13<\/strong>. Thy graven images thy standing images<\/em> ] The former, images of wood or metal; the latter, stone pillars consecrated to a divinity. Comp. Lev 26:1<\/span>, ‘Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a (sacred) pillar,’ Deu 16:22<\/span>; Deu 27:15<\/span>, Exo 23:24<\/span>. The denunciation of sacred ‘pillars’ and Ashrahs is however much more emphatic in the legislation of the Pentateuch than in Micah. The latter prophet mentions them rather as constituent parts of the corrupting civilisation imported from abroad. Isaiah (a contemporary of Micah’s) actually gives his sanction to the erection of ‘pillars’ to the true God (Isah 19:19<\/span>); and Hosea (also a contemporary) merely mentions the want of sacred ‘pillars’ as among the misfortunes of the captivity, concurrently with the want of king and sacrifice (Hos 3:4<\/span>). This tolerant attitude of Isaiah and Micah is in perfect harmony with the Book of Genesis, which relates how Jacob set up and anointed the ‘pillar’ which marked out Bethel as a sanctuary. In fact, as long as ‘high places,’ or local sanctuaries, were tolerated, it was natural to tolerate ‘pillars’ with them, the ‘pillar’ being one of the traditional signs of a ‘high place.’ Isaiah lets the sanctuaries alone (though not, of course, the graven images, Isa 2:20<\/span>, Isa 30:22<\/span>), and with them the sacred ‘pillars;’ Micah begins to protest against both, but still gently, compared with the legislation of the Pentateuch (comp. on Mic 1:5<\/span>).<\/p>\n Verse 13<\/span>. Thy graven images also will I cut off<\/B><\/I>] Thou shalt be no more an idolatrous people.<\/P> <\/p>\n Thy graven images; which were for the matter of them made of wood or stone, smoothed, and fashioned to the images, which the blind idolater thought did well represent his god. <\/P> Standing images: statues erected in places chosen for the purpose, fixed that they move not, had this different name from their posture, the matter still the same. <\/P> Out of the midst of thee, O Israel, in the type, and, O Israel, antitype: this is verified among the Jews, who to this day hate images for Divine uses, and learnt this in their captivity; and it is verified in the church of Christ, which condemns all religious use of images. <\/P> Thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands: it was once the great sin of the Jews to worship and rely on idols; but when God shall by the Messiah redeem both his Israels, they shall no more sin thus, Hos 14:3<\/span>, for they shall know he is the only true God, and there is no Saviour beside him. <\/P> <\/p>\n 13. graven images . . . cutoff<\/B>(Compare Isa 2:8<\/span>;Isa 2:18-21<\/span>; Isa 30:22<\/span>;Zec 13:2<\/span>). <\/P> standing images<\/B>statues.<\/P><\/p>\n Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee<\/strong>,…. The former were such as were made of wood or stone; the latter statues, such as were molten or cast, and made of gold, silver, or brass; Such as the Jews sometimes worshipped, and are now found in the apostate church of Rome; but will have no place in the Christian churches, or those so called, in the latter day. The Jews indeed have had no idols or idolatrous worship among them since the Babylonish captivity; and the prophet here speaks, not of what would be found among them, and removed at their conversion; but of what was in his time, or had been, or would be again, but should not be in future time, when they should turn to the Lord, and be like dew among the people; and so we are to understand some following passages. The Targum is,<\/p>\n “I will cut off the images of the people, and their statues:”<\/p>\n and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands<\/strong>; as not to fall down to idols and worship them, so neither to trust in carnal privileges, ceremonial rites, observances of the traditions of the elders, or any works of righteousness done by them, which they had been prone unto.<\/p>\n He now adds, I will cut off thy graven images and thy statues from the midst of thee; and thou shalt not hereafter bend down before the works of thine hands This verse is plain and contains nothing new: for the Prophet teaches that God cannot become propitious to his Church, to keep and make her safe, until he purges her from her filth, even from idolatry and other vices, by which the worship of God was corrupted, or even entirely subverted. I will, therefore, cut off thy graven images and statues (158) from the midst of thee We see that God anticipates us by his gratuitous goodness, not only by forgiving us, but also by calling us back, when wandering, into the right way. Since then we have deviated from the right way, and God thus withdraws his hand that it might appear that he has cast us away it is certain that we ought not only to pray him to have mercy on us, but also to ascribe to him a higher favor, inasmuch as he takes away the very impediments which separate us from him, and suffer him not to come nigh us. We hence see that God is not only inclined to pardon when men repent, but that it is his peculiar office to remove the obstacles. <\/p>\n This ought to be carefully noticed, that we may know that our salvation, from the first beginning, proceeds from the mere favor of God, — and that we may also learn, that all those things, of which the Papists vainly talk respecting preparations, are mere figments. <\/p>\n He then adds, thou shalt not bend hereafter before the work of thine hands. God expresses here the cause why he so much abominates idols, even because he sees that his honor is transferred to them: this is one thing. He further arraigns the Jews as guilty, while he makes evident their defection: for surely nothing could have been more shameful, than to take away from God his honor and worship, and to transfer them to dead things; and he says here by way of reproach, that they were the work of their hands. What can be more insane, than for men to ascribe divinity to their own inventions, or to believe that it is in the power of men to make a god from wood or stone? This is surely monstrous in the extreme. Then the Prophet by this form of speaking aggravates the sin of the people of Israel, that is, when he says that they bowed the head before the work of their oven hands. <\/p>\n (158) מצבות, rather pillars or columns than statues: τας στηλας in the Sept. The pillar of stone which Jacob set up is called by this name, Gen 28:18<\/span>. They were commemorative pillars at which the Canaanites, and afterwards the Jews, offered idolatrous worship. There was a pillar of this kind in the house of Baal, 2Kg 10:26<\/span>. They were not altars, though altars might have been reared by them, for both are mentioned together in Deu 12:3<\/span>. The word is derived from יצב, to set, to fix firmly. The noun is rendered by Parkhurst, a standing pillar. — Ed. <\/p>\n 13, 14<\/strong>. <\/strong> Idolatry also will come to an end. Of objects connected with the idolatrous cult three are mentioned: graven images, pillars, and the Asherim.<\/p>\n Graven images <\/strong> Images made of stone (Mic 1:7<\/span>) or wood (Deu 7:5<\/span>); sometimes the term appears to refer to images of the deity in general (Isa 42:8<\/span>). The attitude of the Old Testament toward these images is one of intense hostility (Hos 8:5-6<\/span>; Hos 10:5<\/span>; Deu 7:5<\/span>, etc.). <\/p>\n Standing images <\/strong> Better, R.V., “pillars”; Hebrews massebhah. <\/em> The word is used almost exclusively of a “pillar” connected with the religious cult. It denotes the upright stone or pillar which seems to have been a regular accompaniment of Hebrew sanctuaries during the pre-exilic period. Its origin must probably be sought in an earlier stage of Semitic religion, when sacred stones were objects of worship, because it was thought that the deity inhabited the stones or was in some way attached to them. A crude, material symbolism of this sort would inevitably retard the progress toward the highest spiritual conception of the nature of Jehovah; hence the Book of Deuteronomy (Deu 7:5<\/span>; Deu 12:3<\/span>; Deu 16:22<\/span>) condemns these pillars mercilessly. The eighth century prophets were not quite so severe; in fact, Isaiah (Isa 19:19<\/span>) seems to regard the pillar a legitimate element in Jehovah worship. <\/p>\n Groves <\/strong> Better, R.V., “Asherim.” As the “pillar” points back to primitive stone worship, so the “Asherim” appear to be a relic of primitive tree worship. The Asherah (singular) was a representation of the sacred tree where a living tree was not available; the use of the plural implies the existence of whole groves of such sacred trees or of artificial poles. “From a survey of all the passages in which the word is used it appears that the Asherah was a post or a pole, planted in the ground, like an English Maypole, beside an altar, and venerated as a sacred symbol” (Driver). Remnants of ancient tree worship are still seen in Palestine (compare Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religions Today, <\/em> pp. 90ff.). The Old Testament attitude toward the Asherim is one of hostility; there is no passage corresponding to Isa 19:19<\/span>. <\/p>\n So will I destroy thy cities <\/strong> A similar threat is made in Mic 5:11<\/span>, where it is quite natural; not so here. Some suggest that the word should be rendered “adversaries” (margin, R.V. “enemies”), giving to it a meaning which it has in Aramaic, or to change one letter, which would give the corresponding Hebrew word. If this is done, the expression would pave the way for Mic 5:15<\/span>. But one would expect rather another reference to idolatry; for this reason many change the word so as to read “thy idols” (compare 2Ch 24:18<\/span>, “the Asherim and the idols”).<\/p>\n Mic 5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.<\/p>\n Ver. 13. Thy graven images also will I cut off<\/strong> ] Sorcery and idolatry are fitly coupled here and elsewhere: for they commonly go together, as in the Pope and his clergy, see Rev 9:21<\/span> ; Rev 21:8<\/span> ; as also in the Canaanites, Philistines, and other heathens. True it is that the temples at Rome were without images for 170 years after it was built; that the Lacedaemonians would not endure pictures or images, lest by them they should be distracted; that the Turks and Jews both at this day do abhor Christian religion, for the abominable idolatry they see among Papists: for since the captivity of Babylon the graven images and statues have been so cut off from the Jews, that they would never be drawn to worship the work of their hands. They have a saying among them to this day, that no punishment befalleth them, wherein there is not an ounce of that golden calf they once made in the wilderness (Moses Gerand). Having paid, therefore, for their learning, they abhor idols, Rom 2:22<\/span> , and count it sacrilege, as Plutarch did, to worship by images. The Papists should do so likewise; and not say, as their Vasquez (unable to answer our arguments) doth, that the second commandment belonged to the Jews only; or bring such proofs of their idolatry that the images themselves (if they were sensible) would blush to hear repeated.<\/p>\n graven images. See Mic 1:7, the same word. <\/p>\n standing images = pillars. Probably = ‘Asherahs. See App-42. Compare “groves”, Mic 5:14. Reference to Pentateuch (Exo 23:24; Exo 34:13. Deu 7:5). App-92. <\/p>\n graven: Isa 17:7, Isa 17:8, Eze 6:9, Eze 36:25, Eze 37:23, Hos 2:16, Hos 2:17, Hos 14:3, Hos 14:8 <\/p>\n standing images: or, statues <\/p>\n no: Isa 2:8 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 2Ki 22:17 – the works Isa 27:9 – the groves Eze 6:6 – your altars Hos 10:2 – break down<\/p>\n Mic 5:13. Idolaters were not content to offer service to the invisible gods, but made images of them out of metal and other materials. All of this was to be discontinued as a result of the captivity, and the reader should keep hiis memory informed about this important subject. See the historical note that records the fulfillment of the prediction at Isa 1:25, volume 3 of this Commentary. A very foolish fact, in connection with the worship of graven images is that they were the work of their hands. The idea of serving a thing as a god that was the work of that same servant is the height of fotly and inconsistency.<\/p>\n Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. 13. Thy graven images thy standing images ] The former, images of wood or metal; the latter, stone pillars consecrated to a divinity. Comp. Lev 26:1, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Micah 5:13”<\/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-22657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22657","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=22657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/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
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/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: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"