The birth-place] MICAH [of Messini sellor perished? for pangs have taken the LORD, and their substance unto the thee as a woman in travail. LORD of the whole earth. (D) 10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be deliver ed; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. 11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13 Årise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people : and I will consecrate their gain unto CHAP, IV. CHAP. V. NOW gather thyself in troops, 0 daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. 2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thersands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 3 Therefore will he give them p. until the time that she which travail. eth hath brought forth: then the renant of his brethren shall return unfo the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the ma EXPOSITION. (D) A prophecy of Messiah's kingdom.From the great similitude between the first three verses of this chapter and the opening verses of the second chapter of Isaiah, it is very natural to suppose that one had reference to the other: and if, as Bp. Lowth thinks, Isaiah was first written, this may fairly be considered as a quota tion, though with some little variation; the sacred writers not always aiming, as it should seem, at verbal exactuess in their quotations. NOTES. CHAP. V. Ver. 1. Now gather, &c.-Dr. Boothroyd, following the Hebrew, Syriac, &c. joins this verse to the preceding chapter, and we think yery properly. They shall smite the judge, &c.-Perhaps this indignity was offered to Zedekiah when he fled. 2 Kings xxv. 6, 7. Ver. 2. Bethlehem Ephratah.-Bethlehem is, literally, the house, or place, of bread, and it was called Ephratah, from its vicinity to Ephrath (Gen. xlvii. 7.), and of Judah, to distinguish it from a town Jess considerable in the tribe of Naphtali. Ibid. Among the thousands-The tribes of Israel were divided into thousands, each containing 1000 families, as the counties of England were divided into hundreds, doubtless for a like reason. It is proper to mention here, that, more completely to avoid the appearance of inconsistency, many learned men read the words of the prophet interrogatively, as Newcome, "Art thon too little to be among the leaders (or thousands) of Judah ?" The text might certainly be so read, but we see no necessity for the alteration. Ibid. Whose goings forth. -The Hebrew verb here used is applied to the rising of the sun (Ps. xix. 6.), to the flowing of a fountain, to the springing of plants, and a variety of other objects. And in the first chapter of this prophecy (ver. 3.), it is Ver.3. Therefore-Dr. Pococke renders this par ticle, "But yet," or "notwithstanding." So He ii. 4. His brethren-Newcome, "Their brethren," which is the reading of the LXX, Arabic, and Cdee, and seems more consistent, and differs but it one letter from the printed text. Dr. Hales read "Thy brethren," all referring to the Jewish nation. -Shall return-New come, Be converted." Ver. 4. Stand and feed-See Isa. xl. 10, 11. Ver. 5. Prace-Dr. Pye Smith, The Restorer;" Boothroyd, The Author of peace." All the above close the prophecy at this line, except Bp. Chand who connects it with the following, Laes:He shall be the Peace, but if the Assyrians shall ce &c.-Seren shepherds (ie. leaders) and eight pranu cipal men-Heb. " Princes of men.' jesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. 5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. 6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion the beasts among of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go CHAP. V. [idolatry through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deli ver. 9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. 10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots. 11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: 12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: 13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. 14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. 15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard. (E) EXPOSITION. (E) An eminent prophecy of Messiah.This prophecy was applied to Messiah in the time of our Saviour; for when Herod inquired where Messiah was to be born, the chief priests and Pharisees replied by quoting this prediction, though with some verbal difference. Instead of reading with us,“ (Though) thou be little," they read, "Thou art not the least" (Matt. ir. 6), in which some have found an apparent cone tradiction. Both assertions, however, are not only true, but accurate. Bethlehem, as a city, was never extensive, nor populous, compared with Jerusalem, or even Zion: yet it ranked high as the birth-place of king David, and was therefore fixed upon by the Romans as the town where all the tribe of Judah should be taxed. Its name, Bethlehem (the house of bread), is supposed to have been given it, from the fine corn-fields with which it was surrounded, called the coasts thereof (verse 16), and NOTES. Ver. 8. As a young lion.-Newcome refers this to the victories of the Maccabees. Ver. 10. I will cut off thy horses.-Horses were expressly forbidden to the Jews: Deut. xvii. 16. Ver. 11. Strong holds.-The Jews were enjoined to put their trust in God, and in no human aid. Ps. xx. 7. God's controversy] CHAP. VI. MICAH. 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. 30 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 [with Israel. may know the righteousness of the LORD. 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 thou sands 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 mu, 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? 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 EXPOSITION-Chap. V. Continued. liverances wrought by him for his people Israel, in almost every age. But it is added, the Lord will give up these his ancient people" until she which travaileth hath brought forth." Bp. Chandler applies this to the Jewish church. His words are, 66 Although God shall send his Ruler in Israel, he will let Israel remain in captivity to the time that Sion hath gone the full time of her travail, and then her sorrows shall have a joyful issue; then the remnant of his brethren shall return," &c. Abp. Newcome, Dr. Hales, Dr. Pye Smith, and others, explain the latter part of this prophecy somewhat differently. The former reads, ver, 3, "Therefore will he deliver them until the time when she hath brought forth." This he explains, "God will not fully vindicate and exalt his people, till the Virgin Mother shall have brought forth her son; and till Judah and Israel, and all the true sons of Abraham among their brethren the Gentiles, be con verted to Christianity." Drs. Hales and Smith adopt nearly the same interpretation, considering the prediction as parallel Isa. vii. 14. and referring to our Lord's miraculous conception. All these gentlemen close the prophecy with ver. 4 of this chapter. The Prophet then returns to his own times, predicts the fall of Assyria. Verse 7, and the following verses are thought to refer to the spread of the knowledge of the true God among the heathen by means of the captive Jews, and to the destruction of idolatry by the subsequent propagation of the Gospel. But we confess we do not see the necessity of cutting off the connexion at the conclusion of ver. 4. If it be continued, we think it may imply that the preservation of the Jews, and their retora from Babylon, with every other mercy vouchsafed to them, had a reference to the same Saviour, who is our peace as well as theirs. See Ephes. ii. 14. NOTES. CHAP. VI. Ver. 5. From Shittim unto Gilgal."Gilgal is the place where the people encamped, when they had entered the promised land," Josh. iv. 20. Here they were seduced to the worship of Baal-peor, Num. xxxi. 6. "And in the interval from their departure from Shittim, Sihon and Og had been vanquished, they had been rescued from the device of Balaam, they had passed the Jordan, besieged Jericho, and began to possess the land." Boothroyd. Ver. 6. Of a year old-Heb." The sons of a year.” Ver. 7. Shall I give my first-born?-This was not uncommon among the heathen. See 2 Kings iii. 27; also Orient. Cast. No. 1146. Ver 8. To walk humbly-Heb. "Humble thyself to walk." Ver. 9. The man of wisdom shall see thy name Marg." Thy name shall see that which is." Be prefer the text; "The wise shall see thy name,” Dy signature (as it were) to the decree, "Hear, there fore," &c. Ver. 10. Treasures of wickedness-are the unjust riches detained by fraud.-Scant (or short) sure," &c.-Heb. " Measure of leaùness." Ver. 16. The statutes of Omri-awicked king, who built Samaria. 1 Kings xvi. 24. 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 satisied; and thy casting down shall be n the midst of thee; and thou shalt ake hold, but shalt not deliver; and hat which thou deliverest will I give p to the sword. 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt ot reap; thou shalt tread the olives, ut thou shalt not anoint thee with il; and sweet wine, but shalt not rink wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are ept, and all the works of the house Ahab, and ye walk in their counls; that I should make thee a delation, and the inhabitants thereof an ssing: therefore ye shall bear the reoach of my people. (F) [lamentation. vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. 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. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them is a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. 7 Therefore 1 will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring EXPOSITION. (F) The Lord's controversy with his ple.-The manner in which the Prophet Is upon the inanimate creation to hear expostulation of Jehovah with his peois awakening and sublime. The Prophet then argues with the people the folly of preferring ritual services, I even the most costly sacrifices, to ral duties and to humble submission to will; the sentiment is forcibly and beau.. lly expressed, and nearly corresponds with the words that Moses addressed to Israel in the wilderness. "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul?" (Deut. x. 12.) The subsequent threatenings are terrible and alarming, and what we see this day fulfilled, in a people who are become " A desolation and a hissing, and a reproach " in all the earth. NOTES. HAP. VII. Ver. 1. As when they have gathered, -Heb. "As the gatherings (Newcome, gather) of summer fruits;" Newcome, "Late figs;" he adds, "the word is sometimes used for fruits -neral." Ver. 2. The good-Marg. "Godly, or merciful."' Ver. 3. His mischievous desire-"The mischief of his son!."So they wrap it up-Newcome,“ And they do abominably." So the Syriac and Chaldee. The church's] MICAH. [confession. me forth to the light, and I shall be coming out of the land of Egypt will hold his righteousness. I shew unto him marvellous things. 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. 11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. 12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. 13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 According to the days of thy CHAP. VII. 16 The nations shall see and he confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his a ger for ever, because he delighteth is mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth 10 Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (G) EXPOSITION. (G) The churches' complaint and confession before God. - The Prophet begins this chapter with lamenting the decay of religion and the growth of ungolliness; using a beautiful allegory, borrowed from the vineyard, to represent the scarcity of true piety and of good men, who were as rarely to be found as the early fig in the advanced season, or a cluster after the vintage had been gathered. He then reproves and threatens them, in terms so expressive of great calamities, as to be applied in the New Testament to times of the hottest persecution. (See Matt. x. 35, 36.) Notwithstanding which, a pious Jew is here introduced, professing, in the name of his captive brethren, the strongest faith in the mercy of God, the most submissive resignation to his will, and the firmest hope in his favour in future times, when they should triumph over all their foes. An expression which here occurs has, in more than one instance, confound ed the enemies of true religion, and raised it up friends under severe persecution. During the troubles of the seventeenth century, in England, when many suf fered for conscience sake, a pious noncosformist minister was conducted, with a ser of brutal triumph, from Birmingham Norwich, his legs being chained under bis horse's belly. As he was about to enter the castle jail, a woman observed him out of her window, who had probably heard his boast in the name of the Lord his God, and called out to him, "Where is the Lord your God now?" In reply he directed her to ver. 10 of the chapter now before us, and she was so struck on reading it, that she became a kind friend to him in all his subsequent confinement. The words are, "Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said untu me, Where is the Lord thy God?" {Palmer's Noncon. Memor. vol. iii. p. 2.) NOTES-Chap. VII. Con. Ver. 10. Trodden down - Heb. "For a treading down." Ver. 11. The decree be far removed — Boothroyd, "Extended," referring it to the decree of Cyrus in their favour. Ver. 12. From the fortress. -Some read "from Egypt," which differs one letter only. Secker, "Unto Egypt, and from Egypt even unto the river." Ver. 13. Notwithstanding-Newcome, For the ** Crook," of land," &c. Ver. 14. With thy rod- Newcome, pastoral staff. Ver. 17. Worms-"Reptiles, "orvermin, generally. Taylor's Scrip. Index. |