Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_551.TXT

Text File | 1994-11-02 | 7KB | 130 lines

represented as very grand and terrible, ver. 2, 3, 4.
the cause of all which wrath that appeared in him
was the transgression of Jacob; particularly their ido-
latry, as appears by the special mention or' their idols
and graven images in the account of their destruction,
yet. 5, 6, 7. which destruction- is exaggerated by the
prophet's lamentation for it, vsr. 8, 9. and by the
mourmng of the inhabitants of the several places that
should be involved in it, which are particularly men-
tioned, ver. 10--16,
Vet. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Micah
the Morasthite, &c.] So called, either from Mareshah,
mentioned ver. 15. and was a city in the tribe of Judah,
Josh. xv. 44. as the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and
Zacutus {}; or rather from Moreshath, from which
Moreshath-garb, ver. 14, is distinguished; which Je-
rom {k} says was in his time a' small village in the land
of Palestine, near Eleutheropolis. Some think these
two cities to be one and the same; but they appear to
be different from the account of Jeroma elsewhere.
The Arabic version reads it, Micah the son of Morathi;
so Cyril, in his commentary on this place, mentions it
as the sense of some,. that Morathi was the father of
the prophet; which can by no means be assented to:
in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah; by which it appears that-he was cotemporary
with Isaiah, Hoses, and Amos, though they began to
prophesy somewhat sooner than he, even in the days
of Uzziah; very probably he conversed with these
prophets, especially Isaiah, with whom he agrees in
many things; his style is like his, and sometimes uses
the same phrases: he, being of the tribe of Judah, only
mentions the kings of that nation most known to
him; though he prophesied against Israel, and in the
days of Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah,
Pekah, and Hoshea: which he saw concerning Samaria
and Jerusalem; in the vision of-prophecy; Samaria
was the metropolis of the ten tribes of Israel, and is
put for. them all; as Jerusalem was of the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, and is. put for them. Samaria is
mentioned first, because it was the head of the greatest
body of people; and as it was the first in transgression,
it was the first in-punishment.
Vet. 2. Hear, all ye people, &c.] Or, the people,
all of them {m}; not all the nations of the world, but
the nations of Israel, so called from their several tribes;
though some {n} think the rest of the inhabitants of the
earth are meant: thee are the same words which are
used by Micaiah the prophet in the times of Ahab,
long before this time, from whom they might be bor-
rowed, 1 Kings xxii. 28. The phrase in the Hebrew
language, as Aben Ezra observes, is very wonderful,
and serves to strike the minds and excite the attention
of men'; it is like the words of a crier, in a court of
judicature, calling for silence: hearken, 0 earth, and
all that therein is; or, its fulness {} ; the land of Israel
and Judah, the whole land of promise, and all the in-
habit. ants of it; for to them are the following words
directed: and let the Lord God be witness against you ;
or, in you {p}; the Word of the Lord, as the Targum;
let him who is the omniscient God, and knows all
hearts,.thoughts, words, and actions, let him bear wit-
hess in your consciences, that what I am about to say
is truth, and comes from him; is not my own word,
but his; and if you disregard it, and repent not, let
him be a witness against you, and for me, that I have
prophesied in his name; that I have faithfully delivered
his message, and warned you of your danger, and re-
proved you for your sins, and have kept back nothing
I have been charged and intrusted with: and now, you
are summoned into open court, and at the tribunal of
the great God of heaven and earth; let him be a witness
against you of the many sins you have been guilty of,
and attend whilst the indictment is read, the charge
exhibited, and the proof given by the Lord from his
holy temple, frotn heaven, the habitation 0f his holi-
ness; whose voice speaking from thence should be
 hearkened to; who from thence beholds all the ac-
tions of men, and from whence his wrath is revealed
against their sins, and he gives visible tokens of his
displeasure; and especially when he seems to come
forth from thence in some remarkable instances of his
power and providence, as follows:
Ver. 3. For, behold, the Lord Cometh out of his place,
&c.]. Out of heaven, the place of the house of' his
Shechinah or Majesty, as.the Targum; where his
throne is prepared; where he keeps his court, and
displays his glory; from whence he removes, not by
1ocal motion, since he is everywhere; but by some
manifest exertion of his power, either on the behalf
of his. people, or in taking vengeance on his and their
enemies; or on them sinning against him, in which
sense it is probably to be understood. It signifies not
change of place, but of his dispensations; going out ot
his former wonted method into another; removing, as
Jarchi has it, from the throne of mercies to the
throne of judgment; doing not acts of mercy, in which
he delights, but exercising judgment, his strange work.
So the Cabalistic writers {q} observe on the passage, that
"it cannot be understood of place properly taken, ac-
"cording to Isa. xl. 12. 1 Kings viii. 27. for God is
"the place of the world, not the world his place;
"hence our wise men so expound the text, he cometh
"forth out of the measure of mercy, and goes into
"the measure of justice;" or property of it. Some
understand this of his leaving the temple at Jerusalem,
and giving it up into the hands of the Chaldeans; but
the former sense is best: and will come down, and tread
upon the high places of the earth; which are his foot-
stool ;' Samaria and Jerusalem, built on mountains, and
all other high towers and fortitled places, together
with men of high looks and haughty countenances,
who exalt themselves like mountains, and swell with
pride: these the Lord can easily subdue and humble,
bring low and tread down like the mire of the street;
perhaps there may be an allusion to the high places
where idols were worshippad; and which were the
cause of the Lord's wrath and vengeance, and of his

{i} Juchashi, fol. 12. 1.
{k} Prolog. in Mic.
{l} Epitaph. Paulae, ut supra.
{m} \^Mlk Myme\^ poouli omnes ipsi, Montanus, Drusius, Piscator, Tar-
novius.
{n} So Burkius.
{o} \^halmw\^ & plenitudo ejus, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius,
Cocceius, Burkius.
{p} \^Mkb\^ in vobis, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius.
{q} Kabala Denudata, par. 1. p. 408.