Micheasza 1:8 Komentarz

In this chapter we have, I. The title of the book (Mic 1:1) and a preface demanding attention (Mic 1:2). II. Warning given of desolating judgments hastening upon the kingdoms of Israel and Judah (Mic 1:3, Mic 1:4), and all for sin (Mic 1:5). III. The particulars of the destruction specified (Mic 1:6, Mic 1:7). IV. The greatness of the destruction illustrated, 1. By the prophet's sorrow for it (Mic 1:8, Mic 1:9). 2. By the general sorrow that should be for it, in the several places that must expect to share in it (Mic 1:10-16). These prophecies of Micah might well be called his lamentations.

We have here a long train of mourners attending the funeral of a ruined kingdom. I. The prophet is himself chief mourner (Mic 1:8, Mic 1:9): I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked, as a man distracted with grief. The prophets usually expressed their own grief for the public grievances, partly to mollify the predictions of them, and to make it appear that is was not out of ill-will that they denounced the judgments of God (so far were they from desiring the woeful day that they dreaded it more than any thing), partly to show how very dreadful and mournful the calamities would be, and to stir up in the people a holy fear of them, that by repentance they might turn away the wrath of God. Note, We ought to lament the punishments of sinners as well as the sufferings of saints in this world; the weeping prophet did so (Jer 9:1); so did this prophet. He makes a wailing like the dragons, or rather the jackals, ravenous beasts that in those countries used to meet in the night, and howl, and make hideous noises; he mourns as the owls, the screech-owls, or ostriches, as some read it. Two things the prophet here thus dolefully laments: - 1. That Israel's case is desperate: Her wound is incurable; it is ruin without remedy; man cannot help her; God will not, because she will not by repentance and reformation help herself. There is indeed balm in Gilead and a physician there; but they will not apply to the physician, nor apply the balm to themselves, and therefore the wound is incurable. 2. That Judah likewise is in danger. The cup is going round, and is now put into Judah's hand: The enemy has come to the gate of Jerusalem. Soon after the destruction of Samaria and the ten tribes, the Assyrian army, under Sennacherib, laid siege to Jerusalem, came to the gate, but could not force their way any further; however, it was with great concern and trouble that the prophet foresaw the fright, so dearly did he love the peace of Jerusalem. II. Several places are here brought in mourning, and are called upon to mourn; but with this proviso, that they should not let the Philistines hear them (Mic 1:10): Declare it not in Gath; this is borrowed from David's lamentation for Saul and Jonathan (Sa2 1:20), Tell it not in Gath, for the uncircumcised will triumph in Israel's tears. Note, One would not, if it could be helped, gratify those that make themselves and their companions merry with the sins or with the sorrows of God's Israel. David was silent, and stifled his griefs, when the wicked were before him, Psa 39:1. But, though it may be prudent not to give way to a noisy sorrow, yet it is duty to admit a silent one when the church of God is in distress. "Roll thyself in the dust" (as great mourners used to do) "and so let the house of Judah and every house in Jerusalem become a house of Aphrah, a house of dust, covered with dust, crumbled into dust." When God makes the house dust it becomes us to humble ourselves under his mighty hand, and to put our mouths in the dust, thus accommodating ourselves to the providences that concern us. Dust we are; God brings us to the dust, that we may know it, and own it. Divers other places are here named that should be sharers in this universal mourning, the names of some of which we do not find elsewhere, whence it is conjectured that they are names put upon them by the prophet, the signification of which might either indicate or aggravate the miseries coming upon them, thereby to awaken this secure and stupid people to a holy fear of divine wrath. We find Sennacherib's invasion thus described, in the prediction of it, by the impressions of terror it should make upon the several cities that fell in his way, Isa 10:28, Isa 10:29, etc. Let us observe the particulars here, 1. The inhabitants of Saphir, which signifies neat and beautiful (thou that dwellest fairly, so the margin reads it), shall pass away into captivity, or be forced to flee, stripped of all their ornaments and having their shame naked. Note, Those who appear ever so fine and delicate know not what contempt they may be exposed to; and the more grievous will the shame be to those who have been inhabitants of Saphir. 2. The inhabitants of Zaanan, which signifies the country of flocks, a populous country, where the people are as numerous and thick as flocks of sheep, shall yet be so taken up with their own calamities, felt or feared, that they shall not come forth in the mourning of Bethezel, which signifies a place near, shall not condole with, nor bring any succour to, their next neighbours in distress; for he shall receive of you his standing; the enemy shall encamp among you, O inhabitants of Zaanan! shall take up a station there, shall find footing among you. Those may well think themselves excused from helping their neighbours who find they have enough to do to help themselves and to hold their own. 3. As for the inhabitants of Maroth (which, some think, is put for Ramoth, others that it signifies the rough places), they waited carefully for good, and were grieved for the want of it, but were disappointed; for evil came from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem, when the Assyrian army besieged it, Mic 1:12. The inhabitants of Maroth might well overlook their own particular grievances when they saw the holy city itself in danger, and might well overlook the Assyrian, that was the instrument, when they saw the evil coming from the Lord. 4. Lachish was a city of Judah, which Sennacherib laid siege to, Isa 36:1, Isa 36:2. The inhabitants of that city are called to bind the chariot to the swift beast, to prepare for a speedy flight, as having no other way left to secure themselves and their families; or it is spoken ironically: "You have had your chariots and your swift beasts, but where are they now?" God's quarrel with Lachish is that she is the beginning of sin, probably the sin of idolatry, to the daughter of Zion (Mic 1:13); they had learned it from the ten tribes, their near neighbours, and so infected the two tribes with it. Note, Those that help to bring sin into a country do but thereby prepare for the throwing of themselves out of it. Those must expect to be first in the punishment who have been ringleaders in sin. The transgressions of Israel were found in thee; when they came to be traced up to their original they were found to take rise very much from that city. God knows at whose door to lay the blame of the transgressions of Israel, and whom to find guilty. Lachish, having been so much accessory to the sin of Israel, shall certainly be reckoned with: Thou shalt give presents to Moresheth-gath, a city of the Philistines, which perhaps had a dependence upon Gath, that famous Philistine city; thou shalt send to court those of that city to assist thee, but it shall be in vain, for (Mic 1:14) the houses of Achzib (a city which joined to Mareshah, or Moresheth, and is mentioned with it, Jos 15:44) shall be a lie to the kings of Israel; though they depend upon their strength, yet they shall fail them. Here there is an allusion to the name. Achzib signifies a lie, and so it shall prove to those that trust in it. 5. Mareshah, that could not, or would not, help Israel, shall herself be made a prey (Mic 1:15): "I will bring a heir (that is, an enemy) that shall take possession of thy lands, with as much assurance as if he were heir at law to them, and he shall come to Adullam, and to the glory of Israel, that is, to Jerusalem the head city;" or "The glory of Israel shall come to be as Adullam, a poor despicable place;" or, "The king of Assyria, whom Israel had gloried in, shall come to Adullam, in laying the country waste." 6. The whole land of Judah seems to be spoken to (Mic 1:16) and called to weeping and mourning: "Make thee bald, by tearing thy hair and shaving thy head; poll thee for thy delicate children, that had been tenderly and nicely brought up; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle when she casts her feathers and is all over bald; for they have gone into captivity from thee, and are not likely to return; and their captivity will be the more grievous to them because they have been brought up delicately and have not been inured to hardship." Or this is directed particularly to the inhabitants of Mareshah, as Mic 1:15. That was the prophet's own city, and yet he denounces the judgments of God against it; for it shall be an aggravation of its sin that it had such a prophet, and knew not the day of its visitation. Its being thus privileged, since it improved not the privilege, shall not procure favour for it either with God or with his prophet.

This chapter treats of the judgments of God on Israel and Judah for their idolatry. It begins with the title of the whole book in which is given an account of the prophet, the time of his prophesying, and of the persons against whom he prophesied, Mic 1:1; next a preface to this chapter, requiring attention to what was about to be delivered, urged from the consideration of the awful appearance of God, which is represented as very grand and terrible, Mic 1:2; the cause of all which wrath that appeared in him was the transgression of Jacob; particularly their idolatry, as appears by the special mention of their idols and graven images in the account of their destruction, Mic 1:5; which destruction is exaggerated by the prophet's lamentation for it, Mic 1:8; and by the mourning of the inhabitants of the several places that should be involved in it, which are particularly mentioned, Mic 1:10.

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked,.... To his shut, putting off his upper garment; the rough one, such as the prophets used to wear; which he did as the greater sign of his mourning: sometimes, in such cases, they rent their garments; at other times they stripped themselves of them, and walked naked, as Isaiah did, Isa 20:3; he went about like a madman, one disturbed in his mind, bereft of his senses, because of the desolation coming upon Israel; and without his clothes, as such persons often do: so the word rendered "stripped" signifies, as the Jewish commentators observe. This lamentation, and with these circumstances, the prophet made in his own person, to show the reality and certainty of their ruin, and to represent to them the desolate condition they would be in, destitute of all good things, and to them with it; as well as to express the sympathy of his heart, and thereby to assure them that it was not out of ill will to them, or a spirit of revenge, that he delivered such a message: or this he did in the person of all the people, showing what they would do, and that this would be their case shortly. So the Targum, "for this they shall wail and howl, and go naked among the spoilers;'' I will make a wailing like the dragons; as in their fight with elephants, at which time they make a hideous noise (n); and whose hissings have been very terrible to large bodies of men. Aelianus (o) speaks of a dragon in India, which, when it perceived Alexander's army near at hand, gave such a prodigious hiss and blast, that it greatly frightened and disturbed the whole army: and he relates (p) of another, that was in a valley near Mount Pellenaeus, in the isle of Chios, whose hissing was very terrible to the inhabitants of that place; and Bochart (q) conjectures that this their hissing is here referred to; and who observes of the whale, that it has its name from a word in the Hebrew tongue, which signifies to lament; and which word is here used, and is frequently used of large fishes, as whales, sea calves, dolphins, &c. which make a great noise and bellowing, as the sea calf; particularly the balaena, which is one kind of a whale, and makes such a large and continued noise, as to be heard at the distance of two miles, as Rondeletius (r) says; and dolphins are said to make a moan and groaning like human creatures, as Pliny (s) and Solinus (t) report: and Peter Gillius relates, from his own experience, that lodging one night in a vessel, in which many dolphins were taken, there were such weeping and mourning, that he could not sleep for them; he thought they deplored their condition with mourning, lamentation, and a large flow of tears, as men do, and therefore could not help pitying their case; and, while the fisherman was asleep, took that which was next him, that seemed to mourn most, and cast it into the sea; but this was of no avail, for the rest increased their mourning more and more, and seemed plainly to desire the like deliverance; so that all the night he was in the midst of the most bitter moaning: wherefore Bochart, who quotes these instances, elsewhere (u) thinks that the prophet compares his mourning with the mourning of these creatures, rather than with the hissing of dragons. Some (w) think crocodiles are here meant; and of them it is reported (x), that when they have eaten the body of a creature, which they do first, and come to the head, they weep over it with tears; hence the proverb of crocodiles tears, for hypocritical ones; but it cannot well be thought, surely, that the prophet would compare his mourning to that of such a creature. The learned Pocock thinks it more reasonable that the "jackals" are meant, called by the Arabians "ebn awi", rather than dragons; a creature of a size between a fox and a wolf, or a dog and a fox, which makes a dreadful howling in the night; by which travellers, unacquainted with it, would think a company of women or children were howling, and goes before the lion as his provider; and mourning as the owls; or "daughters of the owl" (y); which is a night bird, and makes a very frightful noise, especially the screech owl. The Targum interprets it of the ostrich (z); and it may be meant either of the mourning it makes when its young are about to be taken away, and it exposes itself to danger on their account, and perishes in the attempt. Aelianus (a) reports that they are taken by sharp iron spikes fixed about their nest, when they are returning to their young, after having been in quest of food for them; and, though they see the shining iron, yet such is their vehement desire after their young, that they spread their wings like sails, and with great swiftness and noise rush into the nest, where they are transfixed with the spikes, and die: and not only Vatablus observes, that these creatures have a very mournful voice; but Bochart (b) has shown, from the Arabic writers, that they frequently cry and howl; and from John de Laet, who affirms that those in the parts about Brazil cry so loud as to be heard half a mile; and indeed they have their name from crying and howling. The Targum renders it by a word which signifies pleasant; and so Onkelos on Lev 11:16, by an antiphrasis, because its voice is so very unpleasant. Or, since the words may be rendered, "the daughters of the ostrich" (c), it may be understood of the mourning of its young, when left by her, when they make a hideous noise and miserable moan, as some observe (d). (n) Aelian. de Animal. l. 6. c. 22. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 11. (o) Ib. l. 15. c. 21. (p) Ib. l. 16. c. 39. (q) Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 14. col. 437. (r) Apud Bochart. ib. par. 1. l. 1. c. 7. col. 47. (s) Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 9. (t) Polyhistor. c. 22. (u) Ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 14.) col. 48. (w) Ludolphus apud Burkium in loc. (x) Vid. Frantzii Hist. Animal. Sacr. par. 1. c. 26. sect. 2. (y) "ut filiae ululae", Piscator, Burkius; "instar filiarum. ululae", Cocceius. So Montanus. (z) So the Vulgate Latin, Munster, Pagninus, Drusius, Bochartus, and others. (a) De Animal. l. 14. c. 7. (b) Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 14. col. c. 228. (c) "Filiarum struthionis", Pagninus; "juvenes struthiones", Tigurine version. (d) Vid. Frantz. Hist. Animal. Sacr. par. 2. c. 2. p. 339, 342.

(Verse 6 onwards): And I will make Samaria a heap of stones in the field, when a vineyard is planted, and I will pour down her stones into the valley, and will lay bare her foundations. And all her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. LXX: And I will make Samaria a caretaker of fruits in the field, and a plantation of vineyards; and I will uncover its foundations and reveal all of its carved images, and all of its wages will be burned with fire, and all of its idols I will put to destruction, because it gathered them from the wages of prostitution, and destroyed them with the wages of prostitution. Because of this, it will lament and mourn, it will go barefoot and naked, it will make a lamentation like the dragons, and a mourning like the daughters of Sirens, because its wound has obtained, because it has come to Judah and has touched the gate of my people, even Jerusalem. According to the order of sins, there is an order of punishments. Samaria was the first to sin, and they made idols and worshiped calves instead of the Lord: therefore, let it perish first. I will destroy it when the Assyrians come, and I will make it like a heap of stones when a vineyard is planted, so that it is turned into mounds. And I will remove its stones into the valley. It was indeed situated in the mountains, where Sebaste is now, and it is where the bones of the holy John the Baptist are buried. And I will reveal its foundations. Such will be the ruin and the destruction of the city, that not only the walls and buildings will collapse, but even the foundations will be exposed to the very last stone. And all its sculptures and treasures, which were gathered by various kings, will be brought down and burned by fire, and reduced to nothingness. For the riches and abundant possessions, which were presumed to be the result of idolatry, will be taken to another harlot, that is, to Nineveh. Just as they committed fornication with the idols they made in their own land, so they will go to another land of idols and prostitution, that is, to the Assyrians. So far concerning Samaria. And because the same calamity will happen to Jerusalem (for it also sinned with a similar error, abandoning its God and making idols), therefore the prophet attributes a kind of personification to God, and under his own persona he expresses a lamenting affection, and says: About this I will mourn and wail; I will go stripped and naked (for I have lost ten tribes), and I will make a lamentation like jackals, and mourning like ostriches. For just as dragons roar with a terrifying hiss, according to the accounts of those who have written about natural history, at the time when they are defeated by elephants; and just as ostriches are forgetful of their eggs, as if they had not laid them, and leave their young to be trampled on by the feet of beasts in the sand (Job 39); as it is more fully described in the book of Job: so I also, stripped of children and naked, will go on my way. And I shall do this, because her wound is desperate, that is, Samaria. And the same sin, or rather the same punishment of sin, which destroyed Samaria, will come even to Judah, and even to the gate of my city Jerusalem. For just as Samaria was overthrown by the Assyrians, so Judah and Jerusalem will be overthrown by the Chaldeans. And indeed, as we understand, Samaria was once the Church of heretics, which, separated from God, became a gathering of the people; the Lord himself threatens that he will make it a place for the keeping of apples, an orchard and a planting ground for a vineyard. For it is much better to overthrow an useless city, and its stones with which it was built, to be thrown down, and to prepare it as an orchard and a plantation of vineyards, than to remain in the worst kind of construction. For when it has been destroyed, and its foundations have been revealed (by which it seemed to hide its mysteries, and to have firm doctrines on which it stood, and all idols appeared to have a kind of beauty, composed by skillful craftsmanship, and have been cut down by the ministers of God, that is, by the Ecclesiastical men), then in the place of the worst construction, various fruits of the Church will be born, and not only will they be born, but they will also be guarded, and the vineyard of Sorek will be planted, from which wine will be made, which the Lord promised to drink in the kingdom of the Father (Mark 14). Not only, however, will the foundations of that which was previously hidden in the earth be opened and brought forth into the open, and the idols which they had fashioned for themselves be overthrown; but even the glory and wealth which she seemed to possess through her fornication and her error will be consumed by my fire, of which I spoke in the Gospel: I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled (Luke 12:49): and they shall be burned up and reduced to nothing, for they have been contracted not from the truth of doctrines, but from the fornication of the soul and from errors collected from here and there. For heretics, indeed, do not have riches coming from paternal inheritance, but daily they find what they cultivate, and they fashion idols for themselves with skillful hand and curious mind. Therefore, when their field has been converted into a custody of fruits, and prepared for vineyards, and the stones with which the city was built have been removed into the depths, and their foundations have been revealed, and all the carved and burnt images, and the rewards that they promised themselves with empty hope, and whatever they seemed to worship as God, have been reduced to nothing, because in the fornication of the soul, they had obtained all their price for themselves: then, understanding their former error, having turned back upon themselves, they will lament in those things at which they previously laughed, and they will mourn in those things in which before, in a certain manner, they rejoiced in their fornication. And the deponents will cast off from their feet whatever is deadly, and they will be barefoot, for the ground on which they stand is holy, and they will throw away all the clothes of their fornication, and they will be naked so that they can be clothed in the garment of Christ, and they will lament like dragons. For sometimes even dragons lament when they see the greatest dragon captured and hanging on the hook of a fisherman, and the sea deserted. And they shall lament like the daughters of the Sirens, for the songs of heretics are sweet, and deceive the people with their sweet voices. None can pass by their songs unless they stop up their ears and become deaf. Therefore, Samaria shall weep and mourn for these things, for the arrow of the Lord has wounded her, and she shall recognize the error of her ways. Not only has she sinned herself, but she also desires to bring her iniquity and error into the gates of Judah. It is said of her: She came up to Judea and touched up to the gates of my people, up to Jerusalem. She touched the gates, as we understand them with our ears. However, she could not enter the middle city: for if she had entered, she would have made Samaria from Jerusalem. How often we see some in the Church scandalized by the heretical teachings and seeking how to answer their questions, yet not leaving the Church, let us say, she came to Samaria, or the region of Samaria up to the confessing people, up to the ears of God's people, up to the ears of Jerusalem. For what is said touches as well the gates of my people, it is to be understood in general, so that it may be supplied, it also touches even the gates of Jerusalem. Up to this point, against Samaria and against Jerusalem, let us see the rest, which follows.

The prophet begins with calling the attention of all people to the awful descent of Jehovah, coming to execute his judgments against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Mic 1:1-5; first against Samaria, whose fate the prophet laments on the dress of mourners, and with the doleful cries of the fox or ostrich, Mic 1:6-8; and then against Jerusalem, which is threatened with the invasion of Sennacherib. Other cities of Judah are likewise threatened; and their danger represented to be so great as to oblige them to have recourse for protection even to their enemies the Philistines, from whom they desired at first to conceal their situation. But all resources are declared to be vain; Israel and Judah must go into captivity, Mic 1:9-16.

I will make a wailing like the dragons - Newcome translates: - I will make a wailing like the foxes, (or jackals), And mourning like the daughters of the ostrich. This beast, the jackal or shiagal, we have often met with in the prophets. Travellers inform us that its howlings by night are most lamentable; and as to the ostrich, it is remarkable for its fearful shrieking and agonizing groanings after night. Dr. Shaw says he has often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.

GOD'S WRATH AGAINST SAMARIA AND JUDAH; THE FORMER IS TO BE OVERTHROWN; SUCH JUDGMENTS IN PROSPECT CALL FOR MOURNING. (Mic. 1:1-16) all that therein is--Hebrew, "whatever fills it." Micaiah, son of Imlah, begins his prophecy similarly, "Hearken, O people, every one of you." Micah designedly uses the same preface, implying that his ministrations are a continuation of his predecessor's of the same name. Both probably had before their mind Moses' similar attestation of heaven and earth in a like case (Deu 31:28; Deu 32:1; compare Isa 1:2). God be witness against you--namely, that none of you can say, when the time of your punishment shall come, that you were not forewarned. The punishment denounced is stated in Mic 1:3, &c. from his holy temple--that is, heaven (Kg1 8:30; Psa 11:4; Jon 2:7; compare Rom 1:18).

Therefore I will wail--The prophet first shows how the coming judgment affects himself, in order that he might affect the minds of his countrymen similarly. stripped--that is, of shoes, or sandals, as the Septuagint translates. Otherwise "naked" would be a tautology. naked--"Naked" means divested of the upper garment (Isa 20:2). "Naked and barefoot," the sign of mourning (Sa2 15:30). The prophet's upper garment was usually rough and coarse-haired (Kg2 1:8; Zac 13:4). like the dragons--so JEROME. Rather, "the wild dogs," jackals or wolves, which wail like an infant when in distress or alone [MAURER]. (See on Job 30:29). owls--rather, "ostriches," which give a shrill and long-drawn, sigh-like cry, especially at night.

I. Israel's Banishment into Exile, and Restoration - Micah 1 and Mic 2:1-13 The prophet's first address is throughout of a threatening and punitive character; it is not till quite the close, that the sun of divine grace breaks brightly shining through the thunder clouds of judgment. The announcement of the judgment upon Samaria as well as upon the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem forms the first part (Mic 1:2-16); the reproof of the sins, especially of the unrighteousness of the great and mighty of the nation, the second part (Mic 2:1-11); and a brief but very comprehensive announcement of the salvation that will dawn upon the remnant of all Israel after the judgment, the conclusion of the address (Mic 2:12-13). The Judgment upon Samaria and Judah - Micah 1 Micah, commencing with the appeal to all nations to observe the coming of the Lord for judgment upon the earth (Mic 1:2-4), announces to the people of Israel, on account of its sins and its apostasy from the Lord, the destruction of Samaria (Mic 1:5-7) and the spreading of the judgment over Judah; and shows how, passing from place to place, and proceeding to Jerusalem, and even farther, it will throw the kingdom into deep lamentation on account of the carrying away of its inhabitants.

The judgment will not stop at Samaria, however, but spread over Judah. The prophet depicts this by saying that he will go about mourning as a prisoner, to set forth the misery that will come upon Judah (Mic 1:8, Mic 1:9); and then, to confirm this, he announces to a series of cities the fate awaiting them, or rather awaiting the kingdom, by a continued play upon words founded upon their names (Mic 1:10-15); and finally he summons Zion to deep mourning (Mic 1:16). Mic 1:8. "Therefore will I lament and howl, I will go spoiled and naked: I will keep lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. Mic 1:9. For her stripes are malignant; for it comes to Judah, reaches to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem." על־זאת points back to what precedes, and is then explained in Mic 1:9. The prophet will lament over the destruction of Samaria, because the judgment which has befallen this city will come upon Judah also. Micah does not speak in his own name here as a patriot (Hitzig), but in the name of his nation, with which he identifies himself as being a member thereof. This is indisputably evident from the expression אילכה שׁילל וערום, which describes the costume of a prisoner, not that of a mourner. The form אילכה with י appears to have been simply suggested by אילילה. שׁילל is formed like הידד in Isa 16:9-10, and other similar words (see Olshausen, Gramm. p. 342). The Masoretes have substituted שׁלל, after Job 12:17, but without the slightest reason. It does not mean "barefooted," ἀνυπόδετος (lxx), for which there was already יחף in the language (Sa2 15:30; Isa 20:2-3; Jer 2:25), but plundered, spoiled. ערום, naked, i.e., without upper garment (see my comm. on Sa1 19:24), not merely vestitu solido et decente privatus. Mourners do indeed go barefooted (yâchēph, see Sa2 15:30), and in deep mourning in a hairy garment (saq, Sa2 3:31; Gen 37:34, etc.), but not plundered and naked. The assertion, however, that a man was called ̀ârōm when he had put on a mourning garment (saq, sackcloth) in the place of his upper garment, derives no support from Isa 20:2, but rather a refutation. For there the prophet does not go about ‛ârōm veyâchēph, i.e., in the dress of a prisoner, to symbolize the captivity of Egypt, till after he has loosened the hairy garment (saq) from his loins, i.e., taken it off. And here also the plundering of the prophet and his walking naked are to be understood in the same way. Micah's intention is not only to exhibit publicly his mourning fore the approaching calamity of Judah, but also to set forth in a symbolical form the fate that awaits the Judaeans. And he can only do this by including himself in the nation, and exhibiting the fate of the nation in his own person. Wailing like jackals and ostriches is a loud, strong, mournful cry, those animals being distinguished by a mournful wail; see the comm. on Job 30:29, which passage may possibly have floated before the prophet's mind. Thus shall Judah wail, because the stroke which falls upon Samaria is a malignant, i.e., incurable (the suffix attached to מכּותיה refers to Shōmerōn, Samaria, in Mic 1:6 and Mic 1:7. For the singular of the predicate before a subject in the plural, see Ewald, 295, a, and 317, a). It reaches to Judah, yea, to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, as the capital, is called the "gate of my people," because in it par excellence the people went out and in. That עד is not exclusive here, but inclusive, embracing the terminus ad quem, is evident from the parallel "even to Judah;" for if it only reached to the border of Judah, it would not have been able to come to Jerusalem; and still more clearly so from the description in Mic 1:10. The fact that Jerusalem is not mentioned till after Judah is to be interpreted rhetorically, and not geographically. Even the capital, where the temple of Jehovah stood, would not be spared.