This and the next chapter should be read in connexion. They form a single prophecy, the subject of which is the cause of the coming judgment, viz. the sins of the great men and the rulers. The sins and their punishment are over and over again described with increasing intensity. First of all in Micah 2:1-5. Then in Micah 2:6 the offenders inveigh against this troublesome preaching, and the prophet rejoins in Micah 2:7. In Micah 2:8-10 a second description of the offences of the grandees is given, followed, in Micah 2:11, by a digression on the caricature of prophecy patronized by them. The last two verses of the chapter interrupt the sequence of thought (see on chap. 3).

1–5. Sin and its corresponding Punishment

1. and work evil] To ‘work,’ as distinguished from ‘devise’ and to ‘practise’ or ‘execute,’ is to prepare ways and means (see Isaiah 41:4). Obs., it is no mere act of thoughtlessness, or passionate impulse, which is here denounced, but a set purpose of dispossessing the small proprietors.

upon their beds] The natural place for reflexion, whether in a bad sense (as here and Psalm 36:4), or in a good (as Psalm 63:6).

it is in the power of their hand] A doubt as to the meaning has arisen from the fact that the word el here rendered ‘power’ is more commonly used for ‘god.’ But Lagarde has shewn that the root meaning of el is ‘that to which one reaches out.’ Comp. Acts 17:27.

2. And they covet fields, &c.] ‘To covet’ is itself a gross offence against the law of God, as the deepest of all the Ten Commandments shews (Exodus 20:17). Large additions to one’s estates were diametrically opposed to the spirit, if not always to the letter, of the law of land-tenure among the Israelites. See Numbers 27:1-11; Numbers 33:54, 1 Kings 21:4, Leviticus 25:8-17. These rich men would have had a perfect right to purchase the lease of another man’s property, subject indeed to the law of redistribution in the 49th year (the year of Jubilee)—a relic of the old Village Community system, which seems to have prevailed anciently among Semitic as well as Aryan races (comp. Sir R. Maine’s Village Communities, and Mr Fenton’s article on the Law of Jubilee, in the Theological Review, 1878). But, as the account of Naboth the Jezreelite (1 Kings 21.) shews, the small Israelitish proprietors were too sturdy and too law-abiding to accede to proposals of purchasers when they could possibly avoid it. Hence, on the immoral principle that ‘might is right’ (or, as the prophet says, ‘because it is in the power of their hands’), they followed the example of Ahab, and used fraudulent or openly violent means—fraud is suggested by the language of Micah 2:1, open violence by that of Micah 2:2. Isaiah denounces the same offences in Micah 5:8; Amos, probably, in Micah 4:1.

3. Therefore, &c.] The ‘devising’ of the dishonest grandees is met by the ‘devising’ of Jehovah; oppression is punished by oppression. Comp. the striking correspondences between sins and their punishments in Isaiah 5.

against this family] The grandees, as the heads and representatives of the nation (Isaiah 9:15), have involved all ranks in a common ruin. Israel is disparagingly called ‘this family’ (instead of ‘my family’). Comp. Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 28:14; Isaiah 29:13, Jeremiah 8:5; Jeremiah 13:10 (where the phrase is used of Judah), Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 9:16 (where it seems to refer to the northern kingdom), and Jeremiah 33:24 (where it is applied even to the heathen neighbours of the Jews). Here it evidently refers to the northern and southern kingdoms alike—‘the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt’ (Amos 3:1).

your necks] The ‘evil,’ then, is a foreign yoke; comp. Jeremiah 27:12. They are likened to cattle (as Amos 4:1).

4. shall one take up a parable] Or, a taunting song (as probably Isaiah 14:4, Habakkuk 2:6). The Hebr. mâshâl means properly a saying characterized by parallelism—‘the parallelism may consist either in the moral application of emblems, or simply in the parallel disposition of the lines and the sense. From the fact that emblems were generally applied in a witty, satirical manner, mâshâl sometimes obtains the meaning of taunt-song.’ So, too, we may add, the participial noun môshçl acquires the sense of taunt-singer in Numbers 21:27, Ezekiel 16:44. In the present instance, the prophet means (see next clause) that the same words from different speakers would be at once a lamentation and a taunt. When an Israelite should say plaintively, ‘It is all over,’ his enemy should take up his words in a tone of triumph or mockery.

and lament with a doleful lamentation, &c.] Rather, and lament with a lamentation:

‘It is done,’ they shall say,

‘We be utterly spoiled:

He changeth the portion of my people;

How doth he remove it from me!

Unto the rebellious he divideth our fields.’

The purport of the complaint is that Jehovah (for the Israelites recognize him as the sender of their trouble) has transferred the promised land to heathen men, who from their very birth have been rebels against Jehovah. The epithet ‘rebellious’ deserves notice. True, it is the Jews who use it, but the prophet would certainly have sanctioned its employment. We find him, in chap. Micah 5:15, announcing the punishment of the heathen for their disobedience, and his great contemporary Isaiah, in Isaiah 10:5-15 (comp. Isaiah 37:26), rebuking Sennacherib for ‘vaunting himself’ against Him who gave him his commission. Both prophets imply that the heathen had a certain natural light, which might have led them to the true God, or at least have preserved them from rejecting Him, when His claims were brought before them. Comp. St Paul’s words in Romans 1:20, ‘so that they are without excuse.’

5. Therefore thou shall have none, &c.] Because the Israelites have violated the divinely sanctioned law of land-tenure, ‘therefore’ they shall have no future opportunity of redistributing the soil in accordance with equity. And this, because the ‘congregation of Jehovah,’ from which such a redistribution should proceed, is itself about to be dissolved.

that shall cast a cord by lot] Rather, that shall cast the measuring-line upon a lot (i.e. an allotment); alluding to the original distribution of Canaan by lot. Of course, the redistribution of the land in the year of Jubilee was governed, not by lot, but by regard for the old family-rights; still the primitive term ‘lot’ held its ground (so Psalm 16:5; Psalm 125:3).

6, 7. Hostility of the two classes of Prophets

6. Prophesy ye not] Micah and the prophets like-minded with him (e. g. Isaiah) are angrily bidden by the flattering, popular prophets to hold their peace. Comp. Isaiah 30:9-10, ‘For it is a rebellious people … Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits (or, illusions); also Amos 2:12; Amos 5:10. Thus, in the times of Isaiah, Amos, and Micah, we can already detect the germs of the persecution which broke out with such severity under Manasseh. The faithful prophets of Jehovah were sometimes obliged to hide themselves (Isaiah 30:20), and it seemed as if ‘the godly man had perished out of the land’ (Micah 7:2). From the context in which these words ‘Prophesy ye not,’ occur, we should suppose that the speakers were the ‘rebellious people’ (see Isaiah 30:9; Isaiah 30:20), represented by the grandees, though most commentators think that they are rather the unfaithful, smooth-speaking prophets, sometimes called ‘false prophets.’ Obs., the word used, here and in Micah 2:11 (also in Amos 7:16, Ezekiel 21:2) for ‘prophesy’ is literally ‘drop;’ it was perhaps originally a figurative expression for the constant flow and persuasive eloquence of prophecy. It is however probably used by Micah’s hostile critics in an unfavourable sense (‘dropping’ = constantly finding fault, comp. ‘here a little, there a little,’ Isaiah 28:10), so that we may venture to render here, Prattle ye not. Speech in general is said to ‘drop as the dew,’ Deuteronomy 32:2; comp. Job 29:22.

say they to them that prophesy] Rather, (thus) they prattle. The prophet takes up their word, and flings it back to them sarcastically. This view makes the grandees the speakers, in accordance with the context. Most recent commentators, however, suppose a sudden introduction of the false prophets (see last note).

they shall not prophesy to them] Rather, they should not prattle of these things. Micah and his companions are exceeding the limits of their commission. It is for the grandees to decide political matters; and to chatter about the ruin of the state is simply high treason.

that they shall not take shame] Rather, reproaches are unceasing. By ‘reproaches’ the hostile speakers mean denunciations such as that in Micah 2:1-2, Isaiah 5. Comp. again Isaiah 28:10 (where however A. V. needs to be corrected).

7. that art named, &c.] ‘But only as far as the title goes’ (Calvin); comp. on ‘this family’ (Micah 2:3). So Isaiah 48:1.

is the spirit of the Lord straitened?] Has Jehovah ceased to be ‘long-suffering’ (Exodus 34:6)? ‘Straitened,’ lit. ‘shortened.’

are these his doings?] Anger is not natural to Jehovah, neither is punishment His chosen work (comp. Isaiah 28:21). As long as His people ‘walk uprightly,’ He responds to them with friendly words and acts.

8–10. Parallel to Micah 2:1-5

8. Even of late my people, &c.] Rather, But of late, &c. The divine speaker states the cause of His enforced deviation from His natural course of action. Man has misused His gift of free will: God’s people has of late been taking a hostile attitude. Towards whom? Not immediately against Jehovah, whom indeed they cannot cease to recognize as their national deity, but against those who are under His most immediate care—the poor and needy. (The rendering and even the reading of this verse is very doubtful, but the above explanation probably gives the general sense. One difficulty is that in this verse, according to the received text, the phrase ‘my people’ means the oppressive grandees, whereas in Micah 2:9 it is applied to the oppressed poor; comp. Isaiah 3:15.)

ye pull off the robe with the garment, &c.] Rather, clean away from the garment. The ‘robe’ is the spreading mantle; the ‘garment’ is the so-called ‘upper garment.’ The former would of course be the most valuable article of apparel; the richest mantles were imported from Babylon (Joshua 7:21).—It is probably not vulgar robbery which is here denounced, but a remorseless use of the rights of a creditor (contrary to the spirit of Exodus 22:26-27).

9. The women of my people] i.e. the unprotected widows. A similar complaint is made in Isaiah (Isaiah 10:2).

my glory] i.e. the privileges which every Israelite possessed as a member of God’s people. The prophet implies that the children of the widows have been sold into foreign slavery, which virtually annulled their glorious birthright. ‘How could they sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’

10. Arise ye, and depart] As a just retribution for the expulsion of others, the oppressors shall be expelled themselves.

your rest] i.e. your resting-place (as Isaiah 11:10). ‘Rest’ was one of the chief aspects under which Canaan was regarded (Deuteronomy 12:9, Isaiah 63:14, Psalm 95:11).

because it is polluted, &c.] viz. the land, by the sin of its inhabitants. Comp. Leviticus 18:25-28.

11. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood, &c.] Who is the popular prophet? He who walks in a spirit of falsehood (Micah’s phrase is perhaps a hendiadys), and promises material blessings of the most palpable kind (represented by ‘wine and strong drink’). It was not merely his reference to temporal goods which made such a man a ‘false prophet,’ but his assurance of the divinely ordained connexion between righteousness and prosperity. For ‘in the spirit and falsehood,’ it is simpler to render, after wind and falsehood. (Dathe thinks Micah 2:11 is misplaced, and should come after Micah 2:6.)

12. I will surely assemble …] Some commentators think that this and the next verse represent one of the flattering oracles of the false prophets; but the style is precisely that of the true prophets, and indeed of Micah himself (see Micah 4:6-7). There is a question, however, whether the verses are not misplaced; whether their present position is not due to a later editor, rather than to Micah himself. There are no doubt very abrupt transitions in prophecy; but this is exceptionally difficult, as the tone and style of Micah 2:12-13 is so entirely different from that which precedes.

O Jacob, all of thee] Not merely a part of the nation; not merely the ten tribes, or the others, but the whole of Israel (‘Jacob’ as in Micah 1:5). And yet only ‘the remnant of Israel;’ enough, but only just enough, to form the nucleus of a nobler Israel (comp. Isaiah 10:20-21). The promise is therefore for those who shall come out of the trial repentant and purified. See the parallel passages, Jeremiah 31:8, Ezekiel 34:11-14.

as the sheep of Bozrah, &c.] Rather, as sheep into a fold, as a flock in the midst of its pasture.

13. The breaker is come up, &c.] Rather, ‘One that breaketh through is gone up before them; they have broken through, and passed on by the gate, and are gone out thereat; and their king is passed on before them, and Jehovah at their head. ‘One that breaketh through’—i.e. through the prison in which the people are confined—is the epithet of a conqueror, not Jehovah, but a human leader, analogous to Moses and Joshua of old. We need not rack our brains as to who this conqueror is; in the light of other prophecies he can be no other than the Messiah. But Jehovah (‘our king,’ Isaiah 33:22) is not absent from His people; He leads the van of the host, as of yore at the Exodus (Isaiah 52:12; comp. Exodus 13:21).

is come up … have broken up] The verbs in the perfect tense picturesquely describe the irresistible progress of the hosts.