Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 26:18
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed [like] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
18. Micaiah ] So MT. reads in its text. Micah in its mg. is of course the Minor Prophet.
Morashtite ] native of Morsheth, a small town near Gath, about 23 miles S.W. of Jerusalem.
Zion shall be plowed, etc.] Mic 3:12; the only citation by name of another prophet’s utterance in the whole of prophetic literature.
the mountain of the house ] i.e. the Temple, as standing on Mount Moriah.
as the high places of a forest ] better, wooded heights. “The temple mount shall be overgrown with low brushwood.” C.B. (Cheyne) on Micah, l.c.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 18. Micah the Morasthite] The same as stands among the prophets. Now all these prophesied as hard things against the land as Jeremiah has done; yet they were not put to death, for the people saw that they were sent of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This was that
Micah whose prophecies are part of holy writ, as appeareth by Mic 1:1; 3:12, where are the very words of the prophecy here mentioned. The substance of that prophecy was the same with this of Jeremiah, that Zion should be ploughed up, and the place where the temple stood should become so desolate that trees should grow there, as in a wood or forest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. (Mic3:12).
Morasthitecalled sofrom a village of the tribe Judah.
HezekiahThe precedentin the reign of such a good king proved that Jeremiah was not theonly prophet, or the first, who threatened the city and the templewithout incurring death.
mountain of the houseMoriah,on which stood the temple (peculiarly called “the house”)shall be covered with woods instead of buildings. Jeremiah, inquoting previous prophecies, never does so without alteration; headapts the language to his own style, showing thereby his authorityin his treatment of Scripture, as being himself inspired.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah,…. Or, Micah of Maresha, as the Targum. Mareshah was a city of the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:44; the native place, of this prophet; who appears, by the following quotation, to be the same Micah that stands among the minor prophets; and who is also so called, and lived in the times of Hezekiah, Mic 1:1;
and spake to all the people of Judah; very openly and publicly, and just as Jeremiah had done, Jer 26:2;
saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be ploughed [like] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps; Mount Zion, on part of which the temple was built, and on the other the city of David, together with the city of Jerusalem, should be so demolished, as that they might be ploughed, and become a tillage; as the Jews say they were by Terentius, or Turnus Rufus, as they call him, after their last destruction by the Romans:
and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest; covered with grass and shrubs, and thorns and briers; even Mount Moriah, on which the temple stood, which is designed by the house; and so the Targum calls it the house of the sanctuary. Now this was saying as much against the city and temple as Jeremiah did; and was said in the days of a good king too, who encouraged a reformation, and carried it to a great pitch. See Mic 3:12.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We ought to notice the time, for it might seem strange, that when that holy king was anxiously engaged in promoting the true worship of God, things were in so disordered a state as to call for so severe a denunciation. If there ever was a king really and seriously devoted to the cause of religion, doubtless he was the first and chief exemplar; he spared no labor, he never seemed to shun any danger or trouble, whenever religion required this; but we find that however strenuously he labored, he could not by his zeal and perseverance succeed in making the whole people to follow him as their leader. What then must happen, when those who ought to shew the right way to others are indifferent and slothful? In the meantime the good princes were confirmed by the example of Hezekiah, so that they did not faint or fail in their minds when they saw that success did not immediately follow his labors, nor any fruit. For it is a grievous trial, and what shakes even the most courageous, when they think that their efforts are vain, that their labors are useless, yea, that they spend their time to no purpose, and thus it happens that many retrograde. But this example of Hezekiah ought to be remembered by them, so that they may still go on, though no hope of a prosperous issue appears; for Hezekiah did not desist, though Satan in various ways put many hinderances in the way, and even apparently upset all his labors, so that they produced no fruit. So much as to the time that is mentioned.
The elders said, that Micah had spoken to the whole people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, Sion, shall be plowed as a field, We have already seen on what occasion it was that Micah spoke with so much severity; it was when hypocrites set up their false confidence and falsely assumed the name of God, as though they held him bound to themselves. For you, he said, Sion shall be plowed as a field He began with the temple, and then he added, and Jerusalem shall be in heaps, or a solitude; and lastly, he said, and the mountain, of the house, that is, of the temple, etc. He repeated what he had just said, for what else was the mountain of the temple but Sion? But as this prediction could have hardly been believed by the Jews, the Prophet, for the sake of confirmation, said the same thing twice. We hence conclude that it was not a superfluous repetition, but that he might shake with terror the hypocrites, who had hardened themselves against God’s threatenings, and thought themselves safe, though the whole world went to ruin.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Micah the Morasthite.On the general history and work of this prophet, see Introduction to Micah. The Hebrew text gives Micaiah, the two forms being (as in Jdg. 17:1; Jdg. 17:4, compared with 5, 12), in the Hebrew interchangeable. The epithet indicated his birth in Moresheth-gath in Philistia (Mic. 1:14). As Micah had prophesied under Jotham and Ahaz (Mic. 1:1), the prediction here referred to must have been delivered towards the close of his ministry. The words cited are from Mic. 3:12, and immediately precede the prediction of an ultimate restoration of Judah in the last days in Mic. 4:1-2, which we find in identical terms in Isa. 2:2-3. Here, then, was a case, is the implied argument of the elders, in which a threat did its work, and therefore was not fulfilled. It did good, and not evil. The phrase mountain of the house is not found elsewhere in Jeremiah as a description of the Temple.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Micah the Morasthite See Mic 3:12. The name stands in the original in its full form, Micajah who is like God? He is called the “Morasthite” from the place of his residence, Morasheth. The pertinence of the reference consists in this, that predictions of evil against the holy place are not without distinguished precedent, and even good Hezekiah was not above taking warning from them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 26:18. Micah the Morasthite The village of Morasthus or Maresa, was in the tribe of Judah. Micah was the author of that prophesy which we have now among the twelve minor prophets. The Jews supposed his prophesy to have been fulfilled in the utter destruction of the second temple by Titus, when Terentius razed the very foundations of the city and temple, and by that means fulfilled the prediction of our Blessed Saviour, that there should not be one stone left upon another.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 26:18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed [like] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
Ver. 18. Micah the Morashite. ] See on Mic 1:1 .
Zion shall be ploughed like a field.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Micah. The prophet whose book is called after his name. Contemporary with Hosea and Amos in Israel, and with Isaiah in Judah. See App-77.
the LORD of hosts. See note on Jer 6:6. 1Sa 1:3.
Zion shall be plowed, &c. See note on Mic 3:12. A prophecy which was wholly fulfilled as to the Jewish Zion (south of Moriah), but not as to the traditional Zion, south-west of Jerusalem. See App-68.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mic 3:12
Micah: Mic 1:1
Zion: Josephus relates that Titus, after he had taken Jerusalem, ordered his soldiers to demolish it, except three of the largest and most beautiful towers, and the western wall of the city; all the rest was levelled, so that they who had never before seen it, could scarcely persuade themselves it had been inhabited. The Jewish writers also inform us, that Turnus Rufus, whom Titus had left in command, ploughed up the very foundations of the temple. When Dr. Richardson visited this sacred spot in 1818, he found one part of Mount Zion supporting a crop of barley, and another undergoing the labour of the plough: the soil turned up consisted of stone and lime mixed with earth, such as is usually met with in foundations of ruined cities. It is nearly a mile in circumference; is highest on the west side, and, towards the east, falls down in broad terraces on the upper part of the mountain as it slopes down toward the brook Kidron.
Jerusalem: See note on Jer 9:11, Jer 51:37, 2Ki 19:25, Neh 4:2, Psa 79:1
the mountain: Jer 17:3, Isa 2:2, Isa 2:3, Mic 4:1, Zec 8:3
Reciprocal: 1Ki 9:7 – this house 2Ki 20:14 – What said 1Ch 21:15 – unto Jerusalem 2Ch 32:26 – Hezekiah Job 15:28 – which are ready Psa 137:3 – wasted us Isa 3:8 – Jerusalem Isa 27:10 – the defenced Jer 7:14 – as Jer 22:6 – surely Jer 39:16 – Behold Lam 2:7 – cast off Dan 9:2 – the desolations Hos 2:12 – I will Mic 6:9 – Lord’s Hag 1:4 – and Mat 24:2 – There Mar 13:2 – there Mar 14:57 – and bare Luk 21:6 – there Act 6:14 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 26:18. The elders took up the case in behalf of Jeremiah and supported their position by citing a case in the history of their nation. They referred to Micah who prophesied against Jerusalem in (he days of He zekiah the king. That prophecy may be read in the book that bears his name (Jer 3:12).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
26:18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed [like] a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the {i} house as the high places of the forest.
(i) That is, of the House of the Lord, that is, Zion, and these examples the godly alleged to deliver Jeremiah out of the priests hands, whose rage else would not have been satisfied but by his death.