Micah 7:10

Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Now shall she be trodden down.—The enemy that had taunted the Jews with the powerlessness of Jehovah should be trodden down when the Jews were delivered. Such was the experience of Sennacherib, who inquired contemptuously whether the Lord could deliver Jerusalem out of his hand.

Benson Commentary

Micah 7:10-13. Then she that is mine enemy — Namely, the Chaldean nation. Which said unto me, (namely, when she held me captive,) Where is the Lord thy God? — Where is now Jehovah, whom thou worshippest, and sayest is the only God? Why does he not now deliver thee? Why does he not free thee from my hands, who am not his worshipper? Mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down, &c. — As the heathen beheld the desolations of God’s church and temple with delight, (see Micah 4:11,) so it shall come to my turn to see God’s judgments executed upon the Babylonish empire, which shall be brought down to as low a condition as ever they had reduced God’s people. In the day that thy walls shall be built, &c. — When God shall visit his people, and repair their decayed estate, (compare Amos 9:11,) then the tyrannical edicts of their persecutors shall be utterly abolished. This may partly relate to the recalling those edicts, which put a stop to the rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem: see Ezra 4:23-24; Ezra 6:14; Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 2:17. In that day — At that time also; he shall come even to thee from Assyria, &c. — This may be rendered, They shall come, &c.; that is, thy restored inhabitants; and from the fortress — Or rather, from Egypt, even unto the river — That is, the Euphrates; for the word מצור, which we translate fortress, likewise means Egypt. All this signifies the return of the Jews from the various parts to which they had been scattered. Notwithstanding, the land shall be desolate, &c. — Nevertheless the land shall, before this, be reduced to a state of desolation, on account of the heinous wickedness of those who at present inhabit it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:8-13 Those truly penitent for sin, will see great reason to be patient under affliction. When we complain to the Lord of the badness of the times, we ought to complain against ourselves for the badness of our hearts. We must depend upon God to work deliverance for us in due time. We must not only look to him, but look for him. In our greatest distresses, we shall see no reason to despair of salvation, if by faith we look to the Lord as the God of our salvation. Though enemies triumph and insult, they shall be silenced and put to shame. Though Zion's walls may long be in ruins, there will come a day when they shall be repaired. Israel shall come from all the remote parts, not turning back for discouragements. Though our enemies may seem to prevail against us, and to rejoice over us, we should not despond. Though cast down, we are not destroyed; we may join hope in God's mercy, with submission to his correction. No hinderances can prevent the favours the Lord intends for his church.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then - (And) she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is He, He of whom thou boastest, the Lord thy God? The cause of her gladness then is, that the blasphemies of the enemy of God were to cease. This was the bitterest portion of her cup, that they said daily, "Where is now thy God? let Him come and save thee;" as though He could not, or as though He loved her not, and she vainly presumed on His help. Even when fallen, it was for His sake that she was hated, who seemed to be overcome in her: as He was hated in His Martyrs, and they asked, , "Where is the God of the Christians?" Now the taunt was closed, and turned back on those who used it. The wheel, which they had turned against her, rolled round on themselves. They who had said, Let our eye look on Zion, now were ashamed that their hope had failed. They had longed to feed their sight on her miseries; Zion had her reverent gladness in gazing on the righteous hess of God. Babylon was trodden down by the Medes and Persians, and they whom she had let captive beheld it. Daniel was in the palace, when Belshazzar was slain.

The soul of one, who has known the chastening of God, cannot but read its own history here. The sinful soul is at once the object of the love of God and hath that about it which God hates. God hates the evil in us, even while lie loves us, being, or having been, evil. He forgives, but chastens. His displeasure is the channel of His goodpleasure. Nathan said to David, "The Lord hath put away thy sin" 2 Samuel 12:10, 2 Samuel 12:13, but also, "the sword shall never depart from thy house". It is part of His forgiveness to cleanse the soul with a "spirit of burning" Isaiah 4:4. "It seemeth to me," says Jerome, "that Jerusalem is every soul, which had been the temple of the Lord, and had had the vision of peace and the knowledge of Scripture, and which afterward, overcome by sins, hath fallen captive by its own consent, parting from that which is right in the sight of God, and allowing itself' to sink among the pleasures of the world."

So then "captive, and tortured, she saith to Babylon, that is, the confusion of this world and the power of the enemy which ruleth over the world, and sin who lordeth it over her, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise;" Dionysius: "from sin by repentance, and from tribulation by the consolation of the Holy Spirit, who, after weeping, poureth in joy. "For the Lord helpeth them that are fallen" Psalm 146:8, and saith by the prophet, "Shall they fall and not arise"? Jeremiah 8:4. and, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. If I walk in darkness, the Lord is my light"! Ezekiel 33:11. For although "the rulers of the darkness of this world" Ephesians 6:12 have deceived me, and I "sit in darkness and in the shadow of death" Psalm 107:10, and "my feet stumble upon the dark mountains" Jeremiah 13:16, yet "to them who sit in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up" Isaiah 9:2, and "light shineth in darkness" John 1:5, and "the Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then shall I fear"? Psalm 27:1. and I will speak to Him and will say, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" Psalm 119:105 "He draweth me from the darkness of ignorance and from the black night of sin, and giveth a clear view of future bliss, and brighteneth the very inmost soul within."

Dionysius: "Even if a mist have come upon me and I have been in darkness, I too shall find the light, that is, Christ; and the Sun of Righteousness arising on my mind shall make it white." I will betty patiently, yet gladly, the indignation of the Lord, (Dionysius): "all adversity, trial, tribulation, persecution, which can happen in this life;" because I have sinned against Him, "and such is the enormity of sin, offered to the Majesty and dishonoring the Holiness of God, and such punishment doth it deserve in the world to come, that if we weigh it well, we shall bear with joy whatever adversity can befall us." Cyril: "For although for a short time I be out of His Presence, and be; "given to an undistinguishing mind" Romans 1:28, yet, seeing I suffer this rejection justly, I will bear the judgment, for I am not chastened in vain." "All chastening for the present seemeth not to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousncss unto them who are exercised thereby" Hebrews 12:11.

Jerome: "The soul, feeling that it hath sinned, and hath the wounds of sins and is living in dead flesh and needs the cautery, says firmly to the Physician, 'Burn my flesh, cut open my wounds, all my imposthumes. It was my fault, that I was wounded; be it my pain, to endure such sufferings and to regain health.' And the true Physician shews to her, when whole, the cause of His treatment, and that He did rightly what He did. Then after these sufferings, the soul, being brought out of outer darkness, saith, I shall behold His Righteousness, and say, "Thou, O Lord, art upright; Rightous are Thy judgments, O God" Psalm 119:137. But if Christ is "made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" 1 Corinthians 1:30, he who, after the indignation of God, saith that He shall see His Righteousness, promiseth to himself the sight of Christ." Cyril: "Then, having considered in her mind the grace of the righteousness in Christ and the overthrow of sin, the soul, in full possession of herself, crieth out, Mine enemy shall see it, etc. For, after that Christ came unto us, justifying sinners through faith, the mouth of the ungodly One is stopped, and the Author of sin is put to shame. He hath lost his rule over us, and sin is trodden down, "like mire in the streets", being subjected to the feet of the saints. But the blotting-out of sin is the Day of Christ." Jerome: "And, because the end of all punishment is the beginning of good," God saith to the poor, penitent, tossed, soul, "the walls of virtues shall be built up in thee, and thou shalt be guarded on all sides, and the rule of thine oppressors shall be far removed, and thy King and God shall come unto thee, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God." Dionysius: "All this shall be most fully seen in the Day of Judgment."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. shame shall cover her—in seeing how utterly mistaken she was in supposing that I was utterly ruined.

Where is … thy God—(Ps 42:3, 10). If He be "thy God," as thou sayest, let Him come now and deliver thee. So as to Israel's representative, Messiah (Mt 27:43).

mine eyes shall behold her—a just retribution in kind upon the foe who had said, "Let our eye look upon Zion." Zion shall behold her foe prostrate, not with the carnal joy of revenge, but with spiritual joy in God's vindicating His own righteousness (Isa 66:24; Re 16:5-7).

shall she be trodden down—herself, who had trodden down me.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Then; in the time of this hoped deliverance, when God shall, as I expect he will, plead my cause.

Mine enemy; what nation or people soever, whether Assyria, Edom, or Babylon, or whoever.

Shall see; as they did when Hezekiah was miraculously saved, and Jerusalem with him, out of the hand of the Assyrian, and as in the return out of Babylon, when the heathen said among themselves,

The Lord hath done great things for them, Psalm 126:2.

Shame, reproach and confusion, self-condemning reflections,

shall cover her; shall on all sides be cast upon her for her pride, cruelty, and inhumanity against the Israel of God.

Which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? which with insulting pride and atheism derided my faith and my God. So the heathen either denied the omnipresence and omnipotence of the true God, or preferred their idols above him, and as if he had been a conquered and captived God, as well as his people were a captive people. So Psalm 115:2 Joel 2:17.

Mine eyes: the church speaketh assured of the truth of God’s avenging her upon her enemies.

Shall behold her; with delight, or well-pleasedness, the people of God shall see their enemies laid as low for their cruelty against them, as ever God suffered the enemy to lay his people low for their sins against him and his mercies. See the like expression, Psalm 59:10 Micah 4:11.

Now shall she; either shortly she shall; or else, when that time of full deliverance is come, the church shall in that day rejoice in her God, and say

Now. Be trodden down as the mire of the streets; be accounted and used as most contemptible and useless, the conquering enemy shall then tread the Babylonians in the dirt, and use them despitefully, and without more regard than that we have for the dirt under our feet; and this was accomplished by the Medes and Persians in their conquest of Babylon.

Then; in the time of this hoped deliverance, when God shall, as I expect he will, plead my cause.

Mine enemy; what nation or people soever, whether Assyria, Edom, or Babylon, or whoever.

Shall see; as they did when Hezekiah was miraculously saved, and Jerusalem with him, out of the hand of the Assyrian, and as in the return out of Babylon, when the heathen said among themselves,

The Lord hath done great things for them, Psalm 126:2.

Shame, reproach and confusion, self-condemning reflections,

shall cover her; shall on all sides be cast upon her for her pride, cruelty, and inhumanity against the Israel of God.

Which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? which with insulting pride and atheism derided my faith and my God. So the heathen either denied the omnipresence and omnipotence of the true God, or preferred their idols above him, and as if he had been a conquered and captived God, as well as his people were a captive people. So Psalm 115:2 Joel 2:17.

Mine eyes: the church speaketh assured of the truth of God’s avenging her upon her enemies.

Shall behold her; with delight, or well-pleasedness, the people of God shall see their enemies laid as low for their cruelty against them, as ever God suffered the enemy to lay his people low for their sins against him and his mercies. See the like expression, Psalm 59:10 Micah 4:11.

Now shall she; either shortly she shall; or else, when that time of full deliverance is come, the church shall in that day rejoice in her God, and say

Now. Be trodden down as the mire of the streets; be accounted and used as most contemptible and useless, the conquering enemy shall then tread the Babylonians in the dirt, and use them despitefully, and without more regard than that we have for the dirt under our feet; and this was accomplished by the Medes and Persians in their conquest of Babylon.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then she that is mine enemy shall see it,.... The Chaldeans and Edomites shall see people of the Jews rising out of their calamities, brought out of the darkness of their captivity in Babylon, and enjoying the light of peace and prosperity in their own land. Some editions of the Targum, and Jarchi and Kimchi, have, in their glosses on this verse and Micah 7:9, Rome, of whom they interpret this enemy, as Mr. Pocock observes; and so R. Elias (d) says the Targum is, "then shall Rome see"; by which they mean the Christians, in opposition to the Jews; otherwise it would not be amiss to interpret it of Rome Papal, or antichrist, in opposition to the church of God; seeing the antichristian party will see witnesses of Christ, slain for his sake, rise again, and ascend to heaven, or be brought into a glorious and comfortable state; see Revelation 11:12; and may be applied to any age of the church, and to any particular saints raised out of a state of darkness and affliction into a prosperous one, in the sight of their enemies, and in spite of them, to their great mortification; see Psalm 23:4;

and shame shall cover her which said unto me, where is the Lord thy God? as the Heathens; the Chaldeans, did to the Jews, Psalm 115:2; and which must be very cutting to them, as it was to David, Psalm 42:10; when they flouting and jeering said, where is thy God thou boastedst of, and didst put thy trust and confidence in, that he would deliver and save thee? what is become of him, and of thy confidence in him? The Targum is,

"where art thou that art redeemed by the Word of the Lord thy God?"

but when they shall see that the Lord God has returned unto them, and wrought salvation for them, they will be ashamed of their flouts and jeers; and by reason of their sad disappointment, add the change of things for the worse to them, who now will be brought into calamity and distress themselves:

mine eyes shall behold her; the enemy: their fall, as the Targum; being in a most despicable and ruinous condition, under the vengeance of the Almighty; and that with pleasure and satisfaction, not from a private spirit of revenge, but because of the glory of divine justice, which will be displayed in their righteous destruction; see Psalm 58:10;

now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets; that is, entirely conquered, and utterly destroyed; reduced to, the utmost meanness, and had in the greatest contempt: this was fulfilled when Babylon was taken by the Medea and Persians; and when the Edomites were conquered and brought into subjection to the Jews by the Maccabees; and will be the case of all the enemies of Christ and his church, of all the antichristian states, one day.

(d) In Tishbi, p. 227.

Geneva Study Bible

Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - She that is mine enemy. The worldly power is here personified, as so often "the daughter of Jerusalem." Shall see it. She shall see that Israel was not conquered because God was powerless to save. Where is the Lord thy God? The Assyrians always attributed their success in arms to the assistance, of their gods and the superiority of their deities to those of the conquered nations (comp. Isaiah 10:9-11; Isaiah 37:10-13). Thus the inscription of the palace of Khorsabad begins, "The gods Assur, Nebo, and Merodach have conferred on me the royalty of the nations.... By the grace and power of the great gods, my masters, I have flung my arms, by my force I have defeated my enemies" ('Records of the Past,' vol. 9.). (For taunts like that in the text, see Psalm 42:3; Psalm 79:10; Psalm 115:2; Joel 2:17.) Mine eyes shall behold her. Israel shall behold the destruction of the enemy. As the mire of the streets (Isaiah 10:6; Zechariah 10:5). Micah 7:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"The wrath of Jehovah shall I bear, for I have sinned against Him, till He shall fight my fight, and secure my right. He will bring me forth to the light; I shall behold His righteousness. Micah 7:10. And may my enemy see it, and shame cover her, who hath said to me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes will see it; now will she be for a treading down, like mire of the streets." Confidence in the help of the Lord flows from the consciousness, that the wretchedness and sufferings are a merited punishment for the sins. This consciousness and feeling generate patience and hope: patience to bear the wrath of God manifesting itself in the sufferings; hope that the sufferings, as inflicted by the righteous God, will cease as soon as the divine justice has been satisfied. Za‛aph: lit., the foaming up of wrath (Isaiah 30:30); hence strong wrath. This the church will bear, till the Lord conducts its conflict and secures its rights. ריבי is the judicial conflict between Israel and the heathen power of the world. Although, for example, God had given up His nation to the power of its enemies, the nations of the world, on account of its sins, so that they accomplished the will of God, by destroying the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and carrying away the people into exile; yet they grew proud of their own might in so doing, and did not recognise themselves as instruments of punishment in the hand of the Lord, but attributed their victories to the power of their own arm, and even aimed at the destruction of Israel, with scornful defiance of the living God (cf. Isaiah 10:5-15; Habakkuk 1:11). Thus they violated the rights of Israel, so that the Lord was obliged to conduct the contest of His people with the heathen, and secure the rights of Israel by the overthrow of the heathen power of the world. For ריב ריבי, see Psalm 43:1; for עשׂה משׁפּט, Psalm 9:4-5; and for the fact itself, Isaiah 49:25; Isaiah 51:22. Mishpât is Israel's right, in opposition to the powers of the world, who would destroy it. The following word יוציאני is not governed by עד אשׁר, as the absence of the copula Vav shows. With these words the hope takes the form of the certain assurance that the Lord will remove the distress, and let Israel see His righteousness. Tsedâqâh is the righteousness of God revealing itself in the forgiveness and restoration of Israel to favour; like tsedâqōth in Micah 6:5 : in actual fact, the salvation of Israel about to be secured, regarded as an emanation of the righteousness of the covenant God; hence parallel to אור. ראה with ב, to look at, so that one penetrates, as it were, into an object, seeing with feasting of the eyes (so also in Micah 7:10). This exaltation of Israel to new salvation it is hoped that the enemy will see (ותרא, opt.), and be covered with shame; for the power of the world is overthrown, in order that Israel may be redeemed out of its power. This desire is a just one, because the enemy has despised the Lord God. For the expression, "Where is Jehovah thy God?" compare Joel 2:17. And Israel will see its fulfilment (תּראינּה with Nun doubled after a sharpened ; see Ewald, 198, a). ‛Attâh, now (seeing the future in spirit, as having already come), the enemy will be trodden down like mire of the streets (for this figure, see Isaiah 10:6).