Micah 3:4

Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Then shall they cry.—“Then”—i.e., in the day of retribution—“then shall they call upon me, saith the Lord, but I will not hear; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; and that because they hated knowledge, and received not the fear of the Lord, but abhorred my counsel and despised my correction. Then shall it be too late to knock when the door shall be shut, and too late to cry for mercy when it is the time of justice” (Commination Service). So also Isaiah declared (Isaiah 1:15): “When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-8 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then shall they cry unto the Lord - "Then." The prophet looks on to the Day of the Lord, which is always before his mind. So the Psalmist, speaking of a time or place not expressed, says, "There were they in great fear" Psalm 53:5. He sees it, points to it, as seeing what those to whom he spoke, saw not, and the more awfully, because he saw, with superhuman (certain) vision, what was "hidden from their eyes." The then was not then, "in the time of grace," but when the Day of grace should be over, and the Day of Judgment should be come. So of that day, when judgment should set in, God says in Jeremiah, "Behold I will bring evil upon them which they shall not be able to go forth of, and they will cry unto Me, and I will not hearken unto them" Jeremiah 11:11. And David, "They cried and there was none to save; unto the Lord, and He answered them not" Psalm 18:41. And Solomon; "Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he shall cry himself and shall not be heard" Proverbs 21:13. And James, "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy" James 2:13. The prayer is never too late, until judgment comes ; the day of grace is over, when the time of judgment has arrived. "They shall cry unto the Lord, and shall not be heard, because they too did not hear those who asked them, and the Lord shall turn His Face from them, because they too turned their face from those who prayed them."

He will even hide His Face - He will not look in mercy on those who would not receive His look of grace. Your sins, He says by Isaiah, "have hid His face from you, that He heareth not." O what will that turning away of the Face be, on which hangs eternity!

As - There is a proportion between the sin and the punishment . As I have done, so God hath requited me. "They have behaved themselves ill in their doings. literally have made their deeds evil." The word rendered doings is almost always used in a bad sense, mighty deeds, and so deeds with a high hand. Not ignorantly or negligently, nor through human frailty, but with set purpose they applied themselves, not to amend but to corrupt their doings, and make them worse. God called to them by all His prophets, make good your doings Jeremiah 35:15; and they, reversing it, used diligence to make their doings evil. Jerome: "All this they shall suffer, because they were not rulers, but tyrants; not Prefects, but lions; not masters of disciples, but wolves of sheep; and they sated themselves with flesh and were fattened, and, as sacrifices for the slaughter, were made ready for the punishment of the Lord. Thus far against evil rulers; then he turns to the false prophets and evil teachers, who by flatteries subvert the people of God, promising them the knowledge of His word."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. Then—at the time of judgment, which Micah takes for granted, so certain is it (compare Mic 2:3).

they cry … but he will not hear—just as those oppressed by them had formerly cried, and they would not hear. Their prayer shall be rejected, because it is the mere cry of nature for deliverance from pain, not that of repentance for deliverance from sin.

ill in their doings—Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Then; when that time and those miseries which Micah foretells shall come upon them, Micah 1:6-8 2:3, when God shall retaliate and pay these great ones in their own coin. They; the cruel oppressors, these tyrannical judges, that pitied none, devoured all, and feared not the Divine vengeance.

Cry unto the Lord, as if they were his, and as if he were bound to deliver; they then shall own he can, and none else can deliver them, and they will expect a saving hand after all their rebellions against and contempts of God.

But he will not hear them; as they heard the cry of the oppressed, but would not hear; so God will hear the cry of their distresses, but not hear the requests they make; he will do no more for them than as if he did not hear them, he will be as a stranger to their case.

He will even hide his face from them; they turned away their face from beholding and pitying the poor, now God will turn away his eye from them, and, as if unconcerned, leave them to their own distresses, and their enemies’ rage and cruelty. At that time: this is added to assure them they should have least respect from God when they need it most; so they shall receive what they gave, judgment without mercy, as it is Jam 2:13.

As they have behaved themselves ill in their doings: this speaks both the reason why, and the manner how, God will thus leave them to the oppressor; the greatness of their sin deserved this, and such was the quality of their sins, that nothing fitter than a retaliation to punish the sin, convince the sinner, teach the world righteousness, and to vindicate God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them,.... When all the above evils threatened them in the preceding chapters shall come upon them; when the enemy shall invade their hind, besiege their cities, and take them, and they, their families and substance, just ready to fall into their hands, they shall cry unto the Lord; or pray unto him, as the Targum, in the time of their distress; but he will not hear their prayer, so as to answer it according to their desire; that is, he will not save them from imminent danger, but deliver them up, them, and all that belong unto them, into the hands of such that shall use them as they have done others:

he will even hide his face from them at that time; turn his back upon them, and a deaf ear to them, and show them no favour, nor grant them any help and protection:

as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings; he will punish them according to the law of retaliation; as when the poor cried unto them, when they were stripping them of their substance, and they would not hearken to them, so now, when they cry unto the Lord in their distress, he will not hearken to them; and as they turned their backs, and hid their faces from those that were afflicted by them, and would show them no favour, so will the Lord deal with them; and as they exercised the utmost cruelty and barbarity that could be done, they will now be given up into the hands of cruel and merciless men, that will use them in like manner: or, "because they have done ill in their doings" (b) to the poor, whose cause God will defend and vindicate.

(b) "eo quod", Sept. "quia", Drusius; "pro eo quod", Grotius.

Geneva Study Bible

Then {c} shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

(c) That is, when I will punish their wickedness: for though I hear the godly before they cry Isa 65:24, yet I will not hear these even though they cry; Isa 1:15 Eze 8:18 Jas 2:13 1Pe 3:11-12.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. Then shall they cry] We must suppose that, when Micah delivered this prophecy (of which we can have but a summary), he introduced between Micah 3:3 and Micah 3:4 a description of ‘the day of the Lord,’ the day of just retribution.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - The merciless shall not obtain mercy. Then, when the day of chastisement has come, "the day of the Lord," of which, perhaps, the prophet spoke more fully when he originally delivered this address. He will not hear them. A just retribution on those who refused to hearken to the cry of the poor and needy (comp. Psalm 18:41; Proverbs 1:28; Jeremiah 11:11; James 2:13). As they have behaved themselves ill in their doings; according as they have made their actions evil, or because they have, etc.; ἀνθ ω΅ν (Septuagint). Micah 3:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

First strophe. - Micah 3:1. "And I said, Hear ye, O heads of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know the right? Micah 3:2. Ye who hate good, and love evil; who draw off their skin from them, and their flesh from their bones. Micah 3:3. And who have eaten the flesh of my people, and stripped off their skin from them; and broken their bones, and cut them in pieces, as if in the pot, and like flesh in the midst of the caldron. Micah 3:4. Then will they cry to Jehovah, and He will not hearken; and let Him hide His face from them at the same time, as they have made their actions evil." By the expression "And I said" (vâ'ōmar), the following address is indicated as a continuation of the preceding one. The reproofs of this chapter are also a still further expansion of the woe pronounced in Micah 2:1-2 upon the godless chiefs of the nation. The heads of Jacob are addressed, that is to say, the princes of the tribes and families of Israel, and the qetsı̄nı̄m, lit., deciders (answering to the Arabic qâḍy, a judge) of the house of Israel, i.e., the heads of families and households, upon whom the administration of justice devolved (cf. Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 22:3). הלוא לכן, is it not your duty and your office to know justice? Da‛ath is practical knowledge, which manifests itself in practice; mishpât, the public administration of justice. Instead of this, they do the opposite. The description of this conduct is appended by participles, in the form of apposition to the heads and princes addressed in Micah 3:1. Hating good and loving evil refer to the disposition, and indicate the radical corruption of these men. רעה, generally misfortune, here evil; hence the Masoretes have altered it into רע; but the very fact that it deviates from the ordinary rule shows that it is the original word. Instead of administering justice to the people, they take off their skin, and tear the flesh from the bones. The suffixes attached to עורם and שׁארם point back to בּית־ישׂראל in Micah 3:1. The words answer to the German expression, "to pull the skin over the ears." In Micah 3:3 the expression is still stronger; but the address is continued in the form of a simple description, and instead of the participles, אשׁר is used with the finite verb. They not only flay the people, i.e., rob them of all their means of subsistence, but even devour them - treat them like cattle, which men first of all flay, then break their bones, but the flesh into pieces, and boil it in the pot. In this figure, which is carried out into the most minute details, we must not give any special meaning to the particular features, such as that "the skin, and boiling portions, which are cut up and put into the pot, are figures signifying the pledged clothing and coveted fields (Micah 2:2, Micah 2:8)." The prophet paints in very glaring colours, to make an impression upon the ungodly. Therefore, in the time of judgment, God will not hear their crying to Him for help, but will hide His face from them, i.e., withdraw His mercy from them. אז and בּעה ההיא point back to the evil time announced in Micah 2:3. For Micah 3:4, compare Proverbs 1:28. Veyastēr in Micah 3:4 is an optative. The prophet continues the announcement of the punishment in the form of a desire. כּאשׁר, as equals according to the way in which, as in 1 Samuel 28:18; Numbers 27:14, etc., i.e., answering to their evil doings.