Micah 3

1 "I said, 'Please listen, leaders of Ya'akov, rulers of the house of Isra'el: Shouldn't you know what justice is?

2 Yet you hate what is good and love what is bad. You strip off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones,

3 you eat the flesh of my people, skin them alive, break their bones; yes, they chop them in pieces, like flesh in a caldron, like meat in a pot.'"

4 Then they will call to ADONAI, but he will not answer them; when that time comes, he will hide his face from them, because their deeds were so wicked.

5 Here is what ADONAI says in regard to the prophets who cause my people to go astray, who cry, "Peace" as soon as they are given food to eat but prepare war against anyone who fails to put something in their mouths:

6 "Therefore you will have night, not vision, darkness and not divination; the sun will go down on the prophets, over them the day will be black."

7 The seers will be put to shame, the diviners will be disgraced. They will have to cover their mouths, because there will be no answer from God.

8 On the other hand, I am full of power by the Spirit of ADONAI, full of justice and full of might, to declare to Ya'akov his crime, to Isra'el his sin.

9 Hear this, please, leaders of the house of Ya'akov, rulers of the house of Isra'el, you who abhor what is just and pervert anything that is right,

10 who build up Tziyon with blood and Yerushalayim with wickedness.

11 Her leaders sell verdicts for bribes, her cohanim teach for a price, her prophets divine for money - yet they claim to rely on ADONAI! "Isn't ADONAI here with us?" they say. "No evil can come upon us."

12 Therefore, because of you, Tziyon will be plowed under like a field, Yerushalayim will become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house like a forested height.

Micah 3 Commentary

Chapter 3

The cruelty of the princes, and the falsehood of the prophets. (1-8) Their false security. (9-12)

Verses 1-8 Men cannot expect to do ill, and fare well; but to find that done to them which they did to others. How seldom do wholesome truths reach the ears of those in high stations or in authority! Those who deceive others are preparing confusion for their own faces. The prophet had ardent love to God and to the souls of men; deep concern for his glory and their salvation, and zeal against sin. The difficulties he met with did not drive him from his work. He had this strength; not from and of himself, but he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. Those who act honestly, may act boldly. And those who come to hear the word of God, must be willing to be told of their faults, must take it kindly, and be thankful.

Verses 9-12 Zion's walls owe no thanks to those that build them up with blood and iniquity. The sin of man works not the righteousness of God. Even when men do that which in itself is good, but do it for filthy lucre, it becomes abomination both to God and man. Faith rests in the Lord as the soul's foundation: presumption only leans upon the Lord as a prop, and would use him to serve a turn. If men's having the Lord among them will not keep them from doing evil, it never can secure them from suffering evil for so doing. See the doom of wicked Jacob; Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field. This was exactly fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and is so at this day. If sacred places are polluted by sin, they will be wasted and ruined by the judgments of God.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 3

In this chapter the prophet reproves and threatens both princes and prophets, first separately, and then conjunctly; first the heads and princes of the people, civil magistrates, for their ignorance of justice, and hatred of good, and love of evil, and for their oppression and cruelty; and they are threatened with distress when they should cry unto the Lord, and should not be heard by him, Mic 3:1-4; next the prophets are taken to task, for their voraciousness, avarice, and false prophesying; and are threatened with darkness, with want of vision, and of an answer from the Lord, and with shame and confusion, Mic 3:5-7; and the prophet being full of the Spirit and power of God, to declare the sins and transgressions of Jacob and Israel, Mic 3:8, very freely declaims against princes, priests, and prophets, all together; who, though guilty of very notorious crimes, yet were in great security, and promised themselves impunity, Mic 3:9-11; wherefore the city and temple of Jerusalem are threatened with an utter desolation, Mic 3:12.