Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 1:9
For her wound [is] incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem.
9. her wound ] Lit. her stripes. Samaria’s trouble is a chastisement (comp. Isa 1:3-4), but it is not Samaria’s trouble only. It has reached Jerusalem; hence the ‘incurableness’ of the ‘wound,’ for Jerusalem is the heart of the nation. The past tenses vividly express the certainty of the prophet’s intuition of the future.
he is come ] Or, it is come. The subject may be either the ‘stripe’ or the dealer of the stripe Jehovah.
the gate of my people ] Jerusalem is to the chosen people in general what the gate is to the city itself. The shady space in the city gate was the favourite place of meeting; so Jerusalem is the scene of ‘our solemn meetings’ (Isa 33:20), our religious and political centre.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For her – Samarias
Wound – o, (literally, her wounds, or strokes, (the word is used especially of those inflicted by God, (Lev 26:21; Num 11:33; Deu 28:59, Deu 28:61, etc.) each, one by one,) is incurable The idiom is used of inflictions on the body politic (Nahum 3 ult.; Jer 30:12, Jer 30:15) or the mind , for which there is no remedy. The wounds were very sick, or incurable, not in themselves or on Gods part, but on Israels. The day of grace passes away at last, when man has so steeled himself against grace, as to be morally dead, having deadened himself to all capacity of repentance.
For it is come unto – (quite up to) Judah; he, (the enemy,) is come (literally, hath reached, touched,) to (quite up to) the gate of my people, even to (quite up to) Jerusalem Jerome: The same sin, yea, the same punishment for sin, which overthrew Samaria, shall even come unto, quite up to Judah. Then the prophet suddenly changes the gender, and, as Scripture so often does, speaks of the one agent, the center and impersonation of the coming evil, as sweeping on over Judah, quite up to the gate of his people, quite up to Jerusalem. He does not say here, whether Jerusalem would be taken; and so, it seems likely that he speaks of a calamity short of excision. Of Israels wounds only he here says, that they are incurable; he describes the wasting of even lesser places near or beyond Jerusalem, the flight of their inhabitants. Of the capital itself he is silent, except that the enemy reached, touched, struck against it, quite up to it. Probably, then, he is here describing the first visitation of God, when 2Ki 18:13 Sennacherib came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, but Jerusalem was spared. Gods judgments come step by step, leaving time for repentance. The same enemy, although not the same king, came against Jerusalem who had wasted Samaria. Samaria was probably as strong as Jerusalem. Hezekiah prayed; God heard, the Assyrian army perished by miracle; Jerusalem was respited for 124 years.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Her wound is incurable] Nothing shall prevent their utter ruin, for they have filled up the measure of their iniquity.
He is come – even to Jerusalem.] The desolation and captivity of Israel shall first take place; that of Judah shall come after.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Her wound is incurable; the wounds of Samaria and the ten tribes; her own sins, Gods just displeasure, and the enemys rage have deeply wounded her, she is senseless, impenitent, and furious against her Physician, and she shall at last die by sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity.
It is come unto Judah; the contagion of her sins, and the indignation of God against it, and the enemys successes, viz. Sennacheribs, or Nebuchadnezzars, like a flood have reached to Judah also; and this is the reason why the prophet foretells such mourning, and is willing to personate it to awaken both kingdoms to repent and turn to God.
He is come; the insulting, conquering, and cruel enemy, or, in the neuter gender, it, i.e. the evil, is come, i.e. in the prophetic style, will certainly and suddenly come.
Unto the gate of my people; either signifying the Assyrians besieging Jerusalem, as Sennacherib son of Shalmaneser did some few years after the sack of Samaria, or else by
gate of my people is meant the city where the sovereign court of judicature to the whole kingdom is, denoting the victories of the Assyrian over the rest of the kingdom of Judah, or else the victories of Nebuchadnezzar.
Even to Jerusalem: this seems added to explain the former phrase.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. wound . . . incurableHercase, politically and morally, is desperate (Jer8:22).
it is comethe wound,or impending calamity (compare Isa10:28).
he is come . . . even toJerusalemThe evil is no longer limited to Israel. The prophetforesees Sennacherib coming even “to the gate” of theprincipal city. The use of “it” and “he” isappropriately distinct. “It,” the calamity, “cameunto” Judah, many of the inhabitants of which suffered, but didnot reach the citizens of Jerusalem, “the gate” of whichthe foe (“he”) “came unto,” but did not enter(Isa 36:1; Isa 37:33-37).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For her wound [is] incurable,…. Or her “stroke [is] desperate” e. The ruin of Samaria, and the ten tribes, was inevitable; the decree being gone forth, and they hardened in their sins, and continuing in their impenitence; and their destruction was irrevocable; they were not to be restored again, nor are they to this day; nor will be till the time comes that all Israel shall be saved: or “she is grievously sick of her wounds”; just ready to die, upon the brink of ruin, and no hope of saving her; this is the cause and reason of the above lamentation of the prophet: and what increased his grief and sorrow the more was,
for it is come unto Judah; the calamity has reached the land of Judah; it stopped not with Israel or the ten tribes, but spread itself into the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; for the Assyrian army, having taken Samaria, and carried Israel captive, in a short time, about seven or eight years, invaded Judea, and took the fenced cities of Judah in Hezekiah’s time, in which Micah prophesied;
he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem; Sennacherib, king of Assyria, having taken the fenced cities, came up to the very gates of Jerusalem, and besieged it, where the courts of judicature were kept, and the people resorted to, to have justice done them; and Micah, being of the tribe of Judah, calls them his people, and was the more affected with their distress.
e “desperata est plaga ejus”, V. L. “plagae ejus”, Montanus, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He afterwards subjoins, that the wounds vault be grievous; but he speaks as of what was present, Grievous, he says, are the wounds Grievous means properly full of grief; others render it desperate or incurable, but it is a meaning which suits not this place; for אנושה, anushe, means what we express in French by douloureuse. The wounds, then, are full of grief: for it came, (something is understood; it may suitably be referred to the enemy, or, what is more approved, to the slaughter) — It came then, that is, the slaughter, (68) to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself. He says first, to Judah, speaking of the land; and then he confines it to the cities; for when the gates are closed up against enemies, they are forced to stop. But the Prophet says, that the cities would be no hindrance to the enemies to approach the very gates and even the chief city of Judah, that is, Jerusalem; and this, we know, was fulfilled. It is the same then as though he said that the whole kingdom of Israel would be so laid waste, that their enemies would not he content with victory, but would proceed farther and besiege the holy city: and this Sennacherib did. For after having subverted the kingdom of Israel, as though it was not enough to draw the ten tribes into exile, he resolved to take possession of the kingdom of Judah; and Jerusalem, as Isaiah says, was left as a tent. We hence see that the threatening of the Prophet Micah were not in vain. It now follows —
(68) Or rather the stroke before mentioned; for the true reading is no doubt מכתה, her wound or her stroke, in the singular. Though there are but two MSS. which have this reading, yet the previous participle noun, אנושה, being singular, and the following verbs or participles being in the same number, favor this supposition. The corresponding word in the Septuagint is also in the singular number — ἡ πληγη ἀυτης, her stroke, stripe or scourge. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Her wound is incurable.The state of Samaria is incurable: she is doomed: the destroyer is approachingnay, he comes near, even to Jerusalem. The outlying towns are described as shuddering at the invaders advance, but Jerusalem itself is spared.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Mic 1:9 points to the impending ruin of Judah as one of the reasons for the grief and consternation of the prophet. He knows that, if Samaria falls, the enemy will sooner or later attack the south. This fear was seen to be justified when in 702-701 the army of Sennacherib advanced to the very gates of Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:37; compare Isa 1:7).
Wound More accurately, stripes; the devastation wrought by the enemy.
Incurable Nothing can cure the effects of the judgment, or prevent the spread of the disaster; it will steadily spread until the very heart, Jerusalem, becomes affected. Not even the presence of Jehovah in the temple can save the city.
It is not possible to reproduce in English the plays upon words so evident in the original of 10-15; sometimes it is difficult to apprehend the allusion of the prophet, and in more than one place the correctness of the present Hebrew text is not beyond question. The word plays are not due to the playful mood of the prophet. “He could not possibly jest about the fate of his friends. No, he is in sober earnest, and sees a preordained correspondence between names and fortunes.” Some consider the artistic character of the passage sufficient reason for denying the verses to Micah.
The apostrophes to the cities remind one of Isa 10:28 ff. It is possible that Micah, like Isaiah, intends to describe the route taken by the enemy toward the capital, though in view of the uncertainty with regard to some of the cities this cannot be proved. If this is the prophet’s purpose, Micah, unlike Isaiah, expects the advance to come from the west, the territory of the Philistines; and this is the direction followed by Sennacherib in 702-701.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mic 1:9. For her wound is incurable “The desolation of the ten tribes cannot be prevented, because they persist in their impieties; therefore no relief can be applied: it must terminate in their destruction. At the same time, one aggravating circumstance attends it, as being the forerunner of those evils which will come upon Jerusalem, whose gates Sennacherib will attempt to force, in order to make himself master of that city, and the whole kingdom of Judah.” See Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mic 1:9 For her wound [is] incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem.
Ver. 9. For her wound is incurable ] Or, she is grievously sick of her wounds; or, her wounds are full of anguish, neither is there any to pour in balm of Gilead, to allay it; any to lick it whole, as the Lady Elinor did her husband Prince Edward’s wound, traitorously given him in the Holy Land, by an assassin, with a poisoned knife.
For it is come unto Judah
He is come unto the gate of my people
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wound = stroke. Hebrew. makkah (feminine)
it. Aramaean and Syriac read “she”. Referring to her stroke, which is feminine.
he = he, referring to some unnamed foe. Aram, and Syriac read “she”, referring to the “stroke” of judgment.
the gate. Compare Oba 1:11, Oba 1:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
her wound is incurable: or, she is grievously sick of her wounds, Isa 1:5, Isa 1:6, Jer 15:18, Jer 30:11-15
it: 2Ki 18:9-13, Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8
he: Mic 1:12, 2Ch 32:1-23, Isa 10:28-32, Isa 37:22-36
Reciprocal: Gen 22:17 – thy seed Isa 24:12 – General Jer 9:19 – a voice Jer 30:15 – thy sorrow Jer 46:11 – in vain Hos 5:13 – his wound Nah 3:19 – no
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mic 1:9. Israel had become so corrupt in devotion to idols that God saw no cure for it except by the services of a foreign nation which was to be the Assyrians. Wound . . , come unto Judah. The Assyrians did not rest content after having taken the kingdom of Israel into captivity, but came on and threw Jerusalem into a panic of fear. The history of this is recorded in 2 Kings 18, 19.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Samaria had a wound from which she could not recover, namely, a wound of punishment caused by her sin (cf. 1Ki 20:21). This sin and its consequence had also infected Judah, even the capital city of Jerusalem (cf. Isa 1:5-6). Jerusalem should have been especially holy because of the temple and God’s presence there, but it was polluted. Punishment reached the gate of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. when Sennacherib attacked the city, but the Lord turned back the invader (cf. 2 Kings 18-19).
"The problem with Samaria was that she was toxic; her infection had spread to Judah." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, "Micah," in The Bible Exposition Commentary/Prophets, p. 391.]