2<\/strong>. who pluck off their skin from off them<\/em> ] The description is figurative. We may infer that cannibalism was not unknown to the Israelites by hearsay or tradition, but not necessarily that it was practised by the ancestors of the Israelites, much less by the Israelites themselves. The meaning of the figure plainly is that the peasantry had lost their old independence, and fallen into a condition like that of the peasants of the Turkish empire. This arose from a change in the social organism. “The nobles of Israel were no longer great farmers, as Saul and Nabal had been, living among the peasantry and sharing their toil The introduction of such a commerce, throwing the Hebrews into immediate relations with the great emporium of international traffic (Tyre), necessarily led to accumulation of wealth in a few hands, and to the corresponding impoverishment of the class without capital, as exportation raised the price of the necessaries of life” (Prof. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church<\/em>, p. 347).<\/p>\n their skin<\/em> ] i.e. the skin of the house of Israel.<\/p>\n Who hate the good and love the evil – <\/B>that is, they hate, for its own sake, that which is good, and love that which is evil. The prophet is not here speaking of their hating good men, or loving evil men, but of their hating goodness and loving wickedness . : It is sin not to love good; what guilt to hate it! it is faulty, not to flee from evil, what ungodliness to love it! Man, at first, loves and admires the good, even while he cloth it not; he hates the evil, even while he does it, or as soon as he has done it. But man cannot bear to he at strife with his conscience, and so he ends it, by excusing himself and telling lies to himself. And then, he hates the truth or good with a bitter hatred, because it disturbs the darkness of the false peace with which he would envelop himself. At first, men love only the pleasure connected with the evil; then they make whom they can, evil, because goodness is a reproach to them: in the end, they love evil for its own sake Rom 1:32<\/span>. pagan morality too distinguished between the incontinent and the unprincipled , the man who sinned under force of temptation, and the man who had lost the sense of right and wrong Joh 3:20<\/span>. Everyone that doeth evil, hateth the light. Whoso longeth for things unlawful, hateth the righteousness which rebuketh and punisheth .<\/P> Who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones – <\/B>He had described the Good Shepherd; now, in contrast, he describes those who ought to be shepherds of the people, to feed, guard, direct them, but who were their butchers; who did not shear them, but flayed them; who fed on them, not fed them. He heaps up their guilt, act by act. First they flay, that is, take away their outer goods; then they break their bones in pieces, the most solid parts, on which the whole frame of their body depends, to get at the very marrow of their life, and so feed themselves upon them. And not unlike, though still more fearfully, do they sin, who first remove the skin, as it were, or outward tender fences of Gods graces; (such as is modesty, in regard to inward purity; outward demeanor, of inward virtue; outward forms, of inward devotion;) and so break the strong bones of the sterner virtues, which hold the whole soul together; and with them the whole flesh, or softer graces, becomes one shapeless mass, shred to pieces and consumed. So Ezekiel says; Woe to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the fat and ye clothe you, with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened … (Eze 34:2-4<\/span>, add Eze 34:5-10<\/span>).<\/P> <\/p>\n Who hate the good: in practice and affection these rulers were directly contrary to what they should have been and done, they hated not only to do good, but they hated the good which was to be done, and those that did it; and what kind of men may we judge they were who hated good men, and what was good, and by consequence hated also God himself? <\/P> Love the evil; choose, embrace, encourage, delight in, and prefer both evil works and evil workers, and take pleasure to do evil yourselves: the worst character that can be given of any sort of men. <\/P> Who pluck off their skin from off them: you by office are shepherds, and should feed, guide, heal, protect, and love the flock, but you use them as cruelly as the shepherd, who, instead of shearing of the fleece, would pluck off the skin, arid flay them. <\/P> And their flesh from off their bones; another proverbial speech of the same import, and chargeth highest injustice and inhumanity upon these princes and rulers: see Eze 22:27<\/span>; Zep 3:3<\/span>. <\/P> <\/p>\n 2. pluck off their skin . . .flesh<\/B>rob their fellow countrymen of all their substance(Psa 14:4<\/span>; Pro 30:14<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n Who hate the good, and love the evil<\/strong>,…. Instead of knowing and doing what was just and right; or, directly contrary to their light and knowledge, and the duty of their office, they hated that which is good, which is agreeable to the law, nature, and will of God, and loved that which is evil, which is contrary thereunto; or they hated to do good, and loved to do evil, as the Targum; as men do who are averse to good, and prone to evil; or they hated a good man, as Aben Ezra, and loved the evil man; not only delighted in committing sin themselves, but took pleasure in those that did it; and could not endure the company and conversation of holy and good men:<\/p>\n who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones<\/strong>: like wild beasts that tear off skin and flesh from the bones, and then devour them; or like cruel shepherds, that, not content to fleece their flocks, skin them, and take their flesh also, and feed themselves, and not the flock; or like butchers, that first take off the skin off a beast, and then cut up its flesh. The design of the expressions is to show what rigour, cruelty, and oppressions, these rulers exercised on the people and by their heavy taxes and levies, and exorbitant penalties and fines, pillaged and plundered them of all they had in the world, and left them quite bare, as bones stripped of their skin and flesh. So the Targum,<\/p>\n “seizing on their substance by violence, and their precious mammon they take away.”<\/p>\n He afterwards subjoins, But they hate good, and love evil, and pull off the skin (94) from my people, the flesh from their bones; that is, they leave nothing, he says, sound and safe, their rapacity being so furious. The Prophet conveys first a general reproof, — that they not only perverted justice, but were also given to wickedness and hated good. He means then that they were openly wicked and ungodly, and also that they with a fixed purpose carried on war against every thing just and right. We hence learn how great and how abominable was the corruption of the people, when they were still the peculiar possession and heritage of God. Inasmuch then as the state of this ancient people had become so degenerated, let us learn to walk in solicitude and fear, while the Lord governs us by pious magistrates and faithful pastors: for what happened to the Jews might soon happen to us, so that wolves might bear rule over us, as indeed experience has proved even in this our city. The Prophet afterwards adds the kinds of cruelty which prevailed; of which he speaks in hyperbolical terms, though no doubt he sets before our eyes the state of things as it was. He compares the judges to wolves or to lions, or to other savage beasts. He says not that they sought the property of the people, or pillaged their houses; but he says that they devoured their flesh even to the very bones; he says that they pulled off their skin: and this he confirms in the next verse. <\/p>\n (94) Their skin, literally. The antecedent (which is not unusual in Hebrew) is mentioned afterwards: it is the word, people, which follows. <\/p>\n The idea of sheep or flock, to which the people are compared in the last chapter, is still retained here. Adam Clarke quotes from Suetonius a striking answer of Tiberius, the Emperor, to some governors, who solicited him to increase the taxes, — “It is the property of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them” — Boni pastoris esse tondere pectus, non deglubere <\/p>\n To “hate good, and to love evil,” in the former sentence, betokens a character dreadful in the extreme; for good here, טוב means kindness, benevolence, the doing of good to others; this they hated: and evil, רעה, means wrong, mischief, injury, the doing of harm, of wrong, and of injustice to others; and this they loved. How transmuted they were in their spirit into that of very fiends! “They hate to do good, hate to have any good done, and hate those that are good; and they love the evil, delight in mischief, and in those that do mischief.” These words of Henry, no doubt, convey a correct view of the sentence. It might therefore be rendered, “Haters of benevolence, and lovers of mischief.” — Ed. <\/p>\n (2, 3) Who hate the good.<\/strong>The judges, instead of fulfilling the obligations of their office, whereby they should be for the people to God-ward, perpetrated the most flagrant cruelty upon them. Micah compares it to the process of preparing food, in which every part of the animal, even to the bones, is utilised. So the judges robbed the people until there was nothing left to them.<\/p>\n Mic 3:2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;<\/p>\n Ver. 2. Who hate the good, and love the evil<\/strong> ] q.d.<\/em> That you know not judgment, but are men ignorant of the truth which is according to godliness, appeareth by your wicked practices. For you stand across to what God requireth, hating what you should love, and loving where you should hate, Homo est inversus decalogus.<\/em> Goodness is in itself amiable and attractive but you are perfect strangers to it, and therefore hate it and those that profess it. Evil is of the devil, and must therefore needs be loathsome; and yet you love it, allow it, and wallow in it; whereas you should “abhor that which is evil,” hate it as hell, , “and cleave,” or be fast glued, , “to that which is good,” Rom 12:9<\/span> . You are direct antipodes to the godly, Psa 15:4<\/span> , and have nothing in you of the Divine nature, 2Pe 1:4<\/span> , or of the spot of God’s children, but are a “perverse and crooked generation,” Deu 32:3<\/span> . <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones<\/strong> ] Like so many carnivorous cannibals or truculent wild beasts. As the ossifrage, or breakbone, pursueth the prey, tears off the flesh, breaks the bones, and sucks out the marrow: such were these griping tyrants, their furious rapacity surmounted all bounds of humanity. Such a one was Verres among the Romans, as Cicero describeth him; that tiger, Tiberius, those Romish usurers in King John’s time here, called Caursini, quasi capientes ursi<\/em> (quoth Paris), devouring bears, who left not so much money in the whole kingdom as they either carried with them or sent to Rome before them. Money and lands are here called men’s skin, flesh, and bones; and a poor man’s substance is his life. See Mar 12:44 Luk 8:48<\/span> . Hence oppression is called a bony sin, Amo 5:12<\/span> ; Amo 5:18<\/span> , and oppressors, men eaters, Psa 14:4<\/span> , and murderers, Hab 2:12<\/span> . Cyprian cries out, Ferae parcunt Danieli, Ayes pascunt Eliam, homines saeviunt; <\/em> Lions spare Daniel, ravens feed Elias, but men rage and are worse than both. Melancthon makes mention of a certain prince, some few years before his time, who, to get money out of his subjects, would send for them, and by knocking out first one tooth, and then another (threatening to leave them toothless else), would extort from them what sums soever he pleased. Our King John’s exactors received from his subjects no less sums of curses than of coin, saith the chronicler; and so did Cardinal Woisey, under Henry VIII, by his importable subsidies, which caused Suffolk to rise up in arms, making poverty their captain.<\/p>\n hate: 1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 22:6-8, Amo 5:10-14, Luk 19:14, Joh 7:7, Joh 15:18, Joh 15:19, Joh 15:23, Joh 15:24, Act 7:51, Act 7:52, Rom 12:9, 2Ti 3:3 <\/p>\n love: 2Ch 19:2, Psa 15:4, Psa 139:21, Psa 139:22, Pro 28:4, Joh 18:40, Rom 1:32 <\/p>\n pluck: Psa 53:4, Isa 3:15, Eze 22:27, Eze 34:3, Amo 8:4-6, Zep 3:3, Zec 11:4, Zec 11:5 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Deu 25:1 – General Job 31:31 – Oh Psa 14:4 – eat up Psa 52:3 – lovest Psa 57:3 – from the reproach of him Psa 94:5 – break Psa 103:6 – executeth Pro 1:12 – swallow Pro 21:10 – findeth no favour Isa 1:21 – it was full Isa 57:12 – General Isa 58:6 – to loose Jer 6:13 – For Eze 11:6 – General Eze 11:7 – Your Eze 16:49 – neither Eze 18:7 – hath not Eze 24:4 – General Hos 4:2 – swearing Amo 2:6 – because Luk 20:47 – devour Phi 1:10 – ye 2Th 2:12 – but<\/p>\n Mic 3:2. Instead of being examples of righteousness, these leaders reversed the proper attitude toward good and evil as to which they loved and hated. The pronouns their and them, stand for the common people who were the victims of the cruelty of the leaders. Pluck off their skin, etc., is said figuratively and refers to the severe treatment they imposed on the people, similar to that mentioned in chapter 2; 8.<\/p>\n 3:2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; {b} who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;<\/p>\n (b) The Prophet condemns the wicked governors not only of covetousness, theft, and murder, but compares them to wolves, lions, and most cruel beasts.<\/p>\n Yet these rulers had stood justice on its head. They hated good and loved evil (cf. Pro 8:13; Isa 1:16-17; Amo 5:15). Tearing the flesh off the people, eating their flesh, and cooking their bones all represent abuse of their victims for their own selfish ends. The figure is of a hunter, and the implication is that the rulers regarded and treated the ordinary citizens as mere animals rather than as human beings. The rich stripped the poor of their money and property and oppressed them unmercifully (cf. Zep 3:3)<\/p>\n "Nothing short of new appetites, resulting from the new birth (Joh 3:3-8) can remedy moral corruption." [Note: Waltke, in Obadiah, . . ., p. 162.] <\/span><\/p>\n Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 2. who pluck off their skin from off them ] The description is figurative. We may infer that cannibalism was not unknown to the Israelites by hearsay or tradition, but not necessarily … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 3:2”<\/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-22621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22621","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=22621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22621"}],"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: 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
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/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":"