4<\/strong>. shall one take up a parable<\/em> ] Or, a taunting song<\/strong> (as probably Isa 14:4<\/span>, Hab 2:6<\/span>). The Hebr. mshl<\/em> means properly a saying characterized by parallelism ‘the parallelism may consist either in the moral application of emblems, or simply in the parallel disposition of the lines and the sense. From the fact that emblems were generally applied in a witty, satirical manner, mshl<\/em> sometimes obtains the meaning of taunt-song.’ So, too, we may add, the participial noun mshl<\/em> acquires the sense of taunt-singer in Num 21:27<\/span>, Eze 16:44<\/span>. In the present instance, the prophet means (see next clause) that the same words from different speakers would be at once a lamentation and a taunt. When an Israelite should say plaintively, ‘It is all over,’ his enemy should take up his words in a tone of triumph or mockery.<\/p>\n and lament with a doleful lamentation<\/em>, &c.] Rather, and lament with a lamentation:<\/p>\n ‘It is done,’ they shall say,<\/p>\n ‘We be utterly spoiled:<\/p>\n He changeth the portion of my people;<\/p>\n How doth he remove it from me!<\/p>\n Unto the rebellious he divideth our fields.’<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n The purport of the complaint is that Jehovah (for the Israelites recognize him as the sender of their trouble) has transferred the promised land to heathen men, who from their very birth have been rebels against Jehovah. The epithet ‘rebellious’ deserves notice. True, it is the Jews who use it, but the prophet would certainly have sanctioned its employment. We find him, in chap. Mic 5:15<\/span>, announcing the punishment of the heathen for their disobedience, and his great contemporary Isaiah, in Isa 10:5-15<\/span> (comp. Isa 37:26<\/span>), rebuking Sennacherib for ‘vaunting himself’ against Him who gave him his commission. Both prophets imply that the heathen had a certain natural light, which might have led them to the true God, or at least have preserved them from rejecting Him, when His claims were brought before them. Comp. St Paul’s words in Rom 1:20<\/span>, ‘so that they are without excuse.’<\/p>\n In that day shall one take up a parable against you – <\/B>The mashal or likeness may, in itself, be any speech in which one thing is likened to another:<\/P> 1) figured speech,<\/P> 2) proverb, and, since such proverbs were often sharp sayings against others,<\/P> 3) taunting figurative speech.<\/P> But of the person himself it is always said, he is made, becomes a proverb Deu 28:37<\/span>; 1Ki 9:7<\/U><\/span>; 2Ch 7:20<\/span>; Psa 44:15<\/span>; Psa 69:12<\/span>; Jer 24:9<\/span>; Eze 14:8<\/span>. To take up or utter such a speech against one, is, elsewhere, followed by the speech itself; Thou shalt take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, … Isa 14:4<\/span>. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and say, … Hab 2:6<\/span>. Although then the name of the Jews has passed into a proverb of reproach (Jerome, loc. cit.), this is not contained here. The parable here must be the same as the doleful lamentation, or dirge, which follows. No mockery is more cutting or fiendish, than to repeat in jest words by which one bemoans himself. The dirge which Israel should use of themselves in sorrow, the enemy shall take up in derision, as Satan does doubtless the self-condemnation of the damned. Ribera: Men do any evil, undergo any peril, to avoid shame. God brings before us that deepest and eternal shame, the shame and everlasting contempt, in presence of Himself and angels and devils and the good Psa 52:6-7<\/span>; Isa 66:24<\/span>, that we may avoid shame by avoiding evil.<\/P> And lament with a doleful lamentation – <\/B>The words in Hebrew are varied inflections of a word imitating the sounds of woe. It is the voice of woe in all languages, because the voice of nature. Shall wail a wail of woe, It is the funeral dirge over the dead Jer 31:15<\/span>, or of the living doomed to die Eze 32:18<\/span>; it is sometimes the measured mourning of those employed to call forth sorrow Amo 5:16<\/span>; Jer 9:17<\/span>, Jer 9:19<\/span>, or mourning generally 1Sa 7:2<\/span>; Jer 9:18<\/span>. Among such elegies, are still Zion-songs, (elegies over the ruin of Zion,) and mournings for the dead. The word woe is thrice repeated in Hebrew, in different forms, according to that solemn way, in which the extremest good or evil is spoken of; the threefold blessing, morning and evening, with the thrice-repeated name of God Num 6:24-26<\/span>, impressing upon them the mystery which developed itself, as the divinity of the Messiah and the personal agency of the Holy Spirit were unfolded to them. The dirge which follows is purposely in abrupt brief words, as those in trouble speak, with scarce breath for utterance. First, in two words, with perhaps a softened inflection, they express the utterness of their desolation. Then, in a threefold sentence, each clause consisting of three short words, they say what God had done, but name Him not, because they are angry with Him. Gods chastisements irritate those whom they do not subdue .<\/P> The portion of my people He changeth;<\/P> How removeth He (it) as to me!<\/P> To a rebel our fields He divideth.<\/P> They act the patriot. They, the rich, mourn over the portion of my people (they say) which they had themselves despoiled: they speak, (as men do,) as if things were what they ought to be: they hold to the theory and ignore the facts. As if, because God had divided it to His people, therefore it so remained! as if, because the poor were in theory and by Gods law provided for, they were so in fact! Then they are enraged at Gods dealings. He removeth the portion as to me; and to whom giveth He our fields?<\/P> To a rebel! the Assyrian, or the Chaldee. They had deprived the poor of their portion of the Lords land . And now they marvel that God resumes the possession of His own, and requires from them, not the fourfold Exo 22:1<\/U><\/span>; 2Sa 12:6<\/span>; Luk 19:8<\/span> only of their spoil, but His whole heritage. Well might Assyrian or Chaldee, as they did, jeer at the word, renegade. They had not forsaken their gods; – but Israel, what was its whole history but a turning back? Hath a nation changed their gods, which yet are no gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Jer 2:11<\/span>.<\/P> Such was the meaning in their lips. The word divideth had the more bitterness, because it was the reversal of that first division at the entrance into Canaan. Then, with the use of this same word Num 26:53<\/span>, Num 26:55-56<\/span>; Jos 13:7<\/span>; Jos 14:5<\/span>; Jos 18:2<\/span>, Jos 18:5<\/span>, Jos 18:10<\/span>; Jos 19:51<\/span>, the division of the land of the pagan was appointed to them. Ezekiel, in his great symbolic vision, afterward prophesied the restoration of Israel, with the use of this same term Eze 47:21<\/span>. Joel spoke of the parting of their land, under this same term, as a sin of the pagan (Joel 4:2, (Joe 3:3<\/span> in English)). Now, they say, God divideth our fields, not to us, but to the pagan, whose lands He gave us. It was a change of act: in impenitence, they think it a change of purpose or will. But what lies in that, we be utterly despoiled? Despoiled of everything; of what they felt, temporal things; and of what they did not feel, spiritual things.<\/P> Despoiled of the land of promise, the good things of this life, but also of the Presence of God in His Temple, the grace of the Lord, the image of God and everlasting glory. Their portion was changed, as to themselves and with others. As to themselvcs, riches, honor, pleasure, their own land, were changed into want, disgrace, suffering, captivity; and yet more bitter was it to see others gain what they by their own fault had forfeited. As time went on, and their transgression deepened, the exchange of the portion of that former people of God became more complete. The casting-off of the Jews was the grafting-in of the Gentiles Act 13:46<\/span>. Seeing ye judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo! we turn to the Gentiles. And so they who were no people Rom 10:19<\/span>, became the people of God, and they who were His people, became, for the time, not My people Hos 1:9<\/span> : and the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service of God, and the promises Rom 9:4-5<\/span>, came to us Gentiles, since to us Christ Himself our God blessed forever came, and made us His.<\/P> How hath He removed – <\/B>The words do not say what He removed. They thought of His gifts, the words include Himself. They say How? in amazement. The change is so great and bitter, it cannot be said. Time, yea eternity cannot utter it. He hath divided our fields. The land was but the outward symbol of the inward heritage. Unjust gain, kept back, is restored with usury Pro 1:19<\/span>; it taketh away the life of the owners thereof. The vineyard whereof the Jews said, the inheritance shall be ours, was taken from them and given to others, even to Christians. So now is that awful change begun, when Christians, leaving God, their only unchanging Good, turn to earthly vanities, and, for the grace of God which He withdraws, have these only for their fleeting portion, until it shall be finally exchanged in the Day of Judgment Luk 16:25<\/span>. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.<\/P> Israel defended himself in impenitence and self-righteousness. He was already the Pharisee. The doom of such was hopeless. The prophet breaks in with a renewed, Therefore. He had already prophesied that they should lose the lands which they had unjustly gotten, the land which they had profaned. He had described it in their own impenitent words. Now on the impenitence he pronounces the judgment which impenitence entails, that they should not be restored<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 4<\/span>. Take up a parable against you<\/B><\/I>] Your wickedness and your punishment shall be subjects of common conversation; and a funeral<\/I> dirge<\/I> shall be composed and sung for you as for the dead<\/I>. The lamentation<\/I> is that which immediately follows: We be utterly<\/I> spoiled<\/I>; and ends, Are these his doings<\/I>? Mic 2:7<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n In that day; when God shall retaliate, as Mic 2:3<\/span>, when he shall by the Assyrian captivity fulfil what hero is threatened by the prophet. <\/P> Shall one take up; there shall be taken up, or be in common ordinary use among those that know what is befallen you. <\/P> A parable; or taunting, scorning proverb; this tells them how their Assyrian conquerors should reflect reproach and shame upon captive Israel, much like that Psa 137:3<\/span>, which the Babylonians used toward captive Judah. <\/P> Lament with a doleful lamentation; your friends for you, and you for yourselves, shall mourn most bitterly, as the import of the Hebraism is, lament with a lamentation of lamentations. So though all are not alike affected, yet every one shall carry it towards miserable Israel according as they are affected, condoling their sad state, or insulting over them. <\/P> We be utterly spoiled: this is the sum of their mournful lamentation over their own state; Our land wasted, our friends slain, our cities taken, plundered, and sacked, our houses and goods either taken away from us or burnt, and our persons no more our own, but captives, under the power and will of our enemy; thus spoiled, nothing is any longer ours. <\/P> He; the Assyrian, say some; God, say others; indeed God did it by the Assyrians. Hath changed the portion; the estate, wealth, plenty, freedom, safety, joy, and honour, into poverty, famine, servitude, danger, grief, and dishonour. The land of Canaan was the inheritance, and all the conveniencies it afforded were part of the portion of Israel; but, O doleful change! these all taken away from Israel, and given to others. <\/P> My people; it is either the prophet, who calls them his people, or rather, every one of Israel that useth this lamentation, Who saith <\/P> my people. How hath he removed it from me! how dreadfully hath God dealt with Israel! removing their persons into captivity, and transferring their right and possession to enemies! <\/P> Turning away he hath divided our fields; either, thus turning away from us in displeasure, God hath divided our fields among others, given them to the enemy, and he hath divided them to whom he pleaseth, to his own people and soldiers; or else this word turning away may be rendered returning, and be spoken of the enemy, when he returned he did divide our fields; or, as the margin of our Bibles, instead of restoring our fields, which we hoped, and our mistaken leaders promised, God hath given the enemy success and power to divide our fields, and to allot them to others. <\/P> <\/p>\n 4. one take up a parable againstyou<\/B>that is, Some of your foes shall do so, taking in derisionfrom your own mouth your “lamentation,” namely, “We bespoiled,” c. <\/P> lament with a dolefullamentation<\/B>literally, “lament with a lamentation oflamentations.” Hebrew, naha, nehi, nihyah,<\/I> the repetitionrepresenting the continuous and monotonous wail. <\/P> he hath changed the portionof my people<\/B>a charge of injustice against Jehovah. Hetransfers to other nations the sacred territory assigned as therightful portion of our people (Mic1:15<\/span>). <\/P> turning away he hath dividedour fields<\/B>Turning away from us to the enemy, He hath dividedamong them our fields. CALVIN,as the Margin,<\/I> explains, “Instead of restoring<\/I> ourterritory, He hath divided our fields among our enemies, each of whomhenceforward will have an interest in keeping what he hath gotten: sothat we are utterly shut out from hope of restoration.” MAURERtranslates as a noun, “He hath divided our fields to arebel,<\/I>” that is, to the foe who is a rebel against the trueGod, and a worshipper of idols. So “backsliding,” that is,backslider (Jer 49:4<\/span>). EnglishVersion<\/I> gives a good sense and is quite tenable in the Hebrew.<\/I><\/P><\/p>\n In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you<\/strong>,…. Making use of your name, as a byword, a proverb, a taunt, and a jeer; mocking at your calamities and miseries: or, “concerning you” c; take up and deliver out a narrative of your troubles, in figurative and parabolical expressions; which Kimchi thinks is to be understood of a false prophet, finding his prophecies and promises come to nothing; or rather a stranger, a bystander, a spectator of their miseries, an insulting enemy, mimicking and representing them; or one of themselves, in the name of the rest:<\/p>\n and lament with a doleful lamentation<\/strong>; or, “lament a lamentation of lamentation” d: a very grievous one; or, “a lamentation that is”, or “shall be”, or “is done” e; a real one, and which will continue:<\/p>\n [and] say, we be utterly spoiled<\/strong>; our persons, families, and friends; our estates, fields, and vineyards; our towns and cities, and even our whole land, all laid waste, spoiled, and plundered:<\/p>\n he hath changed the portion of my people<\/strong>; the land of Israel, which was the portion of the people of it, given unto them as their portion by the Lord; but now he, or the enemy the Assyrian, or God by him, had changed the possessors of it; had taken it away from Israel, and given it to others:<\/p>\n how hath he removed [it] from me<\/strong>! the land that was my portion, and the portion of my people; how comes it to pass that he hath taken away that which was my property, and given it to another! how strange is this! how suddenly was it done! and by what means!<\/p>\n turning away, he hath divided our fields<\/strong>; either God, turning away from his people, because of their sins, divided their fields among their enemies; “instead of restoring” f, as some read it, he did so; or the enemy the Assyrian, turning away after he had conquered the land, and about to return to his own country, divided it among his soldiers: or, “to the perverse”, or “rebellious one g, he divideth our fields”; that is, the Lord divides them to the wicked, perverse, and blaspheming king of Assyria; so the word is used of one that goes on frowardly, and backslides, Isa 57:17<\/span>.<\/p>\n c “super vos”, Pagninus, Montanus; “de vobis”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “super vobis”, Cocceius. d “et lamentabitur lamentum lamenti”, Montanus. e “factum est”, De Dieu; “ejulatu vero”, Cocceius; “actum est”, Burkius. f “pro reddendo”, Castalio. g “aversus, refractarius”, Drusius; “ingrato et rebelli”, De Dieu.<\/p>\n The verse is in broken sentences; and hence interpreters vary. But the meaning of the Prophet appears to me to be simply this, In that day they shall take up a proverb against you; that is, it will not be an ordinary calamity, but the report concerning it will go forth every where so that the Jews will become to all a common proverb. This is one thing. As to the word משל, meshil, it is taken, we know, for a weighty saying, and in the plural, weighty sayings, called by the Latins, sentences ( sententias) or sayings, ( dicta,) and by the Greeks, apophthegmata. αποφθεγματα, But these sayings were thus called weighty by the Hebrews, because he who elevated his style, made use especially of figurative expressions, to render his discourse nobler and more splendid. (82) Hence many render this word, enigmas. It accords well with the Prophet’s meaning, to suppose, that proverbial sayings would spread every where respecting the Jews, especially as calamities were usually described in a plaintive song. They shall then mourn over you with lamentable mourning. But this ought to be referred to the fact, — that the calamity would be every where known. It yet seems that this sentence is applied afterwards to the Jews themselves, and not unsuitably. But it is an indefinite mode of speaking, since the Prophet speaks not of one or two men, but of the whole people. <\/p>\n They shall then mourn in this manner, Wasted, we have been wasted: the portion of my people has he changed — (it is the future instead of the past) — He has then changed the portion of my people This may be applied to God as well as to the Assyrians; for God was the principal author of this calamity; he it was who changed the portion of the people: for as by his blessing he had long cherished that people, so afterwards he changed their lot. But as the Assyrians were the ministers of God’s vengeance, the expression cannot be unsuitably applied to them. The Assyrian then has taken away the portion of my people And then he says, How has he made to depart, or has taken away, or removed from me, (literally, to me,) to restore, — though שבב, shibeb, may be from the root שוב, shub, it yet means the same, — How then has he taken away from us to restore our fields he divides, that is, which he has divided; for the relative אשר, asher, is understood and there is also a change of time. Now as the discourse, as I have said, is in broken sentences, there are various interpretations. I however think that the Prophet simply means this — How as to restoring has he taken away our fields, which he hath divided? that is, How far off are we from restitution? for every hope is far removed, since the Lord himself has divided among strangers our land and possession; or since the enemies have divided it among themselves; for it is usual after victory, for every one to seize on his own portion. Whether then this be understood of the Assyrians, or rather be referred to God, the meaning of the Prophet seems clearly to be this, — that the Jews were not only expelled from their country but that every hope of return was also taken away, since the enemies had parted among themselves their inheritance, so that they who had been driven out, now in vain thought of a restitution. (83) But I read this in the present time; for the Prophet introduces here the Jews as uttering this lamentation, — “It is now all over with us, and there is no remedy for this evil; for not only are we stripped of all our property and ejected from our country, but what has been taken away by our enemies cannot be restored to us, inasmuch as they have already parted our possessions among themselves, and every one occupies his own portion and his own place, as though it were his own inheritance. We have therefore to do, not only with the Assyrians in general, but also with every individual; for what every one now occupies and possesses he will defend, as his rightful and hereditary possession.” <\/p>\n Some conjecture from this verse, that the discourse belongs rather to the Israelites, who were banished without any hope of return; but no necessity constrains us to explain this of the Israelites; for the Prophet does not declare here what God would do, but what would be the calamity when considered in itself. We have indeed said already in many places, that the Prophets, while threatening, speak only of calamities, desolations, deaths, and destructions, but that they afterwards add promises for consolation. But their teaching is discriminative: when the Prophets intend to terrify hypocrites and perverse men, they set forth the wrath of God only, and leave no hope; but when they would inspire with hope those who are by this means humbled, they draw forth comfort to them even from the goodness of God. What is here said then may fitly and really be applied to the Jews. It follows — <\/p>\n (82) Very similar is the description of משל by Lowth in his Praelections; he describes it as that style which is sententius, figurative, and sublime — Sententiosum, figuratum, et sublime docendi genus He says also that the word means often a saying, anaxiom, a short sentence compactly formed — est quoevis sententia sive axioma scite graviterque dictum, paucis concinnatum, et ad γνωμων firmam compositum , 1Sa 24:14<\/span>, Prael. 4. And this is evidently its meaning here, — a common saying, everywhere known. — Ed. <\/p>\n (83) Most commentators agree as to the general meaning of this verse, which is clearly stated here: but their versions differ. Newcome, following the Septuagint, renders the verbs in the first and second lines in a passive sense, but Henderson gives them an active meaning, supplying “one” as the nominative case, i.e., the person, who utters the lamentation afterwards mentioned. The two last lines are the most difficult. Marckius has this version, — <\/p>\n Quomodo subtraxit mihi! Avertenti agros nostros distribuit ! <\/p>\n That of Junius and Tremelius is essentially the same, only the verbs are put in the present tense. Newcome’s rendering is this, — <\/p>\n How hath he withdrawn it form me! To an apostate he hath divided our fields! <\/p>\n To call the king of Babylon an apostate, seems incongruous, as it cannot be applied to any one but who has turned away from true religion. The most obvious and literal rendering is that given by Marckius, with the exception of the tense. I offer the following version of the whole verse, with no alteration in the text, except the supplying of a ו before אמר which is found in several MSS., — <\/p>\n In that day shall be taken up concerning you a proverb, And lament a lamentation will the oppressed, And say will the desolate, — “We are destroyed, The portion of my people he changes; How he takes away from me! To the alienator of my fields he divides them! <\/p>\n It is a proverb, a common saying, and a lament, that would be uttered, as the Prophet foretells, at the time of the expulsion of the people from the land, when it would be taken possession of by their enemies. — Ed. <\/p>\n A TAUNT AGAINST THE WICKED . . . Mic. 2:4-5<\/span><\/p>\n RV . . . In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We are utterly ruined: he changeth the portion of my people: how doth he remove it from me! to the rebellious he divideth our fields. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah. COMMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n Napoleon once wrote, Even in war, moral power is to physical as three parts to one. It was so in the case of those against whom Micah spoke the message of God. The power by which they enforced their social abuses was related directly to the moral power of a false religion. It is the exercise of power that most clearly reveals what is at the base of the true character of a man. In their case, the foundation of their abusive character was Baalism. The taunt (or parable) which will be spoken against them by those who see the judgement of God brought upon them is written in advance, by the prophet in Mic. 2:4-5<\/span>. . . . a parable against you, and lament with . . . lamentation, might be more literally rendered, lament with a lamentation of lamentations. In the Hebrew text it reads naha, nehi, nihyah, and is reminiscent of the sing-song yaya, yaya, yaya with which young children taunt one another in every language. This monotonous insulting derision will be leveled against them repeatedly as their enemies make jest of their hardship, just as they now make sport of those whom they oppress.<\/p>\n Their friends, on the other hand, will cry in their behalf, . . . we are utterly ruined. Those who now sit high and mighty at the expense of the down-trodden will find themselves in total despair. They will exclaim, . . . He changed the portion of my people, how doth he remove it from me! To the rebellious he divideth our fields. History records that this warning was fulfilled in the northern kingdom at the dispersion of the ten tribes, and in the southern kingdom at the Babylonian captivity. Although God Himself restored the southern kingdom seventy years later, as a homeland for a remnant through which to fulfill the promise of the covenant, it is extremely difficult to justify any modern claim to the northern territories by the present state of Israel on any Scriptural basis. God removed the land from them in punishment for their despicable idolatry and maltreatment of His people, and because they refused to hear and heed the warnings of the prophets.<\/p>\n Chapter VIIQuestions<\/p>\n Second Cycle<\/p>\n 1.<\/p>\n Discuss the relationships between individual and social sins.<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n Discuss power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely in reference to the situation denounced by Micah.<\/p>\n 3.<\/p>\n How do power and authority test a persons character?<\/p>\n 4.<\/p>\n Discuss Pascals statement power without justice is tyranny.<\/p>\n 5.<\/p>\n How is this evidenced in the circumstances addressed by Micah?<\/p>\n 6.<\/p>\n How can a just God devise evil? (Mic. 2:3<\/span>)<\/p>\n 7.<\/p>\n What was the power by which the social leaders of Micahs day enforced their evil designs?<\/p>\n 8.<\/p>\n How does Gods punishment predicted by Micah fit the crime of those He will punish? (Mic. 2:5<\/span>)<\/p>\n 9.<\/p>\n What is the relationship between the wickedness addressed by Micah and the false prophets of the day?<\/p>\n 10.<\/p>\n What part did national pride and racial arrogance play in the downfall of the wicked northern and southern kingdoms?<\/p>\n 11.<\/p>\n How does Gods purpose in Israel rule out such pride and arrogance on the part of the faithful?<\/p>\n 12.<\/p>\n How do you answer the tendency to blame God for social calamities?<\/p>\n 13.<\/p>\n Discuss mistreatment of people as evidence of enmity with God.<\/p>\n 14.<\/p>\n What single fact made Gods punishment of social sin in Israel and Judah necessary to the accomplishment of His purpose in the covenant?<\/p>\n 15.<\/p>\n What single characteristic of the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity stood out above all else?<\/p>\n 16.<\/p>\n Describe the kind of prophet the people desired in Micahs time. (Mic. 2:11<\/span>)<\/p>\n 17.<\/p>\n Discuss the problem of textual unity of the scriptures. (cf. Mic. 2:12-13<\/span>)<\/p>\n 18.<\/p>\n The idea of a restored remnant, as presented by Micah, presupposes the destruction of ____________ and the rejection of the ____________ per se.<\/p>\n 19.<\/p>\n The doctrine of election, divine choice, is, in the Bible, always related to the ____________.<\/p>\n 20.<\/p>\n What is the similarity of modern denominationalism and the attitude of racial and national priority with God on the part of the Jewish people of Bible times?<\/p>\n 21.<\/p>\n Discuss the figures of the shepherd, the breaker, and the king in connection with the remnant.<\/p>\n (4) Shall one take up a parable against you<\/strong>i.e.,<\/em> the enemies shall repeat in mockery the doleful lamentations with which you bewail your pitiable state.<\/p>\n Turning away he hath divided.<\/strong>Rather, to an<\/em> apostate<\/em>i.e.,<\/em> an idolaterhe hath divided our fields.<\/em> The land they were taking from others God would give into the hands of an idolatrous king.<\/p>\n Mic 2:4<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>He hath changed the portion<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> He hath alienated, <\/em>or transferred the portion of my people. How hath he departed from me, to bring again him who divided our fields! <\/em>But Houbigant renders it, The patrimony of my people is measured by line, and no one hath stirred himself to turn it <\/em>[the line<\/em>] from me; it hath divided our fields: <\/em>that is to say, “No one hath prohibited the enemy from dividing our fields among them.” The next verse confirms this interpretation Therefore there shall be no one, who, casting lots, shall extend a line for thee, in the congregation of the Lord. <\/em>The Assyrians had ravaged Israel and Judah before their final destruction. See 2Ki 15:29<\/span>; 2Ki 18:13<\/span>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Mic 2:4 In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed [it] from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Ver. 4. In that day shall one take up a parable, &c.<\/strong> ] In that day, that doleful and dismal day of their calamity. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shall one<\/strong> ] Any one that is moved at your misery, and would work you to a sense of your sin, the mother of your misery. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shall take up a parable<\/strong> ] Tristem et querulam,<\/em> sad and sorrowful. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And lament with a doleful lamentation<\/strong> ] Heb. with a lamentation of lamentations, or with heigh-ho upon heigh-ho, as the word seems to signify. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We be utterly spoiled<\/strong> ] Plundered to the life, laid naked to the very foundation, Mic 1:6<\/span> , put into such a condition as that there is neither hope of better nor place of worse. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He hath changed the portion of my people<\/strong> ] That is, God, or the Assyrian, by God’s appointment, hath taken away our country, and given it to strangers. The Pope took upon him, in Henry VIII’s days, to give England, Primo occupaturo,<\/em> to him that could first win it. This brutum fulmen<\/em> briding of lighning came to nothing; but when God’s people changed their glory for that which profited not, Jer 2:11<\/span> , he soon changed their portion; he caused that good land to spew them out, he turned their weal into woe, and brought wrath upon them to the utmost. Neither profited it them any more to have been called God’s people than it did Dives in flames, that Abraham called him son; or Judas, that Christ called him friend. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How hath he removed it from me!<\/strong> ] This is lamentation-like indeed, see Lam 1:1<\/span> ; Lam 2:1<\/span> ; Lam 4:1<\/span> , all beginning with the same word, How. The speech is concise and abrupt, meet for mourners. There is an elegance in the original not to be translated. How uncertain are all things here! God sits upon the circle of the earth, and shakes out the inhabitants at pleasure, as by a canvas, Isa 40:22<\/span> . Persons and things are said to be in heaven, but on earth; on the outside of it only, where they have no firm footing. Dionysius was driven out of his kingdom; which yet he thought was tied to him with chains of adamant, saith the historian (Aelian. lib. 2). <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Turning away (from us as a loathsome object, being so incorrigibly flagitioas) he hath divided our fields] sc.<\/em> to the enemy for a reward, as he gave Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar for his pains at Tyre. Or thus. Instead of restoring (which now we are hopeless of) he hath divided our fields, our fertile and fat country, to those that will be sure to hold their own in it, as the Gauls and Goths did in Italy, after they had once tasted the sweetness of it. Vatablus rendereth the text thus: How hath he taken from me those fields of ours, which he seemed ready to restore! He hath even divided them, sc.<\/em> to others.<\/p>\n take up a parable. Reference to Pentateuch (Num 23:7, Num 23:18; Num 24:3, Num 24:15, Num 24:20, Num 24:23). Twice in Job (Job 27:1; Job 29:1); once in Isaiah (Isa 14:4); once in Habakkuk (Hab 2:6). Not elsewhere. App-92. Note the Figure of speech Chleuasmos (App-6). <\/p>\n lament with a doleful lamentation. Note the Figures of speech Polyptoton and Paronomasia (App-6), for emphasis. Hebrew venahah nehi nihyah = wail a wailing of woe. <\/p>\n changed = changed [for the worse]. Hebrew. mur; not halaph = changed [for the better]. See note on Lev 27:10. <\/p>\n turning away = to a heathen: i.e. our enemy the Assyrian. <\/p>\n Mic 2:4-5<\/p>\n A TAUNT AGAINST THE WICKED . . . Mic 2:4-5<\/p>\n Napoleon once wrote, Even in war, moral power is to physical as three parts to one. It was so in the case of those against whom Micah spoke the message of God. The power by which they enforced their social abuses was related directly to the moral power of a false religion. It is the exercise of power that most clearly reveals what is at the base of the true character of a man. In their case, the foundation of their abusive character was Baalism.<\/p>\n Having compromised Gods truth with the falsehood of Baalism, the character of these rulers and social leaders was not forged of any real metal. Having first given way to the temptation to flirt with a false god, they found no real standard of ethics by which to govern their own lives. The inevitable result was the extreme cruelty against their fellows to which their greed had driven them. When the wrath of God is released against them, they will feel the sting of their own sins, as their enemies taunt them.<\/p>\n The taunt (or parable) which will be spoken against them by those who see the judgement of God brought upon them is written in advance, by the prophet in Mic 2:4-5. . . . a parable against you, and lament with . . . lamentation, might be more literally rendered, lament with a lamentation of lamentations. In the Hebrew text it reads naha, nehi, nihyah, and is reminiscent of the sing-song yaya, yaya, yaya with which young children taunt one another in every language. This monotonous insulting derision will be leveled against them repeatedly as their enemies make jest of their hardship, just as they now make sport of those whom they oppress. Their friends, on the other hand, will cry in their behalf, . . . we are utterly ruined. Those who now sit high and mighty at the expense of the down-trodden will find themselves in total despair. They will exclaim, . . . He changed the portion of my people, how doth he remove it from me! To the rebellious he divideth our fields.<\/p>\n Zerr: Mic 2:4. That day means the time when the prediction against Israel would be fulfilled. When that time arrives someone will express the situation with a doleful lamentation. The form of that lamentation is like that predicted by David in Psalms 137.<\/p>\n The irony and justice of Gods judgements are magnificent. The powerful have changed the inheritance of the common people by cunning theft. They have removed the lands from them without recourse. In their downfall they will complain against God for doing exactly the same to them. In their straying from Jehovah to Baalism they have rebelled against God, and their rebellion has resulted in their misuse of power and wealth and their trodding down of His people. In that day they will wonder why God has taken the same possessions from them and given them to the rebellious Gentiles who will over-run their lands.<\/p>\n In Mic 2:5, Micah warns them that, just as they have left no legal recourse to those from whom they have stolen property, so in that day they will have none that shall cast the line by lot. There will be no legal division of land, because there will be no land left to divide. It will be occupied by the enemies. There will be no courts to establish titles, because the government will be in the hands of the invader. Their misery over the loss of their unjust claims and titles will bring to them a measure of the misery they are now heaping upon others, They have forgotten that the land . . . this land especially, belongs to God. He led their fathers to it for His purposes, Now that they have deserted Him for Baal and are grabbing the land for their own greed, He will remove it completely from them. <\/p>\n Zerr: Mic 2:5. The one who will express such a depressing sentiment will not be popular in the minds of the people. Cord is from a word that means a group of people bound together by eorne common opinion. The meaning is that the man making the above lamentation will not have any group of sympathizers for his gloom in the congregation of the Lord.<\/p>\n History records that this warning was fulfilled in the northern kingdom at the dispersion of the ten tribes, and in the southern kingdom at the Babylonian captivity. Although God Himself restored the southern kingdom seventy years later, as a homeland for a remnant through which to fulfill the promise of the covenant, it is extremely difficult to justify any modern claim to the northern territories by the present state of Israel on any Scriptural basis. God removed the land from them in punishment for their despicable idolatry and maltreatment of His people, and because they refused to hear and heed the warnings of the prophets.<\/p>\n Questions<\/p>\n Second Cycle<\/p>\n 1. Discuss the relationships between individual and social sins.<\/p>\n 2. Discuss power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely in reference to the situation denounced by Micah.<\/p>\n 3. How do power and authority test a persons character?<\/p>\n 4. Discuss Pascals statement power without justice is tyranny.<\/p>\n 5. How is this evidenced in the circumstances addressed by Micah?<\/p>\n 6. How can a just God devise evil? (Mic 2:3)<\/p>\n 7. What was the power by which the social leaders of Micahs day enforced their evil designs?<\/p>\n 8. How does Gods punishment predicted by Micah fit the crime of those He will punish? (Mic 2:5)<\/p>\n 9. What is the relationship between the wickedness addressed by Micah and the false prophets of the day?<\/p>\n 10. What part did national pride and racial arrogance play in the downfall of the wicked northern and southern kingdoms?<\/p>\n 11. How does Gods purpose in Israel rule out such pride and arrogance on the part of the faithful?<\/p>\n 12. How do you answer the tendency to blame God for social calamities?<\/p>\n 13. Discuss mistreatment of people as evidence of enmity with God.<\/p>\n 14. What single fact made Gods punishment of social sin in Israel and Judah necessary to the accomplishment of His purpose in the covenant?<\/p>\n 15. What single characteristic of the Israelites during the Babylonian captivity stood out above all else?<\/p>\n 16. Describe the kind of prophet the people desired in Micahs time. (Mic 2:11)<\/p>\n 17. Discuss the problem of textual unity of the scriptures. (cf. Mic 2:12-13)<\/p>\n 18. The idea of a restored remnant, as presented by Micah, presupposes the destruction of ____________ and the rejection of the ____________ per se.<\/p>\n 19. The doctrine of election, divine choice, is, in the Bible, always related to the ____________.<\/p>\n 20. What is the similarity of modern denominationalism and the attitude of racial and national priority with God on the part of the Jewish people of Bible times?<\/p>\n 21. Discuss the figures of the shepherd, the breaker, and the king in connection with the remnant.<\/p>\n shall: Num 23:7, Num 23:18, Num 24:3, Num 24:15, Job 27:1, Isa 14:4, Eze 16:44, Hab 2:6, Mar 12:12 <\/p>\n and lament: 2Sa 1:17, 2Ch 35:25, Jer 9:10, Jer 9:17-21, Jer 14:18, Joe 1:8, Joe 1:13, Amo 5:1, Amo 5:17 <\/p>\n a doleful lamentation: Heb. a lamentation of lamentations, Lam 1:1 – Lam 5:22, Eze 2:10 <\/p>\n We: Deu 28:29, Isa 6:11, Isa 24:3, Jer 9:19, Jer 25:9-11, Zep 1:2 <\/p>\n he: etc <\/p>\n he hath changed: Mic 2:10, Mic 1:15, 2Ki 17:23, 2Ki 17:24, 2Ch 36:20, 2Ch 36:21, Isa 63:17, Isa 63:18 <\/p>\n turning away he: or, instead of restoring <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Eze 24:3 – utter Eze 26:17 – take Amo 5:16 – Wailing Mic 3:4 – Then Mat 13:3 – in<\/p>\n Mic 2:4. That day means the time when the prediction against Israel would be fulfilled. When that time arrives someone will express the situation with a doleful lamentation. The form of that lamentation is like that predicted by David in Psalms 137.<\/p>\n Mic 2:4-6. In that day shall one take up a parable Shall use a figurative speech, against you A parable signifies a speech out of the ordinary way, as the Greek word imports, and illustrated with metaphors or rhetorical figures. So speaking in parables is opposed to speaking plainly, Joh 16:25; Joh 16:29. And lament, &c. Your friends for you, and you for yourselves. He hath changed the portion of my people Their wealth, plenty, freedom, joy, and honour, into poverty, famine, servitude, grief, and dishonour. How hath he removed it How dreadfully hath God dealt with Israel; removing their persons into captivity, and transferring their possessions to their enemies! Turning away he hath divided our fields Turning away from us in displeasure, God hath divided our fields among others. Thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord None that shall ever return to this land, to see it allotted by line, and given them to possess it. In the congregation of the Lord They shall no more be the congregation of the Lord, nor their children after them. They shall not prophesy The people often said to the prophets, Prophesy ye not; and God here declares that he would, in his displeasure, grant their desire: and that the time should come, when the prophets should no longer prophesy unto them, that they might no longer bring contempt upon themselves, or be ignominiously treated by the people, as they had long been.<\/p>\n 2:4 In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, {b} We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed [it] from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.<\/p>\n (b) Thus the Jews lament and say that there is no hope of restitution, seeing their possessions are divided among the enemies.<\/p>\n When God’s judgment fell, other people would ridicule the Israelites. God’s people would also lament with bitter weeping and mourn their complete destruction, as the victims of the rich Israelites’ crimes just cited had mourned. They would bewail God’s removal of His blessings, including their lands, from them and His giving them to others that they considered apostate.<\/p>\n "The situation envisaged seems to be the forced evacuation of the landed elite, who are marched away by the foreign invader while their estates are left to their erstwhile serfs, who are contemptuously spoken of as religious renegades." [Note: Allen, p. 291.] <\/span><\/p>\n In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed [it] from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. 4. shall one take up a parable ] Or, a … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 2:4”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
LXX . . . In that day shall a parable be taken up against you, and a plaintive lamentation shall be uttered, saying, We are thoroughly miserable: the portion of my people has been measured out with a line, and there was none to hinder him so as to turn him back; your fields have been divided. Therefore thou shalt have no one to cast a line for the lot.<\/p>\n
Having compromised Gods truth with the falsehood of Baalism, the character of these rulers and social leaders was not forged of any real metal. Having first given way to the temptation to flirt with a false god, they found no real standard of ethics by which to govern their own lives. The inevitable result was the extreme cruelty against their fellows to which their greed had driven them. When the wrath of God is released against them, they will feel the sting of their own sins, as their enemies taunt them.<\/p>\n
The irony and justice of Gods judgements are magnificent. The powerful have changed the inheritance of the common people by cunning theft. They have removed the lands from them without recourse. In their downfall they will complain against God for doing exactly the same to them. In their straying from Jehovah to Baalism they have rebelled against God, and their rebellion has resulted in their misuse of power and wealth and their trodding down of His people. In that day they will wonder why God has taken the same possessions from them and given them to the rebellious Gentiles who will over-run their lands.
In verse five, Micah warns them that, just as they have left no legal recourse to those from whom they have stolen property, so in that day they will have none that shall cast the line by lot. There will be no legal division of land, because there will be no land left to divide. It will be occupied by the enemies. There will be no courts to establish titles, because the government will be in the hands of the invader. Their misery over the loss of their unjust claims and titles will bring to them a measure of the misery they are now heaping upon others, They have forgotten that the land . . . this land especially, belongs to God. He led their fathers to it for His purposes, Now that they have deserted Him for Baal and are grabbing the land for their own greed, He will remove it completely from them.<\/p>\nFuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"