Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 5:11
And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds:
11. the cities of thy land ] Large towns being centres of luxury and foreign fashions. The Book of Genesis traces the foundation of cities to the first murderer Cain, Gen 4:17.
all thy strong holds ] Comp. Isa 2:15; Isa 30:25, Hos 8:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will cut off the cities of thy land – So God promised by Zechariah, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls; for I will be unto her a wall of fire round about Zec 2:4-5. The Church shall not need the temptation of human defense; for God shall fence her in on every side. Great cities too, as the abode of luxury and sin, of power and pride, and, mostly, of cruelty, are chiefly denounced as the objects of Gods anger. Babylon stands as the emblem of the whole city of the world or of the devil, as opposed to God. Rup.: The first city was built by Cain; Abel and the other saints heed no continuing city Heb 13:14 here. Cities then will include (Rup.) all the tumults and evil passions and ambition and strife and bloodshed, which Cain brought in among men. Cities are collectively called and are Babylon, with whom, (as in the Revelations we hear a voice from heaven saying), the kings of the earth committed fornication and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies Rev 18:3; and of which it is written, And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Rev 18:21. Great rest then is promised to holy Zion that is, the Church, when the cities or strongholds of the land (strongholds, as they are, of earthliness) shall be destroyed. For together with them are included all objects of desire in them, with the sight whereof the citizens of the kingdom of God, while pilgrims here, are tempted; whereof the wise man saith, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
The fulfillment reaches on to the Day of Judgment, when the Church shall finally receive glory from the Lord, and be without spot and wrinkle Eph 5:27. All looks on to that Day. The very largeness of the promise, which speaks, in its fullest sense, of the destruction of things, without which we can hardly do in this life, (as cities or things very useful to the needs of man, (as horses,) carries us on yet more to that Day when there will be no more need of any outward things; Rup.: when the heavy body shall be changed, and shall have the swiftness of angels, and shall be transported whither it willeth, without chariots and horses; and all things which tempt the eye shall cease; and no evil shall enter; and there shall be no need of divining, amid the presence and full knowledge of God, and where the ever-present Face of God, who is Truth, shall shine on all, and nothing be uncertain or unknown; nor shall they need to form in their souls images of Him whom His own shall see as He Is; nor shall they esteem anything of self, or the work of their own hands; but God shall be All in all. In like way, the woe on those who obey not the truth, also looks on to the end. It too is final. There is nothing to soften it. Punishments in the course of life are medicinal. Here no mention is made of Mercy, but only of executing vengeance; and that, with wrath and fury; and that, such as they have not heard. For as eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived the good things laid up in store for those who love God, so neither the evil things prepared for those who, in act, shew that they hate Him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. I will – throw down all thy strongholds] Thou shalt have no need of fortified cities; I will be thy defense.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And I, the Lord thy God, and thy Saviour, will cut off the cities; cut off the occasion of thy fortifying thy cities as heretofore thou hast done, thou shalt dwell in unwalled towns, and need no other defence than what I am to thee.
And throw down all thy strong holds; demolish all thy forts, and watch-towers, and frontier guards. These here mentioned are means of defence against enemies assaults, in which Israel had too much trusted; the others before mentioned, Mic 5:10, are offensive preparations for annoying the enemy; but in the day of that peace here spoken of, there should be no enemy should invade the people of God to put them on their defence; nor should they have any need to attempt upon their enemies; and though these means are lawful to be used, yet shall it be the happiness of Gods people not to need them, for their God, their Lord, is their Saviour in the midst of them, and he will cut off enemies round about them; so that virtually this is a promise to Israel that his adversaries should be destroyed, and so his fears disappear.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. cut off . . . cities . . .strongholdssuch as are fortified for war. In that time ofpeace, men shall live in unwalled villages (Eze38:11; compare Jer 23:6;Jer 49:31; Zec 2:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds. The meaning is, they should not dwell in fortified cities and walled towns; they should have none of these to trust to, nor should they stand in any need of them to defend them, their enemies being subdued; and besides, the Lord would be their strong hold and place of defence, a wall of fire round about them, but the glory in the midst of them, The phrases are expressive of the greatest tranquillity and safety, and of living in an open air, free and undisturbed; see Zec 2:4. The Targum is,
“I will cut off the cities of the people out of thy land, and destroy all their strong fortresses;”
these shall dwell no more there, and be no more offensive and troublesome.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He afterwards subjoins, I will cut off the cities of thy land, and I will destroy all thy fortresses This verse is to be taken in the same sense. That the people dwelt in fortified cities, and had defenses and fortified places, was not of itself displeasing to God. But as the people habituated themselves to a false confidence, and as it were hardened themselves in it, so that this evil could not be remedied without taking away those things to which it is attached, the Prophet says here, I will cut off the cities of your land, and then, I will cut off your defenses and fortified places. Is it that they may be plundered with impunity by their enemies? By no means, but that the favor of God may be made glorious in their deliverance. For they could not ascribe it to their cities that they kept off enemies, but were constrained to acknowledge the hand of God, and to confess him to have been their only deliverer; for they were exposed to enemies, and there was no aid for them in the land. God then will thus render more evident his favor, when their cities and fortified places shall be cut off. We hence learn that the faithful at this day have no cause to murmur if they are without great riches, and if they are not formidable for the multitude of their horses, nor for the number and strength of their men. Why so? Because it is the Lord’s will that we should be like sheep, that we might depend wholly on his power, and know that we cannot be otherwise safe than under his protection. This reason then ought to comfort us, that it may not be grievous to us, when we find that we are in the midst of wolves, and that we have no equal strength to contend with them; for even this destitution hardly extorts from us a real confession that our safety is in the hand of God. We are always proud. How would it be, were the Church at this day in a flourishing state and all enemies subdued, were there no danger, no fear? Surely earth and heaven could not bear the foolish self-confidence of men. There is therefore no wonder that God thus holds us in, and that while he supports us by his grace, he deprives us of all earthly helps and aids, that we may learn that he alone is the author of our salvation.
This truth ought to be carefully contemplated by us. Whenever we see that the Church of God, though not possessing any great power, is yet diminished daily, yea, and becomes, so to speak, like a naked land, without any defenses, it so happens, in order that the protection of God may be alone sufficient for us, and that he may wholly tear away from our hearts all haughtiness and pride, and dissipate all those vain confidences by which we not only obscure the glory of God, but, as far as we can, entirely cover it over. In short, as there is nothing better for us than to be preserved by the hand of God, we ought to bear patiently the removal of all those impediments which close up the way against God, and, in a manner, keep off his hand from us, when he is ready to extend it for the purpose of delivering us. For when our minds are inflated with foolish self-confidence, we neglect God; and thus a wall intervenes, which prevents him to help us. Who would not wish, seeing himself in extreme danger and help not far distant, that an intercepting wall should immediately fall down? Thus God is near at hand, as he has promised; but there are many walls and many obstacles, from the ruin of which, if we would be safe, we must desire and seek, that God may find an open and free way, in order that he may be able to afford us aid.
The Prophet comes now to the second kind of impediments. We have already said that some things become impediments, as it were, accidentally, when, through our wickedness and misapplication, we turn God’s benefits to an end contrary to what he has designed. If, for instance, horses and chariots are given us, to possess them is not in itself an evil, but becomes so through our blindness, that is, when we, blinded by earthly possessions, think ourselves safe, and thus neglect God. But there are other impediments, which are, in their nature, and in themselves, vicious. To these the Prophet now leads us.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) I will cut off the cities.Fenced cities and the other paraphernalia of war will be unnecessary in the Messiahs kingdom: they shall not learn war any more (Mic. 4:3).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mic 5:11. And I will cut off the cities, &c. See Hosea 1; Hosea 7. Bishop Sherlock is of opinion, that the present passage is to the same import with that in Hosea; and that the meaning is, their salvation should be so perfect and complete, that they should want neither forces nor strong holds; for God would be to them instead of armies and fortified towns. See Sherlock on Prophesy, Dissert. 4: p. 382.
REFLECTIONS.1st, We have here,
1. Troublous times prophesied against the Jews. See the Annotations.
2. The Messiah is promised, the grand support of his true spiritual Israel in every time of their distress: the hopes of his appearing may well keep them from sinking into despair, and engage them to wait patiently for him. But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings-forth have been from of old, from everlasting. St. Matthew has left us no doubt concerning whom these words are spoken: they relate to Christ, and of him the ancient Jewish interpreters understood them. [1.] They fix the place of his nativity at Beth-lehem. [2.] They describe the office of the Messiah to be a ruler in Israel; not indeed over Israel after the flesh, but over his spiritual subjects, the children of Abraham by faith. [3.] They assert his eternal Godhead: from everlasting are his goings-forth. Though, as man, he came forth from the lineage of David, and out of the city of Beth-lehem, as God he is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days or end of life.
3. Before his appearing in the flesh the Jews shall go through much tribulation. Therefore, or notwithstanding, will he give them up, for a while, to be harassed by their enemies, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; which may be referred to the blessed virgin the mother of Christ, of whom the long-expected Saviour, in the fulness of time, should be born for the consolation of Israel. But others refer these words to Christ’s rejection of the Jewish nation for a while, for their unbelief, until the church, the spiritual Zion, has brought forth the fulness of the Gentiles: then the remnant of his brethren, the Jewish people, shall return unto the children of Israel, and be admitted into the gospel church. Or this may comprehend the Gentiles also, whom Christ is not ashamed to call his brethren, Heb 2:11 who with the Jews will become at last one fold under one shepherd. But see the critical notes for other interpretations.
4. The people of Christ shall then be safe and happy under his blessed government. He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, clothed with divine power, able to protect the sheep of his pasture, and watching over them with kind solicitude, providing for their wants, and ministering to them out of his fulness; in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, being himself, in his nature and perfections, very God; and also, as Mediator, invested with a delegated power over all in heaven and earth; and therefore they shall abide, or they shall sit under his shadow, quiet and safe from fear of evil: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth, when, his Gospel being spread abroad, all flesh shall see his glory, and the nations be gathered unto him. And this man shall be the peace: man is not in the original: this shall be the peace; this Messiah, who by the blood of his cross shall make peace with God on the behalf of perishing sinners, and by his grace shall preserve his faithful people from all the enemies of his souls; when the Assyrian shall come into our land; as he delivered them from Sennacherib’s invasion, so will he still protect those who cast all their confidence on him from the power of the wicked: and when he shall tread in our palaces, and seems ready to swallow up the people of God, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men: the Lord, their protector, has instruments ready to employ in the service of his believing people, and for the destruction of their enemies: and they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances therof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. And this destruction of these inveterate enemies of the church of old seems to prefigure the conquests of the Gospel, before which Satan and the powers of darkness fell as lightning from heaven; and may be considered as having respect also to the final destruction of Christ’s enemies, when the Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan powers, which last now possesses these countries, shall be entirely destroyed. Note; (1.) Christ’s believing people need not fear, though surrounded with enemies, or assaulted by temptations; he will be their peace when the Assyrian cometh into the land. (2.) All the church’s foes shall shortly be made her footstool; a little faith and patience will issue in eternal triumphs for the faithful saints of God.
2nd, A glorious remnant of Jacob, penitently returning to the true Messiah, and embracing him by faith and constant love, shall be saved; blessed themselves, and a blessing unto others. And this remnant may be understood, either of those who were the first preachers of the Gospel, whose word distilled as the dew, and who vanquished the superstition and idolatry of the Gentile world; or of the faithful people of God in general, who are at present but a remnant, compared with the unregenerate throughout the world.
1. They shall be as the dew in the midst of many people, numerous as dew-drops, of heavenly extraction, fruitful in good works, and blessings to all around them; as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men; and so free and bounteous are the gifts of God’s grace, preventing our desires, and above all our deserts.
2. They shall be as a lion among the beasts of the forest, so courageous and strong; and before them their enemies shall be as a flock of helpless sheep, unable to make the least resistance, and shall fall an easy prey. Thus shall it be at the last with all who persist in their enmity against Christ and his church: they shall perish together.
3. They shall cease from all human confidences, nor any longer need them, when all their foes are fallen. Their horses and chariots for war shall be destroyed, as useless, and the fortifications of their cities, and their strongholds be demolished: and a mercy it is when these vain confidences are taken from us, which were a temptation to us to trust on them more than in God. Their witchcrafts and unlawful arts of divination shall be cut off, and never more regarded. Every monument of idolatry shall be utterly abolished, their images and groves cast down; and the cities where idolatry prevailed, or the temples large as cities, dedicated to their idols, destroyed; or, as in the margin of our English bibles, thy enemies, both within and without.
4. Vengeance shall then light on every disobedient sinner, such as they have not heard, so terrible; or which have not heard, refused to receive the Lord Christ, and disregarded his salvation; for which judgment shall come upon them to the uttermost.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mic 5:11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:
Ver. 11. And I will cut off the cities of thy land ] Thy fenced cities and places of strength, for like reason as before, that thou mayest look upon my name alone as a strong tower, and thereto run and be safe, Pro 18:10 , that thou mayest hover and cover under my wings, Psa 91:1-2 , and there hold thee as secure as in a tower of brass or town of war. “Blessed be the Lord” (saith David, who could not be safe in Keilah, that had gates and bars), “for he hath showed me his marvellous lovingkindness as in a strong city,” Psa 31:21 . The tower of Shechem saved not those that ran into it, Jdg 9:49 . The stronghold of Zion could not secure the Jebusites, that in the height of their pride scorned David and his host, that laid siege to it, 2Sa 5:6-7 . Belshazzar and his Babylonians bare themselves so bold upon the strength of their city, and provision laid in for twenty years, if need were (as Xenophon testifieth), that they reproached the Persians that besieged them, and derided their attempts as to no purpose; yet were shortly after made a prey to the enemy. Arimazes, having garrisoned a very strong and steep rock in the Sogdian country with 80,000 men, sent to Alexander the Great, who demanded it, to know whether he could fly or not? But the next day he was taken together with his stronghold, and nailed to a cross (Plut. in Alex. Curt. lib. 7). God delights to confute men in their confidences; that those that are his may run to the Rock of ages, Isa 26:4 , to that Arx roboris strong citadel of his holy name, which alone is impregnable, inexpugnable. The Spaniards called their navy in ‘88 the Invincible Armada, but it proved otherwise, and that upon St James’s day, whom they count their patron, their tutelary saint. It is not unlawful to have cities and strongholds, but to confide in them, by rising up to a corky, frothy hope when we have them; or to sit down in a faithless, sullen discontent and despondence when we want them; this is to make flesh our arm, and so to incur that heavy curse, Jer 17:5 . God will cut off all occasions of so doing from those whom he loveth, as here he promiseth: and as accordingly he performed to this people, after their return from Babylon, and especially a little before the coming of Christ in the flesh, when they were reduced by Pompey into a province of the Roman empire.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and throw: Isa 2:12-17, Eze 38:11, Zec 4:6
Reciprocal: Isa 17:9 – General Lam 2:2 – he hath thrown Eze 23:48 – I cause Eze 24:11 – that the filthiness Hos 3:4 – without teraphim Hos 11:6 – the sword Mic 5:14 – cities Zep 1:3 – stumblingblocks Zec 9:10 – I will Mat 21:5 – sitting
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mic 5:11. The mere tact of being a city was not objectionable to God, but some of them had been devoted to the service of idolatry and He proposed to deprive the land of such.