Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_550.TXT

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not their Creator. No answer being returned, it may
be .reasonably supposed Jonah ,was convinced of his
sin andfolly; and, to shew his repentce for it, penned
this narrative, which records his infirmities and weak-
nesses, for the good of the church, and the instruc-
tion of saints in succeeding ages.

This book is called,, in the Hebrew copies, .Sepher
Mica&, the Book of Micah; in the Vulgate Latin ver-
sion the Prophecy of Micah; and in the Syriac ver-
sion the Prophecy of the Prophet Micah. This prophet
is not the same with Micaiah the son of Imlah, who
lived in.the times of Ahab and Jehoshaphat, 1 Kin.gs
xxii. 8. for, as Aben Ezra observes, -them were many
kinenerations between them, at least many reigns of
lugs, as Jehoram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Uz-
ziah, all which made up a hundred and thirty years;
their names indeed seem to be the same, since he that
is called Micaiah, 1 Kings xxii. 8, is called Micah,
2 ,Chron. xviii. 14. and this our prophet is named Mi-
caiah in Jer. xxvi. 18. ,which is with some of the same
signification with Michael. So Abarbinel interprets ,it,
who isas God; see ch. vii. l8. which Hillerus {} con-
fates, and renders it, the contrition, attrition, atte-
nuation, and depauperation, of the Lord; deriving it
from \^Kwm\^, which signifies to be depressed, humbled,
weakened, and impoverished, as others do; ivhich
game, some think, was given him by his parents, be-
cause of their low estate, their meanness and poverty;
but of them we have no account: however, this is
much more probable than the reason Cornelius a
Lapide gives of his name, that he was so called be-
cause he prophesied of Christ, who was poor, and that
he should be born in a poor country-village. As for
his country, and the place of his birth, and the time
in which he lived, they may be gathered from ch. i. 1.
by which it will appear that he was not of the tribe
of Ephraim, as Pseudo-Epiphanius {b} says. but of the
tribe of Judah; whose kings' reigns in which he pto-
phesies are only made mention of; though his pro-
phecies concerned both Israel and Judah, and he re-
proves both for their sins, and foretels their several
captivities; and, for the comfort of God's people, says
many things concerning the Messiah, his incarnation
the place of his birth, W.hich no prophet so .clearly
points at as he, the execution of his offices, pro, phetic,
priestly, and kingly; the blessings of grace that came
by him, pardon of sin, atonement, &c.; and the hap-
piness and glory of his church in the latter day. The
authorityof this book is confirmed both hy the elders
of Judah in the times of Jeremiah, who quote a pas-
sage out of it; ch. iii. 12..which they improve in fayour
of that prophet, Jer. xx.vi..17, 18, 19. and by the chief
priests and Scribes in the time of Herod, who refor
that prince .to a prophecy in this book for the place
of the Messiah's birth, oh. v. 2. see Matt. ii. 4, 5,
He is thought to have prophesied thirty or forty years,
Bishop Usher {} places him in the year. of the world
3291, and of the Julian period 4001, and before Christ
713; but, according to Mr. Whiston {d}, he prophesied
750 years before the era of Christ, and so Mr. Bed-
ford · , and three after the building of the city of Rome;
and he foreteAs the captivity of the ten tribes thirty
years, and the coming of Sennacherib forty years, be-
fbre they came to pass; but when and where he died,
and was buried, no certain proof can be given. Pseudo-
Epiphanius, confounding him with Micaiah in Ahab's
time, .says {f} he was killed hy his son Joram, who cast
him down from a precipice, and was buried at Morathi,
his native place, near the burying-ground of Enakeim,
and his grave was well known to that day. And, ac-
cording to Jerom {g}, the .graveof this our prophet was
at Morasthi, and in his time turned into a church or
temple. Sozomen {h} reports, that, in the times of Theo..
dosius the elder, the body of Micah was found by
Zebennus bishop of Eleutheropolis at Berathsalia, ten
furlongs from the ci.ty, near which was the grave of
Micah, called by the-common people the faithful
monument, and in their country .language Nephsame..
eraann.

THIS chapter .treats of the judgments of God on
Israel and Judah for their idolatry. It begins with
the title of the whole book. in which is given an ac-
count of the prophet, the time of his prophesying,
and of the persons against whom he p.ro. phesied, ver. 1.
next a .preface to this chapter, requn'mg attention to
what was about to be delivered, urged from the con-
sideration of the awful appearance of God, which is

{a} Onomast. Sacr. p. 14, 466, 494, 542.
{b} De Prophet. Vit. & Inter. c. 13.
{c} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3291.
{d} Chronological Tables, cent. 8.
{e} Scripture Chronology, p. 662.
{f} De Prophet. Vit. & Inter. c. 13.
{g} Epitaph. Paulae, tom. 1. operum, fol. 60. A. B.
{h} Histor. Eccles. l. 7. c. 29.