MICAH 3

The third chapter contains a pathetic invective against the princes of the house of Jacob and judges of the house of Israel; which seems to be directed against the head of the kingdom of Judah, judges, magistrates, priests, false prophets, etc.

He rebukes them with their greed, their injustice and their falsehood; and tells them that they will be the occasion when Jerusalem will be reduced to a heap of garbage, and the temple mountain will be like a forest. We are informed, Jeremiah 26:18, Jeremiah 26:19, that this prophecy was uttered in the reign of Hezekiah; and that he saved Jeremiah from death.

Comments on Chapter 3 of Micah

Listen now, O heads of Jacob: Earlier, Micah addressed his comments to God’s people in general. Now he spoke specifically to their leaders, because they had a special responsibility and accountability to God.

Yes, you who hate good and love evil: if this description was not bad enough, Micah went on to illustrate how terribly the leaders of Israel and Judah used the people, as if they were cannibals feasting on God’s people (who also eat the flesh of my people).

Then they will cry out to the LORD but he will not listen to them. He will even hide his face from them at that moment, because they have been evil in their deeds. Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not listen to them: this was an example of God’s judgment against corrupt leaders. When they cried for God’s help, the LORD would remain silent.

If He even hid His face from them at that moment: one aspect of the blessing pronounced by the priests of Israel was to ask the Lord to make His face shine upon you (Numbers 6:25). Here, Micah promised the opposite of this blessing: that God would even hide His face from them at that moment.

Comments on Micah 3-8

But I am truly empowered by the Spirit of the Lord. Or, “full of power, even the Spirit of the Lord,” as Gussetius puts it, and as if explaining what is meant by power; for thus the Spirit is sometimes called by his gifts and graces, which are powerful in men. See (Luke 24:47) (Acts 1: 8) (Acts 6: 5 Acts 6: 8)

These are the words of Micah about himself, in opposition to the false prophets, who lacked the Spirit of God; men of sordid intent, who had nothing but sinister and selfish ends in view, and were not qualified in the least for the office and character they held.

Whereas he could truly say of himself that he possessed sufficient skill for such employment; and what he had, not of himself, but of the Spirit of God, who gives gifts to men and divides them as he wills. So this was not vain boasting, or a little arrogance and ostentation in the prophet; for he opposes only false prophets and attributes his endowments and qualifications, not to himself, but to the Spirit of God.

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