Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 6:16
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
16. the statutes of Omri ] ‘Statutes’ is here used in a religious sense = ceremonies or rules of worship (as Jer 10:3, Lev 20:7, 2Ki 17:34). Omri is said to have ‘done worse than all [the kings] that were before him.’ Little more is recorded of him in 1 Kings, but the Assyrians always associated his name with that of his kingdom: the northern realm has for its Assyrian name Bit Khumri ‘place of Omri.’ ‘The statutes of Omri’ and ‘the works of the house of Ahab’ (Omri’s son) are of course the worship of Baal (comp. 1Ki 16:31-32). ‘The separation of the kingdoms had not broken the subtle links that connected Judah with the greater Israel of the north’ (Prof. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, p. 345). Hence the low religious state of the kingdom of Israel reacted most injuriously on the kingdom of Judah.
in their counsels ] i.e. in those of Omri and Ahab. It is singular that these two should be the only kings of N. Israel mentioned in the prophetical books.
the reproach of my people ] i.e. the reproach which attaches to the people of Jehovah when it is cast out of ‘Jehovah’s land’ (Hos 9:3). Most probably, however, we should read, ‘the reproach of the peoples’ (comp. Eze 34:29; Eze 36:6). The final m may have dropped out, or the sign of abbreviation may have been overlooked.
This latter part of the verse assumes a different form in the versions. Upon what text they are based is uncertain; but they all agree in rendering “fearers of (his) name” (the pronoun is omitted in Targ.), and (except Targ.) ‘tribe’ for ‘rod.’ Hence Ewald renders, ‘Hear, O tribe, and thou who summonest it.’ The Septuagint also changes the ‘yet’ of Mic 6:10 into ‘city,’ and connects it with Mic 6:9. Following up these traces of what he conceives to be the original reading, Roorda restores, ‘And they that fear his name have heard wisdom. He hath declared who is he that stirreth up his rod.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the statutes of Omri are kept – Rather, (like the English margin he doth much keep,) And he doth keep diligently for himself. Both ways express much diligence in evil . To keep Gods commandments was the familiar phrase, in which Israel was exhorted, by every motive of hope and fear, to obedience to God. I know him, God says of Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do judgment and justice Gen 18:19. This was the fundamental commandment immediately after the deliverance from Eyypt upon their first murmuring. The Lord made there (at Marah) for them a statute and ordinance, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians Exo 15:25-26.
In this character Ha revealed Himself on Mount Sinai, as shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments Exo 20:6. This was their covenant, Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes and His commandments and His judgments and to hearken unto His voice Deu 26:17. This was so often enforced upon them in the law, as the condition upon which they should hold their land, if they kept the covenant (Exo 19:5; the words of this covenant, Deu 29:9), the commmandments Lev 22:31; Lev 26:3; Deu 4:2; Deu 6:17; Deu 7:11; Deu 8:6, Deu 8:11; Deu 10:13; Deu 11:1, Deu 11:8, Deu 11:22; Deu 13:5; Deu 15:5; Deu 19:9; Deu 27:1; Deu 28:9; Deu 30:10, the judgments Lev 18:5, Lev 18:26; Lev 20:22; Deu 7:11; Deu 8:11; Deu 11:1, the statutes (Lev 18:5, Lev 18:26; Lev 20:8, Lev 20:22; Deu 4:40; Deu 6:17; Deu 7:11; Deu 10:13; Deu 11:1; Deu 30:10), the testimonies Deu 6:17, the charge Lev 18:30; Deu 11:1 of the Lord. Under this term all the curses of the law were threatened, if they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord their God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded them Deu 28:15.
Under this again the future of good and evil was, in Solomon, set before the house of David; of unbroken succession on his throne, if thou wilt keep My commandments; but contrariwise, if ye or your children will not keep My commandments and My statutes 1Ki 9:4-6, banishment, destruction of the temple, and themselves to be a proverb and a byword among all people This was the object of their existence, 1Ki 9:7. that they might keep His statutes and observe His laws Psa 105:45. This was the summary of their disobedience, they kept not the covenant of God Psa 78:11. And now was come the contrary to all this. They had not kept the commandments of God; and those commandments of man which were the most contrary to the commandments of God, they had kept and did keep diligently. Alas! that the Christian world should be so like them! What iron habit or custom of man, what fashion, is not kept, if it is against the law of God? How few are not more afraid of man than God? Had Gods command run, Speak evil one of another, brethren, would it not have been the best kept of all His commandments? God says, speak not evil; custom, the conversation around, fear of man, say, speak evil; mans commandment is kept; Gods is not kept. And no one repents or makes restitution; few even cease from the sin.
Scripture does not record, what was the special aggravation of the sin of Omri, since the accursed worship of Baal was brought in by Ahab , his son. But, as usual, like father, like son. The son developed the sins of the father. Some special sinfulness of Omri is implied, in that Athaliah, the murderess of her children, is called after her grandfather, Omri, not after her father, Ahab 2Ki 8:26; 2Ch 22:2. Heresiarchs have a deeper guilt than their followers, although the heresy itself is commonly developed later. Omri settled for a while the kingdom of Israel, after the anarchy which followed on the murder of Elah, and slew Zimri, his murderer.
Yet before God, he did worse than all before him, and be walked in all the way of Jeroboam 1Ki 16:25-26. Yet this too did not suffice Judah; for it follows, And all the doings of the house of Ahab, who again did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him and served Baal 1 Kings 3033; Ahab, to whom none was like in sin, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord 1Ki 21:25. These were they, whose statutes Judah now kept, as diligently and accurately as if it had been a religious act. They kept, not the statutes of the Lord, but the statutes of Omri; they kept, as their pattern before their eyes, all the doings of the house of Ahab, his luxury, oppression, the bloodshedding of Naboth; and they walked onward, not, as God bade them, humbly with Him, but in their counsels. And what must be the end of all this? that I should make thee a desolation. They acted, as though the very end and object of all their acts were that, wherein they ended, their own destruction and reproach .
Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of My people – The title of the people of God must be a glory or a reproach. Judah had gloried in being Gods people, outwardly, by His covenant and protection; they Were envied for the outward distinction. They refused to be so inwardly, and gave themselves to the hideous, desecrating, worship of Baal. Now then what had been their pride, should be the aggravation of their punishment. Now too we hear of people everywhere zealous for a system, which their deeds belie. Faith, without love, (such as their character had been,) feels any insult to the relation to God, which by its deeds it disgraces. Though they had themselves neglected God, yet it was a heavy burden to them to bear the triumph of the pagan over them, that God was unable to help them, or had cast them off These are the people of the Lord and are gone forth, out of His land Eze 36:20. Wherefore should they say among the pagan, where is their God? (see the notes at Joe 2:17). We are confounded, because we have heard reproach, shame hath covered our faces, for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lords house Jer 51:51. We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us Psa 79:4. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the pagan, a shaking of the head among the people. My confusion is daily before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, for the voice of him that slandereth and blasphemeth, by reason of the enemy and the avenger Psa 44:13-16.
The words, the reproach of My people, may also include the reproach wherewith God in the law Deu 28:36 threatened His people if they should forsake Him, which indeed comes to the same thing, the one being the prophecy, the other the fulfillment. The word hissing in itself recalled the threat to Davids house in Solomon; At this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished and hiss 1Ki 9:8. Micahs phrase became a favorite expression of Jeremiah . So only do Gods prophets denounce. It is a marvelous glimpse into mans religious history, that faith, although it had been inoperative and was trampled upon without, should still survive; nay, that God, whom in prosperity they had forsaken and forgotten, should be remembered, when He seemed to forget and to forsake them. Had the captive Jews abandoned their faith, the reproach would have ceased. The words, ye shall bear the reproach of My people are, at once, a prediction of their deserved suffering for the profanation of Gods Name by their misdeeds, and of their persverance in that faith which, up to that Time, they had mostly neglected.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mic 6:16
And the statutes of Omri are kept
Omri and Ahab: lessons worth study
On the long dark roll of human infamy there are but few darker names than those of Omri and Ahab.
Learn–
I. The religious sentiment in man is often terribly perverted. Omri and Ahab were not idolaters themselves, but they established idolatry in their country. The religious sentiment in man is perhaps the substratum element of his nature. Man is made to worship, and to worship the one true and living God only. But so blinded is his intellect, so debased his nature, so utterly corrupt, that, instead of worshipping the infinitely great, he falls down before the infinitely contemptible. The perversity of the religious sentiment–
1. Explains the errors, crimes, and miseries of the world. Mans strongest love is the spring of all his activities, the fontal source of all his influence. When this is directed to an idol, the whole of his life is corrupted.
2. Reveals mans absolute need of the Gospel. There is nothing bug the Gospel of Christ that can give this sentiment a right direction.
II. That obedience to human sovereigns is sometimes a great crime. The worship of Baal was enacted by the statutes of Omri, and enforced by the practice of Ahab. A human law, enacted by the greatest sovereign in the world in connection with the most illustrious statesmen, if it is not in accord with the eternal principles of justice and truth, as revealed in Gods Word, should be repudiated, renounced, and transgressed. Whether it is right to obey God rather than men, judge ye.
III. That the crimes of even two men may exert a corrupting influence upon millions in future generations. The reigns of Omri and Ahab were ages before the time when Micah lived. Notwithstanding, their enactments were still obeyed, their examples were still followed, and their practices were still pursued. The wickedness of these two men was now, ages after, perpetrated by a whole nation. How great the influence of man for good or evil! Verily, one sinner destroyeth much good. (Homilist.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. The statutes of Omri are kept] Omri, king of Israel, the father of Ahab, was one of the worst kings the Israelites ever had; and Ahab followed in his wicked father’s steps. The statutes of those kings were the very grossest idolatry. Jezebel, wife of the latter, and daughter of Ithobaal, king of Tyre, had no fellow on earth. From her Shakespeare seems to have drawn the character of Lady Macbeth; a woman, like her prototype, mixed up of tigress and fiend, without addition. Omri Ahab, and Jezebel, were the models followed by the Israelites in the days of this prophet.
The inhabitants thereof a hissing] lishrekah, “for a shriek;” because those who should see them should be both astonished and affrighted at them.
There are few chapters in the prophets, or in the Bible, superior to this for genuine worth and importance. The structure is as elegant as it is impressive; and it is every way worthy of the Spirit of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The statutes of Omri; of which you read, 1Ki 16:25-28. He built Samaria, to be a royal city, and seat of religion brought in by Jeroboam; thus he both strengthened and put more credit upon the idolatrous worship, which was set up by Omri in a royal city. whereas by Jeroboam it was set up in places of meaner account.
Are kept; diligently, very much. All the works of the house of Ahab; summed up, in establishing Jeroboams idolatry, introducing the idolatrous worship of Baal, 1Ki 16:31-33, cutting off the prophets of the Lord, 1Ki 18:4; 19:10,14, and abolishing the true worship of God; besides the barbarous contriving the death of the innocent, and seizing the estate, 1Ki 21:8,9, &c.
And ye, of the house of Israel, though under the government of families which had no great reason to value the house of Ahab, yet you have done their works of idolatry and oppression, and you also of the house of Judah have degenerated and done like their works.
Ye walk in their counsels; literally fulfilled in Jehorams reign, acts, and counsels, 2Ki 8:17,18; and in Ahaziahs, who was son of Jehoram, and grandson of Jehoshaphat, 2Ki 8:27; and so did Jehu, and his successors, all persist in the idolatry of the calf-worship, and in oppression of the poor: thus instead of walking humbly with God, they did openly depart from him, contrary to what God required of them.
That I should make thee, & c. eventually this was the end, or in necessary tendency it could not end otherwise, though they did not intend this, nor did God will them to do so that it might so end.
A desolation; an utter waste, such as should astonish those that saw it.
The inhabitants thereof, of the city or land, a hissing, in token of abhorrence and derision, Deu 28:37; Jer 25:9,18; 29:18.
Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people; the reproach threatened in the law, if my people forsake me; or, Jerusalem shall be as much reproached as Samaria; or as Eze 36:20.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. statutes of Omrithefounder of Samaria and of Ahab’s wicked house; and a supporter ofJeroboam’s superstitions (1Ki16:16-28). This verse is a recapitulation of what was more fullystated before, Judah’s sin and consequent punishment. Judah, thoughat variance with Israel on all things else, imitated her impiety.
works of . . . Ahab(1Ki 21:25; 1Ki 21:26).
ye walk in theircounselsThough these superstitions were the fruit of theirking’s “counsels” as a master stroke of state policy, yetthese pretexts were no excuse for setting at naught the counsels andwill of God.
that I should make thee adesolationThy conduct is framed so, as if it was thy setpurpose “that I should make thee a desolation.”
inhabitants thereofnamely,of Jerusalem.
hissing (La2:15).
the reproach of my peopleThevery thing ye boast of, namely, that ye are “My people,”will only increase the severity of your punishment. The greater Mygrace to you, the greater shall be your punishment for havingdespised it, Your being God’s people in name, while walking in Hislove, was an honor; but now the name, without the reality, is only a”reproach” to you.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the statutes of Omri are kept,…. Who of a captain of the army was made king of Israel, and proved a wicked prince; he built Samaria, and set up idolatrous worship there, after the example of Jeroboam, in whose ways he walked, and, as it seems, established the same by laws and edicts; and which were everyone of them observed by the Israelites, in the times of the prophet, though at the distance of many years from the first making of them, which aggravated their sin; nor would it be any excuse of them that what they practised was enjoined by royal authority, since it was contrary to the command of God; for the breach of which, and their observance of the statutes of such a wicked prince, they are threatened with the judgments of God; see 1Ki 16:16;
and all the works of the house of Ahab; who was the son of Omri, and introduced the worship of Baal, and added to the idolatry of the calves, which he and his family practised; and the same works were now done by the people of Israel:
and ye walk in their counsels; as they advised and directed the people to do in their days:
that I should make thee a desolation; the city of Samaria, the metropolis of Israel, or the whole land, which was made a desolation by Shalmaneser, an instrument in the hand of God; and this was not the intention and design of their walking in the counsels and after the example of their idolatrous kings, but the consequence and event of so doing:
and the inhabitants thereof an hissing; either of Samaria, or of all the land, who should become the scorn and derision of men, when brought to ruin for their sins:
therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people; that which was threatened in the law to the people of God, when disobedient to him; or shameful punishment for profaning the name and character of the people of God they bore; or for reproaching and ill using the poor among the people of God; and so it is directed to the rich men before spoken of, and signifies the shame and ignominy they should bear, by being carried captive into a foreign land for their sins.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This trouble the people bring upon themselves by their ungodly conduct. With this thought the divine threatening is rounded off and closed. Mic 6:16. “And they observe the statutes of Omri, and all the doings of the house of Ahab, and so ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee a horror, and her inhabitants a hissing, and the reproach of my people shall ye bear.” The verse is attached loosely to what precedes by Vav. The first half corresponds to Mic 6:10-12, the second to Mic 6:13-15, and each has three clauses. , as an intensive form of the piel, is the strongest expression for , and is not to be taken as a passive, as Ewald and others suppose, but in a reflective sense: “It (or one) carefully observes for itself the statutes of Omri instead of the statutes of the Lord” (Lev 20:23; Jer 10:3). All that is related of Omri, is that he was worse than all his predecessors (1Ki 16:25). His statutes are the Baal-worship which his son and successor Ahab raised into the ruling national religion (1Ki 16:31-32), and the introduction of which is attributed to Omri as the founder of the dynasty. In the same sense is Athaliah, who was a daughter of Jezebel, called a daughter of Omri in 2Ch 22:2. All the doing of the house of Ahab: i.e., not only its Baal-worship, but also its persecution of the Lord’s prophets (1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 22:27), and the rest of its sins, e.g., the robbery and murder committed upon Naboth (1 Kings 21). With the description passes over into a direct address; not into the preterite, however, for the imperfect with Vav rel. does not express here what has been the custom in both the past and present, but is simply the logical deduction from what precedes, “that which continually occurs.” The suffix attached to refers to Ahab and Omri. By the punishment is represented as intentionally brought about by the sinners themselves, to give prominence to the daring with which men lived on in godlessness and unrighteousness. In the whole nation is addressed: in the second clause, the inhabitants of the capital as the principal sinners; and in the third, the nation again in its individual members. does not mean devastation here; but in parallelism with , horror, or the object of horror, as in Deu 28:37; Jer 25:9; Jer 51:37, and 2Ch 29:8. Cherpath amm : the shame which the nation of God, as such, have to bear from the heathen, when they are given up into their power (see Eze 36:20). This shame will have to be borne by the several citizens, the present supporters of the idea of the nation of God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Some read the words in the future tense, “And they will observe the statutes of Omri,” etc., and gather this meaning, — that the Prophet now foresees by the Spirit, that the people would continue so perverse in their sins, as to exclude every hope that they could be reformed by any punishments. The meaning then would be, “The Lord has indeed determined to punish sharply and severely the wickedness of this people; but they will not repent; they will nevertheless remain stupid in their obstinacy, and go on in their superstitions, which they have learned from the kings of Israel.” There is however another view, and one more generally approved and that is, — that the Jews, having forsaken God, and despised his Law, had turned aside to the superstitions of the kingdom of Israel. Hence he says, that observed were the decrees of Omri, and every work of the house of Ahab Omri was the father of Ahab, who was made king by the election of the soldiers, when Zimri, who had slain the king, was rejected. When Omri bought Samaria, he built there a city; and to secure honor to it, he added a temple; and hence idolatry increased. Afterwards his son Ahab abandoned himself to every kind of superstition. Thus matters became continually worse. Hence the Prophet, by mentioning here king Omri and his posterity, (included in the words, “the house of Ahab”) clearly means, that the Jews who had purely worshipped God, at length degenerated, and were now wholly unlike Israelites, as they had embraced all those abominations which Omri and his son Ahab had devised. True religion as yet prevailed in the tribe of Judah, though the kingdom of Israel was become corrupt, and filthy superstitions had gained the ascendancy: but in course of time the Jews became also implicated in similar superstitions. Of this sin the Prophet now accuses them; that is, that they made themselves associates with the Israelites: Observed (179) then are the edicts of Omri, and the whole work of the house of Ahab: Ye walk, he says, (the future here means a continued act, as often elsewhere,) ye walk in their counsels.
It must be observed, that the Prophet here uses respectable terms, when he says that הקעת , chekut, statutes or decrees, were observed; and when he adds, “the counsels” of the kings of Israel: but yet this is in no way stated as an excuse for them; for though men may not only be pleased with, but also highly commend, their own devices, yet the Lord abominates them all. The Prophet no doubt designedly adopted these words, in order to show that those pretenses were frivolous and of no account, which superstitious men adduce, either to commend or to excuse their own inventions. They ever refer to public authority, — “This has been received by the consent of all; that has been decreed; it is not the mistake of one or two men; but the whole Church has so determined: and kings also thus command; it would be a great sin not to show obedience to them.” Hence the Prophet, in order to show how puerile are such excuses, says, “I indeed allow that your superstitions are by you honorably distinguished, for they are approved by the edicts of your kings, and are received by the consent of the many, and they seem not to have been inconsiderately and unadvisedly, but prudently contrived, even by great men, who were become skillful through long experience.” But how much soever they might have boasted of their statutes and counsels, and however plausibly they might have referred to prudence and power in order to disguise their idolatries, yet all those things were of no account before God. By counsels, the Prophet no doubt meant that false kind of wisdom which always shines forth in the traditions of men; and by statutes, he meant the kingly authority.
We hence see that it is a vain thing to color over what is idolatrous, by alleging power on the one hand in its favor, and wisdom on the other. — How so? Because God will not allow dishonor to be done to him by such absurd things; but he commands us to worship him according to what is prescribed in his Word.
And now a denunciation of punishment follows, That I should deliver thee to desolation, and its inhabitants, etc. There is a change of person; the Prophet continually addresses the land, and under that name, the people, — that I should then deliver thee to exile, or desolation, and thine inhabitants to hissing It is a quotation from Moses: and by hissing he means the reproach and mockery to which men in a miserable state are exposed.
At last he adds, Ye shall bear the reproach of my people Some take the word, people, in a good sense, as though the Prophet had said here, that God would punish the wrongs which the rich had done to the distressed common people; but this view, in my judgment, is too confined. Others understand this by the reproach of God’s people, — that nothing would be more reproachful to the Jews, than that they had been the people of God; for it would redound to their dishonor and disgrace, that they, who had been honored by such an honorable name, were afterwards given up to so great miseries. But the passage may be otherwise explained: we may understand by the people of God the Israelites; as though the Prophet said, “Do ye not perceive how the Israelites have been treated? Were they not a part of my people? They were descendants from the race of Abraham as well as you; nor can you boast of a higher dignity: They were then equal to you in the opinion of all; and yet this privilege did not hinder my judgment, did not prevent me from visiting them as they deserved.” Such a view harmonizes with the passage: but there is, as I think, something ironical in the expression, “my people;” as though he said, “The confidence, that ye have been hitherto my people, hardens you: but this false and wicked boasting shall increase your punishment; for I will not inflict on you an ordinary punishment, as on heathens and strangers; but I shall punish your wickedness much more severely; for it is necessary, that your punishment should bear proportion to my favor, which has been so shamefully and basely despised by you.” Hence, by the reproach of God’s people, I understand the heavier judgments, which were justly prepared for all the ungodly, whom God had favored with such special honor, as to regard them as his people: for the servant, who knew his master’s will, and did it not, was on that account more severely corrected, (180) Luk 12:47. Let us now proceed —
(179) The verb, ישתמר, is in the singular, and is followed by its nominative case, which is in the plural number. Grammarians are at a loss to account for this, and hence propose several modes of construction. But it is evidently an anomalous idiom, somewhat similar to that in Greek, when plural neuters take a verb in the singular number. As it has been already observed, such a construction as we find here, is very common in the Welsh language. The verb is in Hithpael, the reflective mood, the ת, as often the case, changing place with the first letter of the verb. It is not always that this mood is reflective, but is sometimes passive, as we find to be the case with סתר, in Isa 29:14, and עבר, in Deu 3:26. And so here it does not retain its reflective meaning. But it may be, that intensity, diligence, or earnestness, is intended to be conveyed; that is, that the statutes of Omri were diligently and carefully observed. — Ed.
(180) There is another view mentioned by Drusius, — that is, the reproach which God had previously denounced on his people, in case they sinned and continued in their perverseness. Reproach in this sense would mean punishment. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) The statutes of Omri.The people of Judah, instead of keeping the commandments of the Lord diligently, adopted the statutes of the house of Omri, the founder of the idolatrous dynasty of Ahab. They reproduced the sins of the northern kingdom, and their conduct was aggravated by the advantages vouchsafed to them. The greatness of their reproach should therefore be in proportion to the greatness of the glory which properly belonged to them as the people of God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mic 6:16 sums up the sin and punishment of the people.
The statutes of Omri are kept This is perhaps the best that can be done with the present Hebrew text, but the context and among the ancient versions LXX. and Peshitto suggest a slight change, so that it will read “thou didst keep,” and this is probably the original. The reign of Omri, one of the greatest kings of the northern kingdom, is passed over very briefly in 1Ki 16:21-28, but the statement is made that he dealt more wickedly than any king that went before him. The words of Micah are not to be understood as meaning that Omri actually made statutes enjoining wrongdoing, or that the people followed such statutes, but that they followed his example which exerted as much influence upon their conduct as written law could have done. “All the works of the house of Ahab” is similar in meaning to “statutes of Omri.” Ahab was condemned by his great contemporary Elijah for two reasons: (1) He tolerated and even encouraged the worship of Baal (1Ki 16:31-32); (2) he oppressed the poor and robbed them of their ancestral holdings (1 Kings 21). Micah has little to say about idolatry; it is rather oppression, violence, injustice, that he condemns. Hence “statutes of Omri” and “ways of the house of Ahab” are to be understood as referring not so much to religious apostasy as to the conduct of these kings illustrated in Ahab’s dealings with Naboth.
Ye walk The change to the plural, here and in the last clause of the verse, is peculiar. If the plural is original it may be used to indicate that the individuals in the community are singled out and addressed personally; it is not impossible, however, that the change is due to the mistake of a copyist.
In their counsels As expressed in their conduct.
From the sin the prophet turns to the judgment.
That I should make They might have known better, and did know better; nevertheless they persisted in their iniquity, challenging, by their very conduct, Jehovah to do his worst (see on Amo 2:7). Of the three pronouns, “thee,” “thereof” (of it), “ye,” two are masculine in the original, one is feminine; two are singular, one is plural. It will be necessary, therefore, to distinguish between the persons addressed: “thee” refers to the nation (see on Mic 6:13); “thereof” to Jerusalem or, some think with less probability, to “desolation” desolated land; “ye” to the individuals constituting the nation (see above). This seems a satisfactory explanation; others, however, alter the text so as to bring the pronouns in agreement with one another.
Desolation While this is one meaning of the word, in parallelism with “hissing” the meaning suggested in the margin, “astonishment,” is to be preferred, or still better, “object of astonishment” or “of horror” (compare Deu 28:37; Jer 25:9; Jer 51:37).
Hissing An object of hissing or derision.
The reproach of my people The reproach which Israel, the chosen people of Jehovah, must bear when the heathen nations will triumph over it; for such a triumph will be to the conquerors a clear proof of Jehovah’s inability or unwillingness to help. LXX. reads, “the reproach of the nations,” that is, the reproach brought upon Israel by the surrounding nations. The latter may be the original reading (see on Joe 2:17).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mic 6:16. For the statutes of Omri are kept Because thou keepest the statutes, &c. and followest their counsels, that I should make thee a desolation, and thine inhabitants a hissing; therefore, &c. See Houbigant.
REFLECTIONS.1st, This chapter begins a new subject.
1. The prophet is summoned to arise, and contend before the mountains; he must cry so loud, that the hills may echo again, publicly to expose the shame of Israel, and call even these inanimate creatures, the very foundations of the earth, to witness against the stupidity and insensibility of this people, who, when God spoke, turned a deaf ear to his admonitions. Note; They who plead earnestly for God, must cry aloud, though mockers revile the vehemence of their discourse.
2. The cause of this earnestness is, the controversy which God hath against his people, whose sins are great and aggravated, and call for vengeance upon them. Though they are called Israel, their national relation to God serves to aggravate their offence.
3. He expostulates with them on their base ingratitude. He challenges them to shew that he had ever done aught to provoke their ill-usage, or been a severe master to them in the services which he had enjoined them. He reminds them of the repeated and inestimable favours that he had showered upon them; bringing them from their bondage in Egypt, raising them up divinely-appointed leaders, guiding them safely through the wilderness, baffling the devices of Balak, and compelling Balaam, the prophet whom he had sent for to curse Israel, to answer him with blessings instead of curses upon their heads; from Shittim to Gilgal he brought them into the promised land, notwithstanding the abominations which they had committed with the Moabites: and all this was done that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord, the faithfulness of God to his promises, his goodness to them, and the justice of his present controversy against them for the base returns that they had made. Whenever he pleads against us, surely there is a cause.
2nd, Some suppose that the words contained in the 6th and 7th verses are the words of Israel, desiring to make up the controversy with Jehovah, and inquiring the way. Others suppose that they are the words of Balak to Balaam, solicitous to gain, at any rate, an interest in God to curse Israel, though at the expence of the sacrifice of his firstborn. In this latter sense,
1. Balak suggests his readiness to offer the most expensive sacrifices, even thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil, speaking hyperbolically; nay, if a more precious oblation was needful to make the atonement, even the fruit of his body, his first-born son, shall bleed: and this may be applied to the awakened sinner seeking reconciliation with God; trembling before his majesty, inquiring of his ministers what he must do to be saved, brought into the dust of humiliation, solicitous to avert his displeasure and obtain his favour; burthened with sin upon his conscience, to be relieved from which he could willingly part with the dearest thing that he possesses; not that aught we can do could ever satisfy offended justice. The blood of all mankind had never been able to make satisfaction for the least sin; the blood of Jesus alone is the effectual propitiation.
2. Balaam answers his inquiry. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; not external offerings, but moral duties are what he prescribes; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, administering impartial justice to his subjects, and seeing that none be oppressed with wrong; to love mercy, delighting in all acts of kindness and benevolence towards the distressed and indigent; and to walk humbly with thy God, acknowledging his own insignificance, and ascribing to God the glory due unto his name.
If we consider this as an answer given to a guilty conscience seeking reconciliation, we have, (1.) The object of faith proposed in the words thy God; in Christ Jesus he becomes such to the believing sinner, who, through the infinite merit and intercession of the Redeemer, is entitled to an interest in his favour and regard. (2.) The duty which God requires of those who truly turn to him, is not any outward thing merely, but the heart devoted to his will and service; and what he commands is not only good and right in itself, but good for us, conducing to our happiness as well as his glory. And this is, [1.] To do justice, rendering to all their due, and injuring none in body, soul, goods, or fame. [2.] To love mercy, not only extending relief to the necessitous, and pardoning every offence, but delighting to be employed in doing good, and counting the service its own reward. And, [3.] To walk humbly with God, conscious of the poverty and unprofitableness of our best services, submissive to his government, and resigned to his providences.
3rdly, Their ingratitude being too plain, God’s controversy proceeds against them.
1. They are commanded to hearken. The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, unto the capital, where wickedness most abounded; or to every city in the land: and the man of wisdom shall see thy name, adore his perfections legible in his providences, and in the judgments that he executes on the earth; this being the highest point of wisdom, to know God, and observe his agency in every dispensation. Hear ye the rod, the warnings that God gives in his word and providences, which the man of heavenly wisdom bids us remark; and see God’s hand in the stroke, who hath appointed it, in time, measure, and duration, according to his appointing, permissive, or suffering will. Note; (1.) The voice of God’s true ministers is the voice of God, and to be heard with reverence and submission. (2.) Every providence has a tongue, if we have but ears to attend the message that it brings. (3.) When we see that God has appointed the rod, it becomes us to bow down in silent resignation, solicitous only to answer the end for which our afflictions are sent.
2. A charge of fraud and violence is brought against them, for which God will not hold them guiltless. By scanty measures, and false weights, they increased their treasures; and the rich by violence and oppression filled their houses with spoil, of which, after all the warnings given them, they had not yet made restitution. And the inhabitants of inferior station, copying after their wealthier neighbours, by lies and deceit imposed on the unwary who dealt with them, and made no scruple of falsehood, in order to make the greater gain of their wares: and as they robbed one another, they robbed God also of his glory by foul idolatry. The statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; the same abominations were practised as the wicked kings had enjoined, nor would its being the statute law of their kingdom be any exculpation of the crime; no authority can supersede the divine commands.
3. For these things God will judge them. Therefore will I make thee sick in smiting thee, with sore judgments, which should lay waste their kingdom, and make them desolate, because of their sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied, either wanting food, or the curse of God being upon their provision; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee, intestine discords should render them an easy conquest for the invading foe; their attempts to rescue their friends and families from captivity should be fruitless: or if they preserved a part, another enemy should quickly consume it. Their corn, wine, and oil should fail them, blasted, and never coming to maturity; or spoiled and devoured by the enemy. Thus they shall be made a desolation, Samaria, their capital, being destroyed by Salmaneser, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing, the whole land going into captivity, and treated with scorn and derision by their insulting conquerors; therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people, the wrath threatened against them in the law if they proved rebellious; or the reproach due to the oppressors for their cruelty and injustice to God’s believing people. Note; (1.) When God will visit, he can permit a spirit of discord to go through a land, and make a sinful people their own executioners. (2.) None deserve severer reproach than those who, by their ungracious conduct, bring a dishonour upon the religious profession which they made.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
READER! what are all the controversies the Lord hath with his people, but on account of their transgression and sin? And how gracious must it be in God, still to bear with his people, and not cast them off as their iniquities deserve! And may it not be said, as in this Chapter, so in all ages of the Church, was there ever mercy like that which the Lord hath manifested to his Church? How tenderly doth the Lord call upon the people to become witnesses against themselves, and to his grace and kindness towards them? How did the Lord then, and how doth the Lord now, guard and fence his redeemed from all the Balaams and Balaks that would destroy them. And what doth the Lord require in return? Surely nothing but what common policy and common honesty would direct, even if thankfulness to the Lord was out of the question. Can we show justice to men, if we keep back and withhold justice to God? Convinced as we must be, that thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil, can be no acceptable service to the Lord; shall we not delight to offer that which is? And if infinite love, and infinite grace hath provided a full ransom for sin in the blood of Christ, shall we not in justice confess, that without it we are lost forever? If Jehovah hath set forth Jesus as the first born in the womb of mercy, yea, mercy itself in all the fulness of it, shall we not love Jesus for his great salvation, and God the Father for giving it? And if all that is required of a poor sinner, that is so poor and insolvent that he hath nothing to bring, is, to do this justice, and love this Jesus, and to walk thus humbly with his God; can there be terms more gracious, more blessed, and condescending? Lord! give both to Reader and Writer this grace, that we may hear the Lord’s voice thus crying to the city, and under divine wisdom, see thy name, and rejoice in thy salvation. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
VII
THE HOUSE OF OMRI
There were three dynasties only in Israel which were makers of history. First, the dynasty of Jeroboam; second, the dynasty of the house of Omri, which we are now to discuss; third, the dynasty of the house of Jehu. All of the rest of them we might put in a parenthesis no history in them.
Only two of all the kings of Israel were appointed by Jehovah, viz.: Jeroboam and Jehu. The rest of them came to the throne, usually as the Praetorian Guard at Rome elected the Caesars the army elected the king of Israel, and as soon as one was so declared by the army, he killed off all the family of his predecessor that is the record of it. Only two of them had a dynasty that extended beyond a second generation.
The scriptural sources for a sketch of Omri, the sixth king of Israel are very short: 1Ki 16:15-28 , and half of a sentence in the prophecy of Micah (Mic 6:16 ) two paragraphs in history and half of a sentence in prophecy. From this brief history we see that he was in command of the army of Israel besieging a Philistine city, when the news was brought that his fellow commander, Zimri, at Tirzah, had murdered the king, slain all of his family and usurped the throne. That is the news that came to Omri’s camp, whereupon his army instantly proclaimed Omri king. He gave up the siege and marched hastily to Tirzah, one of the capitals of the nation, took that city, and then one week from the time that Zimri murdered the king he committed suicide by retiring into the palace and setting it on fire the palace became his funeral pyre. Half of the people made Tibni king, and after four years of civil war between Tibni and Omri, Tibni perished and Omri became sole ruler of the ten tribes.
His personal reign was only twelve years, but in that time he achieved these momentous things: First, he established a dynasty that held the throne of Israel for about forty-five years, and controlled the foreign policy of the house of Judah for the same length of time, and dominated the throne of Judah for fourteen years, and attracted more attention among the foreign nations than any other man since Solomon’s time. Second, he built the city of Samaria which, in one way or another, became the rival of Jerusalem for a thousand years, even up to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. Every visiting traveler has been impressed by it. All books on the Holy Land have much to say about Samaria.
Third, he enacted statutes of idolatry that corrupted Israel unto the downfall of the kingdom, a period of 200 years. Mic 6:16 tells us about that.
Fourth, by marrying his son Ahab to Jezebel, the princess of Tyre (or Sidon, as it is indifferently called, Tyre and Sidon being close together in the Phoenician kingdom), he prepared the way for Baal worship in both kingdoms, and for bringing the true religion to the lowest ebb since the flood.
Fifth, he inaugurated the unusual policy of alliance, instead of war, with the house of Judah, and that policy prevailed throughout his dynasty, Israel and Judah never being at war during the several reigns of the dynasty of Omri, and in this way he controlled the foreign policy of Judah, brought that nation into sin continually, and into conflicts with its prophets. There was no king of Judah that reigned during the dynasty of Omri that did not fall into some sin through this policy of alliance inaugurated by Omri.
There are other sources of material for a sketch of this remarkable man, about whom our Bible says so little, viz.: The Syrian, Assyrian, Moabite, and Tyrian records, inscribed on tablets and obelisks, all of which speak of Omri, and have more to say about him than the Bible does. Travelers in the Holy Land verify every geographical and topographical allusion in the history of his life. Two noted Greek historians give the history of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, as father-in-law of Ahab, and the date of their history perfectly harmonizes with the days of Omri and Ahab. Moreover, the Tyrian historians throw a very valuable sidelight on the Bible history. They show that Ethbaal, the father of Jezebel, was the high priest of the Ashtoreth (or Astarte, or Venus) and his daughter being raised in that temple, in that atmosphere, it is easy to account for her religious fanaticism in favor of Baal worship. In Vergil, Dido recounts to Aeneas her migration from Tyre, and how it led to the founding of Carthage. That Dido of Vergil was a very close kinswoman to Jezebel. I think Jezebel was the great-aunt of Dido.
Now, there is a piece of history, which I have referred to before, that is about as remarkable as any in the world. About nine hundred years before Christ a contemporary of the Omri dynasty inscribed on a stone references to Omri and Ahab, and after it had been buried more than 2,500 years it was recently dug up. I give here a translation from the first part of it, and the very man that wrote it will appear in the next chapter. Indeed we have already considered him in the life of Jehoshaphat. He is Mesha, king of Moab, that invaded Judah he is the man that wrote it. I shall never forget the interest stirred up by the discovery of the Moabite Stone. Infidels had been confidently trusting the spade to overturn the Bible, and lo! this stone confirmed it. Mesha set up that stone about twenty-five years after Omri died. Here is a part of the inscription, following the translation of Ginsburg, the archeologist as quoted by Rawlinson:
“I, Mesha, am son of Chemoshgad, king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I reigned after my father. And erected this stone at Karcha, a stone of salvation, for he saved me from all dispoilers, and let me see my desire on all mine enemies. And Omri, king of Israel, oppressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab. In my days he said, Let us go and I will see my desire on him and his house: and Israel said I will destroy it forever.
Now, Omri took the land of Medeba and occupied it, he and his son, and his son’s son, forty years. And Chemosh had mercy on it in my days.”
Now, when Ahab was killed in the battle of Ramoth-gilead, Moab rebelled and sustained their rebellion permanently against Israel. We have already seen somewhat of this, and will see more. I often wonder as I read of the various excavations at Nineveh and Babylon, and on the Nile, and among the Canaanite states, what a marvelous providence that God permitted these buried inscriptions to come to light just at the time assault was being made upon the integrity of his Book. When I was a young fellow I heard a great infidel say, “Books? Moses write books? Why, there were no books in the times of Moses.” Not a very great while after his lecture the spade turned up Canaanite library cities older than Moses. The books were only clay tablets, of course, piled up there in public libraries. One of these remarkable archeological monuments, now familiar to all students, is called the Black Obelisk, inscribed by an Assyrian. It names particularly the house of Omri. The obelisk makes interesting reading for a sidelight on this section.
The character of Omri is described in 1Ki 16:25-26 : “And Omri did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and dealt wickedly above all that were before him.” We will find soon that his son surpasses in wickedness, but just now he is more wicked than any previous one, “For he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities.” Here I raise the question as to the scriptural meaning of “vanities.” We find many times in the Old Testament the word, “vanities,” and it nearly always refers to vain objects of worship. It is not the vanity in female attire, nor in the apparel of dudes, but it is vain objects of worship.
He sought affinity with the Phoenicians by marrying his son Ahab to Jezebel because he was a great politician. He had little conscience, and no religion, but the kingdom that he dreaded was Syria, lying just north of him. Later in the history the dread shifts to Assyria ‘with its capital at Nineveh on the Tigris river. But in Omri’s time the foe to dread was Syria with its capital at Damascus. Now, he could not afford to have a strong enemy south of him, and another enemy west of him, all the time dreading that great enemy north of him, and so, as a shrewd politician, he secured peace effectively with the Phoenicians on the west and of Judah on the south, both ratified by marriages.
The character of Ahab, his son who succeeded him, is described in 1Ki 16:30-33 ; 1Ki 21:25-26 , as follows: “And Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord above all that went before him. And he went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.” They were getting worse, and the next passage says, “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.”
Now, there is a remarkable sentence: “Whom Jezebel stirred up.” Ahab could have been a moderately good man with a good wife, for he was a notoriously weak man. But his wife was a strong woman, a woman of as strong character as is known to history. She wound him round her little finger: She was the boss of that house; an exceedingly imperious woman, raised as the proud princess, the daughter of the high priest of Astarte, and she determined that her religion should be the religion of Ahab and of Judah. She was utterly unscrupulous. A weak man if bossed by a good wife, may become passably good, but if the wife be both strong and evil, he will do more harm than if the evil came from himself. As Bismarck once said to a young diplomat who extenuated a mistake because it was not a crime: “You have done worse than commit a crime; you have blundered.”
Another incident bears relation to his irreverent character. This we find in 1Ki 16:34 : “In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho; he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub; according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand of Joshua the son of Nun.” Now, in the history of Joshua we find that when he destroyed Jericho, he pronounced this curse on it: “Whoever shall rebuild Jericho shall lay its foundation in the blood of his firstborn.” Ahab and Omri were builders; they built cities. So this Hiel in his day, that lived at Bethel, one of the cities of calf worship, concluded to rebuild the city of Jericho, which commanded the fords of Jordan, and was an exceedingly strong place. The Bible does not tell how, but in some way, God fulfilled the prophecy on him. Maybe in laying the foundation a stone crushed his first-born. Anyhow, before he got through with the building, all of his sons were dead.
The following lessons may be deducted from this incident: First, never embark on an enterprise that will cost you your dearest. I put my finger on that passage once and said to a church member who was keeping a retail liquor store, “You will lay the foundation of your financial success in the blood of your children.” Not more than a week after that two drunken men in that saloon got to fighting and his son was killed, accidentally shot in the fight. Be careful that you do nothing that will entail a curse on your boy or the sweet little girl to come after you. I think it is a great lesson.
Another great lesson is to note how remarkable is the word of God. Ages had passed away since the blowing of rams’ horns when the walls of Jericho fell down, and Joshua lifted up his hands and pronounced that curse on the man who should rebuild it. And that word of God lay there quiescent in ambush, but rose up to life and smote to death the children of a man that many centuries after tried to fight Jehovah’s dictum. Julian, the apostate Roman emperor, read the prophecy about the walls of Jerusalem. He sneeringly put his finger on the passage in the prophecy, and said, “I will show you that this prophecy is a liar.” He sent a vast number of men to go and rebuild the wall am simply quoting Gibbon the infidel historian and fire came out and devoured the men so that they left off the building of the wall. And consequently, when Julian was dying he used this language: “Thou Galilean, hast conquered,” referring to Jesus. That reminds us of the passage in Acts: Herod slew James and imprisoned Peter, and put on a robe and made himself out to be God. The record says that the worms ate up Herod, but the word of God prevailed and multiplied. So we do not need to be very uneasy, fearing the destruction of the word of God.
The next wicked act of Ahab belongs to the history here, but is recorded elsewhere. It is found in 1Ki 19 : “And Elijah said, And the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, torn down thine altars, and have slain thy prophets with a sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away.” That was one of the bitterest religious persecutions known in the history of the world.
I close this chapter with a touching incident of this great persecution. It is found in 1Ki 18 : “Now Obadiah, the master of the household of Ahab, feared the Lord greatly, for it was so that when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.” That verse is like an oasis in the desert, that little incident, and when we read the history of the Albigenses, the Waldenses, the Hugenots, the Dutch, and the Scotch, and of any other people, suffering religious persecution, we find some brave, bold man or woman that harbors these fugitives from the vengeance of the persecuting power; that opens the door to them; feeds them and takes care of them, though done under the penalty of death. It was the custom of the popes, when persecuting a people, to put a curse on any who sheltered them: “No man shall shelter him, no man shall give him a loaf of bread to eat, or even a drop of cold water.” But this Obadiah, the master of the household of Ahab, in his heart, loved Jehovah. Now, when it comes to secreting men in two caves, fifty in each, and secretly getting food to them, knowing that everything he did put his life in hazard say, it is better to know of a man of that sort than to know of the conquests of military heroes his record is worthy of going into history. There are many things in history we could afford to leave out, but we want everything of that kind on record.
In this great extremity, a mighty instrument of protest and reformation did the Lord raise up. He is the hero of the next chapter: “Elijah the Tishbite.”
QUESTIONS
1. What three dynasties only of Israel were makers of history?
2. How many of all the kings of Israel were appointed by Jehovah?
3. How did the rest of them come to the throne?
4. What are the scriptural sources for a sketch of Omri, the sixth king of Israel, and how did his house arise?
5. What other sources of material for a sketch of Omri, and what is the additional information?
6. What was the character of Omri?
7. What is the meaning of “vanities” as used here and most everywhere else in the Old Testament?
8. Why did Omri seek affinity with Phoenicia and Judah by marriage and how was it affected?
9. What was the character of Ahab, his son, and what the greatest influence in his life for evil?
10. What other incident bears relation to his irreverent character?
11. What lessons may be deduced from this incident?
12. What was the next wicked act of Ahab?
13. Relate a touching incident of this great persecution?
14. In this great extremity what mighty instrument of protest?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Mic 6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
Ver. 16. For the statutes of Omri are kept ] Subest verbis hisce sarcasmus. Here the prophet taunteth them for their idolatry; and telleth them plainly what will be the issue of it: q.d. You think you deal wisely and take a safe course for yourselves, that together with Ephraim you are joined to idols, and have such great names as Omri and Ahab to countenance you therein. Omri’s statutes can be observed when mine lie neglected.
“ Haec tibi pro vili, sub pedibusque iacent ”( Ovid).
The works of the house of Ahab, that non-such, can be imitated, and their counsels embraced, when my work lies undone, and my counsel is rejected, Luk 7:30 . “Full well” ( , sane, bene ) “ye reject the commandment of God” (being ingrati gratiae Dei, unthankful of the grace of God, as Ambrose speaketh), “that ye may keep your own tradition,” Mar 7:9 . And do not the Papists even the very same at this day. The Pope’s canons are kept exactly, and all the rites of the Church of Rome; they walk in the track of the Trent conventicle, and hold it worse to deface an idol than to kill a man; to eat flesh or eggs on a fasting day than to commit incest; to work on a holy day than to break the sabbath. There is no command of the moral law but they can dispense with it; but none of their ceremonial laws. Let God (say they, profanely) look to the breach of his own law; we will look to ours.
That I should make thee a desolation
Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the statutes. Hebrew. hukkoth = in a religious sense (Lev 20:8. 2Ki 17:34. Jer 10:3).
of Omri. Compare 1Ki 16:31, 1Ki 16:32, as to the worship of Baal.
kept = strictly kept. Compare Hos 5:4.
the house of Ahab. Compare 1Ki 16:30. &c.; Mic 21:25, Mic 21:26. See App-65.
that I should make, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 28:37).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the statutes of Omri are kept: or, he doth much keep the, etc. 1Ki 16:25-30, Hos 5:11
the works: 1Ki 16:30-33, 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 21:25, 1Ki 21:26, 2Ki 16:3, 2Ki 21:3, Isa 9:16, Rev 2:20
ye walk: Psa 1:1, Jer 7:24
that: 1Ki 9:8, 2Ch 29:8, 2Ch 29:9, 2Ch 34:25, Jer 18:15, Jer 18:16, Jer 19:8, Jer 21:8, Jer 21:9, Eze 8:17, Eze 8:18
desolation: or, astonishment
therefore: Psa 44:13, Isa 25:8, Jer 51:51, Lam 5:1, Eze 39:26, Dan 9:16
Reciprocal: Exo 1:17 – feared God 1Sa 22:18 – he fell 1Ki 14:16 – who did sin 1Ki 16:16 – Omri 1Ki 19:10 – thrown down 1Ki 21:11 – did as Jezebel 2Ki 8:18 – the house 2Ki 17:8 – of the kings of Israel 2Ki 18:10 – they took it 2Ki 23:19 – the kings 2Ch 12:1 – all Israel 2Ch 21:14 – thy people 2Ch 22:5 – He walked 2Ch 28:19 – because of Ahaz 2Ch 33:9 – made Judah Job 27:23 – hiss him Job 34:30 – General Psa 12:8 – wicked Psa 94:20 – frameth Isa 10:1 – them Isa 17:9 – General Jer 9:11 – desolate Jer 49:17 – shall hiss Jer 51:37 – an hissing Lam 2:15 – they Dan 3:4 – it is commanded Hos 7:1 – the iniquity Hos 7:3 – General Hos 10:6 – ashamed Hos 13:16 – Samaria Act 4:19 – to hearken
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mic 6:16. Statutes of Omri. He was not the only wicked king in Israel and I know of no special reason for citing him in this connection. It might be suggested, however, that he was the one who founded the City of Samaria a,s the final and permanent capital of the 10-tribe kingdom (1Ki 16:16). and a reference to that city in connection with the national policy was afterward a suggestion of evil. As a punishment for the keeping of the wicked statutes of Omri which he had adopted from Ahab, another wicked king, the Lord threatened to overthrow his people with desolation. That fact would be pleasing in the eyes of the heathen and cause them to hiss and reproach God’s people.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mic 6:16. For the statutes of Omri are kept An idolatrous king, of whom it is said, 1Ki 16:25, that he did worse than all that were before him, and therefore we may judge of the corruption of the people who imitated the example, and followed the institutions of such a one. By his statutes, seem to be intended some idolatrous rites, which he instituted while he was king of Israel. And all the works of the house of Ahab, &c. Ahab was the son of Omri, and exceeded his father and all his predecessors in impiety. He did more (it is said, 1Ki 16:33) to provoke the Lord God than all the kings of Israel that were before him. For he not only walked in the sins of Jeroboam, who instituted the worship of the golden calves, under which idolatrous representation Jehovah was worshipped, but he also went and served Baal, a false god, and built a house, or temple, and erected an altar for him in Samaria, &c., 1Ki 16:30-33. But, impious as Ahab was, he found imitators, not only in Israel, where he had power to command, but also in Judah. It is said, The works of the house of Ahab, because all his posterity followed his example in idolatry. And we learn, 2Ki 21:3, that even the king of Judah, Manasseh, reared up an altar for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel. That I should make thee a desolation The event will be, that the country and city shall be laid desolate; and the inhabitants thereof a hissing That is, a subject of scorn and derision to their enemies. Therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people This is addressed to the rich men, spoken of Mic 6:12, and the meaning is, that the people in general should reproach them with being the principal cause of their calamities and desolation.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:16 For the {m} statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
(m) You have received all the corruption and idolatry with which the ten tribes were infected under Omri and Ahab his son: and to excuse your doings, you allege the King’s authority by his statutes, and also wisdom and policy in so doing, but you will not escape punishment. But as I have shown you great favour, and taken you for my people, so will your plagues be according as your sins; Lu 12:47 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The people of Judah were living like their brethren in Israel who followed the instructions of the wicked Israelite kings Omri, Ahab, and their descendants. This group of Israel’s kings constituted some of the worst in the history of the Northern Kingdom largely because of their idolatry and unjust oppression of the weak (cf. 1Ki 16:21 to 1Ki 22:40). Micah emphasized Israel’s social sins more than idolatry, about which Isaiah had more to say, though there is a close relationship between both types of sin. Because of this wickedness Yahweh promised to turn the residents of Jerusalem over to destruction. Even though they were His people, they would become objects of horror and scorn by other nations.
"Loss of reputation is ever the final indignity which rubs salt into the wounds of suffering." [Note: Allen, p. 382.]