confidence, that ye have been hitherto my people, hardens you: but this false and wicked boasting shall increase your punishment; for I will not inflict on you an ordinary punishment, as on heathens and strangers; but I shall punish your wickedness much more severely; for it is necessary, that your punishment should bear proportion to my favor, which has been so shamefully and basely despised by you.” Hence, by the reproach of God’s people, I understand the heavier judgments, which were justly prepared for all the ungodly, whom God had favored with such special honor, as to regard them as his people: for the servant, who knew his master’s will, and did it not, was on that account more severely corrected, There is another view mentioned by Drusius, — that is, the reproach which God had previously denounced on his people, in case they sinned and continued in their perverseness. Reproach in this sense would mean punishment. — Ed. Luke 12:47. Let us now proceed —

Chapter 7

Micah 7:1-2

1. Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

1. Vae mihi (alii deducunt a ילל, ululare meum; sed est particula dolentis apud Hebraeos; Vae mihi ergo,) quia fui sicut collectiones aestatis (sic est ad verbum,) et sicuti racemi vindemiae; nullus botrus ad comedendum; maturos fructus (vel, primitias frugum) desideravit anima mea.

2. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

2. Periit humanus (vel, mansuetus) e terra, et rectus in hominibus nemo est; et omnes sanguinibus insidiantur, quisque fratrem suum venatur reti (alii, ad perniciem; et הרם, etiam Hebraeis interdum est occisio.)

CHAPTER 6

Mi 6:1-16. Appeal before All Creation to the Israelites to Testify, if They Can, if Jehovah Ever Did Aught but Acts of Kindness to Them from the Earliest Period: God Requires of Them Not So Much Sacrifices, as Real Piety and Justice: Their Impieties and Coming Punishment.

1. contend thou--Israel is called by Jehovah to plead with Him in controversy. Mi 5:11-13 suggested the transition from those happy times described in the fourth and fifth chapters, to the prophet's own degenerate times and people.

before the mountains--in their presence; personified as if witnesses (compare Mi 1:2; De 32:1; Is 1:2). Not as the Margin, "with"; as God's controversy is with Israel, not with them.

2. Lord's controversy--How great is Jehovah's condescension, who, though the supreme Lord of all, yet wishes to prove to worms of the earth the equity of His dealings (Is 5:3; 43:26).

3. my people--the greatest aggravation of their sin, that God always treated them, and still treats them, as His people.

what have I done unto thee?--save kindness, that thou revoltest from Me (Jr 2:5, 31).

wherein have I wearied thee?--What commandments have I enjoined that should have wearied thee as irksome (1Jo 5:3)?

4. For--On the contrary, so far from doing anything harsh, I did thee every kindness from the earliest years of thy nationality.

Miriam--mentioned, as being the prophetess who led the female chorus who sang the song of Moses (Ex 15:20). God sent Moses to give the best laws; Aaron to pray for the people; Miriam as an example to the women of Israel.

5. what Balak ... consulted--how Balak plotted to destroy thee by getting Balaam to curse thee (Nu 22:5).

what Balaam ... answered--how the avaricious prophet was constrained against his own will, to bless Israel whom he had desired to curse for the sake of Balak's reward (Nu 24:9-11) [Maurer]. Grotius explains it, "how Balaam answered, that the only way to injure thee was by tempting thee to idolatry and whoredom" (Nu 31:16). The mention of "Shittim" agrees with this: as it was the scene of Israel's sin (Nu 25:1-5; 2Pe 2:15; Re 2:14).

from Shittim unto Gilgal--not that Balaam accompanied Israel from Shittim to Gilgal: for he was slain in Midian (Nu 31:8). But the clause, "from Shittim," alone applies to Balaam. "Remember" God's kindnesses "from Shittim," the scene of Balaam's wicked counsel taking effect in Israel's sin, whereby Israel merited utter destruction but for God's sparing mercy, "to Gilgal," the place of Israel's first encampment in the promised land between Jericho and Jordan, where God renewed the covenant with Israel by circumcision (Jos 5:2-11).

know the righteousness--Recognize that, so far from God having treated thee harshly (Mi 6:3), His dealings have been kindness itself (so "righteous acts" for gracious, Jud 5:11; Psa 24:5, 112:9).

6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?--The people, convicted by the previous appeal of Jehovah to them, ask as if they knew not (compare Mi 6:8) what Jehovah requires of them to appease Him, adding that they are ready to offer an immense heap of sacrifices, and those the most costly, even to the fruit of their own body.

burnt offerings--(Le 1:1-17).

calves of a year old--which used to be offered for a priest (Le 9:2, 3).

7. rivers of oil--used in sacrifices (Le 2:1, 15). Will God be appeased by my offering so much oil that it shall flow in myriads of torrents?

my first-born--(2Ki 3:27). As the king of Moab did.

fruit of my body--my children, as an atonement (Psa 132:11). The Jews offered human sacrifices in the valley of Hinnom (Jr 19:5; 32:35; Eze 23:27).

8. He--Jehovah.

hath showed thee--long ago, so that thou needest not ask the question as if thou hadst never heard (Mi 6:6; compare De 10:12; 30:11-14).

what is good--"the good things to come" under Messiah, of which "the law had the shadow." The Mosaic sacrifices were but suggestive foreshadowings of His better sacrifice (He 9:23; 10:1). To have this "good" first "showed," or revealed by the Spirit, is the only basis for the superstructure of the moral requirements which follow. Thus the way was prepared for the Gospel. The banishment of the Jews from Palestine is designed to preclude the possibility of their looking to the Mosaic rites for redemption, and shuts them up to Messiah.

justly ... mercy--preferred by God to sacrifices. For the latter being positive ordinances, are only means designed with a view to the former, which being moral duties are the ends, and of everlasting obligation (1Sa 15:22; Ho 6:6; 12:6; Am 5:22, 24). Two duties towards man are specified--justice, or strict equity; and mercy, or a kindly abatement of what we might justly demand, and a hearty desire to do good to others.

to walk humbly with thy God--passive and active obedience towards God. The three moral duties here are summed up by our Lord (Mt 23:23), "judgment, mercy, and faith" (in Lu 11:42, "the love of God"). Compare Jas 1:27. To walk with God implies constant prayer and watchfulness, familiar yet "humble" converse with God (Ge 5:24; 17:1).

9. unto the city--Jerusalem.

the man of wisdom--As in Pr 13:6, Hebrew, "sin" is used for "a man of sin," and in Psa 109:4, "prayer" for "a man of prayer"; so here "wisdom" for "the man of wisdom."

shall see thy name--shall regard Thee, in Thy revelations of Thyself. Compare the end of Mi 2:7. God's "name" expresses the sum-total of His revealed attributes. Contrast with this Is 26:10, "will not behold the majesty of the Lord." Another reading is adopted by the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, "there is deliverance for those who fear Thy name." English Version is better suited to the connection; and the rarity of the Hebrew expression, as compared with the frequency of that in the other reading, makes it less likely to be an interpolation.

hear ... the rod, &c.--Hear what punishment (compare Mi 6:13, &c.; Is 9:3; 10:5, 24) awaits you, and from whom. I am but a man, and so ye may disregard me; but remember my message is not mine, but God's. Hear the rod when it is come, and you feel its smart. Hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks.

appointed it--(Jr 47:7).

10. Are there yet--notwithstanding all My warnings. Is there to be no end of acquiring treasures by wickedness? Jehovah is speaking (Mi 6:9).

scant measure ... abominable--(Pr 11:1; Am 8:5).

11. Shall I count them pure--literally, "Shall I be pure with?" &c. With the pure God shows Himself pure; but with the froward God shows Himself froward (Psa 18:26). Men often are changeable in their judgments. But God, in the case of the impure who use "wicked balances," cannot be pure, that is, cannot deal with them as He would with the pure. Vatablus and Henderson make the "I" to be "any one"; "Can I (that is, one) be innocent with wicked balances?" But as "I," in Mi 6:13, refers to Jehovah, it must refer to Him also here.

the bag--in which weights used to be carried, as well as money (De 25:13; Pr 16:11).

12. For--rather, "Inasmuch as"; the conclusion "therefore," &c. following in Mi 6:13.

thereof--of Jerusalem.

13. make thee sick in smiting--(Le 26:16, to which perhaps the allusion here is, as in Mi 6:14; Psa 107:17, 18; Jr 13:13).

14. eat ... not be satisfied--fulfiling the threat, Le 26:26.

thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee--Thou shalt be cast down, not merely on My borders, but in the midst of thee, thy metropolis and temple being overthrown [Tirinus]. Even though there should be no enemy, yet thou shalt be consumed with intestine evils [Calvin]. Maurer translates as from an Arabic root, "there shall be emptiness in thy belly." Similarly Grotius, "there shall be a sinking of thy belly (once filled with food), through hunger." This suits the parallelism to the first clause. But English Version maintains the parallelism sufficiently. The casting down in the midst of the land, including the failure of food, through the invasion thus answering to, "Thou shalt eat, and not be satisfied."

thou shalt take hold, but ... not deliver--Thou shalt take hold (with thine arms), in order to save [Calvin] thy wives, children and goods. Maurer, from a different root, translates, "thou shalt remove them," in order to save them from the foe. But thou shalt fail in the attempt to deliver them (Jr 50:37).

that which thou deliverest--If haply thou dost rescue aught, it will be for a time: I will give it up to the foe's sword.

15. sow ... not reap--fulfilling the threat (Le 26:16; De 28:38-40; Am 5:11).

16. statutes of Omri--the founder of Samaria and of Ahab's wicked house; and a supporter of Jeroboam's superstitions (1Ki 16:16-28). This verse is a recapitulation of what was more fully stated before, Judah's sin and consequent punishment. Judah, though at variance with Israel on all things else, imitated her impiety.

works of ... Ahab--(1Ki 21:25, 26).

ye walk in their counsels--Though these superstitions were the fruit of their king's "counsels" as a master stroke of state policy, yet these pretexts were no excuse for setting at naught the counsels and will of God.

that I should make thee a desolation--Thy conduct is framed so, as if it was thy set purpose "that I should make thee a desolation."

inhabitants thereof--namely, of Jerusalem.

hissing--(La 2:15).

the reproach of my people--The very thing ye boast of, namely, that ye are "My people," will only increase the severity of your punishment. The greater My grace to you, the greater shall be your punishment for having despised it, Your being God's people in name, while walking in His love, was an honor; but now the name, without the reality, is only a "reproach" to you.

Arise, contend thou - This chapter is a sort of dialogue between God and the people. God speaks the five first verses, and convicts the people of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The People, convinced of their iniquity, deprecate God's judgments, in the sixth and seventh verses. In the eighth verse God prescribes the way in which they are to be saved; and then the prophet, by the command of God, goes on to remonstrate from the ninth verse to the end of the chapter.

Hear ye, O mountains - Micah, as God's advocate, summons this people into judgment, and makes an appeal to inanimate creation against them. He had spoken to the priests, to the princes, to the people. He had done every thing that was necessary to make them wise, and holy, and happy; they had uniformly disobeyed, and were ever ungrateful. It was not consistent with either the justice or mercy of God to permit them to go on without reprehension and punishment. He now calls them into judgment; and such was the nature of their crimes that, to heighten the effect, and show what reason he had to punish such a people, he appeals to inanimate creation. Their ingratitude and rebellion are sufficient to make the mountains, the hills, and the strong foundations of the earth to hear, tremble, and give judgment against them. This, then, is the Lord's controversy with his people, and thus he will plead with Israel.

O my people, what have I done unto thee? - They are called to show why God should not pronounce sentence upon them. This condescension is truly astonishing! God appears to humble himself to his creatures. You have acted basely, treacherously, and ungratefully to me; this had already been proved by the prophets. What cause have I given you for such conduct? I have required a religious service from you; but have I wearied you by a fatiguing round of difficult duties? If I have, now testify against me; and you shall be first heard, and your plea received, if it be reasonable and good. They are silent; and God proceeds, and states what he has done for them.

I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt - Where you were slaves, and grievously oppressed; from all this I redeemed you. Was this a small benefit? I sent before thee Moses, my chosen servant, and instructed him that he might be your leader and lawgiver. I sent with him Aaron, that he might be your priest and transact all spiritual matters between myself and you, in offerings, sacrifices, and atonements. I sent Miriam, to whom I gave the spirit of prophecy, that she might tell you things to come, and be the director of your females. To this sense the Chaldee, "I have sent three prophets before you; Moses, that he might teach you the tradition of judgments, Aaron, that he might make atonement for the people; and Miriam, that she might instruct the females."

Remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted - He sent for Balaam to curse your fathers; but by my influence he was obliged to bless them. See Numbers 22 (note) and Numbers 23 (note), and the notes there, where this subject is largely considered.

From Shittim unto Gilgal - From the encampment at Shittim, Num 25:1, on the way to that of Gilgal, Jos 4:19. Balaam gave different answers in the interval between these places. We may suppose that the encampments of Israel advanced slowly to that part of Jordan which was opposite to Gilgal. The Chaldee has, "Were there not wonderful things done in your behalf from the valley of Shittim to the house of Gilgal?" See Jos 3:1; Jos 4:20. Thus there will be a reference to the miraculous passage over Jordan. See Newcome.

That ye may know the righteousness - The just, equitable, and merciful dealing of the Most High. Recollect those things, that ye may have a proper impression of this. There are many interpretations given of this rather obscure clause; what I have proposed seems to me the most simple.

This is the sum of the address; and here the case of the plaintiff terminates, the prisoners being called to show why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced. I make no apology for using any forensic terms, as the passages before us refer to a case brought into a court to be judged, and the terms in the original are all such as are proper for a court of justice; and the thing itself is called the Lord's controversy, ריב יהוה rib Yehovah, Jehovah's suit at law. And hence it is said, He will plead, litigate, with Israel.

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord - Now the people, as defendants, appear; but instead of vindicating themselves, or attempting to dispute what has been alleged against them, they seem at once to plead guilty; and now anxiously inquire how they shall appease the wrath of the Judge, how they shall make atonement for the sins already committed.

Bow myself before the high God - They wish to pray, and to make supplication to their Judge; but how shall they come before him? They have no right to come into his presence. Some offering must be brought; but of what kind, or of what value? Their sin is unprecedented, and usual methods of access will not avail. They are distracted in their minds, and make a variety of proposals to themselves, some rational, some absurd and impossible, and some even sinful.

Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings - This is reasonable, and according to the law; but this will be insufficient.

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams - These might be procured, though with difficulty; but conscience says neither will these do.

With ten thousands of rivers of oil - This is absurd and impossible; but could even these be procured, could they all make atonement for such guilt, and ingratitude, and rebellion?

Shall I give my first-born for my transgression - This was sinful and wicked; but such offerings had been made by the Phoenicians, and their successors the Carthaginians, and this very custom was copied by the corrupt Israelites. See some cases of such offerings, 2Kgs 3:27 (note); Lev 20:27 (note).

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? - This clause is an explanation of the former. Shall I make the first-born, the best and goodliest of my children, חטאת chattath, a Sin-Offering for my soul? And thus the original is used in a multitude of places.

When they had put all these questions to their reason and conscience, they found no satisfaction; their distraction is increased, and despair is about to take place, when Jehovah, the plaintiff, in his mercy interposes:

He hath showed thee, O Man, what is good - All the modes of expiation which ye have proposed are, in the sight of God, unavailable; they cannot do away the evil, nor purify from the guilt of sin. He himself has shown thee what is good; that which is profitable to thee, and pleasing to himself. And what is that? Answer, Thou art: -

I. To do justly; to give to all their due.

1. To God his due; thy heart, thy body, soul, and spirit; thy Wisdom, understanding, judgment. "To love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." This is God's due and right from every man.

2. Thou art to give thy neighbor his due to do to him as thou wouldst that he should do to thee, never working ill to him.

3. Thou art to give to thyself thy due; not to deprive thy soul of what God has provided for it; to keep thy body in temperance, sobriety, and chastity; avoiding all excesses, both in action and passion.

II. Thou art to love mercy; not only to do what justice requires, but also what mercy, kindness, benevolence, and charity require.

III. But how art thou to do this? Thou art to walk humbly with thy God; הצנע hatsnea, to humble thyself to walk. This implies to acknowledge thy iniquity, and submit to be saved by his free mercy, as thou hast already found that no kind of offering or sacrifice can avail. Without this humiliation of soul there never was, there never can be, any walking With God; for without his mercy no soul can be saved; and he must be Thy God before thou canst walk with him. Many, when they hear the nature of sin pointed out, and the way of salvation made plain through the blood of the Lamb, have shut their eyes both against sin and the proper sacrifice for it, and parried all exhortation, threatening, etc., with this text: "God requires nothing of us but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with him." Now I ask any man, Art thou willing to stand or fall by this text? And it would cost me neither much time nor much pains to show that on this ground no soul of man can be saved. Nor does God say that this doing justly, etc., shall merit eternal glory. No. He shows that in this way all men should walk; that this is the duty of Every rational being; but he well knows that no fallen soul can act thus without especial assistance from him, and that it is only the regenerate man, the man who has found redemption through the blood of the cross, and has God for His God, that can thus act and walk. Salvation is of the mere mercy of God alone; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The manner of raising attention, says Bp. Newcome, on Mic 6:1, Mic 6:2, by calling on man to urge his plea in the face of all nature, and on the inanimate creation to hear the expostulation of Jehovah with his people, is truly awakening and magnificent. The wards of Jehovah follow in Mic 6:3-5. And God's mercies having been set before the people, one of them is introduced in a beautiful dramatic form; asking what his duty is towards so gracious a God, Mic 6:6, Mic 6:7. The answer follows in the words of the prophet, Mic 6:8. Some think we have a sort of dialogue between Balak and Balaam, represented to us in the prophetical way. The king of Moab speaks, Mic 6:6. Balaam replies by another question in the two first hemistichs of Mic 6:7. The king of Moab rejoins in the remaining part of the verse; and Balaam replies, Mic 6:8. Bps. Butler and Lowth favor this. I cannot agree.

The Lord's voice crieth unto the city - No man is found to hear; but the man of wisdom will hear, תושיה tushiyah; a word frequent in the writings of Solomon and Job, signifying wisdom, wealth, substance, reason, essence, happiness; any thing that is complete; or that which is substantial, in opposition to vanity, emptiness, mere show, unsubstantiality. When God speaks, the man of common sense, who has any knowledge of God or his own soul, will see thy name; but instead of יראה yireh, will see, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, with twelve of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., have read יראי yirey, they that Fear. The Vulgate reads: -

Et salus erit timentibus nomen tuum. "And thou shalt be salvation to them that fear thy name."

The Septuagint - Και σωσει φαβουμενους το ονομα αυτου.

And he shall save those who fear his name. -

This the Arabic copies.

The Targum has, "And the teachers shall fear the name." That is, יהוה Yehovah.

The French Bible is very strange: -

Car ton nom volt comme il va de tout. "For thy name sees how every thing goes."

The word תושיה tushiyah, mentioned above, which occasions all the difficulty, has been read with an ע ain by the Vulgate and Septuagint, as coming from the root ישע yasha, to be saved; and it is very likely that this was the original reading. The two last letters in the word, יה, might have been easily mistaken in the MS. for the letter ע where I may suppose the word stood thus, תושע, shall be saved; and as several MSS. read יראי yirey, they who fear, instead of יראה yireh, he shall see, the whole clause might have been just what it appears in the Vulgate and Septuagint. It is also necessary to remark that the word in dispute has various forms in some MSS., which is a strong presumption against its authenticity. See Kennicott and De Rossi.

Are there yet the treasures of wickedness - Such as false balances and deceitful weights. See on Hos 12:7 (note). This shows that they were not Doing Justly. They did not give to each his due.

For the rich men thereof are full of violence - This shows that they did not love mercy.

The inhabitants thereof have spoken lies - This shows that they did not humble themselves to walk with God.

Will I make thee sick in smiting thee - Perhaps better, "I also am weary with smiting thee, in making thee desolate for thy sins." They were corrected, but to no purpose; they had stroke upon stroke, but were not amended.

Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied - All thy possessions are cursed, because of thy sins; and thou hast no real good in all thy enjoyments.

And thy casting down - For וישחך veyeshchacha, "thy casting down," Newcome, by transposing the ח and ש, reads ויחשך veyechshach, "and it shall be dark;" and this is probably the true reading. The Arabic and Septuagint have read the same. "There shall be calamity in the midst of thee." It shall have its seat and throne among you.

Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap - Thou shalt labor to amass property, but thou shalt not have God's blessing; and whatever thou collectest, thy enemies shall carry away. And at last carry thyself into captivity.

The statutes of Omri are kept - Omri, king of Israel, the father of Ahab, was one of the worst kings the Israelites ever had; and Ahab followed in his wicked father's steps. The statutes of those kings were the very grossest idolatry. Jezebel, wife of the latter, and daughter of Ithobaal, king of Tyre, had no fellow on earth. From her Shakespeare seems to have drawn the character of Lady Macbeth; a woman, like her prototype, mixed up of tigress and fiend, without addition. Omri Ahab, and Jezebel, were the models followed by the Israelites in the days of this prophet.

The inhabitants thereof a hissing - לשרקה lishrekah, "for a shriek;" because those who should see them should be both astonished and affrighted at them.

There are few chapters in the prophets, or in the Bible, superior to this for genuine worth and importance. The structure is as elegant as it is impressive; and it is every way worthy of the Spirit of God.

Arise - This is God's command to Micah. Contend thou - Argue the case between God and thy people; and speak as if thou wouldst make the mountains hear thee, to testify for me.

Foundations of the earth - The mountains properly so called; the sin of Israel is so notorious, that the whole creation may be summoned as a witness against them.

What have I done - What injustice or unkindness? What grievous, burdensome impositions have I laid upon thee. Wearied thee - Speak, what it is hath caused thee to be weary of me?

And Miriam - A prophetess to be assistant to her brothers, and to be an example and a counsellor to the women.

Shittim - This is the place where Balak began by the women of Midian to debauch Israel as Baalim had counselled, and so continued to do, even to Gilgal, all along the borders of his dominion. The righteousness - His mercy, justice and veracity.

Wherewith - One whose heart was touched by the preceeding expostulation, may be supposed to make this enquiry.

Thousands - Ever so many. Ten thousands of rivers - Were it possible to give them.

Crieth - Either by his judgments, each of which is the Lord's voice, or by his prophets. The city - To every city in Israel and Judah, but principally to Jerusalem and Samaria. The man of wisdom - Every wise man. See thy name - Will perceive God in that cry. The rod - Hear ye the voice of God in the punishments God is now sending. Appointed it - Who hath chosen it out, and strikes with it.

Yet - After so many express laws, and so many examples of punishment. Treasures - Gotten by injurious courses.

Count them pure - Approve, or acquit then as if they were righteous.

Thereof - Of Jerusalem and Samaria.

Sick - God will e're long so smite, that the strokes shall reach the heart, and make Israel heartsick of his wounds.

In the midst of thee - Thou shalt be cast down at home by thy own hands. Thou shalt take hold - This may refer either to persons or things, on which we lay hold in order to save them. Shalt not deliver - Where thou lodgest thy children, and layest up thy wealth, thither the enemy shall pursue thee; or if thou fly into other countries, it shall not be a safe refuge to thee. Which thou deliverest - For a little while.

Thou shalt not reap - An enemy shall reap it. Sweet wine - Thou shalt tread the grapes which afford sweet wine.

The statutes - The idolatrous worship was set up by Omri in the royal city. Ye - O house of Israel. That I should make thee - This will be the event. Thereof - Of the land. The reproach - The reproach threatened in the law, if my people forsake me.

1 HEar ye now what the Lord saith , Arise , contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice .

Vid. chap. 1. v[illegible: 1 letter]r. 2. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. l. m. n.

Whilest the Lord is willing to debate with you, before it be too late for you.

Though 'tis a man like your selves, who speaketh, yet he comes from the Lord, and with the Lords message, and 'tis the Lord who speaketh by Micah.

This is Gods Command to Micah, who is bidden to arise; so Ionah chap. 1. v[illegible: 1 letter]r. 2. which see. Prophets as other men could be content to sit at ease, and neither be troubled by others, or troublesom to others; and perhaps the little success of Micah's preaching had occasioned him to retire and sit down; now God rowseth him, get up, prepare thy self,

plead Micah the present cause, argue the case that is between thy God Plaintif, and thy people Delinquents.

Plead openly, vehemently, let there be witnesses to hear the case which is so clear on Gods side, and so full against thy people, that the very Mountains and Hills on which they have sinned against me notoriously, on which I have blessed them abundantly, had they eyes and ears, and voice, would testify that I have planted them with Vines, Olives, Fig-trees, and clothed them with Grass and Flocks, and stored them with Springs, and beautified them with Cedars, Oaks, and all pleasant Trees of the Forrest; this I have done upon the Mountains and Hills for my people, and there they have made their Groves, set up their Idols, sacrificed to Devils, and committed other lewdnesses not to be named. O Micah, speak as if thou wouldest make Mountains hear thee to testifie for me, Deut. 32.1. Isa. 1.2.

Marginal references: O[illegible: 1 letter] ▪ wit[illegible: 1 letter].

2 Hear ye, O mountains , the LORDS controversie , and ye strong foundations of the earth : for the LORD hath a controversie with his people , and he will plead with Israel .

In the first verse God directs Micah to take the Mountains and Hills for Witnesses; now in this verse he doth call upon those Mountains to hear: It is a Prosopopeia, an Elegant personating of Hearers and Witnesses, as Deut. 32.1. Isa. 1.2. and 2.2. some by Mountains understand Princes and Nobles, and by strong Foundations of the Earth inferiour Magistrates, as P[illegible: 1 letter]al. 75.3. but it may as well, or better be an appeal to these Creatures in so just a cause for their Creator.

Whose Soveraign Majesty may well command what he pleaseth, and expect to be obey'd, and whose unparallel'd Goodness to Israel ought to have been uncontroverted motives to obey him in all things, yet the Sovereign Goodness is slighted and disobeyed, on which he now impleads his people, brings his Action against them.

Call'd before Hills: It is an explana[illegible: 1 letter]ion of the former, Mountains, or it may be an appeal to those deep foundations which are hid from any Eye, and which seem most remote from what is done on Earth, but the ill carriage, the disobedience, and sin of Israel is so notorious, that the whole Creation may be Sub poena'd Witnesses against them.

Covenant, Redeemed, and only people, as Amos 3.2.

No longer put off the cause, nor forbear to punish them, and right himself, he will bring the cause to hearing Judgment, and Execution too.

Marginal references: Psal. 5.1, 4.; Isa. 1.18. and 5.3, 4. and 43.26. Hos. 4.1.

3 O my people , what have I done unto thee ? and wherein have I wearied thee? testifie against me .

You whole house of Israel, my people chosen in A[illegible: 2 letters]a[illegible: 1 letter]a[illegible: 1 letter], Isaac, and Iacob, multiplyed in Egypt, and by many Miracles owned, redeemed, and carryed through the Wilderness, and setled in the promised Land.

If I have done onely good, why art thou weary of me, if thou know any evil I have done, declare it, say what iniquity hast thou found in me, as Ier. 2.5.31.

What grievous, or burthensom impositions that thou mightest justly groan under.

Speak, declare, spare not, thou who canst not recount all the Good I have done for thee, and who canst not find out one evil I ever did to thee, declare what 'tis hath caused thee to be weary of me?

4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt , and redeemed thee out of the house of servants , and I sent before thee Moses , Aaron , and Miriam .

Look as far back as thy coming out of Egypt, near seven hundred and forty years agone, with an out-stretched arm.

Where by Servants thou wert opprest, where thy oppressours d[illegible: 1 letter]d plot thy utter extirpation, where thou servedst in the iron Furnace.

Deliver thee by mighty Power, and gave Egypt for thy ransom, I made them pay dear for their detaining thee, and [illegible: 1 letter]ll using of thee,

being off-spring of Canaan, they were in their Fathers curse doomed to be Servants, and were, (as servile minds are) most barbaro[illegible: 1 letter]sly cr[illegible: 2 letters]l to Israel, as appears by the bloody edict against the Ma[illegible: 2 letters]-Children, and by requiring brick without straw, their bondage was a cruel bondage under which they groaned,

A man excellently qualified to be a conduct to them, a very learned Martial, and experienced Man he improved his first forty years by the advantages of a Royal Education first, and next by the great employments which such persons are called to, for his Wisdom, and Learning, his Might, and Valour you have witness, Acts 7.22. the Heb[illegible: 1 letter]. Tradition is, that he fought, and got many Battels, in which he commanded as Generalissimo for Pharaoh. Moses was beside this admitted to extraordinary consults with God, by this means their Model of politie was made very exact.

A Person called to the exercise of the highest Office in the Priesthood, to offer Sacrifice, and make atonement for the sins of the people, and to be a Type of the great intercessour.

A Prohetess to be assistant to her Brothers last mentioned, to be Example and Counsellor to the Women; God furnisht them with Magistrate, Priest, and Prophet.

Marginal references: Exod. 12.51. and 14.30. and 20.2.

5 O my people remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted , and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal , that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD .

O Israel think well of it, what I did then, was worthy of a grateful remembrance to this day.

This man though a great, and warlike Prince, yet would not adventure by plain force to set upon Israel, he wisht their ruin, he contrived it, and had he succeeded in his first attempt to bring Israel under a curse; he was resolved next to attacque them by force.

A Man accounted to be a Prophet, and a holy man able to blast any by his curse, and able to advance any affairs by his blessing, but really he was a Soothsayer, and a man of pernicious Counsels.

Forced against his interest and inclinations to bless Israel. Deut. 23.4, 5. and Iosh. 24.10. and to confess he could▪ not prevail with God to curse Israel, so also remember how Balaam counselled Balak to draw your Fathers to sin, how this snare took, and how it cost twenty four thousand lives. The story at large you have, Numb. 22.23.24. and 25. chap.

This the place where Balak began by fair, but le[illegible: 1 letter]'d Women of Midian to debauch Israel as Balaam had counselled, and so continued to Gi[illegible: 1 letter]gal all along the borders of his Dominion, or else thus remember, O my people how I spared thee in the matter of Baal-Peor, for which thou deservedst to be destroyed at Shittim, remember also the mercies I gave under the conduct of Ioshua after Moses's his Death, which fell out whilest you abode at Shittim, Iosh. 3.1.

Where Israel first took possession of the promised Land, and saw visibly the faithfulness of their God.

The mercy, justice, uprightness, veracity as it signifies, but here it rather denotes the right on God's side in this Controversie with his people.

Marginal references: Rev. [illegible: 2 letters]; Jo[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 2 letters]

6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD , and bow my self before the high God ? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old ?

With what Heb. what preparation shall I make for a due and right address unto God?

In the person of all the people, or else in the person of the most thinking among them, this I, is the people of the Iews.

It is a Temple phrase, and contains the solemn attendance on God in his Worship, well paraphrased, in the Chald. Par. with what shall I serve before the Lord?

This is exegetical to the former phrase, when I come to bow my self, and worship the Lord, with what shall I appear?

Such was the God of Israel, Heaven his Throne, the Earth his Foot-stool, Idols are Dunghil Gods, our God alone is the God who dwells on high.

Shall these suffice for testimony that I owe my all to God, or appease his displeasure, which justly might devour me as the fire the sacrifice.

It is probable this repeats (as is usual in Scripture to confirm and affect us the more) the thing before mentioned.

In the foregoing part of the Chapter you have, God's resolution to have a hearing, ver. 1, 2. and his plea for himself against an ungrateful people, ver. 3.4, 5. Now in this verse you have the result which is either an unfeigned Submission, and Justification of God's just proceedings made by some of the best of this people, or else an enquiry made by men among them, who did yet retain some opinion of their own integrity much like those, Isa. 58. ver. 3. they were ready to say, we have offered Sacrifices as required, &c. what would God have us do more? Or else 'tis an enquiry what the Prophet would farther direct them to do in this case, with an intimation that they were ready to offer any Sacrifices God should require of them, or else this verse is the Prophets supposition that some among them would be ready to enquire how they should in this case behave themselves, and so this Prosopopeia fairly makes way for farther direction to this people.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 span].

7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams ? or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my first born for my transgression , the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul s?

The Law did direct the offering of Rams, single Beasts for single Sacrifices; if this be too little they shall be multiplyed, we will give many, very many; for the phrase is an Hyperbole.

Oyl was required too in their Sacrifices in the Meat-offerings of them, but in no great quantities, a log, or hin, i. e. half a pint or three quarts, but we know such gifts are infinitely short of the divine goodness bestowed on us, he who is our God is worthy of Rivers of Oyl, multiplyed to thousands, had we such store it should be all his. Such like Hyperbole you meet in Isa. 40.15, 16, 17.

This is proposed not as a thing practicable by any rule of Reason or Religion, but as a proof of their readiness (as Abraham) to offer up their first born, as he did offer up his Isaac to God. It is much to part with any of our children, but 'tis more to part with the strength and glory, and hope of our Families; yet right Hypocrites, or like unnatural Heathen, this they would do, rather than what would please the Lord.

To appease the anger of the Lord for my sins, would these be Expiatories? The question is repeated to affect us the more; the words would bear this reading, Shall I give my first born? This would be my sin. The fruit of my Body? This would be the sin of my soul.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span] and 51.[illegible: 2 letters] Isa. 1.[illegible: 2 letters]; Heb. [illegible: 1 word]

8 He hath shewed thee , O man, what is good : and what doth the LORD require of thee , but to do justly , and to love mercy , and to walk humbly with thy God .

The Prophet answers the enquiry made, verse 7. otherwise then these enquirers did expect; you who make this enquiry might have spared this pains. God himself hath already plain enough told you this.

O Iewes, every one of you might from the Law of God know what would please your God, and with what you ought to come before him, you might have read, 1 Sam. 15.22. that he delighteth in your obeying his word, and more early, Deut. 10.12, 13, 22. the same practical rule was laid down

in it self for you, and well pleasing to your God, from his own mouth your Holy and Righteous Fathers did know, and so might you, what is that good, with which you should appear before God.

What so much? Or what without; Or doth he require any thing without? It is a question that must be resolved in a Negative, Comparative or Absolute; The Lord doth not require Sacrifice without Moral Duties, nor doth he require Sacrifice so much as such duties after mentioned.

To render to every one what is their due, Superiors, Equals, Inferiors, to be equal to all, and oppress none, in Body, Goods or Name; in all your dealings with men c[illegible: 1 letter]rry a Chancery in your own Breasts, and do according to equity.

Be kind, merciful and compassionate, towards all that need your kindness, do not use severity towards any, though the Laws of man did not require you to remit of your pretences, and if you exacted all your right you did not break the Laws of men, yet you should have respect to the Law of Love, and shew mercy with delight in shewing it, Rom. 12.8. and 2 Cor. 9.7. Heb. 13.16,

In all duties which immediately refer to the Precepts of the first Table, in all Religious exercise and deportment toward God, keep the heart sincerely humble toward God, think highly of Him, his Lawes and Determinations, murmure not against the final determinations God by his Providence makes, complain not of any of his Precepts, know and own it, thou art an unprofitable servant if thou hast done all, Luke 17.10.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]sa. 1.1[illegible: 1 letter].; Heb. humble [illegible: 1 word] self to walk.

9 The LORDS voice cryeth unto the city , and the man of wisdom shall see thy name ; hear ye the rod , and who hath appointed it.

Either by his Judgments, each of which is the Lords voice, he speaks by them, or rather by his Prophets, and whether people hear it, or forbear, the Lord himself is concerned in it.

As to deaf, or to s[illegible: 1 letter]eepy and secure men, who will not hear the milder and softlier calls, the Prophet must cry to them in the loudest manner he can speak.

To every City in Israel and Iudah, but principally to Ierusalem and Samaria, places of greatest concourse, and where the men of greatest sense may reasonably be supposed to dwell, who should hear and consider.

Man is supplyed to make the sence intire, but without that supply the sense might have run plain, And wisdom will hear, which must have been resolved some way like to our Translation, and I know none that better fits, then that our Learned Translators have supplyed. I know not but that the Abstract used here for the Concrete, may express a Superlative Degree, Wisdom, i. e. the wisest will hear, &c.

Rightly apprehend and du[illegible: 1 letter]y reverence the Holiness, Justice and Necessarine[illegible: 1 letter]s of the proceedings of the Lord, with his Power and Majesty in the Execution of his just displeasure, on brutish hardened sinners.

Consider well and discern.

Citizens both of Ierusalem and Samaria, and every other City in the Twelve Tribes.

The punishments that God is now sending, by which he will plead his cause. These are called the rod▪ [illegible: 1 letter]ither because they are from God, who once was, and still would be, a Father to them, or because 'tis a comprehensive word, which takes in the various punishments inflicted.

Hath commissioned it, handleth the rod, hath chosen it out, and strikes with it, whether it be Assyrian, or Babylonian, or both, at several times. This is the plain literal sence, others th[illegible: 3 letters] are which are omitted, because they suit not the design of this work.

Marginal references: Or, thy name [illegible: 1 word] see that [illegible: 1 letter]hich it.

10 ¶ Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked , and the scant measure that is abominable ?

After so many express Lawes, peremptorily forbidding so many examples of punishments on such, after so many reproofs, menaces and exhortations by so many Prophets, dare you still do so un[illegible: 1 letter]ustly?

Gotten by injurious oppressive courses, ill gotten Wealth, here called Treasures of wickedness, the wickedness wherewith they raked their Wealth together is l[illegible: 1 letter]id up with their Wealth, as the like is said, Iames 5.3.

None have thought of restoring their ill gotten goods, the wicked Fathers, who heapt them together, laid them up in their houses, and the Children retain them; The House, i. e. Family of these do as their Fathers, store up violence, and so do directly contrary to the first rule, verse 7. do justly.

Which is less then Standard, vid. Amos 8.5. by which these unrighteous ones did both offend against God, and cousen their Chapmen.

God abhors such injustice, Prov. 11.1. and 2[illegible: 1 letter].10, 23. and Deut. 25.13, 14.15.16. It is most hateful in his [illegible: 1 letter]ight.

Marginal references: Or, is there yet unto every man an house of the wicked, &c.; Heb. measure of scantn[illegible: 1 letter]ss.

11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances , and with the bag of deceitful weights .

It may have some reference to the Prophet, as speaking of himself, appointed of God to be a reprover, and impartial censurer of the sins of this people, when I am so to judge of them by their doings, shall I flatter them, and say they are better then they are? But it better refers to God himself.

Approve, justifie, or acquit them, as if they were righteous, and not worthy to be punisht? Shall I let them escape who are such unjust persons? This question implyeth a strong Negation.

This kind is put for all the rest, wherewith things bought and sold were apportion'd, and by which buyers and sellers were ascertain'd how much they bought.

In which they both kept their weights at home, and carried them about with them.

Heb. stones of deceit, they did, (as in many places with us men do) use stones for weights, and this unjust people did cheat both at home and abroad, both the balance and its weights were deceitful, and condemned, Lev. 19.35, 36. Deut. 25.13, 14, 15, 16.

Marginal references: Or, shall I be p[illegible: 1 letter]re with &c.; Hos. 12.7▪

12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence , and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies , and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth .

This is given as an evidence of the truth of the charge, and of the justness of the resolution God had declared to punish them.

Who of all men had lest temptation to deal unjustly, they were so well provided for, that without a Trade they might live, and in Trading they should have been content with honest gain; They should have been examples of charity and bounty, but these are the men deepest in this guilt.

Of Ierusalem, Samaria, and of every Traded City in the Land.

Full of principles, practices, and fruits of violence and rapine, their minds inclined to cheatings and dishonesty, their practices managed with fraud and falshood, and their riches heapt up through violence.

The disease is universal, not some few rich men, but they that dwell in the City, are wholly oppression, or perhaps thus, who come to dwell among them, soon catch the disease, and learn these wayes.

O[illegible: 1 letter] all the Cities of the Land of Canaan.

Have accustomed themselves to speak falshood, there is no truth in their affirmations, or negations.

There's not a man of plain heartedness, integrity and honesty among them. So David complains of his times. Psal. 12.2, 5.

Marginal references: Jer. 9.8.

13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate , because of thy sins .

For these many sins of violence, frauds and lies.

Some read, I have begun to smite thee, so it su[illegible: 1 letter]ts well with the history of the Wars, rapine, captivity or desolation by the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, &c. brought upon Israel and Iudah, which were the beginnings of their sorrows, and Gods just punishments, but as we read it sick in smiting, it will as well suit with the Grammatical construction of the words, with the History too, and thus 'twill give the greater Emphas[illegible: 1 letter]s to the words; God will ere long so smite, that the strokes of his rod should teach the very heart, and make Israel heart sick of his wounds, inflicted on him by the Lord.

This was fully accomplisht, when the Kingdom of the ten Tribes was overthrown by Salmaneser, and the Kingdom of the two Tribes captivated by N[illegible: 2 letters]uchadnezzar.

Multiplyed, aggravated, obstinately retain'd and not repented of.

14 Thou shalt eat but not be satisfied , and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee , and thou shalt take hold , but shalt not deliver : and that which thou deliverest , will I give up to the sword .

Both literally and figuratively taken for using what they have. So God threatens, Lev. 26.26. So God did punish the Iewes, Hag. 1.6. which see.

Not be filled with sweetness or strength in the eating, or using of what thou hast, thy sins shall bring either bitterness or insufficiency upon all thou hast, by both all shall [illegible: 1 letter]e made useless to thee.

Thy destruction▪ partly by thy dissensions, conspiracies, violences and conspiracies within thy self, and partly by the enemies breaking in upon thee, and bringing the war into thine own bowels.

Thou shalt be weakened at home by thine own hands, and be wasted utterly by thine enemy, besieging thee in thy Cities, and taking them.

Though there is some variety of readings here▪ yet the plainest and most obvious sense is as we render it, whether you do refer this laying hold to persons, as Wife, Children or Friends, whom (though they endeavour to save out of the enemies hand, yet) they shall not be able to save, or if refer'd to things, goods, their most valuable and most portable goods and wealth; as men in distress, and flying out of the reach of enemies, pack up their best moveables, lay hold on their Children, and carry them away into some remoter place, or strong hold; so 'tis likely this people did when invaded▪ Ier. 35.11.

Where thou lodgest thy children, and layest up thy wealth thither the enemy shall pursue thee, there besiege thee and thine, or if thou fly into other countryes, it shall not be a safe refuge to thee.

Thou dost for a little while, for a few Weeks or Moneths, preserve from the enemy, that thou thinkest is safe.

By unexpected and unthought of accidents to you, yet guided by the unerring and unresistible hand of divine wisdom and power, shall be given up, fall into the hands of enemies; so that any considerate eye may see God's hand in it.

To be cut off by either Domestick and Civil Wars, or by the invading, conquering and wasting troops of the Assyrians.

Marginal references: Hos. 4.10▪

15 Thou shalt sow , but thou shalt not reap : thou shalt tread the olives , but thou shalt not anoint thee with oyl ; and sweet wine , but shalt not drink wine .

Be at great pains and cost in Tilling and Sowing.

It shall either not thrive to a Harvest, or if it does, an enemy shall reap it.

Lay out thy labour, and weary thy self in it, plant the Tree, gather the Fruit and tread it, and when thus prepared to use it, an enemy shall rob thee of it.

Which in those countryes was much in use, because of the great refreshment it gave to the whole body.

Here is an Ellipsis, and must be thus supplyed, thou shalt tread the Grapes which afford sweet Wine.

In this, as in the other two, thou shalt be disappointed, thou shalt not enjoy thy labour, nor shall thy heart be cheared with new Wine, nay, thou shalt be sick with vexing, to see thine enemies hearts glad with the Wine thou hadst prepared for other guests.

Marginal references: Deut. 28.38, 39. Amos 5.11. Zeph. 1.13. Hag. 1.6.

16 ¶ For the statutes of Omri are kept , and all the works of the house of Ahab , and ye walk in their counsels , that I should make thee a desolation , and the inhabitants thereof an hissing : therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people .

Of which you read, 1 King. 16.25, 26, 27, 28. He built Samaria to be a Royal City, and Seat of Religion, brought in by Ieroboam; thus he both strengthened, and put more credit upon the Idolatrous Worship which was set up by Omri in a Royal City, whereas by Ieroboam 'twas set up in places of meaner account.

Diligently very much.

Sum'd up, in establishing Ieroboam's Idolatry, introducing the Idolatrous Worship of Baal, 1 Kings 16.31, 32, 33. cutting off the Prophets of the Lord, 1 Kings 18.4. and 19.10, 14. and abolishing the true Worship of God; besides the barbarous contriving the death of the innocent, and siezing the Estate▪ 1 King. 21.8.9. &c.

Of the house of Israel, though under the Government of Families, which had no great reason to value the house of Ahab, yet you have done their works of Idolatry and Oppression, and you also of the house of Iudah, have degenerated and done like their works.

Literally fulfilled in Iehoram's Reign, Acts and Counsels, 2 Kings 8.17, 18. and in Ahaziah's, who was Son of Iehoram, and Grandson of Iehoshaphat, 2 Kings 8 27. and so did Iehu, and his Successours, all persist in the Idolatry of the Calf-Worship, and in oppression of the poor; thus instead of walking humbly with God, they did openly depart from him, contrary to what God required of them.

Eventually this was the end, or in necessary tendency it could not end otherwise, though they did not intend this, nor did God will them to do so, that it might so end.

An utter waste, such as should astonish those that saw it.

Of the City or Land.

In token of abhorrence and derision, Deut. 28.37. Ier. 25.9, 18. and 29.18.

The reproach threatened in the Law, if my people forsake me, or Ierusalem shall be as much reproacht as Samaria, or as Ezek. 36.20.

Marginal references: Or, he doth much keep the &c.; Or, astonishment.

III. The Way to Salvation - Micah 6 and 7

Micah having declared to the people of Israel not only the judgment that will burst upon Zion on account of its sins, but also the salvation awaiting in the future the remnant saved and purified through the judgment, now proceeds, in the third and last address, to point out the way to salvation, by showing that they bring punishment upon themselves by their ingratitude and resistance to the commandments of God, and that it is only through sincere repentance that they can participate in the promised covenant mercies.

Exhortation to Repentance, and Divine Threatening - Micah 6

In the form of a judicial contest between the Lord and His people, the prophet holds up before the Israelites their ingratitude for the great blessings which they have received from God (Mic 6:1-5), and teaches them that the Lord does not require outward sacrifices to appease His wrath, but righteousness, love, and humble walk with God (Mic 6:6-8), and that He must inflict severe punishment, because the people practise violence, lying, and deceit instead (Mic 6:9-14).

Mic 6:1-2

Introduction. - Announcement of the lawsuit which the Lord will have with His people. - Mic 6:1. “Hear ye, then, what Jehovah saith; Rise up, contend with the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice! Mic 6:2. Hear ye, O mountains, Jehovah’s contest; and ye immutable ones, ye foundations of the earth! For Jehovah has a contest with His people; and with Israel will He contend.” In Mic 6:1 the nation of Israel is addressed in its several members. They are to hear what the Lord says to the prophet, - namely, the summons addressed to the mountains and hills to hear Jehovah’s contest with His people. The words “strive with the mountains” cannot be understood here as signifying that the mountains are the objects of the accusation, notwithstanding the fact that ריב את־פ signifies to strive or quarrel with a person (Jdg 8:1; Isa 50:8; Jer 2:9); for, according to Mic 6:2, they are to hear the contest of Jehovah with Israel, and therefore are to be merely witnesses on the occasion. Consequently את can only express the idea of fellowship here, and ריב את must be distinguished from ריב עם in Mic 6:2 and Hos 4:1, etc. The mountains and hills are to hearken to the contest (as in Deu 32:1 and Isa 1:2), as witnesses, “who have seen what the Lord has done for Israel throughout the course of ages, and how Israel has rewarded Him for it all” (Caspari), to bear witness on behalf of the Lord, and against Israel. Accordingly the mountains are called האתנים, the constantly enduring, immutable ones, which have been spectators from time immemorial, and מוסדי ארץ, foundations of the earth, as being subject to no change on account of their strength and firmness. In this respect they are often called “the everlasting mountains” (e.g., Gen 49:26; Deu 33:15; Psa 90:2; Hab 3:6). Israel is called ̀‛ammı̄ (Jehovah’s people) with intentional emphasis, not only to indicate the right of Jehovah to contend with it, but to sharpen its own conscience, by pointing to its calling. Hithvakkach, like hivvâkhach in the niphal in Isa 1:18.

Mic 6:3-5

Mic 6:3-5 open the suit. Mic 6:3. “My people! what have I done unto thee, and with what have I wearied thee? Answer me. Mic 6:4. Yea, I have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, redeemed thee out of the slave-house, and sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Mic 6:5. My people! remember now what Balak the king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilga; that thou mayest discern the righteous acts of Jehovah.” The Lord opens the contest with the question, what He has done to the nation, that it has become tired of Him. The question is founded upon the fact that Israel has fallen away from its God, or broken the covenant. This is not distinctly stated, indeed; but it is clearly implied in the expression הלאתיך, What have I done, that thou hast become weary of me? לאה, in the hiphil, to make a person weary, more particularly to weary the patience of a person, either by demands of too great severity (Isa 43:23), or by failing to perform one’s promises (Jer 2:31). ענה בי, answer against me, i.e., accuse me. God has done His people no harm, but has only conferred benefits upon them. Of these He mentions in Mic 6:4 the bringing up out of Egypt and the guidance through the Arabian desert, as being the greatest manifestations of divine grace, to which Israel owes its exaltation into a free and independent nation (cf. Amo 2:10 and Jer 2:6). The kı̄ (for) may be explained from the unexpressed answer to the questions in Mic 6:3 : “Nothing that could cause dissatisfaction with me;” for I have done nothing but confer benefits upon thee. To set forth the leading up out of Egypt as such a benefit, it is described as redemption out of the house of bondage, after Exo 20:2. Moreover, the Lord had given His people prophets, men entrusted with His counsels and enlightened by His Spirit, as leaders into the promised land: viz., Moses, with whom He talked mouth to mouth, as a friend to his friend (Num 12:8); and Aaron, who was not only able as high priest to ascertain the counsel and will of the Lord for the sake of the congregation, by means of the “light and right,” but who also, along with Moses, represented the nation before God (Num 12:6; Num 14:5, Num 14:26; Num 16:20; Num 20:7 ff., and 29). Miriam, the sister of the two, is also mentioned along with them, inasmuch as she too was a prophetess (Exo 15:20). In Mic 6:5 God also reminds them of the other great display of grace, viz., the frustration of the plan formed by the Moabitish king Balak to destroy Israel by means of the curses of Balaam (Numbers 22-24). יעץ refers to the plan which Balak concocted with the elders of Midian (Num 22:3 ff.); and ענה, Balaam’s answering, to the sayings which this soothsayer was compelled by divine constraint to utter against his will, whereby, as Moses says in Deu 23:5-6, the Lord turned the intended curse into a blessing. The words “from Shittim (Israel’s last place of encampment beyond Jordan, in the steppes of Moab; see at Num 22:1 and Num 25:1) to Gilgal” (the first place of encampment in the land of Canaan; see at Jos 4:19-20, and Jos 5:9) do not depend upon זכר־נא, adding a new feature to what has been mentioned already, in the sense of “think of all that took place from Shittim to Gilgal,” in which case זכר־נא would have to be repeated in thought; but they are really attached to the clause וּמה עבה וגו, and indicate the result, or the confirmation of Balaam’s answer. The period of Israel’s journeying from Shittim to Gilgal embraces not only Balak’s advice and Balaam’s answer, by which the plan invented for the destruction of Israel was frustrated, but also the defeat of the Midianites, who attempted to destroy Israel by seducing it to idolatry, the miraculous crossing of the Jordan, the entrance into the promised land, and the circumcision at Gilgal, by which the generation that had grown up in the desert was received into the covenant with Jehovah, and the whole nation reinstated in its normal relation to its God. Through these acts the Lord had actually put to shame the counsel of Balak, and confirmed the fact that Balaam’s answer was inspired by God.With this view, which has already been suggested by Hengstenberg, the objections offered by Ewald, Hitzig, and others, to the genuineness of the words “from Shittim to Gilgal,” the worthlessness of which has been demonstrated by Caspari, fall to the ground.

By these divine acts Israel was to discern the tsidqōth Yehōvâh; i.e., not the mercies of Jehovah, for tsedâqâh does not mean mercy, but “the righteous acts of Jehovah,” as in Jdg 5:11 and 1Sa 12:7. This term is applied to those miraculous displays of divine omnipotence in and upon Israel, for the fulfilment of His counsel of salvation, which, as being emanations of the divine covenant faithfulness, attested the righteousness of Jehovah.

Mic 6:6-7

Israel cannot deny these gracious acts of its God. The remembrance of them calls to mind the base ingratitude with which it has repaid its God by rebelling against Him; so that it inquires, in Mic 6:6, Mic 6:7, with what it can appease the Lord, i.e., appease His wrath. Mic 6:6. “Wherewith shall I come to meet Jehovah, bow myself before the God of the high place? Shall I come to meet Him with burnt-offerings, with yearling calves? Mic 6:7. Will Jehovah take pleasure in thousands of rams, in ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give up my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” As Micah has spoken in Mic 6:3-5 in the name of Jehovah, he now proceeds, in Mic 6:6, Mic 6:7, to let the congregation speak; not, however, by turning directly to God, since it recognises itself as guilty before Him, but by asking the prophet, as the interpreter of the divine will, what it is to do to repair the bond of fellowship which has been rent in pieces by its guilt. קדּם does not here mean to anticipate, or come before, but to come to meet, as in Deu 23:5. Coming to meet, however, can only signify humble prostration (kâphaph) before the divine majesty. The God of the high place is the God dwelling in the high place (Isa 33:5; Isa 57:15), or enthroned in heaven (Psa 115:3). It is only with sacrifices, the means appointed by God Himself for the maintenance of fellowship with Him, that any man can come to meet Him. These the people offer to bring; and, indeed, burnt-offerings. There is no reference here to sin-offerings, through which disturbed or interrupted fellowship could be restored, by means of the expiation of their sins; because the people had as yet no true knowledge of sin, but were still living under the delusion that they were standing firmly in the covenant with the Lord, which they themselves had practically dissolved. As burnt-offerings, they would bring calves and rams, not because they formed the only material, but because they were the material most usually employed; and, indeed, calves of a year old, because they were regarded as the best, not because no others were allowed to be offered, as Hitzig erroneously maintains; for, according to the law, calves and lambs could be offered in sacrifice even when they were eight days old (Lev 22:27; Exo 22:29). In the case of the calves the value is heightened by the quality, in that of the rams by the quantity: thousands of rams; and also myriads of rivers of oil (for this expression, compare Job 20:17). Oil not only formed part of the daily minchah, but of the minchah generally, which could not be omitted from any burnt-offerings (compare Numbers 15:1-16 with ch. 28 and 29), so that it was offered in very large quantities. Nevertheless, in the consciousness that these sacrifices might not be sufficient, the people would offer the dearest thing of all, viz., the first-born son, as an expiation for their sin. This offer is founded, no doubt, upon the true idea that sacrifice shadows forth the self-surrender of man to God, and that an animal is not a sufficient substitute for a man; but this true idea was not realized by literal (bodily) human sacrifices: on the contrary, it was turned into an ungodly abomination, because the surrender which God desires is that of the spirit, not of the flesh. Israel could and should have learned this, not only from the sacrifice of Isaac required by God (Genesis 22), but also from the law concerning the consecration or sanctification of the first-born (Exo 13:12-13). Hence this offer of the nation shows that it has no true knowledge of the will of its God, that it is still entangled in the heathen delusion, that the wrath of God can be expiated by human sacrifices (cf. 2Ki 3:27; 2Ki 16:3).

Mic 6:8

The prophet therefore proceeds in Mic 6:8 to overthrow these outward means of reconciliation with God, and reminds the people of the moral demands of the law. Mic 6:8. “They have told thee, O man, what is good, and what Jehovah requires of thee, simply to do right, and love good, and walk humbly with thy God.” הגּיד, impersonal, “one has told,” or they have told thee, namely Moses in the law. The opinion that Jehovah should be supplied as the subject is a very improbable one, for the simple reason that Jehovah is expressly mentioned in the second dependent clause. The use of כּי אם, nisi, as in the similar connection of thought in Deu 10:12, may be accounted for from the retrospective allusion to the gifts mentioned by the people: not outward sacrifices of any kind, but only the fulfilment of three following duties: namely, above all things, doing righteousness and exercising love. These two embrace all the commandments of the second table, of whose fulfilment Israel thought so little, that it was addicted to the very opposite, - namely, injustice, oppression, and want of affection (vid., Mic 2:1-2, Mic 2:8; Mic 3:2-3, Mic 3:9 ff., Mic 6:10 ff.). There is also a third: humble walk with God, i.e., in fellowship with God, as Israel, being a holy priestly nation, ought to walk. Without these moral virtues, sacrificial worship was a spiritless opus operatum, in which God had no pleasure (see at 1Sa 15:22 and Hos 6:6).

Mic 6:9

But because Israel is altogether wanting in these virtues, the Lord must threaten and punish. Mic 6:9. “The voice of Jehovah, to the city it cries, and wisdom has thy name in its eye; hear ye the rod, and who appoints it!” With these words Micah introduces the threatening and reproachful words of the Lord. קוך יהוה is not to be taken by itself, as an exclamation, “Hark! voice of the Lord!” as in Isa 13:4; Isa 40:6, etc. (Umbreit), but must be connected with what follows, in accordance with the accents. Whilst the prophet tells the people in Isa 40:8 what Jehovah requires, he introduces the following threat with “voice of Jehovah,” etc., to give the greater emphasis to the reproof, by intimating that it is not his own voice, but Jehovah’s, which is speaking now. “To the city,” i.e., to the chief city of the kingdom, viz., Jerusalem. The sentence which follows, and which has been explained in very different ways, has the same object. תּוּשׁיּה, a word borrowed from the Chokmah-literature (Proverbs and Job), both here and Isa 28:29, formed from ישׁ or the root ושׁי (ושׁה), in the sense of subsistentia, substantia, then mostly vera et realis sapientia (see Delitzsch on Job 26:3). יראה שׁמך is taken by many as a relative clause, “Blessed is he who sees Thy name,” i.e., gives heed to Thy revelation, Thy government of the universe; but if this were the sense, the relative could not have been omitted, or the infinitive ראת must have been used. תּוּשׁיּה is rather to be taken as the object, and שׁמך as the subject: Thy name sees wisdom, i.e., has the true wisdom of life in sight (ראה as in Gen 20:10 and Psa 66:18). There is no necessity for the conjecture יראה for יראה (Ewald and Hitzig); and notwithstanding the fact that ירא is adopted in all the ancient versions, it is unsuitable, since the thought “wisdom is to fear Thy name” would be a very strange one in this connection, unless we could paraphrase the name into “word of the person speaking.” For other explanations, see Caspari. Hear ye, i.e., observe, the rod, viz., the judgment threatened by the Lord, and appointed for His rebellious nation. The reference is to the imperial power of Assyria, which Isaiah also describes in Isa 10:5, Isa 10:24, as the matteh and shēbhet by which Israel is smitten. The suffix to יעדהּ refers to שׁבט, which is construed here as a feminine; יעד denotes the appointment of an instrument of punishment, as in Jer 47:7.

Mic 6:10-12

The threatening words commence in Mic 6:10; Mic 6:10-12 containing a condemnation of the prevailing sins. Mic 6:10. “Are there yet in the house of the unjust treasures of injustice, and the ephah of consumption, the cursed one? Mic 6:11. Can I be clean with the scale of injustice, and with a purse with stones of deceit? Mic 6:12. That their rich men are full of wickedness, and their inhabitants speak deceit, and their tongue is falseness in their mouth.” The reproof is dressed up in the form of a question. In the question in Mic 6:10 the emphasis is laid upon the עוד, which stands for that very reason before the interrogative particle, as in Gen 19:12, the only other place in which this occurs. אשׁ, a softened form for ישׁ, as in 2Sa 14:19. Treasures of wickedness are treasures acquired through wickedness or acts of injustice. The meaning of the question is not, Are the unjust treasures not yet removed out of the house, not yet distributed again? but, as Mic 6:10 and Mic 6:11 require, Does the wicked man still bring such treasures into the house? does he still heap up such treasures in his house? The question is affirmative, and the form of a question is chosen to sharpen the conscience, as the unjust men to whom it is addressed cannot deny it. איפת רזון, ephah of consumption or hungriness, analogous to the German expression “a hungry purse,” is too small an ephah (cf. Deu 25:14; Amo 8:5); the opposite of א שׁלמה (Deu 25:15) or א צדק (Lev 19:36), which the law prescribed. Hence Micah calls it זעוּמה = זעוּם יהוה in Pro 22:14, that which is smitten by the wrath of God (equivalent to cursed; cf. Num 23:7; Pro 24:24). Whoever has not a full ephah is, according to Deu 25:16, an abomination to the Lord. If these questions show the people that they do not answer to the demands made by the Lord in Mic 6:8, the questions in Mic 6:11 also teach that, with this state of things, they cannot hold themselves guiltless. The speaker inquires, from the standpoint of his own moral consciousness, whether he can be pure, i.e., guiltless, if he uses deceitful scales and weights, - a question to which every one must answer No. It is difficult, however, to decide who the questioner is. As Mic 6:9 announces words of God, and in Mic 6:10 God is speaking, and also in Mic 6:12, Mic 6:13, it appears as though Jehovah must be the questioner here. But אזכּה does not tally with this. Jerome therefore adopts the rendering numquid justificabo stateram impiam; but זכה in the kal has only the meaning to be pure, and even in the piel it is not used in the sense of niqqâh, to acquit. This latter fact is sufficient to overthrow the proposal to alter the reading into piel. Moreover, “the context requires the thought that the rich men fancy they can be pure with deceitful weights, and a refutation of this delusive idea” (Caspari). Consequently the prophet only can raise this question, namely as the representative of the moral consciousness; and we must interpret this transition, which is so sudden and abrupt to our ears, by supplying the thought, “Let every one ask himself,” Can I, etc. Instead of רשׁע we have the more definite mirmâh in the parallel clause. Scales and a bag with stones belong together; 'ăbhanı̄m are the stone weights (cf. Lev 19:36; Deu 25:13) which were carried in a bag (Pro 16:11). In Mic 6:12 the condemnation of injustice is widened still further. Whereas in the first clause the rich men of the capital (the suffix pointing back to עיר in Mic 6:9), who are also to be thought of in Mic 6:10, are expressly mentioned, in the second clause the inhabitants generally are referred to. And whilst the rich are not only charged with injustice or fraud in trade, but with châmâs, violence of every kind, the inhabitants are charged with lying and deceit of the tongue. Leshōnâm (their tongue) is not placed at the head absolutely, in the sense of “As for their tongue, deceit is,” etc. Such an emphasis as this is precluded by the fact that the preceding clause, “speaking lies,” involves the use of the tongue. Leshōnâm is the simple subject: Their tongue is deceit or falsehood in their mouth; i.e., their tongue is so full of deceit, that it is, so to speak, resolved into it. Both clauses express the thought, that “the inhabitants of Jerusalem are a population of liars and cheats” (Hitzig). The connection in which the verse stands, or the true explanation of אשׁר, has been a matter of dispute. We must reject both the combination of Mic 6:12 and Mic 6:13 (“Because their rich men, etc., therefore I also,” etc.), and also the assumption that Mic 6:12 contains the answer to the question in Mic 6:10, and that אשׁר precedes the direct question (Hitzig): the former, because Mic 6:12 obviously forms the conclusion to the reproof, and must be separated from what precedes it; the latter, because the question in Mic 6:11 stands between Mic 6:10 and Mic 6:12, which is closely connected with Mic 6:10, and Mic 6:12 also contains no answer to Mic 6:10, so far as the thought is concerned, even if the latter actually required an answer. We must rather take אשׁר as a relative, as Caspari does, and understand the verse as an exclamation, which the Lord utters in anger over the city: “She, whose rich men are full,” etc. “Angry persons generally prefer to speak of those who have excited their wrath, instead of addressing their words to them.”

Mic 6:13-15

The threat of punishment follows in Mic 6:13-16. Mic 6:13. “So also now do I smite thee incurably, laying waste because of thy sins. Mic 6:14. Thou wilt eat, and not be satisfied; and thine emptiness remains in thee; and thou wilt remove, and not save; and what thou savest I will give to the sword. Mic 6:15. Thou wilt sow, and not reap; thou wilt tread olives, and not anoint thyself with oil; new wine, and not drink wine.” With וגם־אני the threatened punishment is represented as the consequence of, or retribution for, the sins of the people. החליתי הך: literally, I have made the smiting thee sick, i.e., smitten thee with incurable sickness (for hechelaah, see at Nah 3:19 and Jer 30:12; and for the fact itself, Isa 1:5-6). The perfect expresses the certainty of the future. The suffix refers to the people, not of the capital only, but, as we may see from Mic 6:16, of the whole of the kingdom of Judah. Hashmēm (an uncontracted form; see Ges. §67, Anm. 10), devastando, is attached to the preceding verb in an adverbial sense, as a practical exemplification, like the שׁבע in Lev 26:18, Lev 26:24, Lev 26:28, which Micah had in his eye at the time. For the individualizing of the punishment, which follows, rests upon Lev 26:25-26, and Deu 28:39-40. The land is threatened with devastation by the foe, from which the people flee into fortresses, the besieging of which occasions starvation. For the fulfilment of this, see Jer 52:6 (cf. 2Ki 6:25). ישׁח, ἁπ.λεγ., hollowness, or emptiness of stomach. ותסּג, thou mayest remove, i.e., carry off thy goods and family, yet wilt thou not save; but even if thou shouldst save anything, it will fall into the hands of the enemy, and be destroyed by his sword (vid., Jer 50:37). The enemy will also partly consume and partly destroy the corn and field-fruit, as well as the stores of oil and wine (vid., Amo 5:11). ולא תסוּך שׁמן is taken verbatim from Deu 28:40.

Mic 6:16

This trouble the people bring upon themselves by their ungodly conduct. With this thought the divine threatening is rounded off and closed. Mic 6:16. “And they observe the statutes of Omri, and all the doings of the house of Ahab, and so ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee a horror, and her inhabitants a hissing, and the reproach of my people shall ye bear.” The verse is attached loosely to what precedes by Vav. The first half corresponds to Mic 6:10-12, the second to Mic 6:13-15, and each has three clauses. השׁתּמּר, as an intensive form of the piel, is the strongest expression for שׁמר, and is not to be taken as a passive, as Ewald and others suppose, but in a reflective sense: “It (or one) carefully observes for itself the statutes of Omri instead of the statutes of the Lord” (Lev 20:23; Jer 10:3). All that is related of Omri, is that he was worse than all his predecessors (1Ki 16:25). His statutes are the Baal-worship which his son and successor Ahab raised into the ruling national religion (1Ki 16:31-32), and the introduction of which is attributed to Omri as the founder of the dynasty. In the same sense is Athaliah, who was a daughter of Jezebel, called a daughter of Omri in 2Ch 22:2. All the doing of the house of Ahab: i.e., not only its Baal-worship, but also its persecution of the Lord’s prophets (1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 22:27), and the rest of its sins, e.g., the robbery and murder committed upon Naboth (1 Kings 21). With ותּלכוּ the description passes over into a direct address; not into the preterite, however, for the imperfect with Vav rel. does not express here what has been the custom in both the past and present, but is simply the logical deduction from what precedes, “that which continually occurs.” The suffix attached to בּמעצותם refers to Ahab and Omri. By למען the punishment is represented as intentionally brought about by the sinners themselves, to give prominence to the daring with which men lived on in godlessness and unrighteousness. In אתך the whole nation is addressed: in the second clause, the inhabitants of the capital as the principal sinners; and in the third, the nation again in its individual members. שׁמּה does not mean devastation here; but in parallelism with שׁרקה, horror, or the object of horror, as in Deu 28:37; Jer 25:9; Jer 51:37, and 2Ch 29:8. Cherpath ‛ammı̄: the shame which the nation of God, as such, have to bear from the heathen, when they are given up into their power (see Eze 36:20). This shame will have to be borne by the several citizens, the present supporters of the idea of the nation of God.

God's Expostulations with His People. (b. c. 710.)

1 Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord 's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord .

Here, I. The prefaces to the message are very solemn and such as may engage our most serious attention. 1. The people are commanded to give audience: Hear you now what the Lord says. What the prophet speaks he speaks from God, and in his name; they are therefore bound to hear it, not as the word of a sinful dying man, but of the holy living God. Hear now what he saith, for, first or last, he will be heard. 2. The prophet is commanded to speak in earnest, and to put an emphasis upon what he said: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, or with the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice, if it were possible; contend with the mountains and hills of Judea, that is, with the inhabitants of those mountains and hills; and, some think, reference is had to those mountains and hills on which they worshipped idols and which were thus polluted. But it is rather to be taken more generally, as appears by his call, not only to the mountains, but to the strong foundations of the earth, pursuant to the instructions given him. This is designed, (1.) To excite the earnestness of the prophet; he must speak as vehemently as if he designed to make even the hills and mountains hear him, must cry aloud, and not spare; what he had to say in God's name he must proclaim publicly before the mountains, as one that was neither ashamed nor afraid to own his message; he must speak as one concerned, as one that desired to speak to the heart, and therefore appeared to speak from the heart. (2.) To expose the stupidity of the people; "Let the hills hear thy voice, for this senseless careless people will not hear it, will not heed it. Let the rocks, the foundations of the earth, that have no ears, hear, since Israel, that has ears, will not hear." It is an appeal to the mountains and hills; let them bear witness that Israel has fair warning given them, and good counsel, if they would but take it. Thus Isaiah begins with, Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth! Let them judge between God and his vineyard.

II. The message itself is very affecting. He is to let all the world know that God has a quarrel with his people, good ground for an action against them. Their offences are public, and therefore so are the articles of impeachment exhibited against them. Take notice the Lord has a controversy with his people and he will plead with Israel, will plead by his prophets, plead by his providences, to make good his charge. Note, 1. Sin begets a controversy between God and man. The righteous God has an action against every sinner, an action of debt, an action of trespass, an action of slander. 2. If Israel, God's own professing people, provoke him by sin, he will let them know that he has a controversy with them; he sees sin in them, and is displeased with it, nay, their sins are more displeasing to him than the sins of others, as they are a greater grief to his Spirit and dishonour to his name. 3. God will plead with those whom he has a controversy with, will plead with his people Israel, that they may be convinced and that he may be justified. In the close of the foregoing chapter he pleaded with the heathen in anger and fury, to bring them to ruin; but here he pleads with Israel in compassion and tenderness, to bring them to repentance, Come now, and let us reason together. God reasons with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. See the equity of God's cause, it will bear to be pleaded, and sinners themselves will be forced to confess judgment, and to own that God's ways are equal, but their ways are unequal, Ezek. xviii. 25. Now, (1.) God here challenges them to show what he had done against them which might give them occasion to desert him. They had revolted from God and rebelled against him; but had they any cause to do so? (v. 3): "O my people! what have I done unto thee? Wherein have I wearied thee?" If subjects quit their allegiance to their prince, they will pretend (as the ten tribes did when they revolted from Rehoboam), that his yoke is too heavy for them; but can you pretend any such thing? What have I done to you that is unjust or unkind? Wherein have I wearied you with the impositions of service or the exactions of tribute? Have I made you to serve with an offering? Isa. xliii. 23. What iniquity have your fathers found in me? Jer. ii. 5. He never deceived us, nor disappointed our expectations from him, never did us wrong, nor put disgrace upon us; why then do we wrong and dishonour him, and frustrate his expectations from us? Here is a challenge to all that ever were in God's service to testify against him if they have found him, in any thing, a hard Master, or if they have found his demands unreasonable. (2.) Since they could not show any thing that he had done against them, he will show them a great deal that he has done for them, which should have engaged them for ever to his service, v. 4, 5. They are here directed, and we in them, to look a great way back in their reviews of the divine favour; let them remember their former days, their first days, when they were formed into a people, and the great things God did for them, [1.] When he brought them out of Egypt, the land of their bondage, v. 4. They were content with their slavery, and almost in love with their chains, for the sake of the garlic and onions they had plenty of; but God brought them up, inspired them with an ambition of liberty and animated them with a resolution by a bold effort to shake off their fetters. The Egyptians held them fast, and would not let the people go; but God redeemed them, not by price, but by force, out of the house of servants, or, rather, the house of bondage, for it is the same word that is used in the preface to the ten commandments, which insinuates that the considerations which are arguments for duty, if they be not improved by us, will be improved against us as aggravations of sin. When he brought them out of Egypt into a vast howling wilderness, as he left not himself without witness, so he left not them without guides, for he sent before them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, three prophets (says the Chaldee paraphrase), Moses the great prophet of the Old Testament, Aaron his prophet (Exod. vii. 1), and Miriam a prophetess, Exod. xv. 20. Note, When we are calling to mind God's former mercies to us we must not forget the mercy of good teachers and governors when we were young; let those be made mention of, to the glory of God, who went before us, saying, This is the way, walk in it; it was God that sent them before us, to prepare the way of the Lord and to prepare a people for him. [2.] When he brought them into Canaan. God no less glorified himself, and honoured them, in what he did for them when he brought them into the land of their rest than in what he did for them when he brought them out of the land of their servitude. When Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, were dead, yet they found God the same. Let them remember now what God did for them, First, In baffling and defeating the designs of Balak and Balaam against them, which he did by the power he has over the hearts and tongues of men, v. 5. Let them remember what Balak the king of Moab consulted, what mischief he devised and designed to do to Israel, when they encamped in the plains of Moab; that which he consulted was to curse Israel, to divide between them and their God, and to disengage him from the protection of them. Among the heathen, when they made war upon any people, they endeavoured by magic charms or otherwise to get from them their tutelar gods, as to rob Troy of its Palladium. Macrobius has a chapter de ritu evocandi Deos—concerning the solemnity of calling out the gods. Balak would try this against Israel; but remember what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, how contrary to his own intention and inclination; instead of cursing Israel, he blessed them, to the extreme confusion and vexation of Balak. Let them remember the malice of the heathen against them, and for that reason never learn the way of the heathen, nor associate with them. Let them remember the kindness of their God to them, how he turned the curse into a blessing (because the Lord thy God loved thee, as it is, Deut. xxiii. 5), and for that reason never forsake him. Note, The disappointing of the devices of the church's enemies ought always to be remembered to the glory of the church's protector, who can make the answer of the tongue directly to contradict the preparation and consultation of the heart, Prov. xvi. 1. Secondly, In bringing them from Shittim, their last lodgment out of Canaan, unto Gilgal, their first lodgment in Canaan. There it was, between Shittim and Gilgal, that, upon the death of Moses, Joshua, a type of Christ, was raised up to put Israel in possession of the land of promise and to fight their battles; there it was that they passed over Jordan through the divided waters, and renewed the covenant of circumcision; these mercies of God to their fathers they must now remember, that they may know the righteousness of the Lord, his righteousness (so the word is), his justice in destroying the Canaanites, his goodness in giving rest to his people Israel, and his faithfulness to his promise made unto the fathers. The remembrance of what God had done to them might convince them of all this, and engage them for ever to his service. Or they may refer to the controversy now pleaded between God and Israel; let them remember God's many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their unworthy ungrateful conduct towards him, that they may know the righteousness of the Lord in contending with them, and it may appear that in this controversy he has right on his side; his ways are equal, for he will be justified when he speaks, and clear when he judges.

Anxiety Respecting the Divine Favour. (b. c. 710.)

6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord , and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Here is the proposal for accommodation between God and Israel, the parties that were at variance in the beginning of the chapter. Upon the trial, judgment is given against Israel; they are convicted of injustice and ingratitude towards God, the crimes with which they stood charged. Their guilt is too plain to be denied, too great to be excused, and therefore,

I. They express their desires to be at peace with God upon any terms (v. 6, 7): Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? Being made sensible of the justice of God's controversy with them, and dreading the consequences of it, they were inquisitive what they might do to be reconciled to God and to make him their friend. They apply to a proper person, with this enquiry, to the prophet, the Lord's messenger, by whose ministry they had been convinced. Who so fit to show them their way as he that had made them sensible of their having missed it? And it is observable that each one speaks for himself: Wherewith shall I come? Knowing every one the plague of his own heart, they ask, not, What shall this man do? But, What shall I do? Note, Deep convictions of guilt and wrath will put men upon careful enquiries after peace and pardon, and then, and not till then, there begins to be some hope of them. They enquire wherewith they may come before the Lord, and bow themselves before the high God. They believe there is a God, that he is Jehovah, and that he is the high God, the Most High. Those whose consciences are convinced learn to speak very honourably of God, whom before they spoke slightly of. Now, 1. We know we must come before God; he is the God with whom we have to do; we must come as subjects, to pay our homage to him, as beggars, to ask alms from him, nay, we must come before him, as criminals, to receive our doom from him, must come before him as our Judge. 2. When we come before him we must bow before him; it is our duty to be very humble and reverent in our approaches to him; and, when we come before him, there is no remedy but we must submit; it is to no purpose to contend with him. 3. When we come and bow before him it is our great concern to find favour with him, and to be accepted of him; their enquiry is, What will the Lord be pleased with? Note, All that rightly understand their own interest cannot but be solicitous what they must do to please God, to avoid his displeasure and to obtain his good-will. 4. In order to God's being pleased with us, our care must be that the sin by which we have displeased him may be taken away, and an atonement made for it. The enquiry here is, What shall I give for my transgression, for the sin of my soul? Note, The transgression we are guilty of is the sin of our soul, for the soul acts it (without the soul's act it is not sin) and the soul suffers by it; it is the disorder, disease, and defilement of the soul, and threatens to be the death of it: What shall I give for my transgressions? What will be accepted as a satisfaction to his justice, a reparation of his honour? And what will avail to shelter me from his wrath? 5. We must therefore ask, Wherewith may we come before him? We must not appear before the Lord empty. What shall we bring with us? In what manner must we come? In whose name must we come? We have not that in ourselves which will recommend us to him, but must have it from another. What righteousness then shall we appear before him in?

II. They make proposals, such as they are, in order to it. Their enquiry was very good and right, and what we are all concerned to make, but their proposals betray their ignorance, though they show their zeal; let us examine them:—

1. They bid high. They offer, (1.) That which is very rich and costly—thousands of rams. God required one ram for a sin-offering; they proffer flocks of them, their whole stock, will be content to make themselves beggars, so that they may but be at peace with God. They will bring the best they have, the rams, and the most of them, till it comes to thousands. (2.) That which is very dear to them, and which they would be most loth to part with. They could be content to part with their first-born for their transgressions, if that would be accepted as an atonement, and the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul. To those that had become vain in their imaginations this seemed a probable expedient of making satisfaction for sin, because our children are pieces of ourselves; and therefore the heathen sacrificed their children, to appease their offended deities. Note, Those that are thoroughly convinced of sin, of the malignity of it, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world, if they had it, for peace and pardon.

2. Yet they do not bid right. It is true some of these things were instituted by the ceremonial law, as the bringing of burnt-offerings to God's altar, and calves of a year old, rams for sin-offerings, and oil for the meat-offerings; but these alone would not recommend them to God. God had often declared that to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams, that sacrifice and offering he would not; the legal sacrifices had their virtue and value from the institution, and the reference they had to Christ the great propitiation; but otherwise, of themselves, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. And as to the other things here mentioned, (1.) Some of them are impracticable things, as rivers of oil, which nature has not provided to feed men's luxury, but rivers of water to supply men's necessity. All the proposals of peace but those that are according to the gospel are absurd. One stream of the blood of Christ is worth ten thousand rivers of oil. (2.) Some of them are wicked things, as to give our first-born and the fruit of our body to death, which would but add to the transgression and the sin of the soul. He that hates robbery for burnt-offerings much more hates murder, such murder. What right have we to our first born and the fruit of our body? Do they not belong to God? Are they not his already, and born to him? Are they not sinners by nature, and their lives forfeited upon their own account? How then can they be a ransom for ours? (3.) They are all external things, parts of that bodily exercise which profiteth little, and which could not make the comers thereunto perfect. (4.) They are all insignificant, and insufficient to attain the end proposed; they could not answer the demands of divine justice, nor satisfy the wrong done to God in his honour by sin, nor would they serve in lieu of the sanctification of the heart and the reformation of the life. Men will part with any thing rather than their sins, but they part with nothing to God's acceptance unless they part with them.

III. God tells them plainly what he demands, and insists upon, from those that would be accepted of him, v. 8. Let their money perish with them that think the pardon of sin and the favour of God may be so purchased; no, God has shown thee, O man! what is good. Here we are told,

1. That God has made a discovery of his mind and will to us, for the rectifying of our mistakes and the direction of our practice. (1.) It is God himself that has shown us what we must do. We need not trouble ourselves to make proposals, the terms are already settled and laid down. He whom we have offended, and to whom we are accountable, has told us upon what conditions he will be reconciled to us. (2.) It is to man that he has shown it, not only to thee, O Israel! but to thee, O man! Gentiles as well as Jews—to men, who are rational creatures, and capable of receiving the discovery, and not to brutes,—to men, for whom a remedy is provided, not to devils, whose case is desperate. What is spoken to all men every where in general, must by faith be applied to ourselves in particular, as if it were spoken to thee, O man! by name, and to no other. (3.) It is a discovery of that which is good, and which the Lord requires of us. He has shown us our end, which we should aim at, in showing us what is good, wherein our true happiness does consist; he has shown us our way in which we must walk towards that end in showing us what he requires of us. There is something which God requires we should do for him and devote to him; and it is good. It is good in itself; there is an innate goodness in moral duties, antecedent to the command; they are not, as ceremonial observances, good because they are commanded, but commanded because they are good, consonant to the eternal rule and reason of good and evil, which are unalterable. It has likewise a direct tendency to our good; our conformity to it is not only the condition of our future happiness, but is a great expedient of our present happiness; in keeping God's commandments there is great reward, as well as after keeping them. (4.) It is shown us. God has not only made it known, but made it plain; he has discovered it to us with such convincing evidence as amounts to a demonstration. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is.

2. What that discovery is. The good which God requires of us is not the paying of a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but doing the duty which is the condition of our interest in the pardon purchased. (1.) We must do justly, must render to all their due, according as our relation and obligation to them are; we must do wrong to none, but do right to all, in their bodies, goods, and good name. (2.) We must love mercy; we must delight in it, as our God does, must be glad of an opportunity to do good, and do it cheerfully. Justice is put before mercy, for we must not give that in alms which is wrongfully got, or with which our debts should be paid. God hates robbery for a burnt-offering. (3.) We must walk humbly with our God. This includes all the duties of the first table, as the two former include all the duties of the second table. We must take the Lord for our God in covenant, must attend on him and adhere to him as ours, and must make it our constant care and business to please him. Enoch's walking with God is interpreted (Heb. xi. 5) his pleasing God. We must, in the whole course of our conversation, conform ourselves to the will of God, keep up our communion with God, and study to approve ourselves to him in our integrity; and this we must do humbly (submitting our understandings to the truths of God and our will to his precepts and providences); we must humble ourselves to walk with God (so the margin reads it); every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into obedience to God, if we would walk comfortably with him. This is that which God requires, and without which the most costly services are vain oblations; this is more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.

Accusations and Threatenings. (b. c. 710.)

9 The Lord 's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable? 11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. 14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

God, having shown them how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows them how plain it was that they had done unjustly; and since they submitted not to his controversy, nor went the right way to have it taken up, here he proceeds in it. Observe,

I. How the action is entered against them, v. 9. God speaks to the city, to Jerusalem, to Samaria. His voice cries to it by his servants the prophets who were to cry aloud and not spare. Note, The voice of the prophets is the Lord's voice, and that cries to the city, cries to the country. Doth not wisdom cry? Prov. viii. 1. When the sin of a city cries to God his voice cries against the city; and, when the judgments of God are coming upon a city, his voice first cries unto it. He warns before he wounds, because he is not willing that any should perish. Now observe, 1. How the voice of God is discerned by some: The man of wisdom will see thy name. When the voice of God cries to us we may by it see his name, may discern and perceive that by which he makes himself known. Yet many see it not, are not aware of it, because they do not regard it. God speaks once, yea, twice, and they perceive it not (Job xxxiii. 14); but those that are men of wisdom will see it, and perceive it, and make a good use of it. Note, It is a point of true wisdom to discover the name of God in the voice of God, and to learn what he is from what he says. Wisdom shall see thy name, for the knowledge of the holy is understanding. 2. What this voice of God says to all: "Hear you the rod, and who hath appointed it. Hear the rod when it is coming; hear it at a distance, before you see it and feel it; and be awakened to go forth to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments. Hear the rod when it has come, and is actually upon you, and you are sensible of the smart of it; hear what it says to you, what convictions, what counsels, what cautions, it speaks to you." Note, Every rod has a voice, and it is the voice of God that is to be heard in the rod of God, and it is well for those that understand the language of it, which if we would do we must have an eye to him that appointed it. Note, Every rod is appointed, of what kind it shall be, where it shall light, and how long it shall lie. God in every affliction performs the thing that is appointed for us (Job xxiii. 14), and to him therefore we must have an eye, to him we must have an ear; we must hear what he says to us by the affliction. Hear it, and know it for thy good, Job v. 6. The work of ministers is to explain the providences of God and to quicken and direct men to learn the lessons that are taught by them.

II. What is the ground of the action, and what are the things that are laid to their charge.

1. They are charged with injustice, a sin against the second table. Are there yet to be found among them the marks and means of fraudulent dealing? What! after all the methods that God has taken to teach them to do justly, will they yet deal unjustly? It seems, they will, v. 10. And shall I count them pure? v. 11. No; this is a sin which will by no means consist with a profession of purity. Those that are dishonest in their dealings have not the spots of God's children, and shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. When a man is suspected of theft, or fraud, the justice of peace will send a warrant to search his house. God here does, as it were, search the houses of those citizens, and there he finds, (1.) Treasures of wickedness, abundance of wealth, but it is ill-got, and not likely to prosper; for treasures of wickedness profit nothing. (2.) A scant measure, by which they sold to the poor, and so exacted upon them and cheated them. (3.) They had wicked balances and a bag of false weights, by which, under a pretence of weighing what they sold, and giving the buyer what was right, they did him the greatest wrong, v. 11. (4.) Those that had wealth and power in their hands abused it to oppression and extortion; The rich men thereof are full of violence; for those that have much would have more, and are in a capacity of making it more by the power which their abundance of wealth gives them. They are full of violence, that is, they have their houses full of that which is got by violence. (5.) Those that had not the advantage of doing wrong by their wealth yet found means of defrauding those they dealt with: The inhabitants thereof have spoken lies; if they are not able to use force and violence, they use fraud and deceit; the inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth; they do not stick at a deliberate lie, to make a good bargain. Some understand it of their speaking falsely concerning God, saying, The Lord seeth not; he hath forsaken the earth, Ezek. viii. 12.

2. They are charged with idolatry (v. 6): The statutes of Omri are kept, and all the work of the house of Ahab. Both these kings were wicked, and did evil in the sight of the Lord; but the wickedness which they established by a law, concerning which they made statutes, and which was the peculiar work of that house, was idolatry. Omri walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin of provoking God to anger with their vanities, 1 Kings xvi. 26, 31. Ahab introduced the worship of Baal. These reigns were some ages before the time when this prophet lived, and yet the wickedness which they established by their laws and examples remained to this day; those statutes were still kept, and that work was still done; and the princes and people still walked in their counsels, took the same measures, and governed themselves and the people by the same politics. Observe, (1.) The same wickedness continued from one generation to another. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not so soon plucked up again. The iniquity of former ages is often transmitted to, and entailed upon, the succeeding ones. Those that make corrupt laws, and bring in corrupt usages, are doing that which perhaps may prove the ruin of the child unborn. (2.) It was not the less evil in itself, provoking to God, and dangerous to the sinners, for its having been established and confirmed by the laws of princes, the examples of great men, and a long prescription. Though the worship of idols is enacted by the statutes of Omri, recommended by the practice of the house of Ahab, and pleads that it has been the usage of many generations, yet it is still displeasing to God and destructive to Israel; for no laws nor customs are of force against the divine command.

III. What is the judgment given upon this. Being found guilty of these crimes, the sentence is that that which God had given them warning of (v. 9) shall be brought upon them (v. 13): Therefore also will I make thee sick, in smiting thee. As they had smitten the poor with the rod of their oppressions, so would God in like manner smite them, so as to make them sick, sick of the gains they had unjustly gotten, so that though they had swallowed down riches they should vomit them up again, Job xx. 15. Their doom is,

1. That what they have they shall not have any comfortable enjoyment of; it shall do them no good. They grasped at more than enough, but, when they have it, it shall not be enough to make them easy and happy. What is got by fraud and oppression cannot be kept or enjoyed with any satisfaction. (1.) Their food shall not nourish them: Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied, either because the food shall not digest, for want of God's blessing going along with it, or because the appetite shall by disease be made insatiable and still craving, the just punishment of those that were greedy of gain and enlarged their desires as hell. Men may be surfeited with the good things of this world and yet not satisfied, Eccl. v. 10; Isa. lv. 2. (2.) Their country shall not harbour and protect them: "Thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee, that is, thou shalt be broken and ruined by the intestine troubles, mischiefs at home enough to cast thee down, though thou shouldst not be invaded by a foreign force." God can cast a nation down by that which is in the midst of them, can consume them by a fire in their own bowels. (3.) They shall not be able to preserve what they have from a foreign force, nor to recover what they have lost: "Thou shalt take hold of what is about to be taken from thee, but thou shalt not hold it fast, shalt catch at it, but shalt not deliver it, shalt not retrieve it." It is meant of their wives and children, that were very dear to them, which they took hold of, as resolved not to part with them, but there is no remedy, they must go into captivity. Note, What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest, and that proves least safe which is most dear. (4.) What they save for a time shall be reserved for a future and sorer stroke: That which thou deliverest out of the hand of one enemy will I give up to the sword of another enemy; for God has many arrows in his quiver; if one miss the sinner, the next shall not. (5.) What they have laboured for they shall not enjoy (v. 15): "Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; it shall be blasted and withered, and there shall be nothing to reap, or an enemy shall come and reap it for himself, or thou shalt be carried into captivity, and leave it to be reaped by thou knowest not whom. Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil, having no heart to make use of ornaments and refreshments when all is going to ruin. Thou shalt tread out the sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine, for many things may fall between the cup and the lip." Note, It is very grievous to be disappointed of our expectations, and not to have the pleasure of that which we have taken pains for; and this will be the just punishment of those that frustrate God's expectations from them, and answer not the cost he has been at upon them. See this threatened in the law, Lev. xxvi. 16; Deut. xxviii. 30, 38, &c.; and compare Isa. lxii. 8, 9.

2. That all they have shall at length be taken from them (v. 13): Thou shalt be made desolate because of thy sins; and v. 16, a desolation and a hissing. Sin makes a nation desolate; and when a people that have been famous and flourishing are made desolate it is the astonishment of some and the triumph of others; some lament it, and others hiss at it. Thus you shall bear the reproach of my people. Their being the people of God, in name and profession while they kept close to their duty and kept themselves in his love, was an honour to them, and all their neighbours thought it so; but now that they have corrupted and ruined themselves, now that their sins and God's judgments have made their land desolate, their having been once the people of God does but turn so much the more to their reproach; their enemies will say, These are the people of the Lord, Ezek. xxxvi. 20. Note, If professors of religion ruin themselves, their ruin will be the most reproachful of any; and they in a special manner will rise at the last day to everlasting shame and contempt.

CHAP. VI.

Verſe 1. HEar ye now what the Lord ſaith,] Exordium breve eſt, ſed planè patheticum, ſaith Gualther. This is a ſhort, but pithy and patheticall preface; wherein he wooes their attention: Audite quaeſo, Hear, I pray you. Miniſters are ſpokeſmen for Chriſt, and muſt therefore give good words: and yet remembring on whoſe errand they come, it is required that they be found faithfull, 1 Cor. 4.2.

Ariſe, contend thou] Surge, age, O Micah! Debate thou Gods cauſe againſt this rebellious and ingratefull people, as it were in judgement: calling all, even the inſenſible creatures to be judges. See the like, Deut. 32.1. Eſay 1.2. Mic. 1.2. (for theſe two Prophets have many things common) and be ſenſible, that ſome ſit as ſenſeleſſe before a Preacher ſtill, as the ſeats they ſit on, pillars they lean to, dead bodies they tread upon: ſo that we have need (as One did once in my hearing) to call to the walls and windows to hear the word of the Lord. This heavy ear is noted for a ſingular judgement, Mat. 13.13, 14. Eſay 30.8, 9. The Philoſopher was angry with his Boeotians: telling them that they had not their name for nought, ſith their ears were Ox-ears, and that they were dull creatures, and uncapable of counſel. Demoſthenes alſo for like cauſe, called upon his countrey-men of Athens, to get their ears healed: and Diogenes uſed to tell his tale to the ſtatues and images, that he might inure himſelf to loſe his labour, as he had ſo often done, in ſpeaking to the people.Pag. 18. Let us, to the wearing of our tongues to the ſtumps, preach and pray never ſo much, men will on in ſinne, ſaid bleſſed Bradford, in that excellent Sermon of his of Repentance. We cry till we are hoarſe (ſaith another rare Preacher) we ſpeak till we ſpit forth our lungs: but all to as little purpoſe as Bede did, when he preached to an heap of ſtones. Aſine quiſpiam narrabat fabulam: at ille movebat aures. But ſhall people thus carry it away, and God loſe his ſweet words? Never think it. Thoſe that will not hear the word, ſhall hear the rod, verſe 9. of this chapter: and if they could but ſee their miſery, they would do as the Prophet requires, cut their hair and caſt it away, under the ſenſe of the horror of Gods indignation, Jer. 7.27, 29. they would beg of God a hearing ear, (which is as an ear-ring of gold, Prov. 25.12.) and beſeech him to make the bore bigger, that his word might enter: yea to draw up the ears of their ſouls to the ears of their bodies, that one ſaving ſound might pierce both at once. Let him that hath an ear to hear, hear: or if yet any think good to forbear, let him forbear, Ezek. 3.27. but he will certainly repent it. He that now gives God occaſion to call to the hills, &c. ſhall one day tire the deaf mountains, ſaying, Fall on me, hide me, daſh and quaſh me in a thouſand peeces. O that I might trot directly to hell, and not ſtay to hear that dreadfull Diſcedite, Go ye curſed!

Verſe 2. Hear O ye mountains the Lords controverſie] Although the people would neither hear nor obey God, the Prophet doth: and, according to command, he ſummoneth the mountains to hear and teſtifie: the Lord ſeeming to ſay unto him, as once he did to Ezekiel; But thou ſonne of man, be not thou rebellious like that rebellious houſe: but hear what I ſay unto thee, and do it. It might ſeem to him a ſenſeleſſe thing to cite the mountains, &c. But hee knew that if God command a thing, to argue or debate upon it were bold preſumption; to ſearch the reaſon of it, proud curioſity, to detrect or diſobey it, flat rebellion. To the mountains and foundations of the earth he applies himſelf: happly with like minde, and in like manner as the Hoſt of Nola did to the Church-yard: and there called at the graves of the dead; Oh ye good men of Nola, come away;Anton. de Guevara. for the Roman Cenſor calls for your appearance: for he knew not where to call for a good man alive.

and ye ſtrong foundations of the earth] Thoſe roots of the mountains, Jon. 2.7. yet not ſo ſtrong, but God can ſhake them, Job 9.5, 6. Nah. 1.5, 6. and that by ſo weak a creature as air, gotten under ground, and ſeeking a vent. Hee can lift them off their foundations, Deut. 32.22. and carry them to another place to hear his controverſie, as he did the hill in Herefordſhire, Anno 1571.Camden. de B[illegible: 2 letters]tan. fol. 473. Polan. ſynt. and that other in the territories of Bern, that removing out of his place in an earth-quake, covered a whole village, that had 90 families in it. See the Note on Amos 1.1.

for the Lord hath a controverſie with his people,] See the Note on Hoſ. 4.1. and learn to tremble before this great God, who ſitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as graſhoppers, Eſay 40.22. which he can ſhake out of their place at pleaſure, and ſend them packing to hell. O conſider what a fearfull thing it is to be at controverſie with God: and to have him both our Accuſer, witneſſe, and Judge. O the terrour of the Lord at that great and laſt day of the world! Ʋtinam ubique de hoc judi[illegible: 1 letter]io diſſeretur! Then ſhall they begin to ſay to the mountains, Fall on us (but they ſhall reply,Luke 23 30. we are witneſſes againſt you for your deteſtable unthankfulneſſe) and to the hills, Cover us, but they ſhall eccho out Cover us; for who can dwell with this devouring fire? who can abide theſe everlaſting burnings?

and he will plead with Iſrael.] At which time they ſhall find, that an empty title, hath but an empty comfort; and that tribulation and anguiſh ſhall be on every ſoul of man that doth evil: but of the Jew firſt, becauſe of his priviledge,Rom. 2.9. and then of the Gentile. None ſo deep in utter darkneſſe, as thoſe that once were Angels of light. Let us all pray with holy David, Enter not into judgement with thy ſervant, O Lord, &c. And with Job, If thou ſhouldſt contend with me, Pſal. 143.2. Joh 9.2, 3. Dan. 9.7, 8. I could not anſwer thee one of a thouſand. And with Daniel, O Lord, righteouſneſſe belongs unto thee: but to us confuſion of face, becauſe we have ſinned againſt thee.

Verſe 3. O my people, what have I done unto thee?] Or rather, what have I not done, to do thee good? O generation, ſee yee the word of the Lord, Jer. 2.31. and not hear it onely: was ever any thing more evidencing and evincing then what I now alledge? Have I been a wilderneſſe unto Iſrael, a land of darkneſſe? May I not well ſay unto you, as He did to his ungratefull countreymen; What? Are ye weary of receiving ſo many benefits from one man? But ſay; What hurt have I ever done you?Themiſtocles. and wherein have I wearied you, or been troubleſome to you? unleſſe it be by daily loading you with loving-kindneſſes, Pſal. 68.19. and bearing with your provocations? Forgive me that injury, 2 Cor. 12.13.

Teſtifie againſt me,] Put me in remembrance, let us plead together, declare thou againſt me, that thou mayeſt be juſtified, Eſay 43.26. See here, firſt, with what meekneſſe, and mildneſſe God proceedeth againſt ſinners, ſo Eſay 5.3. Judicate quaeſo. See, next, that God is content, for our better conviction, to ſubmit his courſes unto ſcanning, and to bring his proceedings with us to a triall, before hee paſſe ſentence; that he might be juſtified when he ſpeaketh, and cleared when hee judgeth, Pſal. 51.4. Here hee wills them to plead the cauſe with him, as it were at even hand; offering to make anſwer to whatſoever they could object, or lay to his charge. Seipſum quaſi reum ſiſtit. He maketh himſelf the Defendant,Gualther. and bids them put in their Bill of complaint againſt him, freely and without fear. This is Stupenda ſanè dignatio, a wonderfull condeſcention indeed. Should he uſe martiall law againſt us, M. Neh. Rog. and aſſoon as ever we offend (like Draco) write his lawes in blood upon us (as One well ſaith) it were but juſt and right. But for him to reaſon and plead with us about the juſtice of his cauſe before he proceedes to judgment, this deſerves admiration and acknowledgement in the higheſt degree. O the depth!

Verſe 4. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt] Here God twits them with his former favours: which he never doth, but in caſe of brutiſh unthankfulneſſe. Now there was brutiſh, and worſe. To render good for evill is divine: good for good is humane: evill for evill is brutiſh: but evill for good deviliſh. This makes God, contrary to his cuſtome, upbraid people with what he hath done for them: and angrily call for his love-tokens back againe, as Hoſ. 2.9. For their deliverance out of the Egyptian ſervitude how great a mercy it was, ſee the Note on Hoſ. 11.1. ſuch as they were againe and againe charged never to forget Deut. 6.12. and 5.15. and 26.5. to 12. How much more bound are we to God for our Redemption by Chriſt? for what's Pharaoh to Satan? Egypt to this preſent evill world? Egyptian bondage to fins ſlavery? Seeing then that our God hath given us ſuch deliverance as this, ſhould we againe break his commandements &c. Well might the hills and mountaines teſtify againſt ſuch a monſtrous unthankfullneſſe, and diſingenuity.

and redeemed thee out of the houſe of ſervants] Gradatim progreditur, ſaith Calvin. It was ſomthing to be brought out of the land of Egypt, a moſt ſuperſtitious place: where they turned the glory of the incorruptible God to the ſimilitude of the image of a corruptible man (for they defiled their king Oſiris) and of birds (for they worſhipped the hawk and Ibis) and of foure-footed beaſts (for they worſhipped an ox,Rom. 1.23. a dog, a cat, a ſwine) and of creeping things, for they worſhipped the Crocodile, Ichneumon &c. yea they worſhipped plants and pot-herbs. Hence the Poet Felices gentes,Iuven. quibus haec naſcuntur in hortis Numina— To be brought out therefore from amongſt ſuch hatefull Idolaters was no ſmall favour, leſt they ſhould ſmell of their ſuperſtitions, as Mica's mother did after all that ayring ſin in the deſert Judg. 17.3. and Jeroboam, by being there awhile, had learned calf-worſhip: hence that ſtrickt charge never to make leagne with them. But to be redeemed out of the houſe of ſervants, was more: out of the iron furnace Deut. 4.20. Ier. 11.4. where they wrought night and day in latere & luto Exod. 1. in ſetting up thoſe famous Pyramids, and treaſure-cities for Pharaoh, where they ſerved with rigour, Exod. 1.13. their lives were made bitter with hard bondage ver. 14. till God withdrew their ſhoulders from the burden, and their hands did leave the pots Pſal. 81.6. till they ſaw the God of Iſrael: and there was under his feet as it were a paved-work of a Saphire-ſtone Exod. 24.10. to ſhew, that God had now changed their condition, their bricks made in their bondage to Saphirs. Confer Eſay 54.11. and conſider what God hath done for us, by bringing us into the glorious liberty of his own children, who were once the devils drudges and dromedaries, ſerving diverſe luſts and pleaſures Tit. 3.3. which gave lawes to our members Rom. 7. and held us under in a brutiſh bondage, much worſe then the Heathens mil-houſe, the Turks gallies, Bajazets iron-cage, the Indian mines, or Egyptian furnace. For there, if they did their task they eſcaped ſtripes; but here, let men do the devill never ſuch doughty ſervice, they are ſure of ſcourges and ſcorpions after all, armies and changes of ſorrowes and ſufferings: terrours and torments, without any the leaſt hope of ever either mending or ending. This ſhould make us lift up many an humble, joyfull, and thankfull heart to our moſt powerfull Redeemer: ſaying with St. Paul, Now to the King eternal, immortal, inviſible, the only wiſe God, be honour and glory for ever and ever, Amen. 1 Tim. 1.17.

and I ſent before thee, Moſes, Aaron and Miriam] As three principall guides, and Miriam for one: who did her part among the women Exod. 15.20. and, having a prophetick ſpirit, became a ſingular inſtrument in the hand of God who ſpake by her Num. 12.2. But her weak head was not able to bear ſuch a cup of honour, without being intoxicated: which cauſed her father to ſpit in her face Num. 12.2, 14. Her death is recorded in ſcripture Num: 20.1. but not her age, as is Sarahs Gen. 23.1. Some have obſerved that God thought not fit to tell us of the length of the life of any woman in Scripture but Sarah, to humble that ſex. But as ſoules have no ſexes, ſo of ſome women (ſuch as were Miriam, Deborah, the Virgin Mary, Priſcilla, Blandina, the Lady Jane Gray, Q. Elizabeth &c.) it may be ſaid, that in them, beſides their ſex, there was nothing woman-like or weak: as if (what Philoſophy ſaith) the ſoules of theſe noble creatures had followed the temperament of their bodies, which conſiſt of a frame of rarer roomes, of a more exact compoſition, then mans doth. It is poſſible that Miriam might (till that matter of emulation betwixt her and Moſes his wife fell out) be as helpfull to Moſes and Aaron, as Nazianzens mother was to his father;Non ſolum adjutricem in pietate, ſed etiam doctricem & gubernatricem. Nazian. Epitap. pat. not a help-fellow only, but a doctreſſe and governeſſe.

Verſe 5. O my people remember now what Balak] There muſt be a Recognition of Gods mercies, or elſe there will neither follow Eſtimation, nor Retribution: Elſe we that ſhould be as temples of his praiſes, ſhall be as graves of his benefits. Our ſoules are naturally like filthy ponds, wherein fiſh die ſoon, and frogs live long; rotten ſtuff is remembred, memorable mercies are forgotten; whereas the ſoul ſhould be as an holy Ark, the memory like the pot of Manna preſerving holy truths as the Law; and ſpeciall bleſſings, as Aarons rod, freſh and flouriſhing. This Iſrael did not, and are therefore juſtly blamed Pſal. 106.7, 13, 21. and here againe reminded of one ſignall mercy among many, that they might take notice of the enemies malignity, Gods benignity, and their own indignity and ingratitude, that parching wind, that drieth up the fountaine of divine favours.Ventus urens & exſiccans.

what Balack king of Moab conſulted] Joſhua ſaith, that he aroſe and fought againſt Iſrael chap. 24.9. that is, he had a good mind to have fought, but he did not becauſe he durſt not. So Eſth. 8.7. Haman is ſaid to have laid his hand upon the Jewes, becauſe he intended and attempted ſuch a matter. They, that is the Sortilegi or Lot-ſorcerers, with whom, Balack-like, he conſulted, caſt Pur, that is, the lot before Haman from day to day, and from month to month: viz. Eſth. 3.7. to find out what month or day would be lucky for the accompliſhment of his intended maſſacre of the Iewes: but before that black-day came, Mordecai was advanced, and Haman hanged. Now, as there, by the ſpeciall providence of God overruling the ſuperſtition of that wicked wreth, way was made for the preſervation of Gods people: So was it here. Balack conſulted, and Balaam anſwered him: that is, he was as willing to curſe as the other would have had him, but might not: for God would not harken unto him, but bleſſed his people ſtill, and delivered them out of his hand Ioſh. 24.10. Yea though at length he was reſolved to curſe howſoever, and therefore went not forth as at other times to ſeek for inchantments, but ſet his face toward the wilderneſſe, as if he would do the deed, whatever came of it Num. 24.1. Yet his indevour was fruitleſſe and fruſtrate. So ſhall the malicious attempts of Rome and Hell be againſt the Reformed religion and the Profeſſors thereof (whom the Romiſh Balaam banns and curſes with bell book and candle (at the inſtigation of the Spaniſh Balak, with his factours the Jeſuits) ſo long as they adhere to him and pray as Pſal. 109.26, 27, 28, 29. Help me O Lord my God: O ſave me according to thy mercy. That they may know, that this is thy hand: that thou Lord haſt done it. Let them curſe, but bleſſe thou: When they ariſe, let them be aſhamed, but let thy ſervants rejoyce &c. Salvation is of the Lord: his bleſſing is upon his people.

from Shittim unto Gilgal] Oratio elliptica: q. d. Remember what I did for you at Shittim in the wilderneſſe, and ſo all the way untill you came into the promiſed land, even to Gilgal, where you firſt pitched tent Ioſh. 5.8, 9, 10. At Shittim it was, where, by the peſtilent counſel of Balaam (the devils ſpelman) the Midianites out-witted them, by ſetting faire women before them as a ſtumbling-block Num. 25.1, 18. to draw them to thoſe two ſiſter-ſins, adultery and idoaltry. Then and there,Digni qui fu[illegible: 1 letter] ditus delerentur. Gualth. the heades of the people were hanged up before the Lord againſt the Sun, and ſome others; when as God might juſtly have cut them all off, and caſt them away from being a people before him. Nonne illic refulſit admirabilis Dei gratia? ſaith Calvin: was not this a miracle of Gods mercy?

that ye may know the righteouſneſſe of the Lord] i. e. the faithfulneſſe and goodneſſe of God in keeping promiſe with your fathers, notwithſtanding your provocations. Or my righteous dealings with thoſe fornicatours and adulterers, whom I there judged: preſerving the innocent, or penitent, till they came to Gilgal, and onwards. Or that thou maiſt know how juſt my complaint is of thee, and mine action againſt thee. So Vatablus expounds it.

Verſe 6. Wherewith ſhall I came before the Lord] This is vox populi the voice of the people now convinced in part; or at leaſt of ſome one for them. Praeſtat herbam dare quàm turpiter pugnare. Better yeeld then diſgracefully hold out the conteſt. God, ſay they hath the better of us: neither need he now call upon heaven and earth to arbitrate, nor on the mountaines and ſtrong foundations to heare the quarrell, for we are ſelf-condemned Tit. 3.11. Our own conſciences reade the ſentence againſt us, we have deſerved to be deſtroyed: but oh what may we do to avert and avoid his wrath? what ſhall we do that we might work the works of God? Ioh. 6.28. Loe this is the guiſe of graceleſſe men: faine they would pacifie God, and work themſelves into his grace and favour by ceremonies and frivolous buſineſſes: yea they offer largely for a diſpenſation to live in their ſins, which they had as liefe be knockt o' th' head, as part with. Intere à per flexuoſos circuitus fing unt ſe ad Deum accedere, In loc. à quo tamen ſemper cupiant eſſe remoti, ſaith Calvin, they fetch a compaſſe about God, but care not to come near him. Heaven they would either ſteale if they could, or buy at any hand, if they might: faine they would paſſe è coeno ad coelum, à deliciis ad delicias from Dalilab's lap to Abrahams boſome: faine they would (as One ſaith) dance with the devill all day, and then ſup with Chriſt at night. They ſeem here very inquiſitive and ſolicitous about their ſoules health: they give the half-turn ſed ad Deum uſque non revertuntur but they return not even to God: like a horſe in a mill they move much, but remove not at all: like thoſe ſilly women 2 Tim. 3.6, 7. or as ants that run to and fro about a mole-hill, but grow not greater.

and how my ſelf before the high God] Or, ſhall I bow my ſelf &c. will that, or any like bodily exerciſe pleaſe him, or paciſy him? if cringing or crouching will do it, if ſack-cloth and aſhes, if hanging down the head and going ſoftly, if pennances and pilgrimagts &c. hypocrites do uſually herein out-do the upright. Doth the Publican look with his eyes on the ground? the hypocriticall Jewes will hang down their heads like bulruſhes. Doth Timothy weaken his conſtitution by abſtinence? the Phariſees will never give over till his complexion be wholy withered and wanzed. Doth Paul correct his body with milder correction, as it were a blow on the cheek? the Jeſuite will martyr his ſides with the ſevere diſcipline of ſcorpions. But although God muſt be glorified with our bodies alſo 1 Cor. 6.20. and externall ſervice is required (what ever the Swenkfeldians ſay to the contrary) yet Bodily exerciſe of it ſelf profiteth little 1 Tim. 4.8. and let thoſe that brag off or bind upon their outward worſhip of Chriſt conſider, that the devill himſelf in the demoniack of Gadara fell down and worſhipped him. What comfort can there be in that which is common to us with devils? who as they beleeve and tremble, ſo they tremble and worſhip. The outward bowing is the body of the action; the diſpoſition of the ſoule, is the ſoule of it.

ſhall I come before him with burnt-offerings &c.] ſhall I prevent him, and propiciate him with holocauſts? ſhall I meet him marching againſt me, and thus make my peace with him? The Jewes were much in ſacrifices, till they wearied Gods ſoule therewith, and all his ſenſes Eſay 1.13, 14, 15. but they were ſacrificing Sodomites ver. 10. they ſtuck in the bark, they pleaſed themſelves in the work done, not attending the manner, which either makes or marres every action, and is mainely eyed by God: their devotions were placed more in the maſſy materiality, then inward purity; and hence rejected David could tell (through theſe Queſtioniſts could not) that God deſired not ſacrifice, further then as thereby men were led to Chriſt; and that the ſacrifices of God are a contrite ſpirit Pſal. 51.16.17. that no burnt offering is acceptable, not calf of a yeare old, unleſſe laid on the low altar of a broken heat, which ſanctifieth the ſacrifice.

Verſe 7. Will the Lord be pleaſed with thouſands of ramms] It was taken for a maxime among all nations, that no man was to come before God empty-handed: nor to ſerve him of free-coſt. And although Lycurgus the Lacedemonian made a law, that no man ſhould be at very great charge for a ſacrifice, leſt he ſhould grow weary of Gods ſervice: yet when the famous carver Phidias, adviſed the Athenians to make the ſtatue of Minerva rather of Marble, then of Ivory. 1. becauſe more durable (this paſſed with allowance.) 2. becauſe leſſe chargeable: at the mention hereof, with infinite indignation they commanded him ſilence. Pliny tells us, of Alexander the Great, that when, as being yet a youth, he caſt great ſtore of frankincenſe upon the altar, and his School-maſter told him, he muſt not bee ſo liberall, till he had ſubdued the frankincenſe-countreys: when once he had conquered Arabia, he ſent his ſchool-maſter a ſhip full of frankincenſe, largely exhorting him to worſhip the gods therewith. Superſition is, for moſt part, not liberall onely, but prodigall; and no wonder, when as good works are by Bellarmine ſaid to be mercatura regni coeleſtis the price and purchaſe of heaven. Hence their Churches are ſo ſtuffed with vowed preſents, and memories, as at Loretto, Spec. Europ. and elſewhere, they are fain to hang their Cloyſters, and Church-yards with them. What would not men give, what will they not ſuffer, that they may be ſaved? I would ſwim thorow a ſea of brimſtone, ſaid One, that I might come to heaven at laſt. But thoſe that would buy heaven, and do offer as theſe here, a bribe for a pardon, ſhall hear, Thy money periſh with thee: And thoſe that ſeek to bee ſaved by their works, Luther fitly cals, the Devils martyrs: They ſuffer much, and take much pains to go to hell, they buy their damnation, as One ſaith the Phariſees did, when they gave Iudas thoſe thirty pieces, for which he ſold his ſalvation.

Shall I give my firſt-born for my tranſgreſſion, &c?] The ſuperſtitious Iews uſed, we know, to offer up their children in ſacrifice to Moloch, or Saturn, 2 King. 17. and 21. and 23. and that, in an apiſh imitation of Abrahams offering his ſonne Iſaac. Euſeb. praep. Evang. lib. 4. Diod. Sic. l. 20. to the ſame Saturn the Phoenicians are ſaid to have ſacrificed the beſt of thei ſonnes. So did the Carthaginians, as Diodorus Siculus teſtifieth. And when as they had for awhile left off ſo to do, and were overcome by Agathocles, they (ſuppoſing that the gods were therefore angry with them, becauſe they had not done as formerly) ſlew 200. at once, at the altar, of their young Nobility, to pacifie the offended deity. Of like ſort were Anammelech, and Adrammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim, unto whom that people burnt their children in the fire, 2. King. 17.13. And little better were our Anceſtours, the old Brittones, who not onely ſacrificed their ſtrangers, but their children too, non ad honorem ſed ad injuriam religionis. Camd. Britan[illegible: 1 letter] Here then the Prophet ſeemeth to ſpeak by way of Conceſſion, that he may ſhew theſe Queſtioniſts, how little it would avail them to ſacrifice their children, if ſuch a thing were lawfull to be done.

Verſe 8. Hee hath ſhewed thee, O man, what is good] i. e. What is right, juſt, and acceptable to himſelf. Hee ſhewed it by the light of Nature: for Ariſtotle (Natures ſecretary) ſaith, It is not likely that God is ſo well pleaſed with the coſtlineſſe of the ſacrifices, as with the godlineſſe of the ſacrificers. He hath ſhewed it much more by the light of Scripture: there he hath told thee,Ariſt. in Rheto[illegible: 1 letter] what is the unum neceſſarium, One thing neceſſary; in compariſon whereof all other things are but by-buſineſſes: what is the Totum hominis, the whole duty of man, ſc. to fear God, and keep his commandements, Eccleſ. 12.13. What is the Bonum hominis, as here, yea, the Summum Bonum, or chiefeſt good of man, attainable in this life; viz. Communion with God, and Conformity to God.

And what doth the Lord require of thee] But thee? Quia in omni creatura terrena nihil melius fecit te, ipſe quaerit te à tu, quia in perdideras te, in te, Aug. ſerm. 136. de temp. as Auguſtine elegantly paraphraſeth this Text. In as much, as God hath among all earthly creatures, made nothing better then thee, therefore he requireth thee, of thee, &c.

But to do juſtly, and to love mercy] This is the ſumme of the ſecond Table: as that which followeth, is of the firſt, to walk humbly with thy God. Here then is a brief of the whole Bible, a little Bible, as the eleventh to the Hebrews, is by One not unfitly called, A little Book of Martyrs. Do this and live: Do this here enjoyned, and thou ſhalt never fall: yea, thou ſhalt go gallantly into heaven, as Saint Peter hath it, 2 Epiſt. 1.10, 11. Certa ſemper ſunt in paucis, ſaith Tertullian. Things ſimply neceſſaryk, whether to be beleeved or practiſed, are few in number, but many in vertue; in ſight ſmall, but great in weight: like gold, which being ſolid, is contracted into a narrow room: but may be drawn into ſo large an extent, that one angel may cover an acre of ground, as the Naturaliſts have obſerved. To do juſtly, is the duty; not onely of Magiſtrates, whom God hath entruſted with the adminiſtration of his earthly kingdom, by the due execution of vindicative and remunerative juſtice, but alſo of all other perſons, in their ſerver all places and ſtations, whoſe rule muſt be that golden ſaying of our Saviour, Whatſoever ye would that men ſhould do unto you, do ye even ſo to them: for this is the law and the prophets, Mat. 7.12. See the Note there.

And to love mercy] This is more then to ſhew mercy: for that a man may do, and yet, for want of love, loſe all, 1 Cor. 13. He muſt not onely draw out his ſheaf, but his ſoul to the hungry, Eſay 58.10. nor diſtribute ſpirituall alms, but do it out of deep affection, as Titus, 2 Cor. 7. he muſt be ready to diſtribute, willing to communicate, 1 Tim. 6.18. his mercy muſt flow from him, as water doth from the fountain, or light from the Sun: it muſt not be wrung from him, as verjuyce from a crab, or as diſtilled water is forced out by the heat of the fire. Let the love of Chriſt conſtrain us to look out ſome of his receivers, (as David did Jonathans ſtock) to whom we may ſhew mercy for his ſake. What though we be weak, yet if willing to ſhew mercy,2 Cor. 8. God accepteth according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. The widows mite is beyond the rich mans magnificence: becauſe it came out of a richer minde: The Apoſtle bids, Put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindneſſe, Col. 3.12. ſuch as the Gaoler had toward Paul and Silas: ſuch as the Samaritan had toward the wounded man by the way-ſide: ſuch as thoſe primitive Chriſtians had, who came to the Church, with ſtrong affections, with large contributions, Acts 4.34. The like is foretold of Tyrus when converted, Eſay 23.18. and of Ethiopia, Pſal. 68.31. that ſhee ſhall haſtily ſtretch her hands unto God, Heb. ſhe ſhall make them run, noting her readineſſe, and ſpeedineſſe, in giving her goods unto the ſaints. The tender mercies of the Almighty, ſhed forth abundantly upon His, leave a compaſſionate frame upon their hearts, and do dye their thoughts, as the die-fat doth the cloth.

And to walk humbly with thy God] Or, Baſhfully, with an holy ſhamefacedneſſe, and ſollicitoſneſſe of doing any thing that may offend the eyes of Gods glory. Yea, what care, faith the Apoſtle, 2 Cor. 7.11. ſc. of walking worthy of the Lord, unto all-pleaſing, Coloſ. 1.10. as proving your hearts and lives to him in every part and point of obedience. This the Lord in a myſtery taught his people, Deut. 23.13, 14. when commanding them to cover their excrements with a paddle, hee giveth this reaſon thereof. For the Lord thy God walketh in the middeſt of thy camp, &c, therefore ſhall thy camp be holy, that he ſeen no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. They that ſtand in the preſence of Princes muſt be every way exact: and give them all due reſpect. Now a good man, like a good Angel, is ever in Gods preſence: and muſt therefore walk worthy of the vocation wherewith he is called, with all lowlineſſe and meekneſſe, Epheſ. 4.1, 2. with all modeſty, and demiſſion of mind, and of demeanour, (as the word here ſignifieth) and eſpecially, when he draweth night to God in holy duties.1 Chro. 29.14. Then it muſt be his care to exerciſe a three-fold humility. Firſt, precedent, before he ſets upon Gods ſervice, he muſt in heart devote, and dedicate all that he is, and hath, as a due debt to the Almighty, ſaying with David, Juſtinian. It is of thine own, Lord, that I give thee: [non-Latin text not transcribed], as that good Emperour ſaid. The ſecond is concomitant: when in the performance of good duties, he hath grace, (this lovely grace of humility eſpecially) whereby hee may ſerve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear; which is nothing elſe but an awfull reſpect to the divine Majeſty,Heb. 12.28. with whom wee have to do, Heb. 4.13. The third is ſubſequent; when after hee hath done his beſt, he is dejected in the ſenſe of his many failings in the manner; and looking on his plumes, he looketh alſo on his black feet, and is abaſhed, and abaſed before the Lord. Lo, this is to humble himſelf to walk with his God. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Iſrael of God.

Verſe 9. The Lords voice crieth unto the city] Or, ſhall cry, viz. by his Prophets. [non-Latin text not transcribed],Herodet. ſaid the Heathen. God loves to fore-ſignifie, to warn before he woundeth, to foretell a judgement, before he inflicteth it. He had ſhewed his people what was good, and what he required of them: but to little purpoſe, through their unteachableneſſe, and ſtubbornneſſe. He thereatneth therefore here to take another courſe with them.

And the man of wiſdome ſhall ſee thy name] Gualther rendreth it, And the man of Eſſence, &c. that is, qui revera vir eſt, non caudex aut truncus, hee that is a man indeed, or not a ſtock, or trunck (ſuch an one as was that ſapleſſe fellow Nabal, in whom all true reaſon was decayed and faded) will eaſily ſee Gods name, that is, the divine majeſty of the word, working powerfully upon his heart, as the Sun-beams beat upon Jonas his head, and diſquieted him. Danaeus rendreth it, And wiſdom ſeeth thy name, that is, wiſdoms children, as Luke 7.35. which will juſtifie her, when others are either ſo froward, that nothing can pleaſe them, (neither John faſting, nor Chriſt eating, Mat. 11.16, &c.) or ſo dull, that nothing can affect them, as theſe here: the word of God was worſe then ſpilt upon them. Sure it is, that wiſdoms children are not many. Who is wiſe, and he ſhall underſtand theſe things? ſaith Hoſea chap. 14.9. the very queſtion imports a paucity. See the Note there. Though a gunne be diſcharged at a whole flight of birds, there are but a few killed: though the net be ſpread over the whole pond, but a few fiſhes are taken. Rari ſunt qui philoſophantur, ſaith Ʋlpian. It is with our hearers, as it was with Jonathans ſignal arrows, two fell ſhort, and but one beyond the mark: So where one ſhoots home to the mark of the high-calling in Chriſt Jeſus, many fall ſhort. Three ſorts of four of thoſe that heard our Saviour, were naught, Mat. 13. And of thoſe that heard Paul at Athens, ſome derided, others doubted, and but a very few beleeved: as Dennis, and Damaris, and ſome others with them, Act. 17.34.

Hear ye the rod] Sith ye would not hear the word, and ſo redeem your own ſorrows. All Gods rods are vocall, they are ſpeaking as well as ſmiting: they are not mute, but mingled with inſtructions. They are his Free-ſchool-maſter; curſt, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and crabbed, but ſuch as whereby he openeth mens ears (till then, uncircumciſed, and ſtopt with the ſuperfluity of naughtineſſe) to diſcipline, and commandeth them to return from iniquity, Job 36.8, 9. By chaſtening men, God teacheth them out of his Law, Pſal. 64.12. Hence Luther calleth Affliction, Theologiam Chriſtianorum, the Chriſtian mans Divinity: and Another ſaith, that Schola crucis eſt ſchola lucis. There ſhall be onely fear, to make you underſtand the hearing, Eſay 28.19. As God is ſaid to hold his peace, when he puniſheth not, Pſal. 50.21. Eſay 41.14. ſo, to preach and teach, when he doth. And look how Gideon, by threſhing the men of Succoth with thorns and briars of the wilderneſſe, taught them, Judg. 8.7.16. ſo here. I have a meſſage from God unto thee, O King, ſaid Ehud, Judg. 3.20. Lo, his ponyard was Gods meſſage. Whence, One well obſerveth, that not onely the vocall admonitions, but the reall judgements of God, are his errands and inſtructions to the world. For when thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteouſneſſe, Eſay 26.9. Smart makes wit; and Vexation giveth underſtanding.

and who hath appointed it] God, who hath not onely a permiſſive, but an active hand in all our afflictions. Others render the text, Quis ſit, qui accerſatiſtud, who it is that hath procured it, or ſent for it, Who, but your ſelves? according to Hoſ. 13.9. See the Note there. Nemo laeditur niſi à ſeipſo. Men may thank themſelves for all their ſufferings: for God afflicteth not willingly, Lam. 3.35. He cometh forth of his place to do it, Eſay 16.21. and counteth it his work, his ſtrange work, Eſay 28.21. He doth juſtice, (when there is no other remedy) but hee loveth mercy, and ſo requireth us to do in the verſe next afore-going.

Verſ. 10. Are there yet the treaſures of wickedneſſe] What yet? for all that ever I can ſay or do to the contrary? Though I cry out unto you by my word (and have ſet it on with my rod, that it might ſtick the better) Oh do not this abominable thing! Is there yet unto every man an houſe of the wicked, and treaſures of wickedneſſe? (ſo ſome read it) ſee chap. 2.2. with the Note. The Vulgar reads it, (and Gualther diſliketh it not) Is there yet fire in the houſe of the wicked? ſc. the fire of Gods wrath? and treaſures of wickedneſſe, as fuell caſt upon it, to conſume all? See Jam. 5.1, 2, 3. Treaſures of wickedneſſe profit not, Prov. 10.2. ſith to heap up ſinne, is to heap up wrath, Rom. 2. and to rake together ill-gotten goods, is to carry home a fardle of plaguy-clothes, and death with them. Ephraim ſaid yet I am become rich, I have found me out ſubſtance Hoſ. 12.8. But in ſo doing, Ephraim fed upon the wind ver. 1. yea upon peſtilentiall ayre: he daily increaſed lies and deſolation, that is, ſuch lying vanities as bring deſolation, and not conſolation:Deſolationem potius quam conſolationem. Aug. Epiſt. 121. ad Probam. as hale hell at the heeles of them, (as we ſee in the parable of that wretched rich man Luk. 16.) Animam ipſam incendio gehennae mancipant, the fire that is in them ſhall feed upon their ſoules, and fleſh thoroughout all eternity. Out of dores therefore with theſe treaſures of wickedneſſe, by reſtoring them to the right owners, as Zacheus did; and as Juſtinian the Emperour, who would not put the veſſels of the Temple taken by Titus, and recovered from Genſericus, into the treaſury, but reſtored them.

and the ſcant meaſure that is abominable?] Heb: the Ephah of leaxeneſſe, (ſo called,Modius macilentus. both becauſe it wante of its due proportion, and makes men leane) full of wrath: q. d. you ſcant it to thoſe you trade with, but God fills it up with his fierce wrath and indignation. See Am. 8.5. with the Note.

Verſe 11. Shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances] Shall I cleare and acquit ſuch? I that am the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, I abhorr all injuſtice?Exod 34.7. Iob. 8. I that have named my ſelf a God that will by no meanes cleare the guilty, nor take the wicked by the hand? Doe they think to draw me in as a party? or that I will beare with their falſe and fraudulent dealings, which I have ſo oftdeclared againſt, and doomed both in the law, and by my ſervants Solomon, Amos, and others. No: aſſure your ſelves, your ſins ſhall find you out, and I will curſe you, ſmite you, plague you, and ſo ſet it on, as no creature ſhall be able to take it off. Let earthly Judges warp, as they will, and wink at ſin, I neither can nor will: but as men have ſowed, ſo they ſhall reape; as they have ſowed in hardneſſe of heart, ſo they ſhall reape in horrour of conſcience, & quorum eculos culpa clauſit, poena aperiet, as they have lived unconſcionably, ſo they ſhall die uncomfortably: at which times, their treaſures of wickedneſſe ſhall leave them in the lurch: as the devill leaves witches, when they come to priſon.

Verſe 12. For the rich men thereof are full of violence] After that they have once enriched themſelves by fraud and falſe-dealing, they take the boldneſſe openly to oppreſſe, and to exerciſe regiment without righteouſneſſe, which is no better then robbery with authority: of which before chap. 2. and 3. Thus wicked men wax worſe and worſe 2 Tim. 3.13. till wrath come upon them to the utmoſt 2 Theſſ. 2.

and the inhabitants thereof have ſpoken lies] Not the rich men only are in fault: but as the Cretians, ſo theſe are alwayes liars, loud and lewd liars: their tongue is deceitfull in their mouth; ſo that they no ſooner open their mouthes, but ſwarmes of lies iſſue out: they are mendacierum loquaciſſimi, they have taught their tongues to ſpeak lies Ier. 9.5. they are now become artiſts at it: Yea they take faſt hold of deceit Ier. 8.5. ſo that they cannot be got off, without ſtriving. This is lamentable, and yet common: eſpecially in trading and traffiquing. But oh when ſhall that golden age return, that the argument may againe proceed, Sacerdos eſt, non fallet: Chriſtianus eſt, non mentietur. He is a miniſter, and will not deceive you: He is a Chriſtian, and will not lie! See Eſa. 63.8.

Verſe 13. Therefore alſo will I make thee ſick in ſmiting thee] This is one twig of that rod Verſ, 9. that now they ſhall heare and feel too, that would not harken to Gods word. Bernard telleth us concerning a brother of his; that when he gave him many good inſtructions and he, being a ſouldier, minded them not: he put his finger to his ſides and ſaid, One day a ſpeare ſhall make way to this heart of thine, for inſtructions and admonitions, to enter. God can (and, where he intendeth mercy will) make way for his his word by his rod: and ſeale up inſtructions by chaſtening men with paine upon their beds, and the multitude of their bones with ſtrong paine Iob 33.16, 19. He can faſten them to their beds, as he did Abimelech, David, Hezekiah, and thereby tame them, and take them a link lower Iob 33.17. He can ſmite them with ſickneſſe, and make them deſolate, as it is here: with ſuch ſickneſſe as ſhall make their beſt friends afraid of them, and that none dare look at them, but as through a grate: and all this with a ſting too in the taile of it, Becauſe of thy ſins. Fooles, becauſe of their tranſgreſſion, and becauſe of their iniquities are afflicted. Their ſoule abhorreth all manner of meate (ſo ſick they are and ſtomackeleſſe, that nothing will down with them) and they draw neare to the gates of death Pſal. 107.17, 18. This was the caſe of that rich and wretched Cardinall Henry Beauford Biſh: of Wincheſter and Chancellour of England,Fox Martyr. fol. 925. in the raigne of Henry 6. who toſſing upon his ſick-bed, and perceiving he muſt die, murmured at ſickneſſe and death, that his riches could neither relieve him under the one, nor reprieve him from the other. This was alſo the caſe of that great Emperour Charles 5. of whom Du-pleſſy reporteth, that when he was old and crazy, he curſed his honours, his victories, trophies, riches, ſaying, Abite hinc, abite longe, Away, be gone miſerable comforters are ye all. Mention is made before of a great man that wrot this a little before his death, Spes & fortuna Valete. And ſurely there are not a few rich Cormorants, who may well ſay to their wealth when they are ſick, as Cornelius Agrippa did to his familiar ſpirit, Abi perdita beſtia, quae me predididſti, Be gone thou wicked beaſt, that haſt been mine undoing. &c. A promiſe contrary to this threatening in the text is that Eſai 33.24. And the inhabitant ſhall not ſay I am ſick: the people that dwell therein, ſhall be forgiven their iniquity.

Verſe 14. Thou ſhalt eat, but not be ſatisfied] Either as not having enough to ſatisfy; but priſoners pittance, ſo much only as will keep life and ſoule together: Or elſe, troubled with a bulimy, an appetitus caninus, a weakeneſie of the diſgeſtive faculty, ſo that thy meate feeds thee not: the ſtaffe of it being alſo broken by God, the nutritive property of it being taken away. See the Note on Hag. 1.6.

and thy caſting down ſhall be in the middeſt of thee] Thou ſhalt be laid low enough by civill and inteſtine diſcords, which as a fire feedeth upon the people Eſ. 9.19. no man ſhall ſpare his brother. Or, like as an hungry man ſnatcheth on the right haud, and eateth on the left hand, and yet is not ſatisfied ver. 20. till thine unnaturall convulſions end in a deadly conſumption.

and thou ſhalt take hold, but ſhalt not deliver] Thou ſhalt catch up thy children, thy jewels &c. and think to ſecure them from the enemy, but ſhalt not be able. Of this miſery we had over-wofull experience in our late unnaturall garboiles.

and that which thou delivsreſt; will I give up to the ſword] Other judgements forerun the ſword: which, when they will not do, the ſword will then contemne the rod Ezek. 21.10 that is, it will ſet at naught whatever the rod hath done, and come furbiſhed and ſharpened for the ſlaughter.

Verſe 15. Thou ſhalt ſow, but thou ſhalt not reape] This had been long ſince threatened by Moſes Deut. 28.38, 39 40. and was now above 700. yeares after to receive its accompliſhment in this people. There is an infallibility in all the menaces of Gods mouth. Men are apt to think that they were uttered in terrorem only; and to put them off, as thoſe in the Goſpel did, with a God forbid, Whe knowes if the Lord will deale with us according to all his wondrons workes, that this evil may paſſe from us Ier. 21.2? But what ſaith the Prophet Zephany? Zeph. 3.5. The juſt Lord is in the middeſt thereof: he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgement to light; be faileth not: but the unjuſt knoweth no ſhame: ſin hath woaded ſuch an impudency in his face, that he ſhuns no ſin, dreads no danger.

Verſe 16. For the ſtatutes of Omri are kept] Subeſt verbis hiſce ſarceſmus. Here the Prophet taunteth them for their Idolatry: and telleth them plainely what will be the iſſue of it. q. d. You think you deale wifely and take a ſafe courſe for your ſelves, that together with Ephraim you are joyned to idols, and have ſuch great names as Omri and Ahab to countenance you therein. Omri's ſtatutes can be obſerved, when mine lie neglected. Haec tibi pro vili, ſub pedibuſque jacent.Ovid The workes of the houſe of Ahab that Non-ſuch can be imitated, and their counſels embraced, when my work lies undone, and my counſell is rejected Luk. 7.30. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Sanè benè. Ful wel ye reject the commandement of God (being ingrati gratiae Dei as Ambroſe ſpeaketh) that ye may keep your own tradition Mar. 7.9. And do not the Papiſts even the very ſame at this day. The Popes Canons are kept exactly, and all the rites of the Church of Rome: they walk in the track of the Trent-conventicle, and hold it worſe to deface an Idoll, then to kill a man: to eate fleſh or egges on a faſting day, then to commit inceſt: to work on a holy day, then to break the ſabbath. Ther's no command of the morall law but they can diſpenſe with it: but none of their ceremoniall lawes. Let God (ſay they, profanely) look to the breach of his own law; we will look to ours.

that I ſhould make thee a deſolations] Luther here obſerveth, that oppreſſion and other violations of the ſecond table, God uſually puniſheth with war, famine, and peſtilence: but breaches of the firſt table, and eſpecially idolatry, with utter deſolation. This is a land-deſtroying ſin Ier. 22.7, 8, 9.

therefore ye ſhal beare the reproach of my people] that is, of ſuch as had been my people, if you could have held you ſo; but you are now, loammi, diſpriviledged. Or, that which I threatened in the law long ſince to bring upon you, if ye carried not your ſelves as my people; or that which you deſerved for having profaned the name and title of being my people Ezek. 36.20, 23. Rom. 2.24. with Luk. 12.47.