Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 7:16
The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
16. confounded at all their might ] Ashamed because all their might has come to nothing.
lay their hand upon their mouth ] A mark of reverence; comp. Job 21:5, Isa 52:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The nations shall see – God had answered, what He would give to His own people, to see. Micah takes up the word, and says, what effect this sight should have upon the enemies of God and of His people. The world should still continue to be divided between the people of God and their adversaries. Those who are converted pass from the one to the other; but the contrast remains. Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, pass away or become subject to other powers; but the antagonism continues. The nations are they, who, at each time, waste, oppress, are arrayed against, the people of God. When the Gospel came into the world, the whole world was arrayed against it. These then, he says, shall see, that is, the marvelous works of God, which God should shew His people, and be ashamed at, that is, because of all their might, their own might. They put forth their whole might, and it failed them against the marvelous might of God. They should array might against might, and be ashamed at the failure of all their might.
The word all is very emphatic; it implies that they had put forth all, and that all had failed them, and proved to be weakness. So the pagan might was often put to shame and gnashed its teeth, when it could avail nothing against the strength to endure which God gave to His martyrs. Its strength to inflict and to crush was baffled before the hidden might of Gods Spirit. They shall lay their hand upon their mouth, in token that they were reduced to silence, having no more to say ; for He promised, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist (Luk 21:15, compare Act 5:29); and they had to own, indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them, and we cannot deny it. Their ears shall be deaf Act 4:16; they shall be silent, as though they had heard nothing, as if they were both dumb and deaf .
Yet it seems too that they are willfully deaf, shutting their ears out of envy and hatred, that they might not hear what great things God had done for His people, nor hear the voice of truth and be converted and healed. Rup.: The nations and the Emperors of the nations saw, Jews and Gentiles saw, and were ashamed at all their might, because their might, great as it was accounted, upheld by laws and arms, could not overcome the mighty works, which the Good Shepherd did among His people or flock by His rod, that is, by His power, through weak and despised persons, the aged, or oftentimes even by boys and girls. They were then ashamed at all their might which could only touch the earthen vessels 2Co 4:7, but could not take away the treasure which was in them. What shall I say of the wisdom of those same nations? Of this too they were ashamed, as he adds, They shall put their hands upon their mouths. For, in comparison with the heavenly wisdom, which spake by them and made their tongues eloquent, dumb was all secular eloquence, owning by its silence that it was convicted and confounded.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. The nations shall see and be confounded] Whether the words in these verses (Mic 7:15-17) be applied to the return from the Babylonish captivity, or to the prosperity of the Jews under the Maccabees, they may be understood as ultimately applicable to the final restoration of this people, and their lasting prosperity under the Gospel.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The nations; the heathen, enemies to the Jews, as Psa 126:1-3.
Shall see and be confounded; amazed at what they see and know done amongst these nations for the deliverance of his people. The enemy shall neither be able to bear the sight, nor deny the certainly of the thing; it will make them enviously look on the prosperity of the good and godly among the Jews.
They shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf: as men seldom fail to hear the first report of what they desire, and as seldom open their ears to that they like not; so shall, it be here, though they will not speak of it, nor desire others should speak of it, yet they should, to their great grief, see their poor captives raised out of depth of shame to the height of honour, from a contemptible remnant to a mighty nation. As this had its typical complement in the reduction of Israel out of Babylon, so it had its antitypical completion in our redemption by Christ. As 1Co 2:9.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. shall seethe “marvellousthings” (Mic 7:15; Isa 26:11).
confounded at all theirmighthaving so suddenly proved unavailing: that mightwherewith they had thought that there is nothing which they could noteffect against God’s people.
lay . . . hand upon . . .mouththe gesture of silence (Job 21:5;Job 40:4; Psa 107:42;Isa 52:15). They shall be struckdumb at Israel’s marvellous deliverance, and no longer boast thatGod’s people is destroyed.
ears . . . deafTheyshall stand astounded so as not to hear what shall be said [GROTIUS].Once they had eagerly drunk in all rumors as so many messages ofvictories; but then they shall be afraid of hearing them, becausethey continually fear new disasters, when they see the God of Israelto be so powerful [CALVIN].They shall close their ears so as not to be compelled to hear ofIsrael’s successes.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might,…. The Chaldeans or Babylonians, when they shall see the wonderful things done by the Lord in the deliverance of his people out of their hands, shall be ashamed of their own power and might, in which they trusted, and of which they boasted; but now shall be baffled and defeated, and not able to stop the progress of the arms of Cyrus, or detain the Jews any longer their captives; or they shall be confounded at the power and strength the Jews will have to repossess their land, rebuild their city and temple, under the encouragement and protection of the king of Persia; and as this may refer to a further accomplishment in Gospel times, it may respect the confusion the Gentile world would be in at the mighty power and spread of the Gospel, in the conversion of such multitudes by it, and in the abolition of the Pagan religion. Kimchi interprets this of the nations that shall be gathered together with Gog and Magog against Jerusalem in the latter day; see
Eze 38:15;
they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth: be silent, and boast no more of themselves; nor blaspheme God and his word; nor insult his people; nor oppose his Gospel, or open their mouths any more against his truths and his ordinances:
their ears shall be deaf; hearing so much of the praises of God, of the success of his interest, and of the happiness of his peopled dinned in their ears, they will be stunned with it, and scarce know what they hear; become deaf with the continual noise of it, which will be disagreeable to them; and will choose to hear no more, and therefore through envy and grief will stop their ears at what is told them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here again the Prophet shows, that though the Church should be assailed on every side and surrounded by innumerable enemies, no doubt ought yet to be entertained respecting the promised aid of God; for it is in his power to make all nations ashamed, that is, to cast down all the pride of the world, so as to make the unbelieving to acknowledge at length that they were elated by an empty confidence. Hence he says, that the nations shall see; as though he said, “I know what makes you anxious, for many enemies are intent on your ruin; and when any help appears, they are immediately prepared fiercely to resist; but their attempts and efforts will not prevent God from delivering you.”
They shall then see and be ashamed of all their strength (198) By these words the Prophet means, that however strongly armed the unbelieving may think themselves to be to destroy the Church, and that how many obstacles soever they may have in their power to restrain the power of God in its behalf, yet the whole will be in vain, for God will, in fact, prove that the strength of men is mere nothing.
He adds, They shall lay their hand on their mouth; that is, they shall not dare to boast hereafter, as they have hitherto done; for this phrase in Hebrew means to be silent. Since then the enemies of the Church made great boastings and exulted with open mouth, as though the people of God were destroyed, the Prophet says, that when God would appear as the Redeemer of his people, they should become, as it were, mute. He subjoins, their ears shall become deaf; (199) that is, they shall stand astounded; nay, they shall hardly dare to open their ears, lest the rumor, brought to them, should occasion to them new trembling. Proud men, we know, when matters succeed according to their wishes, not only boast of their good fortune with open mouths, but also greedily catch at all rumors; for as they think they are all so many messages of victories, — “What is from this place? or what is from that place?” They even expect that the whole world will come under their power. The Prophet, on the other hand, says, “They shall lay the hand on the mouth, and their ears shall become deaf; that is they shall tremblingly shun all rumors, for they shall continually dread new calamities, when they shall see that the God of Israel, against who they have hitherto fought, is armed with so much power.
Some apply this to the preaching of the Gospel; which I readily allow, provided the deliverance be made always to begin with the ancient people: for if any one would have this to be understood exclusively of Christ, such a strained and remote exposition would not be suitable. But if any one will consider the favor of God, as continued from the return of the people to the restoration effected by Christ, he will rightly comprehend the real design of the Prophet. Really fulfilled, then, is what the Prophet says here, when God spreads the doctrine of his Gospel through the whole world: for those who before boasted of their own inventions, begin then to close their mouth, that, being thus silent, they may become his disciples; and they also close their ears, for now they give not up themselves, as before, to foolish and puerile fables, but consecrate their whole hearing to the only true God, that they may attend only to his truth, and no more vacillate between contrary opinions. All this, I allow, is fulfilled under the preaching of the Gospel; but the Prophet, no doubt, connected together the whole time, from the return of the people from the Babylonian exile, to the manifestation of Christ.
(198) “They shall be ashamed of the strength in which they trusted,” — Drusius; or as Grotius says, “of all their strength which had been so suddenly destroyed;” or, as another author says, “of all their strength when found ineffectual for the purpose of destroying the people of God.” — Ed.
(199) “Malice,” says Jerome, “not only blinds the eyes, but also deafens the ears.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Micah Then Outlines What The Effect Will Be On The Nations As A Result Of What YHWH Will Do ( Mic 7:16-17 )
What YHWH will do will amaze the nations and will also make them ashamed of their belligerence. Thus they will come to Him with no vaunted claims of their own, and will submit to Him, and know the fear of YHWH.
Mic 7:16-17
The nations will see,
And they will be ashamed of all their might,
They will lay their hand upon their mouth,
Their ears will be deaf.
‘They will lick the dust like a serpent,
Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places,
They will come with fear to YHWH our God,
And will be afraid because of you.’
Before the glorious revelation of YHWH, especially as revealed in the coming of His Messiah as healer, wonder worker and Saviour, the nations will be ashamed of their weapons and their armed might, they will lay their hands on their mouths so as to express their awe (‘God is in Heaven and we are on the earth, therefore let your words be few’ – Ecc 5:2), not daring to speak, they will close their ears to the externalities of the world, they will humble themselves as the serpent was humbled in Eden (Gen 3:14), they will recognise their lowliness before Him as they creep out of their ‘hiding places’ into His light, and they will come with fear to YHWH, and will fear the people of God. The picture is of the Gentiles responding to the message of Christ, and submitting at His feet
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mic 7:16. The nations shall see The prophet speaks here, to the end of the chapter; foretelling the miracles of the rising church, and the pardon of sins to be given by the Lord Jesus Christ. See Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mic 7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
Ver. 16. The nations shall see and be confounded ] Considering how I have defeated and befooled them, how I have made all their might to melt and moulder, they shall stand amazed, and be made a common table talk; as Belshazzar and the Babylonians were, when Cyrus (God’s servant) suddenly brake in upon them and surprised their city, which they held insuperable: and as the heathen emperors of Rome were, when the Christians, under the conduct of Constantine, carried it against them.
They shall lay their hand upon their mouth
Their ears shall be deaf
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lay their hand, &c Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for silence, of which it was the token their ears. Some codices, with four early printed and sign. See Job 21:5; Job 29:9; Job 40:4.
their ears. Some codices, with lour early printed editions, read “and their”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
nations: Mic 5:8, Psa 126:2, Isa 26:11, Isa 66:18, Eze 38:23, Eze 39:17-21, Zec 8:20-23, Zec 12:9, Rev 11:18
lay: Job 21:5, Job 29:9, Job 29:10, Job 40:4, Isa 52:15, Rom 3:19
Reciprocal: Jdg 18:19 – lay thine Neh 2:10 – it grieved Pro 14:19 – General Pro 30:32 – lay Jer 33:9 – fear Jer 46:22 – voice Mic 4:3 – and rebuke Zep 3:15 – he hath Zec 10:6 – I will strengthen Zec 12:8 – he Zec 14:12 – the plague wherewith Act 13:17 – and with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mic 7:16. In view of the comparatively small number in Israel at the time of the release, it will be a surprise to see their accomplishments. Lag their hand upon their month indicates that the circumstance will be so marvelous in the eyes of the heathen that they will not be able to say anything.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall {p} lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, {q} their ears shall be deaf.
(p) They will be as dumb men, and dare brag no more.
(q) They will be astonished and afraid to hear men speak, lest they should hear of their destruction.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Gentile nations will observe this miracle and feel ashamed because they will realize that all their might is inferior to God’s power demonstrated in bringing Israel home (cf. Mic 7:7; Mic 3:7). They will not want to speak out against Yahweh or Israel because of reverence and awe or hear any more about what God is doing for His people, apparently because His power will be so overwhelming.