Verse 1

Micah 3:1-12. The sins of the princes, prophets, and priests: The consequent desolation of Zion.

princes — magistrates or judges.

Is it not for you? — Is it not your special function (Jeremiah 5:4, Jeremiah 5:5)?

judgment — justice. Ye sit in judgment on others; surely then ye ought to know the judgment for injustice which awaits yourselves (Romans 2:1).

Verse 2

flesh — rob their fellow countrymen of all their substance (Psalm 14:4; Proverbs 30:14).

Verse 3

flesh within  …  caldron — manifold species of cruel oppressions. Compare Ezekiel 24:3, etc., containing, as to the coming punishment, the same figure as is here used of the sin: implying that the sin and punishment exactly correspond.

Verse 4

Then — at the time of judgment, which Micah takes for granted, so certain is it (compare Micah 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.

Verse 5

Here he attacks the false prophets, as before he had attacked the “princes.”

make my people err — knowingly mislead My people by not denouncing their sins as incurring judgment.

bite with  …  teeth, and cry, Peace — that is, who, so long as they are supplied with food, promise peace and prosperity in their prophecies.

he that putteth not into their mouths, they  …  prepare war against him — Whenever they are not supplied with food, they foretell war and calamity.

prepare war — literally, “sanctify war,” that is, proclaim it as a holy judgment of God because they are not fed (see on Jeremiah 6:4; compare Isaiah 13:3; Joel 1:14).

Verse 6

dark — Calamities shall press on you so overwhelming as to compel you to cease pretending to divine (Zechariah 13:4). Darkness is often the image of calamity (Isaiah 8:22; Amos 5:18; Amos 8:9).

Verse 7

cover their lips — The Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard (“upper lip,” Margin). To cover it, therefore, was a token of shame and sorrow (Leviticus 13:45; Ezekiel 24:17, Ezekiel 24:22). “They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths or boast of the name of prophet” [Calvin].

there is no answer of God — They shall no more profess to have responses from God, being struck dumb with calamities (Micah 3:6).

Verse 8

I — in contrast to the false prophets (Micah 3:5, Micah 3:7).

full of power — that which “the Spirit of Jehovah” imparts for the discharge of the prophetical function (Luke 1:17; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8).

judgment — a sense of justice [Maurer]; as opposed to the false prophets‘ speaking to please men, not from a regard to truth. Or, “judgment” to discern between graver and lighter offenses, and to denounce punishments accordingly [Grotius].

might — moral intrepidity in speaking the truth at all costs (2 Timothy 1:7).

to declare unto Jacob his  …  sin — (Isaiah 58:1). Not to flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.

Verse 9

Hear — resumed from Micah 3:1. Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a demonstration of his assertion that he is “full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah” (Micah 3:8).

Verse 10

They — change of person from “ye” (Micah 3:9); the third person puts them to a greater distance as estranged from Him. It is, literally, “Whosoever builds,” singular.

build up Zion with blood — build on it stately mansions with wealth obtained by the condemnation and murder of the innocent (Jeremiah 22:13; Ezekiel 22:27; Habakkuk 2:12).

Verse 11

heads thereof — the princes of Jerusalem.

judge for reward — take bribes as judges (Micah 7:3).

priests teach for hire — It was their duty to teach the law and to decide controversies gratuitously (Leviticus 10:11; Deuteronomy 17:11; Malachi 2:7; compare Jeremiah 6:13; Judges 1:11).

prophets  …  divine — that is, false prophets.

Is not the Lord among us? — namely in the temple (Isaiah 48:2; Jeremiah 7:4, Jeremiah 7:8-11).

Verse 12

Jeremiah 26:18 quotes this verse. The Talmud and Maimonides record that at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, Terentius Rufus, who was left in command of the army, with a ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple.

mountain of the house — the height on which the temple stands.

as the high places of the forest — shall become as heights in a forest overrun with wild shrubs and brushwood.