Michea 6:16 Commento

After the precious promises in the two foregoing chapters, relating to the Messiah's kingdom, the prophet is here directed to set the sins of Israel in order before them, for their conviction and humiliation, as necessary to make way for the comfort of gospel-grace. Christ's forerunner was a reprover, and preached repentance, and so prepared his way. Here, I. God enters an action against his people for their base ingratitude, and the bad returns they had made him for his favours (Mic 6:1-5). II. He shows the wrong course they should have taken (Mic 6:6-8). III. He calls upon them to hear the voice of his judgments, and sets the sins in order before them for which he still proceeded in his controversy with them (Mic 6:9), their injustice (Mic 6:10-15), and their idolatry (Mic 6:16), for both which ruin was coming upon them.

INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 6 This chapter contains reproofs of the people of Israel for their sins, threatening them with punishment for them. The prophet is bid to tell them of the controversy the Lord had with them, which he did, Mic 6:1; and the Lord calls upon them to declare if they had any thing to object to his attitude towards them, Mic 6:3; and then puts them in mind of the favours they had received from him, in bringing them out of Egypt, and giving them such useful persons to go before them, lead and instruct them, as he had, Mic 6:4; and also reminds them of what passed between Balak, king of Moab, and Balaam the soothsayer; the questions of the one, and the answer of the other; whereby the designs of the former against them were frustrated, Mic 6:5; but since the voice of the Lord by his prophet was disregarded by them, they are called upon to hearken to the voice of his rod, Mic 6:9; which should be laid upon them for their fraudulent dealings, injustice, oppression, lies, and deceit, Mic 6:10; and therefore are threatened with sickness and desolation, and a deprivation of all good things, the fruit of their labours, Mic 6:13; and that because the statutes of Omri, the works of Ahab, and their counsels, were observed by them, Mic 6:16.

For the statutes of Omri are kept,.... Who of a captain of the army was made king of Israel, and proved a wicked prince; he built Samaria, and set up idolatrous worship there, after the example of Jeroboam, in whose ways he walked, and, as it seems, established the same by laws and edicts; and which were everyone of them observed by the Israelites, in the times of the prophet, though at the distance of many years from the first making of them, which aggravated their sin; nor would it be any excuse of them that what they practised was enjoined by royal authority, since it was contrary to the command of God; for the breach of which, and their observance of the statutes of such a wicked prince, they are threatened with the judgments of God; see Kg1 16:16; and all the works of the house of Ahab; who was the son of Omri, and introduced the worship of Baal, and added to the idolatry of the calves, which he and his family practised; and the same works were now done by the people of Israel: and ye walk in their counsels; as they advised and directed the people to do in their days: that I should make thee a desolation; the city of Samaria, the metropolis of Israel, or the whole land, which was made a desolation by Shalmaneser, an instrument in the hand of God; and this was not the intention and design of their walking in the counsels and after the example of their idolatrous kings, but the consequence and event of so doing: and the inhabitants thereof an hissing; either of Samaria, or of all the land, who should become the scorn and derision of men, when brought to ruin for their sins: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people; that which was threatened in the law to the people of God, when disobedient to him; or shameful punishment for profaning the name and character of the people of God they bore; or for reproaching and ill using the poor among the people of God; and so it is directed to the rich men before spoken of, and signifies the shame and ignominy they should bear, by being carried captive into a foreign land for their sins. Next: Micah Chapter 7

(Verse 10 and following). Listen, you who are wise, and who will approve of it? The fire is still burning in the house of the wicked, the treasure of impiety, and the measure of anger is not yet full. Shall I justify the wicked scales and the deceitful weights of the bag? In them, her rich ones are filled with iniquity, and those who dwell in her speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. And so I have begun to strike you with destruction because of your sins. You will eat, but not be satisfied, and your humiliation will be in your midst; you will try to save, but you will not succeed; and those whom you do save, I will give over to the sword. You shall sow, and not reap: you shall tread the olive, and not anoint yourself with oil; and the must, and you shall not drink wine. And you have kept the precepts of Omri, and all the works of the house of Achab; and you have walked in their wills, that I should give you up to destruction, and the inhabitants thereof to hissing, and you shall bear the reproach of my people. If the unrighteous is justified on the scales, and fraudulent weights on the balance, by which they have filled the riches of their impiety (or yours), and those who dwell (or dwelt) in it speak wickedly, and their tongue is exalted in their mouth. And I have afflicted you with destruction because of your sins: you will eat, but not be satisfied; I will cast you into yourself, and you will grasp, but not save; and all those who are saved will be handed over to the sword: you will sow, but not reap; you will tread the olive, but not be anointed with oil; and you will crush the grapes, but not drink wine; and the laws of my people will be scattered, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their councils, to deliver you to destruction, and its inhabitants to hissing, and you will receive reproach from the peoples. In this chapter, there are many discrepancies from the Hebrew truth, especially in the beginning: 'Hear, three, and who will adorn the city? And the legitimate people of mine will be scattered.' For this reason we have substituted 'And you have kept the commandments of Amri' for the sake of consistency in the narrative, even though in Hebrew it is written: 'And the commandments of Amri were kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab.' For if it had been written in Hebrew 'Ammi' (), then the LXX would have translated correctly as 'my people.' But now, since it is written 'Amri' (), and the letter 'Res' added, it signifies not the name of a people, but the father Ahab, about whom the history of King wrote (3 Kings 16), there is no doubt that there is an error. Finally, after the father's name, the son is named, and it is said, and all the deeds of the house of Ahab. Let us return, therefore, to the beginning of the chapter. And first, speaking literally, we strive to grasp the spiritual meaning while you pray. Listen, O ten tribes of Samaria, whom the Lord testifies to: there is still fire, that is, wickedness, in the house of the impious Amri, and the treasures of impiety persist in the royal house. Do you want to hear in detail with what evils your city is filled? Learn: By provoking the lesser measure of God's wrath, using deceptive scales and different weights, and selling in one weight and buying in another, they buy and sell merchandise (Prov. XI; Deut. XXV). And if the poor were to do this, poverty could justify the crime. But now the rich, full not so much with wealth as with iniquity, because all their wealth is gained through the plundering of others. A congregation of wealth is followed by deceit, and a hand accustomed to hide treasures possesses a deceitful tongue. Truth brings poverty, falsehood brings wealth. When your leaders did this, I did not immediately overthrow you; but I began to strike gradually and admonish with various blows. I sent hunger upon you, I sent thirst, I sent sickness, and hostile devastation all around: the harvest did not yield crops, the pressed olive did not produce oil, the barren vines denied wine. Against injustices, deceitful measures, and fraudulent weights, I inflicted these punishments. However, since you have kept all the ceremonies of idolatry that the wicked king Amri established (3 Kings 16ff), and all the works of the house of Ahab and Jezebel, you have preserved for my law, I have been moved by your wickedness to give you and your inhabitants over to a hissing and a reproach, so that while you are captured by the Assyrians, you are conquered like the people of God, and because of you my name is blasphemed among the nations (Rom. 2:24). It should be noted in the present place that where it is read, 'and you shall bear the shame of my people': or, as the Septuagint translated it, 'you shall receive the reproaches of the peoples,' in Hebrew it is written 'Ammi,' which means 'my people.' Therefore, if it sounds bad that I, the son of my people, was transferred for Amri, my people. We have expressed what seemed to us according to the Hebrew until now: now returning to the translation of the LXX interpreters, let us discuss each one as best we can. The Samaritan is called upon to listen, who has separated herself from the people of God. And it is said to her, 'You futilely make idols, you skillfully fashion golden calves with your own hand, and you desire to build another metropolis like Jerusalem: for who can adorn a city?' Is the fire, which is kindled by the burning darts of the devil; and the house of the wicked, which according to its stubbornness and unrepentant heart treasures up wrath for itself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. II, 5)? And does injustice increase wickedness, so that it not only snatches away from the house of God, which is the Church, but also arrogantly and disdainfully devastates what belongs to others? Can one who deceitfully gathers riches from the testimonies of the Scriptures without balance and measure be justified, riches which are the treasures of wickedness? For when the Lord commands, 'You shall not have in your bag unequal weights, a great and a small' (Deut. XXV): these people, for the sake of shameful gain, always show favoritism in judgment, and in the same case they judge the rich and the poor, not according to the merit of the case, but according to the disparity of their wealth. And the inhabitants of their city, who think they are adorned by wicked teachings and perverse doctrine, speak falsehood and set their mouth on high, and despise the simplicity of the Ecclesiastical people. Whereas the most merciful God does not strike them equally, but strives to admonish them gradually through blows, saying: And I will begin to strike you with destruction because of your sins; and the sense is: O city that the heretics want to build, I will strike you, so that you may perish, not for annihilation, but according to what you are, a sinner. It follows: You will eat, and you will not be satisfied. For they read, and do not understand; and feasting on the words of Scriptures, they suffer from a lack of truth. And I will cast you out," he says, "and you will seize, and you will not save; and whoever is saved, will be handed over to the sword. By your own judgment, I will abandon you; and after seeking many things, finding nothing, understanding your error, you will see that you cannot be saved by all your teachings. But whoever thinks they are satisfied, and is not cast out by themselves, nor grasps the truth, will be handed over to the sword and will be educated by punishments. Therefore, you will sow, O three, and O most wicked city, which heretics build with fire, injustice, insults, deceitful scales, and fraudulent bags; you will sow, but not reap; you will press olives, but not anoint yourself with oil; you will gather grapes, but not drink wine. It is indeed profitable for you, once your error is known, not to have disciples, not to anoint your head with the oil of sinners, not to be intoxicated by drinking the wine of Sodom. And the rightful people of mine, or rather the people of Amri, and all the works of the house of Ahab, those who have arisen as leaders in heresy, will be scattered. We can refer either to opposing powers or to heretics, as was the case with Marcion and Basilides, and recently Arius and Eunomius. And you have followed their desires, namely those of Omri and Ahab. And it is rightly said, in their desires. For the doctrine of wicked teachers is not the doctrine of God, but the inventions of their own hearts. And I will deliver you to destruction, so that you may perish according to what you are, heretical. And your inhabitants into a hissing, or that you may follow the hissing of a good shepherd according to Zechariah, saying: I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them (Zechariah 10:8). And certainly into the hissing of the dragon, that is, into the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved (I Cor. V), and let the ones being rebuked learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. I). And let them endure all of this so that they may understand their error, that they have borne the reproaches and sins of many peoples and nations. I know that some have referred to the Church, which we have interpreted as surpassing heresies. But how the names of Amri and Ahab, the leaders of Samaria, can be related to Jerusalem and Judah, under whose names the Church is interpreted, I do not quite understand.

This chapter reproves and threatens. The manner of raising the attention 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 awakening and sublime. The words of Jehovah follow, Mic 6:3-5. And God's mercies hawing been set forth to his people, one of them is introduced, in a beautiful dramatic form, asking what his duty is towards a God so gracious, Mic 6:6, Mic 6:7. The answer follows in the words of the prophet, Mic 6:8; who goes on to upbraid the people of his charge with their injustice and idolatry, to which he ascribes want of success in their lawful undertakings, and those heave calamities which are now impending, Mic 6:9-15.

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.

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. (Mic. 6:1-16) contend thou--Israel is called by Jehovah to pie ad with Him in controversy. Mic 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 Mic 1:2; Deu 32:1; Isa 1:2). Not as the Margin, "with"; as God's controversy is with Israel, not with them.

statutes of Omri--the founder of Samaria and of Ahab's wicked house; and a supporter of Jeroboam's superstitions (Kg1 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-- (Kg1 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-- (Lam 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. Next: Micah Chapter 7

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).

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 (Kg1 16:25). His statutes are the Baal-worship which his son and successor Ahab raised into the ruling national religion (Kg1 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 Ch2 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 (Kg1 18:4; Kg1 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 Ch2 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.