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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Micah VI].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>M I C A H.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. VI.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
After the precious promises in the two foregoing chapters, relating to
the Messiah's kingdom, the prophet is here directed to set the sins of
Israel in order before them, for their conviction and humiliation, as
necessary to make way for the comfort of gospel-grace. Christ's
forerunner was a reprover, and preached repentance, and so prepared his
way. Here,
I. God enters an action against his people for their base ingratitude,
and the bad returns they had made him for his favours,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
II. He shows the wrong course they should have taken,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:6-8">ver. 6-8</A>.
III. He calls upon them to hear the voice of his judgments, and sets
the sins in order before them for which he still proceeded in his
controversy with them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:9">ver. 9</A>),
their injustice
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:10-15">ver. 10-15</A>),
and their idolatry
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:16">ver. 16</A>),
for both which ruin was coming upon them.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Mic6_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God's Expostulations with His People.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Hear ye now what the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> saith; Arise, contend thou before
the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
&nbsp; 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s controversy, and ye strong
foundations of the earth: for the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath a controversy with
his people, and he will plead with Israel.
&nbsp; 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I
wearied thee? testify against me.
&nbsp; 4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed
thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
&nbsp; 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto
Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here,
I. The prefaces to the message are very solemn and such as may engage
our most serious attention.
1. The people are commanded to give audience: <I>Hear you now what the
Lord says.</I> What the prophet speaks he speaks from God, and in his
name; they are therefore bound to hear it, not as the word of a sinful
dying man, but of the holy living God. <I>Hear now</I> what he saith,
for, first or last, he will be heard.
2. The prophet is commanded to speak in earnest, and to put an emphasis
upon what he said: <I>Arise, contend thou before the mountains,</I> or
<I>with the mountains,</I> and <I>let the hills hear thy voice,</I> if
it were possible; contend with the mountains and hills of Judea, that
is, with the inhabitants of those mountains and hills; and, some think,
reference is had to those mountains and hills on which they worshipped
idols and which were thus polluted. But it is rather to be taken more
generally, as appears by his call, not only to the mountains, but to
the <I>strong foundations of the earth,</I> pursuant to the
instructions given him. This is designed,
(1.) To excite the earnestness of the prophet; he must speak as
vehemently as if he designed to make even the hills and mountains hear
him, must <I>cry aloud, and not spare;</I> what he had to say in God's
name he must proclaim publicly before the mountains, as one that was
neither ashamed nor afraid to own his message; he must speak as one
concerned, as one that desired to speak to the heart, and therefore
appeared to speak from the heart.
(2.) To expose the stupidity of the people; "<I>Let the hills hear thy
voice,</I> for this senseless careless people will not hear it, will
not heed it. Let the rocks, the <I>foundations of the earth,</I> that
have no ears, hear, since Israel, that has ears, will not hear." It is
an appeal to the mountains and hills; let them bear witness that Israel
has fair warning given them, and good counsel, if they would but take
it. Thus Isaiah begins with, <I>Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O
earth!</I> Let them <I>judge between God and his vineyard.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The message itself is very affecting. He is to let all the world
know that God has a quarrel with his people, good ground for an action
against them. Their offences are public, and therefore so are the
articles of impeachment exhibited against them. Take notice <I>the Lord
has a controversy with his people and he will plead with Israel,</I>
will plead by his prophets, plead by his providences, to make good his
charge. Note,
1. Sin begets a controversy between God and man. The righteous God has
an action against every sinner, an action of debt, an action of
trespass, an action of slander.
2. If Israel, God's own professing people, provoke him by sin, he will
let them know that he has a controversy with them; he sees sin in them,
and is displeased with it, nay, their sins are more displeasing to him
than the sins of others, as they are a greater grief to his Spirit and
dishonour to his name.
3. God will plead with those whom he has a controversy with, will
plead with his people Israel, that they may be convinced and that he
may be justified. In the close of the foregoing chapter he pleaded with
the heathen in anger and fury, to bring them to ruin; but here he
pleads with Israel in compassion and tenderness, to bring them to
repentance, <I>Come now, and let us reason together.</I> God reasons
with us, to teach us to reason with ourselves. See the equity of God's
cause, it will bear to be pleaded, and sinners themselves will be
forced to confess judgment, and to own that <I>God's ways are
equal,</I> but their <I>ways are unequal,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+18:25">Ezek. xviii. 25</A>.
Now,
(1.) God here challenges them to show what he had done against them
which might give them occasion to desert him. They had revolted from
God and rebelled against him; but had they any cause to do so?
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
"<I>O my people! what have I done unto thee? Wherein have I wearied
thee?</I>" If subjects quit their allegiance to their prince, they will
pretend (as the ten tribes did when they revolted from Rehoboam), that
his yoke is too heavy for them; but can you pretend any such thing?
<I>What have I done to you</I> that is unjust or unkind? <I>Wherein
have I wearied you</I> with the impositions of service or the exactions
of tribute? <I>Have I made you to serve with an offering?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+43:23">Isa. xliii. 23</A>.
<I>What iniquity have your fathers found in me?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+2:5">Jer. ii. 5</A>.
He never deceived us, nor disappointed our expectations from him, never
did us wrong, nor put disgrace upon us; why then do we wrong and
dishonour him, and frustrate his expectations from us? Here is a
challenge to all that ever were in God's service to testify against him
if they have found him, in any thing, a hard Master, or if they have
found his demands unreasonable.
(2.) Since they could not show any thing that he had done against them,
he will show them a great deal that he has done for them, which should
have engaged them for ever to his service,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:4,5"><I>v.</I> 4, 5</A>.
They are here directed, and we in them, to look a great way back in
their reviews of the divine favour; let them remember their former
days, their first days, when they were formed into a people, and the
great things God did for them,
[1.] When he brought them out of Egypt, the land of their bondage,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
They were content with their slavery, and almost in love with their
chains, for the sake of the garlic and onions they had plenty of; but
God <I>brought them up,</I> inspired them with an ambition of liberty
and animated them with a resolution by a bold effort to shake off their
fetters. The Egyptians held them fast, and would not let the people go;
but God <I>redeemed them,</I> not by price, but by force, <I>out of the
house of servants,</I> or, rather, <I>the house of bondage,</I> for it
is the same word that is used in the preface to the ten commandments,
which insinuates that the considerations which are arguments for duty,
if they be not improved by us, will be improved against us as
aggravations of sin. When he brought them out of Egypt into a vast
howling wilderness, as he left not himself without witness, so he left
not them without guides, for he sent before them <I>Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam, three prophets</I> (says the Chaldee paraphrase), Moses the
great prophet of the Old Testament, Aaron his prophet
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+7:1">Exod. vii. 1</A>),
and Miriam a prophetess,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+15:20">Exod. xv. 20</A>.
Note, When we are calling to mind God's former mercies to us we must
not forget the mercy of good teachers and governors when we were young;
let those be made mention of, to the glory of God, who went before us,
saying, <I>This is the way, walk in it;</I> it was God that sent them
before us, to prepare the way of the Lord and to prepare a people for
him.
[2.] When he brought them into Canaan. God no less glorified himself,
and honoured them, in what he did for them when he brought them into
the land of their rest than in what he did for them when he brought
them out of the land of their servitude. When Moses, Aaron, and Miriam,
were dead, yet they found God the same. Let them remember now what God
did for them, <I>First,</I> In baffling and defeating the designs of
Balak and Balaam against them, which he did by the power he has over
the hearts and tongues of men,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
Let them remember <I>what Balak the king of Moab consulted,</I> what
mischief he devised and designed to do to Israel, when they encamped in
the plains of Moab; that which he consulted was to <I>curse Israel,</I>
to divide between them and their God, and to disengage him from the
protection of them. Among the heathen, when they made war upon any
people, they endeavoured by magic charms or otherwise to get from them
their tutelar gods, as to rob Troy of its Palladium. Macrobius has a
chapter <I>de ritu evocandi Deos--concerning the solemnity of calling
out the gods.</I> Balak would try this against Israel; but remember
<I>what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,</I> how contrary to his
own intention and inclination; instead of cursing Israel, he blessed
them, to the extreme confusion and vexation of Balak. Let them remember
the malice of the heathen against them, and for that reason never
<I>learn the way of the heathen,</I> nor associate with them. Let them
remember the kindness of their God to them, how he <I>turned the curse
into a blessing (because the Lord thy God loved thee,</I> as it is,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+23:5">Deut. xxiii. 5</A>),
and for that reason never forsake him. Note, The disappointing of the
devices of the church's enemies ought always to be remembered to the
glory of the church's protector, who can make <I>the answer of the
tongue</I> directly to contradict the preparation and consultation of
the heart,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+16:1">Prov. xvi. 1</A>.
<I>Secondly,</I> In bringing them <I>from Shittim,</I> their last
lodgment out of Canaan, <I>unto Gilgal,</I> their first lodgment in
Canaan. There it was, between Shittim and Gilgal, that, upon the death
of Moses, Joshua, a type of Christ, was raised up to put Israel in
possession of the land of promise and to fight their battles; there it
was that they passed over Jordan through the divided waters, and
renewed the covenant of circumcision; these mercies of God to their
fathers they must now remember, that they may <I>know the righteousness
of the Lord, his righteousness</I> (so the word is), his justice in
destroying the Canaanites, his goodness in giving rest to his people
Israel, and his faithfulness to his promise made unto the fathers. The
remembrance of what God had done to them might convince them of all
this, and engage them for ever to his service. Or they may refer to the
controversy now pleaded between God and Israel; let them remember God's
many favours to them and their fathers, and compare with them their
unworthy ungrateful conduct towards him, <I>that they may know the
righteousness of the Lord</I> in contending with them, and it may
appear that in this controversy he has right on his side; his ways are
equal, for he will be <I>justified when he speaks,</I> and <I>clear
when he judges.</I></P>
<A NAME="Mic6_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Anxiety Respecting the Divine Favour.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 Wherewith shall I come before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>and</I> bow myself
before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt
offerings, with calves of a year old?
&nbsp; 7 Will the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> be pleased with thousands of rams, <I>or</I> with
ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn <I>for</I>
my transgression, the fruit of my body <I>for</I> the sin of my soul?
&nbsp; 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what <I>is</I> good; and what doth the
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God?
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here is the proposal for accommodation between God and Israel, the
parties that were at variance in the beginning of the chapter. Upon the
trial, judgment is given against Israel; they are convicted of
injustice and ingratitude towards God, the crimes with which they stood
charged. Their guilt is too plain to be denied, too great to be
excused, and therefore,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. They express their desires to be at peace with God upon any terms
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>):
<I>Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?</I> Being made sensible of
the justice of God's controversy with them, and dreading the
consequences of it, they were inquisitive what they might do to be
reconciled to God and to make him their friend. They apply to a proper
person, with this enquiry, to the prophet, the Lord's messenger, by
whose ministry they had been convinced. Who so fit to show them their
way as he that had made them sensible of their having missed it? And it
is observable that each one speaks for himself: <I>Wherewith shall I
come?</I> Knowing every one the plague of his own heart, they ask, not,
<I>What shall this man do?</I> But, <I>What shall I do?</I> Note, Deep
convictions of guilt and wrath will put men upon careful enquiries
after peace and pardon, and then, and not till then, there begins to be
some hope of them. They enquire <I>wherewith they may come before the
Lord, and bow themselves before the high God.</I> They believe there is
a God, that he is Jehovah, and that he is the <I>high God,</I> the
<I>Most High.</I> Those whose consciences are convinced learn to speak
very honourably of God, whom before they spoke slightly of. Now,
1. We know we must <I>come before God;</I> he is the God with whom
<I>we have to do;</I> we must come as subjects, to pay our homage to
him, as beggars, to ask alms from him, nay, we must <I>come before
him,</I> as criminals, to receive our doom from him, must come before
him as our Judge.
2. When we come before him we must <I>bow before him;</I> it is our
duty to be very humble and reverent in our approaches to him; and, when
we come before him, there is no remedy but we must submit; it is to no
purpose to contend with him.
3. When we come and bow before him it is our great concern to find
favour with him, and to be accepted of him; their enquiry is, <I>What
will the Lord be pleased with?</I> Note, All that rightly understand
their own interest cannot but be solicitous what they must do to please
God, to avoid his displeasure and to obtain his good-will.
4. In order to God's being pleased with us, our care must be that the
sin by which we have displeased him may be taken away, and an atonement
made for it. The enquiry here is, <I>What shall I give for my
transgression,</I> for <I>the sin of my soul?</I> Note, The
transgression we are guilty of is the sin of our soul, for the soul
acts it (without the soul's act it is not sin) and the soul suffers by
it; it is the disorder, disease, and defilement of the soul, and
threatens to be the death of it: <I>What shall I give for my
transgressions?</I> What will be accepted as a satisfaction to his
justice, a reparation of his honour? And what will avail to shelter me
from his wrath?
5. We must therefore ask, <I>Wherewith may we come before him?</I> We
must not appear before the Lord empty. What shall we bring with us? In
what manner must we come? In whose name must we come? We have not
that in ourselves which will recommend us to him, but must have it from
another. What righteousness then shall we appear before him in?</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. They make proposals, such as they are, in order to it. Their
enquiry was very good and right, and what we are all concerned to make,
but their proposals betray their ignorance, though they show their
zeal; let us examine them:--</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. They bid high. They offer,
(1.) That which is very rich and costly--<I>thousands of rams.</I> God
required one ram for a sin-offering; they proffer flocks of them, their
whole stock, will be content to make themselves beggars, so that they
may but be at peace with God. They will bring the best they have, the
rams, and the most of them, till it comes to thousands.
(2.) That which is very dear to them, and which they would be most loth
to part with. They could be content to part with <I>their first-born
for their transgressions,</I> if that would be accepted as an
atonement, and the <I>fruit of their body for the sin of their
soul.</I> To those that had become <I>vain in their imaginations</I>
this seemed a probable expedient of making satisfaction for sin,
because our children are pieces of ourselves; and therefore the heathen
sacrificed their children, to appease their offended deities. Note,
Those that are thoroughly convinced of sin, of the malignity of it, and
of their misery and danger by reason of it, would give all the world,
if they had it, for peace and pardon.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. Yet they do not bid right. It is true some of these things were
instituted by the ceremonial law, as the bringing of burnt-offerings to
God's altar, and calves of a year old, rams for sin-offerings, and oil
for the meat-offerings; but these alone would not recommend them to
God. God had often declared that <I>to obey is better than
sacrifice,</I> and to <I>hearken than the fat of rams,</I> that
<I>sacrifice</I> and <I>offering he would not;</I> the legal sacrifices
had their virtue and value from the institution, and the reference they
had to Christ the great propitiation; but otherwise, of themselves, it
was <I>impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away
sin.</I> And as to the other things here mentioned,
(1.) Some of them are impracticable things, as <I>rivers of oil,</I>
which nature has not provided to feed men's luxury, but rivers of water
to supply men's necessity. All the proposals of peace but those that
are according to the gospel are absurd. One stream of the blood of
Christ is worth ten thousand rivers of oil.
(2.) Some of them are wicked things, as to give our <I>first-born</I>
and the <I>fruit of our body</I> to death, which would but add to the
transgression and the <I>sin of the soul.</I> He that hates robbery for
burnt-offerings much more hates murder, such murder. What right have we
to our <I>first born</I> and the <I>fruit of our body?</I> Do they not
belong to God? Are they not his already, and born to him? Are they not
sinners by nature, and their lives forfeited upon their own account?
How then can they be a ransom for ours?
(3.) They are all external things, parts of that bodily exercise which
profiteth little, and which could not <I>make the comers thereunto
perfect.</I>
(4.) They are all insignificant, and insufficient to attain the end
proposed; they could not answer the demands of divine justice, nor
satisfy the wrong done to God in his honour by sin, nor would they
serve in lieu of the sanctification of the heart and the reformation of
the life. Men will part with any thing rather than their sins, but they
part with nothing to God's acceptance unless they part with them.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. God tells them plainly what he demands, and insists upon, from
those that would be accepted of him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
Let their money perish with them that think the pardon of sin and the
favour of God may be so purchased; no, <I>God has shown thee, O man!
what is good.</I> Here we are told,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. That God has made a discovery of his mind and will to us, for the
rectifying of our mistakes and the direction of our practice.
(1.) It is God himself that has shown us what we must do. We need not
trouble ourselves to make proposals, the terms are already settled and
laid down. He whom we have offended, and to whom we are accountable,
has told us upon what conditions he will be reconciled to us.
(2.) It is to man that he has shown it, not only to thee, <I>O
Israel!</I> but <I>to thee, O man!</I> Gentiles as well as Jews--to
men, who are rational creatures, and capable of receiving the
discovery, and not to brutes,--to men, for whom a remedy is provided,
not to devils, whose case is desperate. What is spoken to <I>all men
every where</I> in general, must by faith be applied to ourselves in
particular, as if it were spoken <I>to thee, O man!</I> by name, and to
no other.
(3.) It is a discovery of <I>that which is good,</I> and which <I>the
Lord requires of us.</I> He has shown us our end, which we should aim
at, in showing us what is good, wherein our true happiness does
consist; he has shown us our way in which we must walk towards that end
in showing us what he requires of us. There is something which God
requires we should do for him and devote to him; and it is good. It is
good in itself; there is an innate goodness in moral duties, antecedent
to the command; they are not, as ceremonial observances, good because
they are commanded, but commanded because they are good, consonant to
the eternal rule and reason of good and evil, which are unalterable. It
has likewise a direct tendency to our good; our conformity to it is not
only the condition of our future happiness, but is a great expedient of
our present happiness; <I>in keeping</I> God's <I>commandments there is
great reward,</I> as well as after keeping them.
(4.) It is shown us. God has not only made it known, but made it
plain; he has discovered it to us with such convincing evidence as
amounts to a demonstration. <I>Lo this, we have searched it, so it
is.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. What that discovery is. The good which God requires of us is not the
paying of a price for the pardon of sin and acceptance with God, but
doing the duty which is the condition of our interest in the pardon
purchased.
(1.) We must <I>do justly,</I> must <I>render to all their due,</I>
according as our relation and obligation to them are; we must do wrong
to none, but do right to all, in their bodies, goods, and good name.
(2.) We must <I>love mercy;</I> we must delight in it, as our God does,
must be glad of an opportunity to do good, and do it cheerfully.
Justice is put before mercy, for we must not give that in alms which is
wrongfully got, or with which our debts should be paid. <I>God hates
robbery for a burnt-offering.</I>
(3.) We must <I>walk humbly with our God.</I> This includes all the
duties of the first table, as the two former include all the duties of
the second table. We must take the Lord for our God in covenant, must
attend on him and adhere to him as ours, and must make it our constant
care and business to please him. Enoch's walking with God is
interpreted
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+11:5">Heb. xi. 5</A>)
his <I>pleasing God.</I> We must, in the whole course of our
conversation, conform ourselves to the will of God, keep up our
communion with God, and study to approve ourselves to him in our
integrity; and this we must do humbly (submitting our understandings to
the truths of God and our will to his precepts and providences); we
must <I>humble ourselves to walk with God</I> (so the margin reads it);
every thought within us must be brought down, to be brought into
obedience to God, if we would walk comfortably with him. This is that
which God requires, and without which the most costly services are
<I>vain oblations;</I> this is more than <I>all burnt-offerings and
sacrifices.</I></P>
<A NAME="Mic6_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Mic6_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Accusations and Threatenings.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 710.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>9 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s voice crieth unto the city, and <I>the man of</I>
wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath
appointed it.
&nbsp; 10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of
the wicked, and the scant measure <I>that is</I> abominable?
&nbsp; 11 Shall I count <I>them</I> pure with the wicked balances, and with
the bag of deceitful weights?
&nbsp; 12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue <I>is</I>
deceitful in their mouth.
&nbsp; 13 Therefore also will I make <I>thee</I> sick in smiting thee, in
making <I>thee</I> desolate because of thy sins.
&nbsp; 14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down
<I>shall be</I> in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but
shalt not deliver; and <I>that</I> which thou deliverest will I give
up to the sword.
&nbsp; 15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread
the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet
wine, but shalt not drink wine.
&nbsp; 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the
house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make
thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing:
therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
God, having shown them how necessary it was that they should do justly,
here shows them how plain it was that they had done unjustly; and since
they submitted not to his controversy, nor went the right way to have
it taken up, here he proceeds in it. Observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. How the action is entered against them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
God speaks to <I>the city,</I> to Jerusalem, to Samaria. His <I>voice
cries</I> to it by his servants the prophets who were to <I>cry aloud
and not spare.</I> Note, The voice of the prophets is <I>the Lord's
voice,</I> and that <I>cries to the city,</I> cries to the country.
<I>Doth not wisdom cry?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:1">Prov. viii. 1</A>.
When the sin of a city cries to God his voice cries against the city;
and, when the judgments of God are coming upon a city, his voice first
<I>cries unto it.</I> He warns before he wounds, because he is <I>not
willing that any should perish.</I> Now observe,
1. How the voice of God is discerned by some: <I>The man of wisdom will
see thy name.</I> When the voice of God cries to us we may by it see
his name, may discern and perceive that by which he makes himself
known. Yet many see it not, are not aware of it, because they do not
regard it. God <I>speaks once, yea, twice, and they perceive it not</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+33:14">Job xxxiii. 14</A>);
but those that are men of wisdom will see it, and perceive it, and make
a good use of it. Note, It is a point of true wisdom to discover the
name of God in the voice of God, and to learn what he is from what he
says. <I>Wisdom shall see thy name,</I> for <I>the knowledge of the
holy is understanding.</I>
2. What this voice of God says to all: "<I>Hear you the rod, and who
hath appointed it.</I> Hear the rod when it is coming; hear it at a
distance, before you see it and feel it; and be awakened to go forth to
meet the Lord in the way of his judgments. Hear the rod when it has
come, and is actually upon you, and you are sensible of the smart of
it; hear what it says to you, what convictions, what counsels, what
cautions, it speaks to you." Note, Every rod has a voice, and it is the
voice of God that is to be heard in the rod of God, and it is well for
those that understand the language of it, which if we would do we must
have an eye to <I>him that appointed it.</I> Note, Every rod is
appointed, of what kind it shall be, where it shall light, and how long
it shall lie. God in every affliction <I>performs the thing that is
appointed for us</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+23:14">Job xxiii. 14</A>),
and to him therefore we must have an eye, to him we must have an ear;
we must hear what he says to us by the affliction. <I>Hear it, and
know it for thy good,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:6">Job v. 6</A>.
The work of ministers is to explain the providences of God and to
quicken and direct men to learn the lessons that are taught by
them.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. What is the ground of the action, and what are the things that are
laid to their charge.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. They are charged with injustice, a sin against the second table. Are
there yet to be found among them the marks and means of fraudulent
dealing? What! after all the methods that God has taken to teach them
to do justly, will they yet deal unjustly? It seems, they will,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
And <I>shall I count them pure?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
No; this is a sin which will by no means consist with a profession of
purity. Those that are dishonest in their dealings have not the spots
of God's children, and shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of
devotion they may make. <I>Be not deceived, God is not mocked.</I>
When a man is suspected of theft, or fraud, the justice of peace will
send a warrant to search his house. God here does, as it were, search
the houses of those citizens, and there he finds,
(1.) <I>Treasures of wickedness,</I> abundance of wealth, but it is
ill-got, and not likely to prosper; for <I>treasures of wickedness
profit nothing.</I>
(2.) A <I>scant measure,</I> by which they sold to the poor, and so
exacted upon them and cheated them.
(3.) They had <I>wicked balances and a bag of false weights,</I> by
which, under a pretence of weighing what they sold, and giving the
buyer what was right, they did him the greatest wrong,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
(4.) Those that had wealth and power in their hands abused it to
oppression and extortion; <I>The rich men thereof are full of
violence;</I> for those that have much would have more, and are in a
capacity of making it more by the power which their abundance of wealth
gives them. They are <I>full of violence,</I> that is, they have their
houses full of that which is got by violence.
(5.) Those that had not the advantage of doing wrong by their wealth
yet found means of defrauding those they dealt with: <I>The inhabitants
thereof have spoken lies;</I> if they are not able to use force and
violence, they use fraud and deceit; the <I>inhabitants</I> have
<I>spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth;</I> they
do not stick at a deliberate lie, to make a good bargain. Some
understand it of their speaking falsely concerning God, saying, <I>The
Lord seeth not; he hath forsaken the earth,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+8:12">Ezek. viii. 12</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. They are charged with idolatry
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
<I>The statutes of Omri are kept, and all the work of the house of
Ahab.</I> Both these kings were wicked, and <I>did evil in the sight of
the Lord;</I> but the wickedness which they established by a law,
concerning which they made statutes, and which was the peculiar work of
that house, was idolatry. Omri walked in the way of Jeroboam, and
<I>in his sin of provoking God to anger with their vanities,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+16:26,31">1 Kings xvi. 26, 31</A>.
Ahab introduced the worship of Baal. These reigns were some ages
before the time when this prophet lived, and yet the wickedness which
they established by their laws and examples remained to this day; those
statutes were still kept, and that work was still done; and the princes
and people still <I>walked in their counsels,</I> took the same
measures, and governed themselves and the people by the same politics.
Observe,
(1.) The same wickedness continued from one generation to another. Sin
is a <I>root of bitterness,</I> soon planted, but not so soon plucked
up again. The iniquity of former ages is often transmitted to, and
entailed upon, the succeeding ones. Those that make corrupt laws, and
bring in corrupt usages, are doing that which perhaps may prove the
ruin of the child unborn.
(2.) It was not the less evil in itself, provoking to God, and
dangerous to the sinners, for its having been established and confirmed
by the laws of princes, the examples of great men, and a long
prescription. Though the worship of idols is enacted by the statutes of
Omri, recommended by the practice of the house of Ahab, and pleads that
it has been the usage of many generations, yet it is still displeasing
to God and destructive to Israel; for no laws nor customs are of force
against the divine command.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. What is the judgment given upon this. Being found guilty of these
crimes, the sentence is that that which God had given them warning of
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>)
shall be brought upon them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
<I>Therefore also will I make thee sick, in smiting thee.</I> As they
had smitten the poor with the rod of their oppressions, so would God in
like manner smite them, so as to make them sick, sick of the gains they
had unjustly gotten, so that though they had <I>swallowed down
riches</I> they should <I>vomit them up again,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:15">Job xx. 15</A>.
Their doom is,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. That what they have they shall not have any comfortable enjoyment
of; it shall do them no good. They grasped at more than enough, but,
when they have it, it shall not be enough to make them easy and happy.
What is got by fraud and oppression cannot be kept or enjoyed with any
satisfaction.
(1.) Their food shall not nourish them: <I>Thou shalt eat, but not be
satisfied,</I> either because the food shall not digest, for want of
God's blessing going along with it, or because the appetite shall by
disease be made insatiable and still craving, the just punishment of
those that were greedy of gain and enlarged their desires as hell. Men
may be surfeited with the good things of this world and yet not
satisfied,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+5:10,Isa+55:2">Eccl. v. 10; Isa. lv. 2</A>.
(2.) Their country shall not harbour and protect them: "<I>Thy casting
down shall be in the midst of thee,</I> that is, thou shalt be broken
and ruined by the intestine troubles, mischiefs at home enough to cast
thee down, though thou shouldst not be invaded by a foreign force." God
can cast a nation down by that which is in the midst of them, can
consume them by a fire in their own bowels.
(3.) They shall not be able to preserve what they have from a foreign
force, nor to recover what they have lost: "<I>Thou shalt take hold</I>
of what is about to be taken from thee, but thou shalt not hold it
fast, shalt catch at it, but <I>shalt not deliver it,</I> shalt not
retrieve it." It is meant of their wives and children, that were very
dear to them, which they took hold of, as resolved not to part with
them, but there is no remedy, they must go into captivity. Note, What
we hold closest we commonly lose soonest, and that proves least safe
which is most dear.
(4.) What they save for a time shall be reserved for a future and sorer
stroke: <I>That which thou deliverest</I> out of the hand of one enemy
<I>will I give up to the sword</I> of another enemy; for God has many
arrows in his quiver; if one miss the sinner, the next shall not.
(5.) What they have laboured for they shall not enjoy
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
"<I>Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap;</I> it shall be blasted
and withered, and there shall be nothing to reap, or an enemy shall
come and reap it for himself, or thou shalt be carried into captivity,
and leave it to be reaped by thou knowest not whom. Thou shalt <I>tread
the olives,</I> but <I>thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil,</I>
having no heart to make use of ornaments and refreshments when all is
going to ruin. Thou shalt tread out <I>the sweet wine,</I> but <I>shalt
not drink wine,</I> for many things may fall between the cup and the
lip." Note, It is very grievous to be disappointed of our expectations,
and not to have the pleasure of that which we have taken pains for; and
this will be the just punishment of those that frustrate God's
expectations from them, and answer not the cost he has been at upon
them. See this threatened in the law,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:16,De+28:30,38">Lev. xxvi. 16; Deut. xxviii. 30, 38</A>,
&c.; and compare
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+62:8,9">Isa. lxii. 8, 9</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. That all they have shall at length be taken from them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
<I>Thou shalt be made desolate because of thy sins;</I> and
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>,
<I>a desolation and a hissing.</I> Sin makes a nation desolate; and
when a people that have been famous and flourishing are made desolate
it is the astonishment of some and the triumph of others; some lament
it, and others hiss at it. Thus <I>you shall bear the reproach of my
people.</I> Their being the people of God, in name and profession while
they kept close to their duty and kept themselves in his love, was an
honour to them, and all their neighbours thought it so; but now that
they have corrupted and ruined themselves, now that their sins and
God's judgments have made their land desolate, their having been once
the people of God does but turn so much the more to their reproach;
their enemies will say, <I>These are the people of the Lord,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+36:20">Ezek. xxxvi. 20</A>.
Note, If professors of religion ruin themselves, their ruin will be the
most reproachful of any; and they in a special manner will rise at the
last day to everlasting shame and contempt.</P>
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