Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 7:17
They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
17. they shall move out of their holes ] Rather, ‘they shall come trembling out of their fastnesses’ (same word as in Psa 18:46, where A. V. ‘close places’).
like worms ] Lit., ‘like creepers’ (or rather, trailers). The same term occurs in Deu 32:24.
they shall be afraid of ] Rather, ‘they shall turn with shuddering towards.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They shall lick the dust like a (the) serpent – To lick the dust, by itself, pictures the extreme humility of persons who east themselves down to the very earth (as in Psa 72:9; Isa 49:23). To lick it like the serpent seems rather to represent the condition of those who share the serpents doom Gen 3:14; Isa 65:25, whose lot, viz. earth and things of earth, they had chosen (Rup.): They shall move out of their holes, or, better, shall tremble, (that is, come tremblingly,) out of their close places , whether these be strong places or prisons, as the word, varied in one vowel means. If it be strong places, it means, that the enemies of Gods people should, in confusion and tumltuously with fear, leave their strongholds, wherein they thought to be secure, not able to lift themselves up against God and those by Him sent against them. Like worms of the earth, literally, creeping things, or, as we say, reptiles, contemptuously. They shall be afraid of, or rather come trembling to, the Lord our God; it is uot said their, but our God, who hath done so great things for us. And shall fear because of (literally, from) Thee, O Lord, of whom they had before said, Where is the Lord thy God?
It is doubtful, whether these last words express a servile tear, whereby a man turns away and flees from the person or thing which he fears, or whether they simply describe fear of God, the first step toward repentance. In Hoseas words, they shall fear toward the Lord and His goodness Hos 3:5, the addition, and His goodness, determines the character of the fear. In Micah, it is not said that the fear brings them into any relation to God. lie is not spoken of; as becoming, any how, their God, and Micah closes by a thanksgiving, for Gods pardoning mercy, not to them but to His people.
And so the prophet ends, as he began, with the judgments of God; to those who would repent, chastisement, to the impenitent, punishment: sentencing Samaria, guilty and not repenting (Rup.), to perpetual captivity; to Jerusalem, guilty but repenting, promising restoration. So from the beginning of the world did God; so doth He; so shall He unto the end. So did He show Himself to Cain and Abel, who both, as we all, sinned in Adam. Cain, being impenitent, lie wholly cast away; Abel, being penitent, and through faith offering a better sacrifice than Cain, and bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance, He accepted. So He hath foreshown as to the end Matt. 25. Rup.: And that we may know how uniformly our Judge so distinguisheth, at the very moment of His own death while hanging between the two thieves, the one, impenitent and blaspheming, He left; to the other, penitent and confessing, He opened the gate of paradise; and, soon after, leaving the Jewish people unrepentant, He received the repentance of the Gentiles. Thus the prophet parts with both out of sight; the people of God, feeding on the rich. bounty and abundance of God, and His marvelous gifts of grace above and beyond nature, multiplied to them above all the wonders of old time; the enemies of Gods people looking on, not to, admire, but to be ashamed, not to be healthfully ashamed, but to be willfully deaf to the voice of God. For, however to lay the hand on the mouth might be a token of reverent silence, the deafness of the ears can hardly be other than the emblem of hardened obstinacy.
What follows, then, seems more like the unwilling creeping-forth into the Presence of God, when they cannot keep away, than conversion. It seems to picture the reprobate, who would not hear the Voice of the Son of God and live Joh 5:25, but who, in the end, shall be forced to hear it out of their close places or prisons, that is, the grave, and come forth in fear, when they shall say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us Luk 23:30; Rev 6:16. Thus the prophet brings us to the close of all things, the gladness and joy of Gods people, the terror of His enemies, and adds only the song of thanksgiving of all the redeemed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
They, the proud and cruel enemies of Israel, the Babylonians, shall lick the dust; in the most submissive, servile manner testify their subjection, promise to serve and honour the Jews released out of captivity: it is an expression which alludes to the servile manner of those Eastern complimenters, Psa 72:9; Isa 49:23, and was fulfilled in the days after the return. when the kings of Persia favoured the Jews, and (as the manner of courtiers is) in compliance with their kings the grandees forwarded the prosperity of the Jews, as may easily be conjectured from the 6th and 7th chapters of Ezra.
Like a serpent; condemned to eat the dust and perpetually to crawl on the dust; it seems to intimate. the perpetuity of slavery and subjection that the enemy should fall under, and that it should be on them as a curse like that on the serpent.
They shall move out of their holes, so the strong holds and fastnesses of the Babylonians, who kept Israel in captivity, are called, like worms of the earth; which do with trembling and haste wriggle themselves out of their holes when the earth is shaken about them, or as when ants tumultuously in their fright run about from the ant-hill scattered with the foot; so should these enemies of Israel flee out of their holds, and leave them to conquering Persians, as Isaiah foretold, Isa 45:1-4.
They shall be afraid; a panic fear, expressed by the loosening of the loins of kings, Isa 45:1; so did the conquering Cyrus proceed in the course of his victories, as Isa 41:2,3, God strengthened his arm, and left the heart of Babylonians sinking within them.
Of the Lord our God; who did powerfully work for Cyrus in order to the delivering us out of captivity. It was our God, (saith the prophet in the person of Israel,) for his promise sake made to us, who did those great things by Cyrus and for us.
And shall fear because of thee; so that the name of Jews, their power and greatness shall be terrible to their enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. lick the dustin abjectprostration as suppliants (Ps 72:9;compare Isa 49:23; Isa 65:25).
move out of their holesAsreptiles from their holes, they shall come forth from theirhiding-places, or fortresses (Ps18:45), to give themselves up to the conquerors. More literally,”they shall tremble from,” that is, tremblingly come forthfrom their coverts.
like wormsreptiles orcrawlers (De 32:24).
they shall be afraid of theLordor, they shall in fear turn with haste to the Lord.Thus the antithesis is brought out. They shall tremble forth fromtheir holes: they shall in trepidation turn to the Lord forsalvation (compare Note, see on Ho3:5, and Jer 33:9).
fear because of theeshallfear Thee, Jehovah (and so fear Israel as under Thy guardianship).There is a change here from speaking of God to speaking toGod [MAURER]. Or rather,”shall fear thee, Israel” [HENDERSON].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They shall lick the dust like a serpent,…. Whose food is the dust of the earth, according to the curse pronounced on it, Ge 3:14; and which is either its, natural food it chooses to live on, as some serpents however are said o to do; or, going upon its belly, it cannot but take in a good deal of the dust of the earth along with its food; and hereby is signified the low, mean, abject, and cursed estate and condition of the seed of the serpent, wicked and ungodly men, the enemies of Christ and his people; who wilt be forced to yield subjection to him and his church, and will pretend the most profound respect for them, and the highest veneration of them. The allusion seems to be to the manner of the eastern nations, who, in complimenting their kings and great men, bowed so low to the ground with their faces, as to take up with their mouths the very dust of it. Particularly it is said of the Persians, that they first kiss the pavement on which the king treads, before they speak unto him, as Quistorpius on the place relates; and Valerius Maximus p says, that when Darius Hystaspis was declared king by the neighing of his horse, the rest of the six candidates alighted from their horses, and prostrated their bodies to the ground, as is the manner of the Persians, and saluted him king; and Herodotus q observes the same, custom among the Persians; and to this custom the poet Martial r refers; and Drusius says it is a custom in Asia to this day, that, when any go into the presence of a king, they kiss the ground, which is a token of the great veneration they have for him. The phrase is used of the enemies of the, Messiah, and of the converted Jews and Gentiles at the latter day, and is expressive of their great submission to them; see Ps 72:9;
they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth; who put out their heads and draw them in again upon the least notice or approach of danger; or like serpents, as Jarchi and Kimchi, which lurk in holes, and creep out of them oft their bellies, or any other creeping things. The word s here used signifies a tremulous and tumultuous motion, like the wriggling of a worm out of the earth; or the hurry of ants, when their nests are kicked or thrown up: this is expressive of the confusion and perturbation of the enemies of the Lord and his people; of the Babylonians, who were obliged in a hurry to leave their palaces, as the Targum and Aben Ezra interpret their holes, and their fortresses and towers, and deliver them to the Medes and Persians; and of Gog and Magog, and the antichristian states, who will be obliged to abandon their places of abode, and creep out of sight, and be reduced to the lowest and meanest condition;
they shall be afraid of the Lord our God: because of the glory of his majesty, the greatness of his power, and for fear of his judgments:
and shall fear because of thee; O God, or Israel, as Kimchi; the church of God, whom they despised and reproached before; but now shall be seized with a panic, and live in the utmost dread of, because of the power and glory of God in the midst of them, and lest they should fall a sacrifice to them.
o Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 1. c. 44. col. 27. p L. 7. c. 3. sect. 2. q Polymnia, sive l. 7. c. 12. r “Et turpes humilesque, supplicesque, Pictorum sola basiate regum”. Epigram. l. 10. Ep. 71. s “contremiscent”, Munster, Tigurine version, Cocceius; “frement, sive tumultuabuntur”, Calvin; “trepide prorepent”, Burkius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He afterwards adds, They shall lick the dust as a serpent He intimates, that however the enemies of the Church may have proudly exalted themselves before, they shall then be cast down, and lie, as it were, on the ground; for to lick the dust is nothing else but to lie prostrate on the earth. They shall then be low and creeping like serpents; and then, They shall move themselves as worms and reptiles of the ground The verb רגז, regez, as it has been stated elsewhere, means to raise an uproar, to tumultuate, and it means also to move one’s self; and this latter meaning is the most suitable here, namely, that they shall go forth or move themselves from their enclosures; for the word סגר, sager, signifies to close up: and by enclosures he means hiding-places, though in the song of David, in Psa 18:0 :, the word is applied to citadels and other fortified places, —
‘
Men,’ he says, ‘trembled from their fortresses;’
though they occupied well-fortified citadels, they yet were afraid, because the very fame of David had broken down their boldness. But as the Prophet speaks here of worms, I prefer this rendering, — ‘from their lurkingplaces;’ as though he said, “Though they have hitherto thought themselves safe in their enclosures, they shall yet move and flee away like worms and reptiles; for when the ground is dug, the worms immediately leap out, for they think that they are going to be taken; so also, when any one moves the ground, the reptiles come forth, and tremblingly run away in all directions.” And the Prophet says that, in like manner, the enemies of the Church, when the Lord shall arise for its help, shall be smitten with so much fear, that they shall in every direction run away. And this comparison ought to be carefully noticed, that is, when the Prophet compares powerful nations well exercised in wars, who before were audaciously raging, and were swollen with great pride — when he compares them to worms and reptiles of the ground, and also to serpents: he did this to show, that there will be nothing to hinder God from laying prostrate every exalted thing in the world, as soon as it shall please him to aid his Church.
And hence the Prophet adds, On account of Jehovah our God they shall treed, and they shall fear because of thee Here the Prophet shows, that the faithful ought not to distrust on account of their own weakness, but, on the contrary, to remember the infinite power of God. It is indeed right that the children of God should begin with diffidence, — sensible that they are nothing, and that all their strength is nothing; but they ought not to stop at their own weakness, but, on the contrary, to rise up to the contemplation of God’s power, that they may not doubt but that, when his power shall appear, their enemies shall be soon scattered. This is the reason why the Prophet here mentions the name of God, and then turns to address God himself. Tremble then shall they at Jehovah our God, that is, on account of Jehovah our God; and then Fear shall they because of thee. (200) It now follows —
(200) Dathius renders these two lines differently, “ Jovam Deum nostrum timebunt eumque reverebuntur — Jehovah our God they shall fear, and him will they reverence.” But this is neither consistent with the passage, nor with the form in which the words appear. פחד is not commonly, if ever, a transitive verb, and to dread, or to be afraid, and not to fear, is its usual meaning: and ירא, when it means the fear of reverence, is generally construed without a preposition, and with את before Jehovah. The literal rendering is no doubt that which is given by Calvin. The distich is capable of being rendered in Welsh exactly as in Hebrew, in the same form and with the same prepositions; and, when thus rendered, the meaning is what is give here, —
(lang. cy) Oherwydd Jehova ein Duw ur arswydant, — Ac ovnant rhagddot
To fear because of thee, and to fear thee, are two distinct things. You will have the first form in Jos 10:8; and the second in Deu 31:12. The first refers to the fear of the Canaanites, the dread of their power; the second, to the fear of Jehovah. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) They shall lick the dust like a serpent.The doom of the determined enemies of the Lord and His people recalls that of Satan, the great enemy, as personified by the serpent. Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life (Gen. 3:14).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mic 7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
Ver. 17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent ] That is, be reduced not only to extreme hunger and penury, but to utmost vility and baseness of condition, so as to lick the very dust. And whereas it is added, like a serpent, he puts them in mind of that old malediction, Gen. iii., and gives them to know, that as, like that old serpent, they have lifted themselves up against God, so will God cast them down again to the condition of serpents, and abase them to the very dust. See Psa 22:29 ; Psa 72:9 Isa 49:23 .
They shall move out of their holes like worms (or creeping things) of the earth] They shall tumultuate, and be all on a huddle, like ants when their molehill is thrown up with a spade. The Hebrew word imports great commotion and bustle.
They shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
lick the dust. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), for the utmost humiliation, as in Gen 3:14. Compare Psa 72:9. Isa 49:23.
move = come quaking.
holes = fastnesses. Hebrew. misgereth.
worms. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 32:24, the same word). Occurs only in these two places.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
lick: Gen 3:14, Gen 3:15, Psa 72:9, Isa 49:23, Isa 60:14, Isa 65:25, Lam 3:29, Rev 3:9
move: 1Sa 14:11, Psa 18:45, Jer 16:16
worms: or, creeping things
they shall be: Exo 15:14-16, Jos 2:9-11, Jos 9:24, Psa 9:20, Isa 2:19-21, Isa 64:2, Jer 33:9, Zec 14:5, Rev 6:15-17, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:10
Reciprocal: Lev 11:42 – goeth upon the belly Jos 10:16 – in a cave 2Sa 22:46 – out Neh 2:10 – it grieved Psa 102:9 – I Have Pro 14:19 – General Pro 30:32 – lay Isa 7:19 – in the holes Isa 52:15 – kings Mic 4:3 – and rebuke Nah 3:11 – thou shalt be hid Zep 3:15 – he hath Zec 14:12 – the plague wherewith
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mic 7:17. Lick the dust is a figurative prediction of the humiliation of the heathen nations when they see the triumph of Israel. Be afraid of the Lord our God means they will be stunned with awe and forced to respect the might of the God of Israel.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mic 7:17. They shall lick the dust like a serpent They shall fall to the earth through fear, and carry themselves very humbly and submissively toward Gods people. They shall move out of their holes like worms They shall be afraid to stir out of their lurking-holes; and if they creep out like worms, they shall presently hide their heads again. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God Overthrowing the Babylonish empire by Cyrus. This is expressed Isa 45:1, by loosing the loins of kings. And fear because of thee When they shall see Almighty God appear so conspicuously in thy favour. The text is parallel to that of Jer 33:9, They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and the prosperity that I procure unto it; that is, unto Jerusalem. Or, if the prophet be considered as addressing God, the meaning is, When they understand that it was long before denounced by the prophets that destruction should come upon them, and thy people be delivered, and they see all things tending to bring this to pass, then shall they begin to be afraid of thy power.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:17 They shall {r} lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
(r) They will fall flat on the ground because of fear.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
They will become as servile and humble as snakes. Licking the dust is a figure describing total defeat (cf. Gen 3:14; Psa 72:9 Isa 49:23; Isa 65:25). They will surrender to Yahweh, Israel’s God, and come before Him in fear and dread of what He will do to them (cf. Php 2:10).