Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 2:7
O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? [are] these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
7. that art named, &c.] ‘But only as far as the title goes’ (Calvin); comp. on ‘this family’ ( Mic 2:3). So Isa 48:1.
is the spirit of the Lord straitened? ] Has Jehovah ceased to be ‘long-suffering’ (Exo 34:6)? ‘Straitened,’ lit. ‘shortened.’
are these his doings? ] Anger is not natural to Jehovah, neither is punishment His chosen work (comp. Isa 28:21). As long as His people ‘walk uprightly,’ He responds to them with friendly words and acts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O thou that art named the house of Jacob – As Isaiah says, Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel – which make mention of the God of Israel, not in truth, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel Isa 48:1. They boasted of what convicted them of faithlessness. They relied on being what in spirit they had ceased to be, what in deeds they denied, children of a believing forefather. It is the same temper which we see more at large in their descendants; We be Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest Thou, ye shall be made free? Joh 8:33 Abraham is our Father Joh 8:39. It is the same which John the Immerser and our Lord and Paul reproved. Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father Mat 3:9. If ye were Abrahams children, ye would do the works of Abraham Joh 8:39-40. Now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth – This did not Abraham Rom 2:17-28.
He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. – Behold thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His Will and approvest the things that are more excellent – etc. The prophet answers the unexpressed objections of those who forbade to prophesy evil. Such could not be of God, these said; for God was pledged by His promises to the house of Jacob. It would imply change in God, if He were to cast off those whom He had chosen. Micah answers; not God is changed, but you. Gods promise was to Jacob, not to those who were but named Jacob, who called themselves after the name of their father, but did not his deeds. The Spirit of the Lord was not straitened, so that He was less longsuffering than heretofore. These, which He threatened and of which they complained, were not His doings, not what He of His own Nature did, not what He loved to do, not His, as the Author or Cause of them, but theirs.
God is Good, but to those who can receive good, the upright in heart Psa 73:1. God is only Loving unto Israel. He is all Love; nothing but Love: all His ways are Love; but it follows, unto what Israel, the true Israel, the pure of heart Psa 25:10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth; but to whom? unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies Psa 103:17; Luk 1:50. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting; but hate them that fear Him. they becoming evil, His good became to them evil. Light, wholesome and gladdening to the healthful, hurts weak eyes. That which is straight cannot suit or fit with the crooked. Amend your crookedness, and Gods ways will be straight to you. Do not My words do good? He doth speak good words and comfortable words Zec 1:13. They are not only good, but do good Luk 4:32. His Word is with power. Still it is with those who walk uprightly; whether those who forsake not, or those who return the way of righteousness. God flattereth deceiveth not, promiseth not what He not do. He cannot speak peace where there is no peace Jer 6:14. As He saith, Behold the and severity of God; on them which but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness Rom 11:22. God Himself could not make a heaven for the proud or envious. Heaven would be to them a hell.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mic 2:7
O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?
The criminality and folly of limiting the Holy Spirit
1. Amongst the numerous instances in which Christians conduct themselves as if they imagined that the Spirit of the Lord is straitened, notice the following.
(1) Their conduct is of this description, when they expect little or no benefit from the Word of God and the ordinances of His worship.
(2) When they shrink from the discharge of necessary duty.
(3) When they are unduly afraid of their enemies.
(4) When they sink under the pressure of adversity.
(5) When they limit the operations of the Spirit to particular periods of time, or to any particular denomination of professed Christians.
2. The unreasonableness of such conduct. It is at once sinful and selfish, unreasonable and absurd. Consider–
(1) That the Spirit of Jehovah is a Spirit of unbounded intelligence and power. Dependent and limited creatures may soon become straitened.
(2) He is a Spirit of infinite goodness and love.
(3) He is a Spirit sent forth by the Father and the Son.
(4) The Scriptures contain rich promises of the continued agency of the Holy Spirit.
(5) The gracious and mighty works which have already been effected by the Spirit of Jehovah. Let us all be impressed with a sense of the necessity and importance of the Spirits agency. It deeply concerns us to inquire whether or not it is our privilege to have the Spirit dwelling and operating in us. (D. Fraser, D. D.)
The influence of the Spirit,–the doctrine abused by straitening the Spirit
1. The work of the Lord, the Spirit, is wide, extended, and extensive. He is emphatically the Comforter; this is His principal work. He comforts the soul, made conscious how little there is in himself to nourish and strengthen; stripped, in a sense, of his self-wisdom, self-power, self-importance, and self-complacency. He testifies of Jesus as having all fulness in Him. He comforts the poor, tried, and harassed soul, in the midst of its trial, sorrow, and affliction, by unfolding the man of sympathy, the sympathy of the God-man Mediator. He comforts the soul by revealing the character of God; in His gracious character; in His sin-forgiving character; in His tenderness, compassion, gentleness, and holiness. He comforts His saints as they pass through the changes of a changing world, by revealing the covenant, ordered in all things and sure. He unfolds the gracious promises of the God of grace. He is called the Comforter, because it belongs to Him especially to comfort the saints of the Most High. But He is a Rebuker as well as a Comforter. Here it is to be feared that He is not glorified as He ought to be. He is a Spirit of judgment in our souls. There is no court that a natural man so dislikes as the court of an enlightened conscience. It is a solemn place. Not only in the first awakening of the soul, but in all after revealings of the Lord Jesus Christ to our hearts, there is still something of a rebuking Spirit. We have to learn out our truths in the school of God, who will be a light to guide in the way.
2. Gods Word yields to the spiritual pilgrim food and nourishment, as well as light.
3. As the pilgrims way lies through an enemys country he is liable to various assaults, and the Word of God will furnish him with armour of defence. It is his shield and buckler, to ward off and repel the fiery darts of the wicked one.
4. When the Christian begins to be weary and faint in his mind, Gods Word becomes his stay and support.
5. It is a comfort to travellers to have a prospect, though a distant and imperfect one, of the place whither they are going. The Divine Word is both a map of the heavenly country and a perspective glass through which we may view it. It is the prospect of that better country which cheers the Christian by the way, and quickens his steps through the wilderness. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The plenitude of the Holy Spirits influence
The prophet is reproving the people for their opposition to the servants of God, and their attachment to false prophets. Their rulers would silence the prophets of the Lord, because they wished to hear no more of their alarming predictions, but to be told only smooth and flattering things. Micah is therefore commissioned to declare that they should be deprived of this privilege.
I. The work of the holy spirit in our salvation. The recovery of fallen men to the love and likeness of God is usually expressed by the word salvation. Salvation is ascribed in Scripture to the love of God the Father, in whose infinite benevolence it originated. It was, however, necessary that an adequate atonement should be made for human transgressions. This work, assigned to Christ in the economy of redemption, He voluntarily undertook, and He alone could execute it. All the blessings of salvation are ascribed to Him. But the death of Christ would have been fruitless without the work of the Holy Ghost. Without this there could be no conviction of our need of salvation, no discernment of the way in which alone it can be obtained, no desire to possess it, no faith, no hope, no love, nothing of that purity of heart, destitute of which no man can see the Lord. The Spirit proceedeth from the Father. He gave His Son that He might send His pure and Holy Spirit into our depraved hearts to form us for communion with, and the everlasting enjoyment of Himself. We are equally indebted for the Spirit to the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II. The work of the holy spirit in the plenitude of his influence. It is perfectly consistent with the practical design of Scripture to apply a truth spoken on a particular occasion to the general purposes of the Christian life. Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? No; we are to set no bounds to His power; we are not to circumscribe the measure of His influence; our expectations and our endeavours should correspond to the fulness of His grace. We may infer that the influences of the Holy Spirit are not straitened from the extent and merit of the Saviours sufferings, and the greatness and design of His exaltation; from the abundant measure in which the gifts of the Spirit were communicated on the day of Pentecost; from the predictions of Scripture concerning the future prosperity of the Christian Church, and from the eminence in piety and usefulness to which many have attained. The truth we press on attention is, that every one may, through faith in the Saviour, and in answer to prayer, certainly obtain all the assistance from the Holy Spirit which he needs. This is evident from a multitude of promises. The subject calls for an admonitory application.
1. It condemns an undue dependence on instruments.
2. It forbids an exclusive attachment to particular subjects.
3. It censures those who despair of the conversion of others.
4. It remonstrates with such as are ready to abandon their efforts to do good from a feeling of their own insufficiency.
5. It should urge us to unite in all scriptural plans of usefulness, instead of confining ourselves to particular methods.
6. It frowns on a bigoted party spirit.
7. Beware of resisting and grieving the Spirit. (Essex Remembrancer.)
The straitened Spirit
Regard the Holy Spirit as that most glorious and blessed agency by which our depraved nature is purified, our bondage of evil turned into freedom, our spiritual darkness enlightened, our penitent sorrows exchanged for feelings of joyousness, and our rugged path on lifes upward journey made smooth and plain. In the time of Micah the inspiration of prophecy was regarded by the people of the Jews as the result of this agency; but they were not always pleased with it. The prophets who were faithful were men who did not seek to please the public ear by prophesying what was most palatable to its pride and luxury, but what was calculated to humble and alarm. And if this offended some, was their offence to be the guide and rule of the prophets teaching? Was the Spirit of God to be straitened or limited in His operations because His inspired messages were not acceptable? Hence the question of the text.
I. The Spirit of the Lord acts with unlimited sovereignty. He is not bound by human laws and human opinions, neither is He fettered in His movements by any dogmatic assumption or priestly power. What is to hinder Him from doing His Will? An earnest seeking for His aid, an humble trust in His love, a devout prayer for His deliverance, and a persevering hold upon Christ as our Sacrifice and Mediator may soon bring to the soul that bright light of life which speaks of His indwelling presence and resurrection power.
II. The Spirit of the Lord acts with an unchangeableness of love. And who can give any bounds to this love, not only in its objects but in its intensity? It never changes. Time can never alter it, and nothing in the great universe about us can either divert it from its course or weaken its power.
III. Though the Spirit of God is not straitened, it is possible that it may appear so. But this arises from our own disobedience. We may have stifled His convictions. We may have deserted His counsels. We may have rejected His offers, His promises, and His invitations.
IV. Some wish the Spirit of the Lord to be straitened to their own view of things. Some would straiten the Lord in the execution of His judgments. To the fainting, weak, and doubting spirit of the Christian there is something very exhilarating in the thought that the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened in His power and love and wisdom. Troubled as He oftentimes is from a deceitful heart and powerful temptations, how great a privilege to feel His nearness and to realise His inspiration in the prayer that goes up like incense to the throne of heaven. In the infinitude of the Spirits power there is liberty–a vast ocean of life, that seems to spread out more and more before the eager and aspiring soul. But, on the contrary, this very truth of the Holy Spirits illumitability will be a cause of condemnation to those who continue to reject Him. (W. D. Horwood.)
The Spirit of the Lord not straitened
Here God is expostulating with His Church, when in a low and languishing state, as to the cause of this. He is vindicating Himself from all share of blame in the matter,–He is showing them where the blame lies, even with His professing people themselves, in their want of faith and prayer. It is their unbelief that mars all. This straitens, shuts up, in prisons their spirits, so that their desires do not flow forth with any enlargement after Divine communications. It is not the Spirit of the Lord that is straitened. There is a straitening, but it is all on their part.
I. The question in the text implies that the Spirit is not straitened in the sense which our unbelief would suggest.
1. The Spirit is not straitened in respect of His own inherent sufficiency. All grace, wisdom, might, and faithfulness are in Him. The creature is limited in duration; He is eternal. The creature is limited in respect of knowledge. The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. The creature is limited in respect of power; not so the Spirit. The creature is limited in respect of moral excellence; the Spirit is distinctively and supereminently the Spirit of holiness.
2. In respect of the Saviours purchase of Him for the Church. As the Head of His Church, Christ is its source of spiritual influence. In Him, for the use of His Church, the Spirit dwells in immeasurable degree. Mark the encouragement afforded us by the death of Christ to expect free and full communications of the Holy Spirit.
3. In respect of the offer of Him in the Gospel.
(1) He is offered universally.
(2) Freely.
(3) Largely.
II. The question implies that He is often straitened or diminished in respect of His actual communications to the Church. It is a fact that the presence and power of the Spirit are not enjoyed by the Church at some periods as much as at others. Point out some of the characteristics of a Church from which the Spirit has withdrawn much of His presence and power.
1. In such a Church the truth will not generally be preached with evangelical purity, faithfulness, and power.
2. There will be a general departure from the simple and scriptural principles of government and discipline on which the Church is founded.
3. There will be a sad lack of zeal in propagating religion and extending the means of grace. The missionary spirit will be all but extinct.
4. There will be few conversions.
5. Even the people of God themselves will not be possessed of so high a tone of spirituality as they ought to be. In short, there will be little personal piety and family prayer; but, on the contrary, much worldliness, much unGodliness, much hostility to anything like zealous Christianity. In the same proportion as the Spirit departs will spirituality decay and carnality increase. What should we learn from this but our entire dependence upon this blessed agent?
III. The question is intended to convey a rebuke to the Church for its not having sufficiently valued, and therefore asked and received, the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is restrained in His actual communications, this must be either because He is unwilling to bestow His influences upon us, or because we are unwilling to accept of them. It cannot be the first; it must be the last. Apply–
1. To the unconverted; there are some who are entirely destitute of any work of the Spirit of God upon their hearts. Dare they say that they have long been willing to receive Him, but have found it impossible? Their consciences would not suffer them to say so.
2. To those who have in some measure received the Spirit. They often complain of the low state of religion in their own hearts, and in the world around them. Hard thoughts of God suggest themselves to them, as if He had become careless of the interests of His Church. But they will find reason to exonerate God of all blame, and to place it to their own account. Have they cherished, as they ought to have done, the visits of this Divine Person to their own souls? Is it not true that they have, in a great measure, ceased to realise their dependence on Him? Thus religion decaying in their own hearts, they become less concerned about the progress of religion in the hearts of others.
IV. The question is intended to convey an encouragement to us to ask Him–to ask Him confidently and largely. The encouragement is twofold, drawn–
1. From the form of the question itself. It is evidently designed to teach us that the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened, not limited nor confined in the sense our unbelief suggests. It is as if it were said–Set no bounds to your desires; ask more and more; ask again and again.
2. Notice to whom the question is addressed. O thou that art named the house of Israel. It is addressed to the professing Church and people of God, and it is designed to put them in mind of the relation God bears to them as their God, and the warrant thereby afforded them to ask and expect the Holy Spirit. There must be a want, and what can that want be but the want of sufficiently earnest and believing prayer? Immediately, then, let this want be supplied. (A. L. R. Foote.)
Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened
I. The promise of Pentecost. What did it declare and hold forth for the faith of the Church?
1. The promise of a Divine Spirit by symbols which express some, at all events, of the characteristics and wonderfulness of His work. The rushing of a mighty wind spoke of a power which varies in its manifestations from the gentlest breath that scarce moves the leaves on the summer trees to the wildest blast that casts down all which stands in its way. The natural symbolism of the wind, to popular apprehension, the least material of all material forces, and of which the connection with the immaterial part of a mans personality has been expressed in all languages, points to a Divine, immaterial, mighty, life-giving power which is free to blow where it listeth, and of which men can mark the effects, though they are all ignorant of the force itself. The twin symbol of the fiery tongues which parted and sat upon each of them speaks in like manner of the Divine influence, not as destructive, but full of quick, rejoicing energy and life, the power to transform and to purify. Whithersoever the fire comes, it changes all things into its own substance. Wherever the fiery spirit comes there is energy, swift life, rejoicing activity, transforming and transmuting power which changes the recipient of the flame into flame itself. In the fact of Pentecost there is the promise of a Divine Spirit which is to influence all the moral side of humanity. This is the distinction between the Christian doctrine of inspiration and all others which have, in heathen lands, partially reached similar conceptions–that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has laid emphasis upon the Holy Spirit, and has declared that holiness of heart is the touchstone and test of all claims of Divine inspiration. Gifts are much, graces are more. An inspiration which makes wise is to be coveted, an inspiration which makes holy is transcendently better. There we find the safe guard against all the fanaticisms which have at times invaded the Christian Church. The Spirit that came at Pentecost is not merely a spirit of rushing might, and of swift flaming energy; it is a Spirit of holiness. Pentecost also carried in it the promise and prophecy of a Spirit granted to all the Church. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Further, the promise of the early history was that of a Spirit which should fill the whole nature of the men to whom He was granted. Each man, according to his character, stature, circumstances, and all the varying conditions which determine his power of receptivity, will receive a varying measure of that gift. Yet it is meant that all shall be full.
II. The apparent failure of the promise. Will anyone say that the religious condition of any body of believers at this moment corresponds to Pentecost? Do any existing Churches present the final perfect form of Christianity as embodied in a society? Estimate by three tests.
1. Does the ordinary tenour of our own religious life look as if we had that Divine Spirit in us which transforms everything into its own beauty, and makes men, through all the regions of their nature, holy and pure? Does the standard of devotion and consecration in any Church witness of the presence of a Divine Spirit?
2. Do the relations of modern Christians and their churches to one another attest the presence of a unifying Spirit?
3. Look at the comparative impotence of the Church in its conflict with the growing worldliness of the world.
III. The solution of the contradiction. It is sometimes urged that the Spirit of the Lord is straitened. Some say, Christianity is effete. Others say, God in His sovereignty is pleased to withhold His Spirit for reasons which we cannot trace. But there is always the same flow from God. There are ebbs and flows in the spiritual power of the Church. It is our own fault, and the result of evil in ourselves that may be remedied, that we have so little of this Divine gift. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Why is the Spirit straitened
In view of the large effusion of religious knowledge in our days, we inquire, Why does not the fear of God more abound? Whence is it that, even where true piety really exists, it is so little deep, spiritual, and full of love, warmth, and holy unction? Shall we reply that the blessing must be from above, and that God alone can remodel the human heart? This indeed is true; but then occurs the question, Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? If He be not straitened, whence comes it to pass that His gracious influences are not more fully manifested? Is the fault in ourselves or in God? The influences of the Holy Spirit are His miraculous and His ordinary manifestations. Is He straitened in either of these?
I. Is He straitened in His miraculous influences? Miracles, we say, are not now to be expected. They have done their work. But God is not therefore straitened. He could, if He saw fit, revive His miraculous influences. And even now we have remarkable effusions of grace, as in revival times. He could, if He so willed, bring back even a second day of Pentecost, with all its miraculous outpourings.
II. Is He straitened in those ordinary promised influences under which we ourselves live? Take the following influences–as a Teacher, as a Sanctifier, as a Comforter. Is the Holy Spirit less an Enlightener, a Sanctifier, and a Guide now than He was in the days of Abraham, or David, or St. Paul? Is He less powerful? Is He less willing? Is He less gracious in His promises? Whence, then, comes it to pass that, after so many centuries of nominal Christianity, more spiritual good has not been effected? In particular, what are the causes which impede in our own age, our own country, our own families and congregations, and above all, in our own hearts, the operations of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of the Lord may be straitened, on account of the finite capacity of the recipient. If the Holy Ghost consecrates our hearts for His temple, He chooses a shrine in which He can exhibit, so to speak, but a small portion of His glory; it will be enlarged in heaven, but even there it will be finite. Take the love of St. John, the fervour of David, the heavenly mindedness of St. Paul; these fruits of the Spirit in those blessed men were eminently great; but they were bounded by the mortal mould, and for them to be enlarged to the elevation of a Gabriel death must intervene. But the littleness of the human heart is not the only cause why the Divine manifestations appear straitened. Its corruption and sinfulness are far more powerful causes. Think of the innate workings of human depravity; the stubbornness of the soil which is to be broken up and cultivated; the natural enmity of the human heart to God, and all that is like God; the prejudices which exist against the Gospel of Christ; the evil devices of Satan; the infection of nature which remains even in them that are regenerate. In addition to the deadening effects of sin generally, every age and country has its own special temptations, which in a peculiar manner seem to restrain the effusion of the Divine influences at that particular place and season.
1. Being satisfied with a low standard of spiritual attainment. Look at apostles and prophets; look at saints and professors and martyrs. Are we like them?
2. Another cause of check to the Spirits work in our day is excitement, Not religious excitement so much as the rush and hurry and worry of modern business and social life. The Spirit needs quiet times and moods in which to carry on His hallowing work. (Samuel Charles Wilks, M. A.)
The Holy Spirit not straitened
(marg., shortened):–The meaning is, not limited, bound, restrained, but free to work and bless at all times, and in unlimited measure. We pray and act as if God were subject to metes and bounds,–confined to times and seasons–unable or unwilling to do for His cause and people on a scale commensurate with His own infinite grace and power and purpose.
I. God the Spirit is not straitened in Himself. This were impossible, as His nature and all His attributes are infinite; His love, mercy, grace, power are unbounded.
II. He has not tied His own hands, by His decrees, or in any other way, so that He cannot work to save even to the uttermost all that will come to Him. His arm is never shortened that it cannot save. If the Church is in a feeble state, the fault lies at her own door.
III. God is not straitened by reason of any lack of provision in the gospel economy, or efficacy in the atoning sacrifice, or fulness of the Spirits power.
IV. Neither is the Spirit straitened by reason of the unbelief and obstinacy of sinners. Or the abounding infidelity and wickedness of the times. The power that could change Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle; that could plant and maintain flourishing Christian Churches in such corrupt heathen cities as Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome; that could resurrect the Church of the Reformation from the grave of the dark ages and the corruptions of Rome; that is achieving such glorious conquests today, not simply in heathen lands, is equal to any emergency, any work, that prayer and Christian endeavour can compass. If God is ever straitened, it is in His people. Their unbelief, supineness, inaction, serve to restrain the Spirits power, and block the wheels of salvation. What a tremendous responsibility! Who is willing to share it? (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
The straitened Spirit
The Lords people were now so far degenerated as to continue and oppose Gods messengers, as if they might limit His Spirit to speak only what pleased them; or as if His Spirit were straitened to do them good. Doctrine–
1. It is a deplorable case, and sadly to be lamented, when men stand in opposition to the Word of God, and the carriers thereof. So much doth this expostulation and these pressing interrogatories imply.
2. Men may both think and do many things with great boldness, which yet, if they would seriously think upon, they would be forced to condemn, and find a witness against in their own bosoms. For these questions put to their consciences imply, that God had a witness for Him there, and they durst not say or do as they did if their consciences were put to it, as in His sight.
3. Many have and study to keep up a name which they are ill worthy of, and no way answerable to it.
4. God can discern betwixt shows and substance, and will see a fault in such as glory in fair titles; for He calls them as they are. Thou art named the house of Jacob, and hast but a name.
5. It is an evidence that a visible church is degenerated, whatever show they have, when they turn opposers of the Word of the Lord in the mouth of His servants.
6. Such as oppose and fight against the Word of God and His messengers do in effect fight against the Spirit of the Lord, whose Word it is. These opposers are challenged as straitening the Spirit of the Lord.
7. It is a high presumption and injury clone to the Spirit, to think to imprison and deny Him liberty in the mouth of His servants, to speak anything but what men please. It is not seemly that men should limit God in giving commission to His servants.
8. The Lord hath a storehouse of Spirit to bring forth comforts, and of power to produce mercies, if His people were fit for them.
9. When the Lord sends forth sad threatenings in the mouths of His servants, it becomes a people seriously to examine their ways. (George Hutcheson.)
Do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly?—
The privileges of the upright
Weary of correction and reproof, the house of Jacob refused to receive instruction, and said to the prophets, Prophesy ye not. The Lord appeals to them that the messages sent by His servants were intended for their good, that even the threatenings were designed to correct and to reclaim, that He was ready to pour out of His Spirit upon them, but for their impenitence and unbelief and rejection of His testimony; and that His words were acceptable and profitable to the upright, how much soever they might be despised by the apostate house of Jacob.
I. The characters to whom the Word of God is profitable are the upright.
1. The truly upright are those whose hearts are right in the sight of God; Israelites in whom is no guile. They are no dissemblers in religion; truth is stamped upon their words and actions. Their faith is unfeigned, and their love without dissimulation. An upright man is what he appears to be.
2. The upright are such as walk by a right rule, the Word of God, making this the guide and standard of their actions. He who is continually gadding about to change his way cannot be in the right way. Uniformity of conduct is essential to uprightness.
3. The upright are represented as walking, or making progress in the way to heaven. True religion means not only persevering, but making some proficiency in the good ways of God. Hence we learn that–
(1) True religion is practical.
(2) It is personal.
(3) It is free and voluntary.
(4) It is imperfect at present, though tending to perfection, and there is room for continual improvement.
II. The advantages which the truly upright derive from the Word of God. To him that walketh uprightly, the word of real experience, and we are taught them oft in the school of painful experience; it is in this way He applies them. All His rebukings are for our sanctification.
II. The cause for caution on our part, that we turn not away from a whole consideration of this wide, extended, and extensive work of the Spirit. Do not imagine that a man can really straiten the Spirit of God. I might as well imagine that a molehill could change the course of the planets. Our blessed Spirit is Jehovah, omnipotent. Some attempt to straiten the Spirit of God by confining their ideas of His operation on the soul to that which is pleasant on1y, to that which is refreshing, to that which is comforting, to that which is elevating. They see not that there is as much the work of the Spirit in that which humbles, in that which reproves, in that which cuts down, in that which dries up, in that which lays low, and keeps the soul as in a low place. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
Upright walking, the condition of profiting by the ministry of the Word
The greatest blessings when perverted become the greatest curses. An unimproved or an abused privilege becomes a positive evil. It were easy to adduce a host of illustrations to confirm the justice of these observations. There is hardly a temporal blessing to be named, in respect of which it may not be shown that its abuse becomes a curse to the possessor. Take the endowment of intellect or of reason. Or the case of one to whom providence has allotted a more than common abundance of this worlds wealth. Spiritual mercies may be equally abused with temporal, and the result which ensues from their misuse is to the full as disastrous. The prophet, speaking in the name of God, demands, Do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly? But the form of interrogation clearly implies, that to such as walk not in uprightness, the words of the Almighty will rather do injury. It was in reply to the solicitations of those who entreated of the prophet not to prophesy that he delivered the emphatic appeal which we have in the verse containing our text. We are, however, concerned with the broad principle which it seems to imply. There is pointed out the condition of all profitable hearing of Gods words. It is–upright walking. The precept must be embodied in practice, or it will not only be useless, it will be positively injurious.
I. What reasons there are for expecting that the hearing of Gods words will injure, rather than benefit, the individual who walks not uprightly. Some qualification is necessary at the outset to obviate an erroneous conclusion which might be drawn. It might be said, What, then, becomes of the utility of the proclamation to the disobedient? And what remains of the office of the Word to convince and to convert the soul? The apparent contradiction is easily explained. The prophet is clearly speaking of such persons as, under the hearing of Gods words, refused to repent and be obedient. The message he had to deliver was calculated to reclaim and convert them, but they refused submission to the authority of Him in whose name the messenger spake, and it was in this case that the tidings injured, in place of benefiting. The guilt and the responsibility were all their own; the fault was not in the Word. The prophet was not to desist from proclaiming that Word, simply because, when its statements were rejected, moral injury would result. And we are not to be deterred from communicating Gods words to the disobedient, simply because there is a possibility that they will continue to be disobedient, and in that case be injured and not advantaged by the message, Now take the case of one to whom Gods words are sent, but they have never yet led him to a walk of uprightness. Gods words have been practically a dead letter. This is the ease in which we are prepared to contend that the words of God are turning to that mans injury; the blessing is being converted into a curse. We assume that every mans real and highest enjoyment, his greatest moral advantage, depends upon his conformity to the precepts of Gods Word. Each instance in which Gods words are heard, and no result towards holiness produced, diminishes the probability of ultimate obedience. He is becoming more hard and inflexible, and less likely ever to become the subject of genuine repentance. It is a law of mans moral constitution, that feelings once aroused, which are not carried out into practice, gradually become feebler and less capable of being wakened afresh. There is no case in which there is greater cause for apprehension than that of an individual who has long been accustomed to the ministrations of the Gospel, without being converted beneath them;
II. The positive good which results to the upright from hearing Gods words.
1. Look at the knowledge which revelation imparts.
2. The words of God accomplish a most important purpose with reference to the believers sanctification, or his actual preparation for heaven. The promise cannot advantage any but the Consistent disciple. No man has a right to appropriate a single promise of Gods Word, who is not resolved upon striving after obedience. It is the upright walker to whom alone the promise in reality belongs. May we carry away with us the recollection of this great truth,–that in order to profit by Gods words, whether as communicated to us on the page of inspiration, or by the ministrations of the Gospel, there must be an endeavour on our parts to walk uprightly, or to walk in agreement with what Gods Word prescribes. (Robert Bickersteth, B. A.)
The Bible vindicated by its good effects
There are some difficulties to be found in the Bible, no doubt. There are a good many things that you do not understand in nature, but you do not dismiss them. Whatever may be said against this planet, it is our best standing ground at present. And so long as the Bible vindicates itself in its practical, moral, and spiritual effects, that is enough for us. Look today at the nations that do not read the Bible–Turkey, China, India,–they belong to the ruined civilisations. Scientists have used the spectroscope lately, and they have found a good deal in the sun that they did not expect. They have found a good many terrestrial elements there. But, so long as the sun keeps on ripening harvests and painting summers, and filling the planet with loveliness and music, we shall respect the sun. And whatever may be the technical defects, or alleged defects of Scripture, so long shall we stand by it whilst it lifts up fallen men into righteousness, and makes the great wilderness of the nations to blossom as the rose.
The social evils of Christendom are not sanctioned by the Bible
These are the indignant questions proposed by the inspired man of God when he contemplated the corruption and depravity which had spread themselves throughout the whole Church and nation of the Jews.
I. Explain what I mean by the social evils of Christendom. Some would tell us that religion is a Social evil; marriage, private property, and equitable laws, social evils. We can all see that ignorance and credulity, superstition and imposture, tyranny and oppression, war and persecution are among the social evils which all good men ought to deplore.
1. Ignorance and credulity. That the inhabitants of those nations who possess a Book that contains a revelation from God of all the great principles of faith and duty, should be in a state of ignorance, seems most extraordinary. Up to comparatively a very recent date, throughout the whole of Christendom the common people were in a state of deplorable ignorance. We count ignorance to be a fearful social evil. Credulity is always the result of ignorance; and thus originates that moat baneful maxim, that ignorance is the mother of devotion.
2. We account superstition and imposture to be great social evils, as they have existed in Christendom. Christianity, as established by the apostles, was a religion of extraordinary simplicity. It had no temples, no altars, no sacrifices, no priests, no pageants, no festivities, no holidays. It was a simple religion, plain and unadorned, addressing itself to the judgment and to the affections of men. To meet the prejudices of the vulgar, and to gratify the corrupt taste of the multitude, pompous ceremonies were introduced, which easily reconciled the pagans to a worship that appeared so like their own. It is a matter beyond all controversy that the old demigods of paganism were worshipped under new names by these very questionable Christians,–worshipped at the same wells, on the same mountain sides, in the same groves, and with the same rites,–and that nothing was changed but the name. Surely these things do not result from Gods Holy Word!
3. Tyranny and oppression, as they have existed in Christendom, are social evils which must be deplored. They are as old as the apostasy of man from God. When man would not submit to God, he soon sought to usurp authority over his brethren. In private and in public life it will be found that those who are least disposed to submit are most disposed to usurp. Those persons who are least patient of restraints themselves, are most willing to put restraints on others. We refer, however, not so much to oppression and tyranny in civil affairs, as to that spiritual usurpation which arose in the Church, when the humble presbyters became priests, patriarchs, and popes. We lament over all proofs of spiritual tyranny and oppression.
4. Wars and persecutions are amongst the social evils that have afflicted Christendom. Some of these have been political contests–wars undertaken upon questions of international polity. But religious wars now demand our attention. The history of Christian nations is like Ezekiels roll, written within and without with lamentations and mourning and woe.
II. These social evils are not sanctioned by the Bible, but corrected by it. It must he conceded, however, that there are some facts connected with the history of the Jews in the Old Testament which appear at first sight to sanction at least some of these acts of violence and bloodshed. Some are explained by Gods right to visit and punish guilty nations, as well as guilty individuals. These are reserved and excepted cases, and those who now dare to plead for the extirpation and oppression of their enemies, or for acts of violence and persecution from the facts of the Old Testament, are altogether beside the mark, unless they can show that they possess the power of working miracles to sustain the assumption.
1. We account the Bible to be the enemy of ignorance and credulity. That which is a revelation necessarily supposes the dissipation of ignorance. The very communication of a Book that must be read, studied, and illustrated by various other critical, scientific, and historical inquiries, compels intelligence, and shows that the Word of God is the friend of knowledge, the fountain of wisdom.
2. The Bible is the enemy of superstition and imposture. There were many ceremonies in the Jewish Church, but these were a shadow of good things to come, and were only to continue until the substance should appear. When Christianity was revealed, Judaism passed away. Primitive Christianity and the Word of God are not answerable for the accumulated ceremonies and superstitions of the modern Christian Church.
3. The Bible is the enemy of tyranny and oppression. The Word of God professes to be the Word of the Most Upright; just and right is He! Rectitude characterises the mind and government of God. That Word would be inconsistent with its Author if it were found to sanction tyranny and oppression in any form.
4. The Bible is the enemy of war and persecution. Our Lord inculcated in His disciples a spirit of forbearance, a disposition not to resist evil, not to take offence. Then if we desire important changes in human society, it is that there may be more equal happiness. Let us then become Bible Christians. If we really take the Book as our guide, we shall not be ignorant or superstitious or tyrannical. We shall avoid the mischiefs by which the Christian name is dishonoured, and we shall exhibit to those around us the blessed influence of the religion of Jesus on the character and lives of men. (John Blackburn.)
Gods Word good to the upright
Micah says, You are trying to do the right thing in a wrong way: you are wasting the bread of the kingdom of heaven: you have mistaken the right beginning and the right continuance of all this ministry of revelation. My sun will never do good to a dead creed; every beam of that sun is a sword striking at that poor outcast dead thing. Do not My words do good? To whom? To the man who wants them, longs for them, represents their purpose, walks uprightly. Literally, Do not My words do good to him that is upright? You must not only have right food, you must have the right appetite and the right digestion. Gods revelation is lost upon the man who cares nothing for it. It is within the power of the eyelid to shut out the midday. The Bible has nothing to say to the froward soul. The revelation of God never talks to the critic. Intellect, unless a servant, has no business with things spiritual, supernatural, ineffable. Let every man then test himself by this one standard. The Word of the Lord is meant to be good to the upright. Not necessarily to the personally perfect. There are no such people, except in their own estimation, and therefore there are none perfect at all. What is it to be upright then? To be sincere: to mean to be right. There is a middle line in every mans thought and life and purpose. Do not judge him by the higher line, or by the lower level; you will find the average thought, and tendency, and pressure–judge by that. When a man says, 1 want to be right, though I am failing seven times a day,–he is right . . . To walk uprightly is not to walk pedantically, ostentatiously, and perfectly in the estimation of the world; but to walk uprightly is to have the stress of the soul in the right direction. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Gods truth
Thou called house of Jacob, is the patience of Jehovah short then? or is this His doing? Are not My words good to him that walketh uprightly? Such is a modern translation. We prefer the translation of Henderson, as follows: What language, O house of Jacob! Is the Spirit of Jehovah shortened? Are these His operations? Do not My words benefit him that walketh uprightly? These words seem to be a reply to an objection raised against the prophets in the preceding verse. The objector did not approve of predictions so terribly severe. It is not strange, says Matthew Henry, if people that are vicious and debauched covet to have ministers that are altogether such as themselves, for they are willing to believe that God is so too.
I. That the Spirit of Divine truth cannot be restrained. Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? There is no limit to truth; it is an ocean that has no shore, a field whose everspringing seeds are innumerable. The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word.
II. That the practice of Divine truth cannot but do good. Do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Though you have never heard the particular truth before, though it may be too severe to please you, though it may clash with all your prejudices and wishes, if you practise it, it will do you good.
1. It is to be practised. It is not merely for speculation, systematising, controversy, and debate, it is for inspiring the activities and ruling the life. It is a code rather than a creed. It must be incarnated, made flesh, and dwell in the land.
2. When practised it is a blessing. Do not My words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Yes, they do good. When they are translated, not into languages and creeds, but into living deeds. A man gets good only as he builds up a noble character. (Homilist.)
An upright man reaps the full benefit of Gods Word
The leading circumstances which gave rise to these words was the degeneracy of Gods ancient people, the Jews. This degeneracy was very prevalent in the days of Micah, both in the kingdom of Israel and that of Judah. Let it be remembered that the covenant engagements into which the Divine Being enters with man by no means preclude His hatred and condemnation of sin; neither do our covenant engagements with Him exempt us from the liability of falling into sin. Nothing that was said to them by God and His servants met their approbation. Everything was wrong, and, in their vitiated judgment, unlike what it had been. And, to make good their own case, they were presumptuous enough to charge the cause of all their woes upon God; but He nobly vindicated Himself, and tacitly condemned them in these words, Do not My words, etc. The drift of the text, or the doctrine contained therein, is this,–that however painful and offensive Gods Word may be to those who live in the love of sin, it is highly beneficial to those who walk uprightly; and that if it does not please and profit the soul, it is not owing to any defect in the Word, but to some defect in us.
I. To the character of an upright man. The husbandman, in winnowing his grain for the market, divides one heap into two. The one he calls corn, the other chaff. And thus does the Bible deal with the human family: it divides the whole into two classes–and into two only, as to kind. The one it calls good, the other bad. But the husbandman, by putting his corn through another process or two, divides it into three or more portions, according to its quality. The best he calls saleable; the next best, hinderends; and the rest, hen corn. After the same way does the Bible divide the righteous into classes; and in the same way will they be disposed of at the last day. Nearly all the good men we read of in the Bible and elsewhere excelled in one or two branches of piety; but few excelled in all. Christ, however, did this. An upright man is one who strives to know as much of the will of God as he can, in order that he may live according to it. His main object is to live well and die happy.
1. He is a religious man. Not a mere professor of religion, not one whose opinions have undergone a change for the better, nor one whose morality is of a high and refined order; but a man whose heart and mind, principles and practices have been changed by Divine grace.
2. He is a considerate man–Sensible of the many evils with which he is surrounded, and the proneness of human nature to fall into them, he ponders well the path of his feet. He plans with his head what he executes with his hands. He thinks before he acts. Thou God seest me is indelibly engraven on his memory. That he may be found a wise and safe man at last he, at present, considers his ways in his heart (Hag 1:15).
3. He is a conscientious man. Conscience is prompt in commanding, and he is as prompt in obeying. It speaks, and the upright, God-fearing man responds, How, then, can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
4. He is a consistent man. He is actuated by principle rather than passion.
II. We purpose to show whether such a man is benefited by the Word of God. By the Word of God we understand the Bible. It contains the revelation of His will to and concerning man. And every man who can have the Bible is expected to understand and practise it so far as is essential to his salvation. To an upright man the Word of God proves–
1. An instructive Word. The Bible is professionally a book of instructions. Its instructions relate to the highest subjects–to soul matters and matters of eternity. And, apart from its teachings, we cannot gain the same instructions elsewhere. The upright man is quite alive to this; hence he prizes the Bible, and evinces a peculiar aptness for its teachings. By a prayerful perusal of its sacred pages he becomes possessed of much spiritual and Divine knowledge. And Bible light is the best of light. The knowledge that comes from God is the purest of knowledge. It makes us acquainted with God and His will–with man and his ways–with sin and its consequences–with redemption and its effects. These things are spiritual in their nature, and by the upright man are spiritually discerned.
2. It is a corrective Word. Not only are all men liable to err, but all men have erred; for, to err is human. Hence all men need correction. But all are not willing to be corrected; Some, however, are, and among these may be ranked the upright. The corrective lessons of the Bible are received by him in the same spirit and with the same thankfulness, as what a traveller who has missed his way evinces when put right. It is in this light especially that Gods words do good to him that walketh uprightly.
3. It is a pacific Word. The midday sun does not bring its rays more gently to bear upon the virgin flower than are the soothing truths of Gods Word brought to hear upon the good mans troubled spirit. The gentle rain is not more acceptable to the vegetation of spring than are Gods promises to the tried Christian. The healing balm is not more alleviating to the wounded traveller than is Gods Word to the expiring pilgrim.
In conclusion, observe three things–
1. The Word of God is full of truth and goodness. Its sole object being to make men wise and happy.
2. That it may not return unto God void, but accomplish that which He pleases, and prosper in the thing whereto He sends it, we must be upright.
3. All may become upright, and thereby enjoy all the blessings of the Bible. (J. Fawcit.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?] This is the complaint of the Israelites, and a part of the lamentation. Doth it not speak by other persons as well as by Micah? Doth it communicate to us such influences as it did formerly? Is it true that these evils are threatened by that Spirit? Are these his doings? To which Jehovah answers, “Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” No upright man need fear any word spoken by me: my words to such yield instruction and comfort; never dismay. Were ye upright, ye would not complain of the words of my prophets. The last clause may be translated, “Walking with him that is upright.” The upright man walks by the word; and the word walks with him who walks by it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Named; you are in name, not in truth, you call yourselves, and would be called by others, the seed and posterity of Jacob.
The house of Jacob; you glory in Jacob, whom God blessed, guided, and preserved, and you think he should so bless you; but you nothing think how Jacob feared, obeyed, and worshipped God, you are not honest, plain-hearted, and upright with God as he.
Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? the power, goodness, wisdom, and kindness of God is not less now than formerly, he is as merciful to design good, as gracious to promise, as great and good to perform his word; but the reason he doth not promise good to you, but threatens punishment upon you by his prophets, is all from yourselves; it is for your sins; you do the things that must be discountenanced, and if you would hear better things by the prophets, you must do better, you must do what God requires by them.
Are these his doings? are these severer proceedings against you the doings your God delighteth in? Doth he choose to take this way? Doth not mercy better please him? He would be more pleased to speak comfortably to you: do you as Jacob did, and God will deal with you as he did with him.
Do not my words do good? my words promise all good, and my prophets declare good to those that are indeed the house of Jacob. All the ways of God are in an even tenor, mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant and testimonies to do them, as Psa 25:10.
To him that walketh uprightly; that with honest hearts walk in the ways of God; but froward sinners, and dissembling hypocrites, cannot with reason expect the same usage from God, who will give peace and show mercy to Israel, whilst the workers of iniquity are led out to punishment. This whole verse is excellently cleared by the prophet Isaiah Isa 59:1-3, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. O thou . . . named the house ofJacobpriding thyself on the name, though having naughtof the spirit, of thy progenitor. Also, bearing the name which oughtto remind thee of God’s favors granted to thee because of Hiscovenant with Jacob.
is the Spirit of the Lordstraitened?Is His compassion contracted within narrowerlimits now than formerly, so that He should delight in yourdestruction (compare Psa 77:7-9;Isa 59:1; Isa 59:2)?
are these his doings?thatis, Are such threatenings His delight? Ye dislike the prophets’threatenings (Mic 2:6): but whois to blame? Not God, for He delights in blessing, rather thanthreatening; but yourselves (Mic2:8) who provoke His threatenings [GROTIUS].CALVIN translates, “Areyour doings such as are prescribed by Him?” Ye boast of beingGod’s peculiar people: Do ye then conform your lives to God’s law?
do not my words do good tohim that walketh uprightlyAre not My words good to theupright? If your ways were upright, My words would not be threatening(compare Psa 18:26; Mat 11:19;Joh 7:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob,…. Called after that great and good man, and reckoned the people of God, and have the character of being religious persons; but, alas! have but a name, and not the thing, and are the degenerate offspring of that famous patriarch:
is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? or “shortened” n; the Spirit of the Lord in his prophets, is it to be limited and restrained according to the will of men? or, if these prophets are forbid to prophesy, and they are silenced, is not the residue of the Spirit with the Lord? cannot he raise up others to prophesy in his name? or is the Spirit of the Lord confined, as a spirit of prophesy, only to foretell good things, and not evil? may it not threaten with, punishment for sin, as well as promise peace and prosperity?, and is it to be reckoned narrow and strait, because it now does not? the fault is not in that, but in you, who make it necessary, by your conduct, that not good, but evil things, should be predicted of you:
[are] these his doings? either Jacob’s doings, such things as Jacob did? did he ever forbid the prophets of the Lord from prophesying? or did he do such things as required such menaces and threatenings as now delivered by the prophets? or are these becoming such persons as go by his name? or are such works as are done by you pleasing to God? were they, no such terrible messages would be sent by his prophets: or are these the Lord’s doings? are judgments the works he is continually doing and taking delight in? are they not his acts, his strange acts? did you behave otherwise than you do, you would hear nothing of this kind:
do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? that walks in a right way, and according to the rule of the divine word, in the uprightness and integrity of his heart, aiming at the honour and glory of God in all his ways? to such a man the words of the Lord by his prophets speak good things, promise him good things here and hereafter, and do him good, exhilarate his spirits, cheer, refresh, and comfort his soul.
n “abbreviatus est”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Cocceius; “decurtatus esset”, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet now reproves the Israelites with greater severity, because they attempted to impose a law on God and on his prophets and would not endure the free course of instruction. He told us in the last verse, that the Israelites were inflated with so much presumption, that they wished to make terms with God: “Let him not prophesy” they said, as though it were in the power of man to rule God: and the Prophet now repeats, Is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? as though he said, Ye see the intent of your presumption, and how far it proceeds; for ye wish to subject God’s Spirit to yourselves and to your own pleasure. The prophets doubtless did not speak of themselves, but by the bidding and command of God. Since then the prophets were the organs of the Holy Spirit, whosoever attempted to silence them, usurped to himself an authority over God himself, and in a manner tried to make captive his Spirit: for what power can belong to the Spirit, except he be at liberty to reprove the vices of men, and condemn whatever is opposed to God’s justice? When this is taken away, there is no more any jurisdiction left to the Holy Spirit. We now then see what the Prophet means in this place: he shows how mad a presumption it was in the Israelites to attempt to impose silence on the prophets, as though they had a right to rule the Spirit of God, and to force him to submission.
Is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? And this mode of speaking ought to be noticed, for it possesses no ordinary emphasis; inasmuch as the Prophets by this reproof; recalls the attention of these perverse men to the author of his teaching; as though he had said, that the wrong was not done to men, that war was not carried on with them, when instruction is prohibited, but that God is robbed of his own rights and that his liberty is taken away, so that he is not allowed to execute his judgment in the world by the power of his Spirit.
And farther, the Prophet here ironically reproves the Israelites, when he says, O thou who art called the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of Jehovah reduced to straits? For if heathens, who have never known the teaching of religion, and to whom no heavenly mysteries have been revealed, had said, that they would have nothing to do with the prophets, it would have been much more endurable; for what wonder would it be for ignorant men to repudiate all instruction? But it was monstrous for the Israelites, who gloried in the name of God, to dare to rise up so rebelliously against the prophets: they always boasted of their own race, as though they surpassed all the rest of the world, and were a holy nations separated from all others. Hence the Prophet says, “Ye wish to be called the house of Jacob; what is your excellency and dignity, except that you have been chosen by God to be his peculiar people? If then you have been habituated to the teaching of God, what fury and madness it is, that you cannot bear his prophets, but wish to close their mouths?” We now then see the point of this irony, when the Prophet says that they were called the house of Jacob He seems at the same time to intimate, in an indirect way, that they were a spurious race. As they were called by other prophets, Amorites and Sodomites: even so in this place the Prophet says, “Ye are indeed the house of Jacob, but it is only as to the name.” They were in reality so degenerated, that they falsely pretended the name of the holy patriarch; yea, they falsely and mendaciously boasted of their descent from holy men, though they were nothing else but as it were rotten members. Inasmuch then as they had so departed from the religion of Abraham and of other fathers, the Prophet says, “Thou art indeed called what thou art not.”
He afterwards adds, Are these his works? Here he brings the Israelites to the proof, as though he said, How comes it, that the prophets are so troublesome and grievous to you, except that they sharply reprove you, and denounce on you the judgment of God? But God is in a manner forced, except he was to change his nature, to treat you thus sharply and severely. Ye boast that you are his people, but how do you live? Are these his works? that is, do you lead a life, and form your conduct according to the law laid down by him? But as your life does not in any degree correspond with what God requires, it is no wonder that the prophets handle you so roughly. For God remains the same, ever like himself; but ye are perfidious, and have wholly repudiated the covenant he has made with you. Then this asperity, of which ye are wont to complain, ought not to be deemed unjust to you.
He then subjoins, Are not my words good to him who walks uprightly? Here the Prophet more distinctly shows, why he had before asked, Whether their works were those of the Lord; for he compares their life with the doctrine, which on account of its severity displeased them; they said that the words of the prophets were too rigid. God here answers, that his words were gentle and kind, and therefore pleasant, that is, to the pious and good; and that hence the fault was in them, when he treated them less kindly than they wished. The import of the whole then is, that the word of God, as it brings life and salvation to man, is in its own nature gracious, and cannot be either bitter, or hard, or grievous to the pious and the good, for God unfolds in it the riches of his goodness.
We hence see that God here repudiates the impious calumny that was cast on his word; as though he had said, that the complaints which prevailed among the people were false; for they transferred the blame of their own wickedness to the word of God. They said that God was too severe: but God here declares that he was gentle and kind, and that the character of his word was the same, provided men were tractable, and did not, through their perverseness, extort from him anything else than what he of himself wished. And the same thing David means in Psa 18:0, when he says that God is perverse with the perverse: for in that passage he intimates, that he had experienced the greatest goodness from God, inasmuch as he had rendered himself docile and obedient to him. On the contrary, he says, God is perverse with the perverse; that is, when he sees men obstinately resisting and hardening their necks, he then puts on as it were a new character, and deals perversely with them, that is, severely, as their stubbornness deserves; as for a hard knot, according to a common proverb, a hard wedge is necessary. We now then perceive the meaning of this passage, that God’s words are good to those who walk uprightly; that is they breathe the sweetest odour, and bring nothing else but true and real joy: for when can there be complete happiness, except when God embraces us in the bosom of his love? But the testimony respecting this love is brought to us by his word. The fault then is in us, and ought to be imputed to us, if the word of God is not delightful to us.
Some expound this whole passage differently, as though the Prophet relates here what was usually at that time the boast of the Israelites. They hence think that it is a narrative in which he represents their sentiments; ( narrationem esse mimiticam;) as though the Prophet introduced here the ungodly and the rebellious animating one another in their contempt of God’s word, O thou who art called the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? Hypocrites, we know, are so blind and intoxicated by a false confidence, that they hesitate not heedlessly to abuse all the favors of God. As then God had conferred a great excellency on his people, they thus emboldened one another, — “Are we not the children and posterity of Abraham? What will it avail us to be a holy and chosen race, and the peculiar people of God, and a royal priesthood, if we are to be thus unkindly treated? We find that these prophets shamefully reprove us: where is our dignity, except we show that we have more privileges than other nations?” These interpreters therefore think the meaning to be this, — that they make a show of their own privileges, that they might with more liberty reject every instruction, and shake off every yoke. And when it is said, Is the Spirit of God diminished? these interpreters regard this as meaning, that they were satisfied with the solemn promise of God, and that as they were a holy race, they now superciliously despised all the prophets, — “Is the Spirit of God dead, who was formerly the interpreter of the everlasting covenant, which God made with us? Has he not testified that we should be to him a holy and elect people? Why then do ye now attempt to reduce to nothing this sacred declaration of the Holy Spirit, which is inviolable?” It is then added, Are these his works? “Ye talk of nothing but of threats and destruction; ye denounce on us numberless calamities: but God is beneficent and kind in his nature, patient and merciful; and ye represent him to us as a tyrant; but this view is wholly inconsistent with the nature of God.” And, in the last place, God subjoins, as these interpreters think, an exception, — “All these are indeed true, if faithfulness exists among you, and the authority of my word continues; for my words are good, but not to all without any difference: be upright and sincere, and ye shall find me dealing kindly, gently, tenderly, and pleasantly with you: then my rigor will cease, which now through my word so much offends and exasperates you.”
This meaning may in some measure be admitted; but as it is hard to be understood, we ought to retain the former, it being more easy and flowing. There is nothing strained in the view, that the Prophet derides the foolish arrogance of the people, who thought that they were sheltered by this privilege, that they were the holy seed of Abraham. The Prophet answers that this titular superiority did not deprive God of his right, and prevent him to exercise his power by the Spirit. “ O thou then who art called the house of Jacob; but only as far as the title goes: the Spirit of God is not reduced to straits. But if thou boastest thyself to be the peculiar people of God, are these thy works the works of God? Does thy life correspond with what he requires? There is no wonder then that God chastises you so severely by his word, for there is not in you the spirit of docility, which allows the exercise of his kindness.” (85)
But though the Prophet here upbraids the ancient people with ingratitude, yet this truth is especially useful to us, which God declares, when he says that his word is good and sweet to all the godly. Let us then learn to become submissive to God, and then he will convey to us by his word nothing but sweetness, nothing but delights; we shall then find nothing more desirable than to be fed by this spiritual food; and it will ever be a real joy to us, whenever the Lord will open his mouth to teach us. But when at any time the word of the Lord goads and wounds, and thus exasperates us, let us know that it is through our own fault. It follows —
(85) Newcome, adopting האמר, as found in four MSS., renders the first part of the verse as the language of the people, though not in the sense of those referred to by Calvin. His version is as follows: —
Doth the house of Israel [Jacob] say, “Is the Spirit of Jehovah straightened? Are these his doings?”
“
Straightened,” i.e., confined to a few, such as Micah. And by “doings,” he means the judgments before announced. Henderson regards the “doings,” or, as he renders them, “operations,” in the same light, though he views the words as spoken by the Prophet, and renders the first line thus, —
What language, O house of Jacob!
The first word, האמור, as it is in our text, is viewed by Henderson, as well as by Marckius, as a passive participle, signifying what is said or spoken, and the ה prefixed is considered as a note of exclamation. But the objection made to our common version is not valid, that אמר in Niphael, when it means being called or named, has uniformly an ל after it, for we have an instance to the contrary in Jer 7:32, עוד התפח ולא-יאמר, “and it shall no more be called Tophet.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE PROPHET ANSWERS HIS CRITICS . . . Mic. 2:7(b)-11
RV . . . Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? But of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye strip the robe from off the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. The women of my people ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their young children ye take away my glory for ever. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because of uncleanness that destroyeth, even with a grievous destruction, If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
LXX . . . Are not the Lords words right with him? and have they not proceeded correctly? Even beforetime my people withstood him as an enemy against his peace; they have stripped off his skin to remove hope in the conflict of war. The leaders of my people shall be cast forth from their luxurious houses; they are rejected because of their evil practices; draw ye near to the everlasting mountains. Arise thou, and depart; for this is not thy rest because of uncleanness: ye have been utterly destroyed; ye have fled, no one pursuing you: thy spirit has framed falsehood, it has dropped on thee for wine and strong drink. But it shall come to pass, that out of the dropping of this people . . .
COMMENTS
Mic. 2:7(b) . . . DO NOT MY WORDS . . .
The word of God, no matter how stern, is never a threat to those who walk uprightly. Even the warning of inevitable national calamity would issue in the strengthened faith of the faithful, and the return from captivity of a generation dedicated to the re-establishment of true Jehovah worship. Centuries earlier David had written, With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; With the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward, For thou wilt save the afflicted people, But the haughty eyes thou wilt bring down. Psa. 18:26-27)
Mic. 2:8 . . . BUT OF LATE . . .
The Hebrew here translated of late may also mean, literally, from of old, since yesterday, or long ago. The thought seems to be from of old, or from the beginning my people have risen up as an enemy. There is no more vivid description of the history of Israel. The cycle of rebellion is seen throughout the Old Testament record. God blesses . . . enjoying the blessings, the people forget their source; forgetting, they turn from God to idolatry and disobedience; as a result they are brought low; in their low estate they cry out for deliverance; in answer to their cry, God sends a deliverer; in their blindness they reject the deliverer; and in the rejection their sufferings are multiplied the more. This pattern is clearly seen in Stephens resume (Acts, chapter seven) of Gods historic dealing with them.
Gods answer, to their plea that Jehovah cannot so treat the people who wear His name, is to remind them of their consummate mistreatment of those in their midst who are truly His.
Mic. 2:8 . . . YE STRIP THE ROBE, ETC. . . .
The eber or robe is the garment worn next the body. The salmah, or garment is the large flowing coverlet worn as an outer garment in the day time and used as a blanket at night. The haughty followers of the false prophets treat the humble passers-by as enemies . . . stripping them of all their garments.
This stripping of the garments of a defenseless enemy was not an uncommon practice in Bible times. Jesus was careful to instruct His followers as to the proper response when their Roman overlords did this to them. If any man, He said, . . . take away your outer garment, give him your inner garment also. (Mat. 5:40)
The idea that must not be overlooked just here is that the proof of enmity with God is the mistreatment of His people. He has accused them of forever rising up like enemies against Him, and now offers as proof that they are treating His people not only as enemies, but as conquered enemies. For such people to claim immunity from Gods chastisement on the grounds that they are the descendants of the patriarchs is an affront not only to Gods mercy but to His intelligence!
Mic. 2:9 . . . THE WOMEN OF MY PEOPLE . . .
Not only are the passers-by stripped of their garments by these enemies of God, the women are driven from their sheltering homes and the glory of God is kept from their children.
Perhaps the prophet has in mind here the widows and orphans of those men mentioned in verse two of this chapter as having been done out of their fields and houses and having their families oppressed.
Mic. 2:9 . . . YE TAKE AWAY MY GLORY FOREVER . . .
From the point of view of Gods purpose in Israel, the denial of His glory to their children is absolutely intolerable. The idea of taking away Jehovahs glory from the children obviously refers to the plight of the children in a household denied of shelter, proper clothing, and in many cases the presence of a father. The denial of these physical necessities is deplorable, but worse is the denial of the proper upbringing of the children to assure their faithfulness to the covenant and obedience to the law.
These children were the children of the patriarchs! They were Abrahams progeny through whom the promised Seed must come, If God allows these conditions to prevail unchecked there will be no remnant through whom the Seed can come.
It has been said that the church is always but one generation from extinction. The generation of parents which allows a whole generation of children to grow up unaware of their duty to God will be the last generation of the church. If it takes national calamity to drive such parents to their knees for the sake of their children, so be it. One thing was characteristic above all else of the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity; they taught their children the way of God!
Mic. 2:10 . . . ARISE AND DEPART . . .
Here is the direct command of God casting from His land those despicable people who had cast others from their homes. As those who erred in their hearts, and did not know Gods ways in the wilderness were not allowed to enter this land (Psa. 95:10-11) so those who have turned from His ways will not be allowed to remain in it. Because of their sins (Mic. 2:4-5) the sentence will not be revoked.
Mic. 2:11 . . . NOT YOUR RESTING PLACE . . .
The land had become a resting place after the wilderness wanderings, but it was not to be so now because of their abuses. The reason the land is not to be their resting place is, in the words of the American Standard Version, because of uncleaness that destroyeth. Rotherham has, Because it is defiled it shall make desolate. Some translators prefer it shall destroy you. The sense of the statement seems to be that, because they have defiled the land which the Lord gave their fathers for the accomplishment of His covenant purpose, the land is now spewing them out. The law demanded that the land be not defiled, and stated the punishment for such delifement as . . . the land vomiteth out her inhabitants. Lev. 18:25) The idea that these people, by virtue of their race, are permanently bound to this land is refuted.
The phrase, not your resting place, is reminiscent of Heb. 13:14.
Mic. 2:12 . . . IF A MAN WALKETH . . . DO LIE. . . HE SHALL BE THE PROPHET OF THIS PEOPLE . . .
Micah now describes the kind of prophet who is always in demand among a depraved people. He walks in a spirit of falsehood. His whole life is a lie! He presents himself as a prophet of God, knowing that the prophets primary business is to tell the truth of God to Gods people, while he has no such intention. Rather he says to the people, I will prophecy unto thee of wine and strong drink.
The Hebrew ruach here translated spirit (of falsehood) also means wind as does the Greek pneuma, which in the New Testament is variously translated both wind and spirit. In Mic. 2:11 the Revised Standard Version, has If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, etc.
Why wine and strong drink? It is possible that these refer to the intoxicants and narcotic potions given to the candidate for initiation into Baal worship to induce the emotional experience by which he became identified with the death-resurrection myth of that god. Since the Jews, at this juncture, had so polluted Jehovah worship with Baalism, they would have given heed to a prophet who preached the validity of this practice.
It seems more likely, however, that the terminology here refers to the hollow words of the false prophet which were designed to tickle the itching ears of his listeners by telling them that they would continue in affluence and plenty, while the true prophets were warning against famine and want and captivity. Wine and strong drink are available in a situation of over-abundance. In the presence of famine and want, people turn their attention to the food and shelter which are necessities of life.
Chapter VIIQuestions
Second Cycle
1.
Discuss the relationships between individual and social sins.
2.
Discuss power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely in reference to the situation denounced by Micah.
3.
How do power and authority test a persons character?
4.
Discuss Pascals statement power without justice is tyranny.
5.
How is this evidenced in the circumstances addressed by Micah?
6.
How can a just God devise evil? (Mic. 2:3)
7.
What was the power by which the social leaders of Micahs day enforced their evil designs?
8.
How does Gods punishment predicted by Micah fit the crime of those He will punish? (Mic. 2:5)
9.
What is the relationship between the wickedness addressed by Micah and the false prophets of the day?
10.
What part did national pride and racial arrogance play in the downfall of the wicked northern and southern kingdoms?
11.
How does Gods purpose in Israel rule out such pride and arrogance on the part of the faithful?
12.
How do you answer the tendency to blame God for social calamities?
13.
Discuss mistreatment of people as evidence of enmity with God.
14.
What single fact made Gods punishment of social sin in Israel and Judah necessary to the accomplishment of His purpose in the covenant?
15.
What single characteristic of the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity stood out above all else?
16.
Describe the kind of prophet the people desired in Micahs time. (Mic. 2:11)
17.
Discuss the problem of textual unity of the scriptures. (cf. Mic. 2:12-13)
18.
The idea of a restored remnant, as presented by Micah, presupposes the destruction of ____________ and the rejection of the ____________ per se.
19.
The doctrine of election, divine choice, is, in the Bible, always related to the ____________.
20.
What is the similarity of modern denominationalism and the attitude of racial and national priority with God on the part of the Jewish people of Bible times?
21.
Discuss the figures of the shepherd, the breaker, and the king in connection with the remnant.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(7) Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?In this verse the prophet expostulates with the people who are the people of the Lord, the house of Jacob, in name only. The Spirit of the Lord, who changeth not, is still the same towards them. They brought their sufferings on themselves; those who put away their shame, and walk uprightly, shall receive benefit from the prophets words.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Expulsion of the Leaders and Restoration Of The Lord’s People
v. 7. O thou that art named the house of Jacob, v. 8. Even of late, v. 9. The women of My people, v. 10. Arise ye and depart! v. 11. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood, v. 12. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee, v. 13. The breaker is come up before them,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
DISCOURSE: 1204
BENEFITS ARISING FROM THE WORD OF GOD
Mic 2:7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
GREAT and bitter prejudices are often entertained against the word of God; as though its only tendency was to pervert the judgments of men, and to disturb their repose. Hence, when the word is faithfully administered, many are offended at it; and say, as it were, to the messengers of heaven, Prophesy not unto us right things; prophesy unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits. But the real reason of their disgust is, that they will not part with those sins which the word condemns, or practise those duties which the word enjoins: they love darkness rather than light: they hate the light, and will not come to it, lest their deeds should be reproved [Note: Joh 3:19-20.]. If they were willing to renounce their sins, they would find the word precious and delightful to them; for it is as full of consolation to the upright, as it is of terror to the hypocritical. To this effect God speaks in the passage before us. He represents the people as saying to the prophets, Prophesy not. Then addressing himself to them, he asks, Whether the messages which he sent them proceeded from any want of love and mercy in himself; or whether they did not arise solely from their obstinacy in sin? O thou that art named the House of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? Then he appeals to them, whether his word would not be a source of unspeakable comfort to them, if they would turn to him aright? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
We propose to shew,
I.
Who they are whom the word benefits
Certain it is, that all are not benefited by the word. When it was dispensed by Him who spake as never man spake, many made no other use of it than to cavil at it, and to form it into a ground of accusation against him. And when St. Paul laboured at Ephesus for three months successively to establish the truth, many were only hardened the more in their prejudices and infidelity [Note: Act 19:8-9.]. While in every age it has been to some a savour of life unto life, it has proved to others a savour of death unto death [Note: 2Co 2:16.]. Those who alone are benefited by it, are the people who walk uprightly, or, in other words,
1.
The unprejudiced
[If we come to the word of God with prejudices against any of the doctrines which it is supposed to contain, it is scarcely probable that we should receive any material good from it: for as soon as the truths which we hate are brought to light, we shall set ourselves against them, and exert all our endeavours to invalidate their force. The plainest and most fundamental doctrines of our religion are very commonly treated in this way. Men like not to hear of the depravity of the heart, the insufficiency of our best works to recommend us to God, the necessity of divine influences, and the impossibility of being saved without an entire dependence on the merits of Christ, and an unreserved surrender of ourselves to his service. But if, instead of reprobating these things as enthusiasm, we would lay our minds open to conviction, and submit to receive instruction from God, we should find a reality in these things which we never imagined, and an importance which we were not aware of. God has promised that the meek he will guide in judgment, the meek he will teach his way [Note: Psa 25:9.].]
2.
The diligent
[Nothing is to be attained without diligence, in spiritual any more than in temporal concerns. If we read a portion of the Scripture in a superficial way, or hear it explained to us without ever reflecting on what we have heard, we cannot expect to get any good unto our souls. Our Lord has illustrated this by a man sowing seed by the way-side. Can any one doubt whether the birds will come and take it away? Thus will Satan take the word out of our hearts, if it be not harrowed in by meditation and prayer [Note: Mat 13:4; Mat 13:19.]. Our Lord directs us to search the Scriptures: and St. Luke tells us, that saving benefit accrued to the Bereans from their diligence in this respect; they were more noble than those of Thessalonica, because they searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so: and then he adds, Therefore many of them believed [Note: Act 17:11-12.]. This indeed is agreeable to the established order of things throughout the world: for God has ordained, that while the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, the soul of the diligent shall be made fat [Note: Pro 13:4.].]
3.
The humble
[Pride and self-sufficiency are insurmountable obstacles to religious instruction. If the knowledge of divine truth were to be acquired merely by mental application, then indeed we might become proficients in it, notwithstanding our dependence were on our own exertions. But we are blind, and must have the eyes of our understanding enlightened, before we can comprehend the mysterious truths of God: consequently, if we have not humility to pray for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we must remain in darkness, with respect to the spiritual import of the word, however carefully we may investigate its literal meaning [Note: 1Co 2:10-14. See also Pro 2:1-6.]. We must pray with David, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law [Note: Psa 119:18.] period; We must confess ourselves fools, if we would be truly wise [Note: 1Co 3:18.]. When we are willing to learn with the docility of little children, then, and then only, shall the things that are hid from the wise and prudent be revealed unto us [Note: Mat 11:25.].]
4.
The obedient
[We must have a disposition, yea, a determination, through grace, to obey the word, if we would receive any substantial good from it. If we have any secret lust which we will not part with, it is in vain to hope that the word, whether read or preached, can ever profit us. Our bosom sin will necessarily warp our judgment, and dispose us to reject whatever militates against the indulgence of it. Being determined not to obey its dictates, we shall be always ready to dispute its meaning or deny its authority. Hence our Lord lays so great a stress upon an obedient frame of mind: If any man will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God [Note: Joh 7:17.]. It is self-evident, that if a man be visited by the most skilful physician in the universe, he can derive no benefit from his prescriptions, unless he follow them. So it is in vain that the Scripture shews us infallibly the way to heaven, if we will not forsake that path that leadeth to destruction.]
The character of the persons whom the word of God benefits, being ascertained, let us inquire into,
II.
The good which it does them
But who can estimate this aright? Who can enumerate the benefits resulting from the sacred oracles when thus studied, and thus received? We must content ourselves with mentioning only a few of those blessings which will flow from the word:
1.
It will teach us
[The inspired volume cannot fail of conveying information to every man that peruses it, whatever be the state and disposition of his mind. But there is instruction which none but those who have an honest and good heart [Note: Luk 8:15.] can receive; and in comparison of which all other knowledge is only as dross and dung. An insight into the deceitfulness and depravity of the heart; a discovery of the glory and excellency of Christ; a view of the devices of Satan, and of the way in which alone he can be successfully opposed; a sight of the beauty of holiness, and of all those glorious privileges that belong to the children of God, are among those invaluable acquisitions which will reward the labours of the humble inquirer.]
2.
It will comfort us
[They who disregard the Holy Scriptures, are often so overwhelmed with their troubles, as to seek refuge in death from the calamities of life. But the person who draws water from those wells of salvation, finds in them an inexhaustible fund of consolation. He perceives that his trials are all appointed by infinite wisdom; that his Lord and Master drank of the very same cup before him; that tribulation is the way in which all the saints must walk toward the promised land; and that the storms which seem to menace his very life, shall only waft him to his desired haven. All the wonders of redemption also furnish him with additional grounds of consolation; and every promise is like the balm of Gilead to his wounded spirit. Such was the benefit which David experienced from the word in his trials [Note: Psa 119:92.]; and such shall be experienced by all who make it their delight and their counsellor.]
3.
It will sanctify us
[The word of God is that which is made the means of our regeneration; and the same is useful for the carrying on of the good work within us. The Apostles were purified in an eminent degree: and our Lord ascribes their sanctification to that as its proper cause; Now ye are clean, through the word that I have spoken unto you [Note: Joh 15:3.]. And St. Paul tells us, that Christ still makes use of it for that end: He gave himself for the Church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word [Note: Eph 5:25-26.]. Indeed its natural tendency is to effect this, because it points out to us our sins; it makes us to see the guilt and danger in which they involve us; it directs our eyes to Him who will give us the victory over them; and it assures us, that, after we have vanquished all our spiritual enemies, we shall be partakers of endless glory and felicity. Having the precepts for our guide, and the promises for our encouragement, we shall cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, both of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2Co 7:1.].]
4.
It will save us
[The word makes us not only wise, but wise unto saltion. In this view St. Paul told the Corinthians that he had preached the Gospel to them; and that they had received it, and were standing in it; by which also, says he, ye are saved [Note: 1Co 15:1-2.]. And O! how many myriads now in heaven can attest its efficacy in this respect! How must they say, That word taught me, when ignorant; quickened me, when dead; comforted me, when afflicted; strengthened me, when weak; and enabled me eventually to overcome all my enemies! And thus shall all of you say in due season, provided you walk uprightly in a diligent study of the sacred oracles, and in an humble obedience to the will of God.]
In improving this subject, we shall,
1.
Guard it against misconstruction
[It is possible that the foregoing statement may be misunderstood: we would therefore suggest some brief hints, by way of explanation.
First then, it is not the word that does the good; but the Holy Spirit, by the word. If the word itself wrought any thing, its operation would be uniform and universal, or, at least, in a much greater degree than it now is, and people would be benefited by it in proportion to the strength and clearness of their intellect. But the reverse of this is nearer the truth: for the poor and weak receive the Gospel, while the wise and noble reject it [Note: 1Co 1:28-30.]. And daily experience proves, that the word then only comes with power, when it comes in the Holy Ghost [Note: 1Th 1:5.].
Next, it is not the knowledge of the word that benefits us, but the knowledge of Christ in the word. We might be able to repeat the whole Bible, and yet perish at last. Christ must be known by us; and that, not speculatively, but experimentally: for there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ [Note: Act 4:12.].
Lastly, our uprightness is not the meritorious cause of the good we receive, but the qualification necessary for the reception and enjoyment of what is good. Nor is this a trifling distinction; for if we be not careful to disclaim all idea of merit, we shall make void the grace of the Gospel, and deprive ourselves of all the benefits to be obtained by it [Note: Rom 4:14.].]
2.
Enforce it in a way of appeal to your consciences
[The text is an appeal, an appeal of God to the consciences of his enemies. We therefore boldly appeal to you, and defy any man living to answer in the negative; Do not Gods words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
Judge ye, who have despised the word: look at those of your acquaintance who have obeyed the word; compare their lives with what you remember them to have been, or with what yours are at this present time; and say, whether the word have not done them good?
But ye, after all, are very incompetent judges: we therefore appeal rather to those who have received the benefit. Ye know what ye have received: say then, whether ye would exchange it for all that the world can give you? Reflect on the good ye have obtained; the pardon, the peace, the strength, the holiness, the glory; and say, whether it do not exceed the powers of the first archangel to compute its worth?
But we need not dwell on this: it admits not of any doubt: all that is requisite is, that you press forward for the attainment of more good. Let the ungodly world say, that the word has done you harm; but regard them not. Only let your growth in every thing that is amiable and praise-worthy confirm the truth in our text, and justify the appeal which God himself has made.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Do not forget, Reader, nor overlook the sweet feature of grace here appearing. Though unworthy, degenerate, and fallen, still Jacob is reminded of his name, and called upon to recollect, that Him with whom is the residue of the Spirit, is not straitened, limited, or confined. Reader! I have found this thought precious under all heart-straitenings in prayer; the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened. Jesus still lives, still appears as a Lamb slain in the midst of the throne, and ever acts as the Intercessor of his people!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mic 2:7 O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? [are] these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
Ver. 7. O thou that art named the house of Jacob ] That hast a name to live but art dead, Rev 3:1 ; that art called a Jew, and makest thy boast of God, Rom 2:17 ; thou hast a form of knowledge, Rom 2:20 , and a form of godliness, 2Ti 3:3 ; a semblance of sanctimony, Luk 8:18 ; acting religion, playing devotion, as if it were a name only, or as if it were enough to be named the house of Jacob, or to have his voice, though the hands are the hands of Esau, the practice nothing suitable to the profession. Thus many among us content themselves with the bare name of Christians, as if many a ship hath not been called safeguard or good speed which yet hath fallen into the hands of pirates. The devil will surely sweep and hell swallow all such Nominalists; such shall find that an empty title yields but an empty comfort at the last. What was Dives the better for this, that Abraham called him son, or Judas, that Christ called him friend, or the rebellious Jews,. that God styleth them his people? Doth he not elsewhere disclaim them, and call them a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity; the people of his wrath and of his curse? May not all formalists fear Jacob’s fear, Gen 27:12 , “My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.” Our heavenly Father will surely feel us in our addresses, and if he find us but complimenting and contenting ourselves to be called the house of Jacob, he will confute our vain confidences, and cut us out of the roll, as he did Dan and Ephraim, who were named the house of Jacob, and yet, for their wickedness, are passed by in the reckoning up of the twelve tribes, Rev 7:4-8 , as if they were soldiers put out of pay and cashiered.
Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?
Are these his doings?
Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Micah
IS THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD STRAITENED?
Mic 2:7
The greater part of so-called Christendom is to-day 1 celebrating the gift of a Divine Spirit to the Church; but it may well be asked whether the religious condition of so-called Christendom is not a sad satire upon Pentecost. There seems a woful contrast, very perplexing to faith, between the bright promise at the beginning and the history of the development in the future. How few of those who share in to-day’s services have any personal experience of such a gift! How many seem to think that that old story is only the record of a past event, a transient miracle which has no kind of relation to the experience of the Christians of this day! There were a handful of believers in one of the towns of Asia Minor, to whom an Apostle came, and was so startled at their condition that he put to them in wonder the question that might well be put to multitudes of so-called Christians amongst us: ‘Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?’ And their answer is only too true a transcript of the experience of large masses of people who call themselves Christians: ‘We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.’
I desire, then, dear brethren, to avail myself of this day’s associations in order to press upon your consciences and upon my own some considerations naturally suggested by them, and which find voice in those two indignant questions of the old Prophet:-’Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?’ ‘Are these’-the phenomena of existing popular Christianity-’are these His doings?’ And if we are brought sharp up against the consciousness of a dreadful contrast, it may do us good to ask what is the explanation of so cloudy a day following a morning so bright.
I. First, then, I have to ask you to think with me of the promise of the Pentecost.
‘Suddenly there came a sound, as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.’
What lay in that? First, the promise of a Divine Spirit by symbols which express some, at all events, of the characteristics and wonderfulness of His work. The ‘rushing of a mighty wind’ spoke of a power which varies in its manifestations from the gentlest breath that scarce moves the leaves on the summer trees to the wildest blast that casts down all which stands in its way.
The natural symbolism of the wind, to popular apprehension the least material of all material forces, and of which the connection with the immaterial part of a man’s personality has been expressed in all languages, points to a divine, to an immaterial, to a mighty, to a life-giving power which is free to blow whither it listeth, and of which men can mark the effects, though they are all ignorant of the force itself.
The other symbol of the fiery tongues which parted and sat upon each of them speaks in like manner of the divine influence, not as destructive, but full of quick, rejoicing energy and life, the power to transform and to purify. Whithersoever the fire comes, it changes all things into its own substance. Whithersoever the fire comes, there the ruddy spires shoot upwards towards the heavens. Whithersoever the fire comes, there all bonds and fetters are melted and consumed. And so this fire transforms, purifies, ennobles, quickens, sets free; and where the fiery Spirit is, there are energy, swift life, rejoicing activity, transforming and transmuting power which changes the recipient of the flame into flame himself.
Then, still further, in the fact of Pentecost there is the promise of a Divine Spirit which is to influence all the moral side of humanity. This is the great and glorious distinction between the Christian doctrine of inspiration and all others which have, in heathen lands, partially reached similar conceptions-that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has laid emphasis upon the Holy Spirit, and has declared that holiness of heart is the touchstone and test of all claims of divine inspiration. Gifts are much, graces are more. An inspiration which makes wise is to be coveted, an inspiration which makes holy is transcendently better. There we find the safeguard against all the fanaticisms which have sometimes invaded the Christian Church, namely, in the thought that the Spirit which dwells in men, and makes them free from the obligations of outward law and cold morality, is a Spirit that works a deeper holiness than law dreamed, and a more spontaneous and glad conformity to all things that are fair and good, than any legislation and outward commandment could ever enforce. The Spirit that came at Pentecost is not merely a Spirit of rushing might and of swift-flaming energy, but it is a Spirit of holiness, whose most blessed and intimate work is the production in us of all homely virtues and sweet, unpretending goodnesses which can adorn and gladden humanity.
Still further, the Pentecost carried in it the promise and prophecy of a Spirit granted to all the Church. ‘They were all filled with the Holy Ghost.’ This is the true democracy of Christianity, that its very basis is laid in the thought that every member of the body is equally close to the Head, and equally recipient of the life. There is none now who has a Spirit which others do not possess. The ancient aspiration of the Jewish law-giver: ‘Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them,’ is fulfilled in the experience of Pentecost; and the handmaiden and the children, as well as the old men and the servants, receive of that universal gift. Therefore sacerdotal claims, special functions, privileged classes, are alien to the spirit of Christianity, and blasphemies against the inspiring God. If ‘one is your Master, all ye are brethren,’ and if we have all been made to drink into one Spirit, then no longer hath any man dominion over our faith nor power to intervene and to intercede with God for us.
And still further, the promise of this early history was that of a Spirit which should fill the whole nature of the men to whom He was granted; filling-in the measure, of course, of their receptivity-them as the great sea does all the creeks and indentations along the shore. The deeper the creek, the deeper the water in it; the further inland it runs, the further will the refreshing tide penetrate the bosom of the continent. And so each man, according to his character, stature, circumstances, and all the varying conditions which determine his power of receptivity, will receive a varying measure of that gift. Yet it is meant that all shall be full. The little vessel, the tiny cup, as well as the great cistern and the enormous vat, each contains according to its capacity. And if all are filled, then this quick Spirit must have the power to influence all the provinces of human nature, must touch the moral, must touch the spiritual. The temporary manifestations and extraordinary signs of His power may well drop away as the flower drops when the fruit has set. The operations of the Divine Spirit are to be felt thrilling through all the nature, and every part of the man’s being is to be recipient of the power. Just as when you take a candle and plunge it into a jar of oxygen it blazes up, so my poor human nature immersed in that Divine Spirit, baptized in the Holy Ghost, shall flame in all its parts into unsuspected and hitherto inexperienced brightness. Such are the elements of the promise of Pentecost.
II. And now, in the next place, look at the apparent failure of the promise.
Take three points on which I do not dwell and apply them to yourselves, dear brethren, and estimate by them the condition of things around us. First, say whether the ordinary tenor of our own religious life looks as if we had that Divine Spirit in us which transforms everything into its own beauty, and makes men, through all the regions of their nature, holy and pure. Then ask yourselves the question whether the standard of devotion and consecration in any church witnesses of the presence of a Divine Spirit. A little handful of people, the best of them very partially touched with the life of God, and very imperfectly consecrated to His service, surrounded by a great mass about whom we can scarcely, in the judgment of charity, say even so much, that is the description of most of our congregations. ‘Are these His doings?’ Surely somebody else’s than His.
Take another question. Do the relations of modern Christians and their churches to one another attest the presence of a unifying Spirit? ‘We have all been made to drink into one Spirit,’ said Paul. Alas, alas! does it seem as if we had? Look round professing Christendom, look at the rivalries and the jealousies between two chapels in adjoining streets. Look at the gulfs between Christian men who differ only on some comparative trifle of organisation and polity, and say if such things correspond to the Pentecostal promise of one Spirit which is to make all the members into one body? ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these His doings?’
Take another branch of evidence. Look at the comparative impotence of the Church in its conflict with the growing worldliness of the world. I do not forget how much is being done all about us to-day, and how still Christ’s Gospel is winning triumphs, but I do not suppose that any man can look thoughtfully and dispassionately on the condition, say, for instance, of Manchester, or of any of our great towns, and mark how the populace knows nothing and cares nothing about us and our Christianity, and never comes into our places of worship, and has no share in our hopes any more than if they lived in Central Africa, and that after eighteen hundred years of nominal Christianity, without feeling that some malign influence has arrested the leaping growth of the early Church, and that somehow or other that lava stream, if I might so call it, which poured hot from the heart of God in the old days has had its flow checked, and over its burning bed there has spread a black and wrinkled crust, whatsoever lingering heat there may still be at the centre. ‘If God be with us, why has all this come upon us?’
III. And now, lastly, let us think for a moment of the solution of the contradiction.
Another form of the explanation is the theory that God in His sovereignty is pleased to withhold His Spirit for reasons which we cannot trace. But it is not true that the gift once given varies in the degree in which it is continued. There is always the same flow from God. There are ebbs and flows in the spiritual power of the Church. Yes! and the tide runs out of your harbours. Is there any less water in the sea because it does? So the gift may ebb away from a man, from a community, from an epoch, not because God’s manifestation and bestowment fluctuate, but because our receptivity changes. So we dismiss, and are bound to dismiss, if we are Christians, the unbelieving explanation, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is straitened,’ and not to sit with our hands folded, as if an inscrutable sovereignty, with which we have nothing to do, sometimes sent more and sometimes less of His spiritual gifts upon a waiting Church. It is not so. ‘With Him is no variableness.’ The gifts of God are without repentance; and the Spirit that was given once, according to the Master’s own word already quoted, is given that He may abide with us for ever.
Therefore we have to come back to this, which is the point to which I seek to bring you and myself, in lowly penitence and contrite acknowledgment-that it is all our own fault and the result of evils in ourselves that may be remedied, that we have so little of that divine gift; and that if the churches of this country and of this day seem to be cursed and blasted in so much of their fruitless operations and formal worship, it is the fault of the churches, and not of the Lord of the churches. The stream that poured forth from the throne of God has not lost itself in the sands, nor is it shrunken in its volume. The fire that was kindled on Pentecost has not died down into grey ashes. The rushing of the mighty wind that woke on that morning has not calmed and stilled itself into the stagnancy and suffocating breathlessness of midday heat. The same fulness of the Spirit which filled the believers on that day is available for us all. If, like that waiting Church of old, we abide in prayer and supplication, the gift will be given to us too, and we may repeat and reproduce, if not the miracles which we do not need, yet the necessary inspiration of the highest and the noblest days and saints in the history of the Church. ‘If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?’ ‘Ask and ye shall receive,’ and be filled ‘with the Holy Ghost and with power.’
1 Whitsunday
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Jacob. See notes on Gen 32:28; Gen 43:6; Gen 45:26, Gen 45:28.
is the Spirit, &c. ? Reference to Pentateuch (Num 11:23, the same word). App-92.
Spirit. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
do not = are not?
My. Septuagint reads “His”, as in preceding clause: or = are not My words pleasant [saith Jehovah]?
do good = pleasant.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mic 2:7-12
THE PROPHET ANSWERS HIS CRITICS (Mic 2:7-12)
DO NOT MY WORDS (Mic 2:7 b)
The word of God, no matter how stern, is never a threat to those who walk uprightly. Even the warning of inevitable national calamity would issue in the strengthened faith of the faithful, and the return from captivity of a generation dedicated to the re-establishment of true Jehovah worship. Centuries earlier David had written, With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; With the perverse thou wilt show thyself froward, For thou wilt save the afflicted people, But the haughty eyes thou wilt bring down. Psa 18:26-27)
BUT OF LATE (Mic 2:8)
The Hebrew here translated of late may also mean, literally, from of old, since yesterday, or long ago. The thought seems to be from of old, or from the beginning my people have risen up as an enemy. There is no more vivid description of the history of Israel. The cycle of rebellion is seen throughout the Old Testament record. God blesses . . . enjoying the blessings, the people forget their source; forgetting, they turn from God to idolatry and disobedience; as a result they are brought low; in their low estate they cry out for deliverance; in answer to their cry, God sends a deliverer; in their blindness they reject the deliverer; and in the rejection their sufferings are multiplied the more. This pattern is clearly seen in Stephens resume (Acts, chapter seven) of Gods historic dealing with them. Gods answer, to their plea that Jehovah cannot so treat the people who wear His name, is to remind them of their consummate mistreatment of those in their midst who are truly His.
Zerr: Mic 2:8. Of late denotes that the accusation is a consideration of something very recent, showing that Cod was not complaining of something the people had done long ago and that should have been dealt with then or not at all. Robe with the garment. The last word is the article worn next to the body and was a close fitting piece, while the robe was like a mantle or loose piece that was worn over the other as an extra protection. These cruel thieves took both of the articles from their victims even as they were passing by. As men averse from tear. Had these men been in uniform and serving in the enemys army It would not have been so had to strip them of their clothing; but they were civilians quietly going about their own business.
YE STRIP THE ROBE, ETC… (Mic 2:8)
The eber or robe is the garment worn next the body. The salmah, or garment is the large flowing coverlet worn as an outer garment in the day time and used as a blanket at night. The haughty followers of the false prophets treat the humble passers-by as enemies . . . stripping them of all their garments. This stripping of the garments of a defenseless enemy was not an uncommon practice in Bible times. Jesus was careful to instruct His followers as to the proper response when their Roman overlords did this to them. If any man, He said, . . . take away your outer garment, give him your inner garment also. (Mat 5:40)
The idea that must not be overlooked just here is that the proof of enmity with God is the mistreatment of His people. He has accused them of forever rising up like enemies against Him, and now offers as proof that they are treating His people not only as enemies, but as conquered enemies. For such people to claim immunity from Gods chastisement on the grounds that they are the descendants of the patriarchs is an affront not only to Gods mercy but to His intelligence!
THE WOMEN OF MY PEOPLE (Mic 2:9)
Not only are the passers-by stripped of their garments by these enemies of God, the women are driven from their sheltering homes and the glory of God is kept from their children. Perhaps the prophet has in mind here the widows and orphans of those men mentioned in verse two of this chapter as having been done out of their fields and houses and having their families oppressed.
Zerr: Mic 2:9. The outrages against the helpless women was similar to that charged against the hypocrites by Jesus (Mat 23:14). It is one of the traits of men who are greedy of material gain to take advantage of those who cannot protect themselves.
YE TAKE AWAY MY GLORY FOREVER (Mic 2:9)
From the point of view of Gods purpose in Israel, the denial of His glory to their children is absolutely intolerable. The idea of taking away Jehovahs glory from the children obviously refers to the plight of the children in a household denied of shelter, proper clothing, and in many cases the presence of a father. The denial of these physical necessities is deplorable, but worse is the denial of the proper upbringing of the children to assure their faithfulness to the covenant and obedience to the law. These children were the children of the patriarchs! They were Abrahams progeny through whom the promised Seed must come, If God allows these conditions to prevail unchecked there will be no remnant through whom the Seed can come.
It has been said that the church is always but one generation from extinction. The generation of parents which allows a whole generation of children to grow up unaware of their duty to God will be the last generation of the church. If it takes national calamity to drive such parents to their knees for the sake of their children, so be it. One thing was characteristic above all else of the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity; they taught their children the way of God!
ARISE AND DEPART (Mic 2:10)
Here is the direct command of God casting from His land those despicable people who had cast others from their homes. As those who erred in their hearts, and did not know Gods ways in the wilderness were not allowed to enter this land (Psa 95:10-11) so those who have turned from His ways will not be allowed to remain in it. Because of their sins (Mic 2:4-5) the sentence will not be revoked.
Zerr: Mic 2:10. Arise and depart is a prediction that they will depart from their home land and be lodged in the land of their exile. This is not your rest. They will not he permitted lo rest or remain in possession of their ill-gotten property. It is polluted. The very place where these gains were made was polluted with the corruptions of idolatry and for that reason the nation was doomed to be overthrown.
NOT YOUR RESTING PLACE (Mic 2:11)
The land had become a resting place after the wilderness wanderings, but it was not to be so now because of their abuses. The reason the land is not to be their resting place is, in the words of the American Standard Version, because of uncleaness that destroyeth. Rotherham has, Because it is defiled it shall make desolate. Some translators prefer it shall destroy you. The sense of the statement seems to be that, because they have defiled the land which the Lord gave their fathers for the accomplishment of His covenant purpose, the land is now spewing them out. The law demanded that the land be not defiled, and stated the punishment for such delifement as . . . the land vomiteth out her inhabitants. Lev 18:25) The idea that these people, by virtue of their race, are permanently bound to this land is refuted. The phrase, not your resting place, is reminiscent of Heb 13:14.
Zerr: Mic 2:11. True prophets were required to make predictions about the false ones or otherwise describe them. In this verse Micah describes the kind of prophet that the people of Israel were willing to accept. Jeremiah 5; Jeremiah 31 also records a description of this conspiracy between the people and the false prophets.
IF A MAN WALKETH . . . DO LIE. . . HE SHALL BE
THE PROPHET OF THIS PEOPLE (Mic 2:12)
Micah now describes the kind of prophet who is always in demand among a depraved people. He walks in a spirit of falsehood. His whole life is a lie! He presents himself as a prophet of God, knowing that the prophets primary business is to tell the truth of God to Gods people, while he has no such intention. Rather he says to the people, I will prophecy unto thee of wine and strong drink. The Hebrew ruach here translated spirit (of falsehood) also means wind as does the Greek pneuma, which in the New Testament is variously translated both wind and spirit. In Mic 2:11 the Revised Standard Version, has If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, etc.
Why wine and strong drink? It is possible that these refer to the intoxicants and narcotic potions given to the candidate for initiation into Baal worship to induce the emotional experience by which he became identified with the death-resurrection myth of that god. Since the Jews, at this juncture, had so polluted Jehovah worship with Baalism, they would have given heed to a prophet who preached the validity of this practice.
It seems more likely, however, that the terminology here refers to the hollow words of the false prophet which were designed to tickle the itching ears of his listeners by telling them that they would continue in affluence and plenty, while the true prophets were warning against famine and want and captivity. Wine and strong drink are available in a situation of over-abundance. In the presence of famine and want, people turn their attention to the food and shelter which are necessities of life.
Zerr: Mic 2:12. The subject, changes and the prediction pertains to the restoration of Israel to the home land. Gather the remnant refers to the comparatively small number of the Jews that survived the ravages of the captivity (Ezr 2:64). Put them together as sheep denotes they will he gathered from their scattered condition and grouped together as a flock In their own fold. .Make a noise refers to the lively expressions that the people will make on being released.
Questions
Second Cycle
1. Discuss the relationships between individual and social sins.
2. Discuss power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely in reference to the situation denounced by Micah.
3. How do power and authority test a persons character?
4. Discuss Pascals statement power without justice is tyranny.
5. How is this evidenced in the circumstances addressed by Micah?
6. How can a just God devise evil? (Mic 2:3)
7. What was the power by which the social leaders of Micahs day enforced their evil designs?
8. How does Gods punishment predicted by Micah fit the crime of those He will punish? (Mic 2:5)
9. What is the relationship between the wickedness addressed by Micah and the false prophets of the day?
10. What part did national pride and racial arrogance play in the downfall of the wicked northern and southern kingdoms?
11. How does Gods purpose in Israel rule out such pride and arrogance on the part of the faithful?
12. How do you answer the tendency to blame God for social calamities?
13. Discuss mistreatment of people as evidence of enmity with God.
14. What single fact made Gods punishment of social sin in Israel and Judah necessary to the accomplishment of His purpose in the covenant?
15. What single characteristic of the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity stood out above all else?
16. Describe the kind of prophet the people desired in Micahs time. (Mic 2:11)
17. Discuss the problem of textual unity of the scriptures. (cf. Mic 2:12-13)
18. The idea of a restored remnant, as presented by Micah, presupposes the destruction of ____________ and the rejection of the ____________ per se.
19. The doctrine of election, divine choice, is, in the Bible, always related to the ____________.
20. What is the similarity of modern denominationalism and the attitude of racial and national priority with God on the part of the Jewish people of Bible times?
21. Discuss the figures of the shepherd, the breaker, and the king in connection with the remnant.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
named: Mic 3:9, Isa 48:1, Isa 48:2, Isa 58:1, Jer 2:4, Mat 3:8, Joh 8:39, Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29, Rom 9:6-13, 2Ti 3:5
is: Num 11:23, Isa 50:2, Isa 59:1, Isa 59:2, Zec 4:6, 2Co 6:12
straitened: or, shortened
do not: Psa 19:7-11, Psa 119:70, Psa 119:71, Psa 119:92, Psa 119:93, Psa 119:99-103, Jer 15:16, Rom 7:13
walketh: Psa 15:2, Psa 84:11, Pro 2:7, Pro 10:9, Pro 10:29, Pro 14:2, Pro 28:18, Hos 14:9
uprightly: Heb. upright
Reciprocal: 1Sa 3:17 – I pray thee 1Ki 22:8 – Let not the 1Ki 22:13 – Behold now 2Ch 18:7 – Let not the 2Ch 18:13 – even what my God Psa 33:4 – the word Pro 8:9 – General Isa 29:21 – and lay Act 4:17 – let 2Ti 3:16 – and is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mic 2:7. This verse is a rebuke to the people for questioning the word of the Lord. Not straitened means the Lords word is not cramped or short of the truth, and hence the predictions expressed by the prophet are true, for they are according to divine Inspiration. 1 will caution the reader again not to be confused by the question form of the language. It is the Lords manner of making positive declarations through Micah.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mic 2:7. O thou that art named The house of Jacob But dost not act suitably to the piety of thy father Jacob, and therefore, though thou art in name, yet not in truth the genuine seed of Jacob. Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened Is Gods hand shortened? Are his power, wisdom, and kindness less now than formerly? Are these his doings Are these severe proceedings the doings your God delights in? Are the judgments he brings upon you the genuine effects of his power and goodness? and not rather such acts as your sins do, in a manner, constrain him to exercise? Thus punishments are called his strange work, Isa 28:21. Do not my words do good to him, that walketh uprightly? Certainly, both Gods laws, and the words delivered by his prophets, would do you great and lasting good if you would obey them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:7 O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? {f} [are] these his doings? do not my words do good to him {g} that walketh uprightly?
(f) Are these your works according to his Law?
(g) Do not the godly find my words comfortable?
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Micah reminded his audience that the false prophets were telling them that God would be patient with them and that judgment was not His way of dealing with them. They evidently felt that it was inconsistent to say that Yahweh would allow His people to experience disaster since He had committed Himself to them (cf. Deu 26:17-18). Theirs was a completely positive message. They failed to remind the people that God had also promised to punish them if they departed from His covenant (Deu 28:15-68).
Micah affirmed that God would indeed bless those who do right (Deu 28:1-14). One should not blame the continuing disgrace of the nation on his and his fellow prophets’ pronouncements. After all, God provided blessing, when His people obeyed Him, as well as discipline, when they disobeyed. It was the people’s obedience or disobedience, not Micah’s prophecies, that were responsible for their condition. Preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God involves telling people how they fall short of God’s requirements, so they can repent and enjoy His blessing, as well as affirming them for their good deeds.
"Spirit" could refer to the spirit or attitude of the Lord, or it could refer to the Holy Spirit. Either translation makes sense, but since the Holy Spirit executes the will of God in the world, He is perhaps in view here (cf. Gen 1:2).