Micah 5:14

And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) I will pluck up thy groves—i.e., either the statues, pillars, or trees connected with the worship of Baal and Astarte. Some such statue was placed by Manasseh even in the house of the Lord, from which it was brought out and burnt by Josiah (2Kings 23:6).

Thy cities—i.e., the pollutions, tumults, &c., of which the cities were the strongholds.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:7-15 The remnant of Israel, converted to Christ in the primitive times, were among many nations as the drops of dew, and were made instruments in calling a large increase of spiritual worshippers. But to those who neglected or opposed this salvation, they would, as lions, cause terror, their doctrine condemning them. The Lord also declares that he would cause not only the reformation of the Jews, but the purification of the Christian church. In like manner shall we be assured of victory in our personal conflicts, as we simply depend upon the Lord our salvation, worship him, and serve him with diligence.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I will cut off the cities of thy land - So God promised by Zechariah, "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls; for I will be unto her a wall of fire round about" Zechariah 2:4-5. The Church shall not need the temptation of human defense; for God shall fence her in on every side. Great cities too, as the abode of luxury and sin, of power and pride, and, mostly, of cruelty, are chiefly denounced as the objects of God's anger. Babylon stands as the emblem of the whole city of the world or of the devil, as opposed to God. Rup.: "The first city was built by Cain; Abel and the other saints heed no continuing city" Hebrews 13:14 here. Cities then will include (Rup.) "all the tumults and evil passions and ambition and strife and bloodshed, which Cain brought in among men. Cities are collectively called and are Babylon, with whom, (as in the Revelations we hear a voice from heaven saying), "the kings of the earth committed fornication and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies" Revelation 18:3; and of which it is written, "And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." Revelation 18:21. "Great rest then is promised to holy Zion that is, the Church, when the cities or strongholds of the land (strongholds, as they are, of earthliness) shall be destroyed. For together with them are included all objects of desire in them, with the sight whereof the citizens of the kingdom of God, while pilgrims here, are tempted; whereof the wise man saith, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

The fulfillment reaches on to the Day of Judgment, when the Church shall finally receive glory from the Lord, and be "without spot and wrinkle" Ephesians 5:27. All looks on to that Day. The very largeness of the promise, which speaks, in its fullest sense, of the destruction of things, without which we can hardly do in this life, (as cities or things very useful to the needs of man, (as horses,) carries us on yet more to that Day when there will be no more need of any outward things; Rup.: "when the heavy body shall be changed, and shall have the swiftness of angels, and shall be transported whither it willeth, without chariots and horses; and all things which tempt the eye shall cease; and no evil shall enter; and there shall be no need of divining, amid the presence and full knowledge of God, and where the ever-present Face of God, who is Truth, shall shine on all, and nothing be uncertain or unknown; nor shall they need to form in their souls images of Him whom His own shall see as He Is; nor shall they esteem anything of self, or the work of their own hands; but God shall be All in all." In like way, the woe on those who obey not the truth, also looks on to the end. It too is final. There is nothing to soften it. Punishments in the course of life are medicinal. Here no mention is made of Mercy, but only of executing vengeance; and that, with wrath and fury; and that, such as they have not heard. For as eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived the good things laid up in store for those who love God, so neither the evil things prepared for those who, in act, shew that they hate Him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. groves … cities—The "groves" are the idolatrous symbol of Astarte (De 16:21; 2Ki 21:7). "Cities" being parallel to "groves," must mean cities in or near which such idolatrous groves existed. Compare "city of the house of Baal" (2Ki 10:25), that is, a portion of the city sacred to Baal.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will pluck up thy groves: the groves where some of them abused in downright idolatrous worship, others of them used superstitiously, thus beside the word; the other way, quite against the word: but after the return from Babylon, there was a great reformation in this point, and after the appearing of the Messiah there hath been a greater eradication of idolatry.

So will I destroy thy cities, or thine enemies; for the word, here used indifferently, signifieth both, and they will either agree to this place. If cities, they are those devoted to idolatry, which, Deu 13:15, were to be destroyed; if you interpret it enemies, it is either an argument to confirm them that they shall not need horses and chariots, or defenced cities, or a further blessing promised upon the reforming fresh idolatry; this an effect or fruit of it, God will destroy their enemies when they have destroyed these idols which are his enemies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee,.... Planted for idolatrous worship, and which the Jews in the reigns of some of their kings raised, and made use of for such purposes; see 1 Kings 15:13; though contrary to the law of God, Deuteronomy 16:21; but now there should be nothing of this kind, all idolatry being rooted out of the world. The Targum is,

"I will root out the plantations of the people out of the midst of thee:''

so will I destroy thy cities; which some understand of cities given to idolatry; or rather it is to be understood in the same sense as in Micah 5:11; though by reason of that, and as something distinct from it, it is better to render the words with the Targum,

"I will destroy thine enemies (n).''

(n) So Jarchi, and Marinas in Aben Ezra, and R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 102. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. thy groves] Rather, thy Ashçrahs. Ashçrah was a sensual Canaanitish goddess, corresponding to the feminine variety of the Assyrian Ishtar; her symbol was a wooden pillar or artificial tree.

thy cities] But the cities have been already mentioned (Micah 5:11). It is better perhaps to render thy adversaries (giving the word its Aramaic sense; or, if this be preferred, slightly altering the first letter—‘ayin into çere—to suit the general Hebrew usage). Thus we shall obtain a transition to Micah 5:15.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Thy groves (Asherim); Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5, etc. Ashersh was a Canaanitish goddess, whose worship was celebrated with licentious rites. She corresponds to the Ashtoreth of the Phoenicians and Ishtar of the Assyrians, and seems to have been adored as the goddess of the productive power of nature. Her symbol was a tree or a wooden post. So (and) will I destroy thy cities; i.e. those cities which have been the centres of idolatry, or are especially connected with such worship (comp. Amos 5:5). The word rendered "cities" has by some been translated, and by others has been so altered as to be translated, "adversaries;" but there is no variety in the reading, or in the rendering of the ancient versions (except the Targum); and, explained as above, it is no mere repetition of the thought in ver. 11. Micah 5:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Micah 5:14 sums up the objects enumerated in Micah 5:10-13, which are to be exterminated, for the purpose of rounding off the description; the only objects of idolatrous worship mentioned being the 'ăshērim, and the only materials of war, the cities as means of defence. אשׁירים, written with scriptio plena, as in Deuteronomy 7:5 and 2 Kings 17:16, lit., stems of trees or posts standing upright or set up as idols, which were dedicated to the Canaanitish goddess of nature (see at Exodus 34:13). ערים, cities with walls, gates, and bolts. These two rather subordinate objects are mentioned instar omnium, to express the entire abolition of war and idolatry. We must not infer from this, however, that the nation of God will still have images made by human hands and worship them, during the stage of its development described in Micah 5:10-14; but must distinguish between the thought and its formal dress. The gross heathen idolatry, to which Israel was addicted under the Old Testament, is a figure denoting that more refined idolatry which will exist even in the church of Christ so long as sin and unbelief endure. The extermination of every kind of heathen idolatry is simply the Old Testament expression for the purification of the church of the Lord from everything of an idolatrous and ungodly nature. To this there is appended in Micah 5:15 a promise that the Lord will take vengeance, and wrath, and fury upon the nations which have not heard or have not observed the words and acts of the Lord, i.e., have not yielded themselves up to conversion. In other words, He will exterminate every ungodly power by a fierce judgment, so that nothing will ever be able to disturb the peace of His people and kingdom again.