Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 15 Dec. 2024
When we look around and see all that is not right around us, it’s easy to question whether there is a God and whether He cares.
It’s a common Advent theme. At the first “Christmas” the Jews had been living under the thumb of pagan Roman emperors who capriciously murdered whole segments of the population, and they had not heard a fresh word from God in hundreds of years. Was it time to give up hope and forget about the old promise that God would send a descendant of David to inaugurate an eternal kingdom characterized by peace? No. It was time to double down in trusting and obeying God!
Whether or not Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was actually a Biblical believer, he was grappling with the loss of his wife and son and the horrors of the Civil War when he heard bells ringing on Christmas day and wrote: “And in despair I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said, For hate is strong, and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.’ Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.’"
Similarly, a couple of decades before that, Edmond Sears, another man who may not actually have been a Christian, grappled with this theme in “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear,” “And ye, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow, look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing. O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing! For lo! the days are hastening on, by prophet seen of old, when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling, and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.”
Micah was also struggling with dismay over the sinful practices of the people around him and with the pain of God’s judgment upon his people when he wrote his seventh chapter. But how does he grapple with these discouraging circumstances? He goes to God with a lament1 and a statement of faith. Let’s look at his example together of going to God with lamentation and faith:
Read
passage:
Woe to me, for I have become like a gatherer after
harvest-season, like gleaners after grape-harvest. There is no
grape-cluster to eat – [none of the] first-fruit my heart desired.
The godly man has perished from the land, and there is no one
righteous among mankind. All of them set ambushes for bloodshed; men
hunt their brother to extinction. Hands upon what is evil, purposing
to bring good, the governor (and the judge) are making asks
including payback, and, as for the important man, he dictates the
desire of his heart and they work it out. The best of them is like a
thorn straight from a thorn-hedge! Because of your watchmen, the day
of your accountability has come; their confounding will happen now!
Don’t y’all put faith in a fellow-citizen, and don’t put trust
in a friend. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies down on
your chest, because son treats father as a fool, daughter rises up
against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A
man’s enemies are people of his own household! But, as for me, it
is Yahweh that I will keep watching for; I will wait expectantly for
the God of my salvation; my God will hear me!
Micah startes his tale of woe with a simile about grape and fig harvesting.
I have a few grape vines in my backyard, and I have learned from experience that grapes do not ripen all together at the same time. When a good number of them are ripe, we harvest them before they rot, then we wait a week or so and pick the ones that have ripened later, but that second harvest is a bit smaller, and there are still unripe grapes that we have to leave on the vine. We may go out and pick the vines over again in subsequent weeks as the last of the grapes ripen, but there are increasingly diminishing returns.
Those last grapes – or gleanings – are often left by the owner of a vineyard because they aren’t worth the trouble to pick, and, in the Old Testament Israelite economy, it was these gleanings that the poor would be welcome to harvest for themselves – if they’re willing to put out the effort.
Verse 1 has a translation challenge, and that is what to do with the construct form, usually translated “of/from”
It makes no sense to me for Micah2 to say he feels like a “harvester/gatherer OF grape-harvest/vintage” if the latter part of the verse says he’s not actually harvesting grapes.
The Vulgate and Greek translated the Hebrew (and Aramaic) construct here as the preposition “in/during,” (“as one that gathers/gleans in/during autumn/harvest”). But again, it makes no sense to me to say that this is “during harvest-time” if, as the latter part of this verse says, the harvest has already been picked-over by someone else and there’s nothing but “gleanings” left.
The Aramaic Targums hit upon another way to translate this construct when they rendered it with the preposition “after” (“like gleanings after/בָתַר the harvest”). The ESV was the only standard version I found that came close to this idea with “when the grapes have been gleaned.” I think this makes the best sense: to translate the Hebrew constructs in this verse with the English word “after” (“Woe to me, for I have become like a gatherer after harvest-season3, like gleaners after grape-harvest. There is no grape-cluster to eat…”)
The picture is of being a latecomer to harvest-time. He came into the vineyard and orchard hoping to get some of the best, juciest fruit, but he finds that all the best fruit has already been picked! All the abundance of the harvest has already been taken away, and all that is left is the gleanings – the leftovers over which connoisseurs would turn up their noses.
The prophets contemporary to Micah elaborated on this:
Hosea 9:10 “I found Israel Like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers As the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor, And separated themselves to that shame; They became an abomination like the thing they loved.” (NKJV)
Isaiah 24:13 “The land shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for Yahweh has spoken this word. The land mourns and wilts; the world languishes and wilts; the highest people of the land languish. The land lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have passed over the Torah, changed statute, broken the eternal covenant. Therefore a curse devours the land, and inhabitants in her will be held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the land are scorched, and few men are left…. For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, Like shaking an olive tree, Like gleanings when the grape harvest ends.” (NAW)
Verse 2 explains the simile of the missing fruit from verse 1. The good harvest represents persons who were right with God and who worshiped God, but they have been killed in a massive campaign so that all that’s left is a few here and a few there.
The last Hebrew word in v.2 can mean “net” or it can mean “devoted to destruction.” The ancient versions translated it “death/persecution/destruction,” but in the late 1500’s the English translators of the Geneva Bible translated it “net,” and that translation has stuck ever afterwards with English versions. The “capture net” kinda fits with the hunting vocabulary in this verse, but the main point is that practically all the good people are dead, killed by the many wicked people who have taken over the country.
The perpetrators were already described back in Micah 3:10 as “building Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice!” (NAW)
Again, Isaiah and Hosea give us the bigger picture:
Isaiah 1:15-21 “‘And when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from them; and although you multiply prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of bloodshed. Wash, make yourselves clean, cause the evil of your deeds to turn away from before my eyes; cease the evil. Learn the good, pursue justice, straighten out oppression; judge for the orphan; contend for the widow! Please move and let us reason,’ says Yahweh, ‘Though your sins are like the scarlet, like the snow they will be whitened, Though bloody, like the crimson, like the wool they will become…. How the faithful town has become like a harlot. When full of justice, righteous lodged in her, but now murderers… 57:1 “The righteous perished and there was not a man who laid it to heart, and men of lovingkindness were gathered up without causing understanding. For it is from the face of evil that the righteous is gathered up… 64:6 Now we have become as unclean – all of us, and all our righteousnesses are like deceitful witnesses, and we fade like the leaf – all of us, and our iniquity, like the wind, carries us away.” (NAW)
Hosea 4:1-3 “Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: ‘There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.” (NKJV)
Later on, the prophet Ezekiel4 talked about false prophetesses who were “on the hunt for the souls of [God’s] people” and who were “killing people should not have been put to death.”
The problem continues generally today:
Psalm 12:1 “Yahweh, please bring about salvation, because the godly one is over with, because faithful men have disappeared from among Adam's descendants... 14:3 “The entirety has turned away, together they have become tainted, there is not one who does good – there is not even one!” (NAW)
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like the flock have strayed, each has faced toward his own way. But Yahweh interposed in Him the iniquity of us all.” (NAW)
“According to the FBI, there were 21,156 cases of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, defined as the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human being by another, in 2022 - equivalent to a rate of 6.3 homicides per 100,000 of the U.S. population. While this is a slight decrease from the previous year, these figures still represent the highest recorded levels since the late 90’s.” ~Statista.com5
And this doesn’t count the over 931,500 murders committed legally in 2022 by assisted suicide and abortion6, a number that has been rising every year.
The idea of v.3 seems to be that the bigwigs in society tell the authorities what they want, then the governors and judges figure out a way to do it for them (as long as the bigwigs provide them with kickbacks, of course), so the rich and powerful get what they want, while justice is corrupted and the common folk are ignored.
Matthew Henry elaborated on the last word in v.3 “they conspire/weave it together/wrap it up/work it out.” “They perplex the matter, involve it, and make it intricate... that they may lose equity in a mist, and so make the cause turn which way they please.”
I think of how Queen Jezebel hired false witnesses and corrupt judges to falsely accuse and put Naboth to death in order to give Naboth’s vineyard to her husband when he wanted it in 1 Kings.
The words for “desire” and “soul” at the end of v.1 and then at the end of v.3 form a contrast between the politically-corrupt bigwigs’ evil desires and Micah’s righteous desire for godly fellowship.
Those in every branch of government – both the executive and the judicial (Israel had no legislative branch) kept “both hands” involved in “what is evil” while promising vainly that “good” things would come of it. (The next verse uses the same Hebrew root for “good/well/skilled/earnestly” to say that what they say is “good” is nothing but “brambles.”)
But God’s law is clear on the matter:
Exodus 23:8 "And you shall take no bribe7, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.” (NKJV)
Leviticus 19:15 “Y'all may not do what is unfair in the justice-system. You may not tilt the cases of the needy, and you may not inflate the cases of the great; it is with righteousness that you must judge your fellow-man.” (NAW)
Deut. 16:19 "You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous... 27:19 Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow…” (NKJV)
Nevertheless, in Micah’s day8, the political leaders were running roughshod over God’s law.
We’ve already read in Micah 3:11 “For a bribe, her heads will render judgment, and for a price her priests will teach, and for money her prophets will deliver oracles, while they presume upon Yahweh...” (NAW)
Amos 5:12 “For I know your manifold transgressions And your mighty sins: Afflicting the just and taking bribes9; Diverting the poor from justice at the gate.” (NKJV)
Isaiah 1:23 “Your governors are rebels and companions of thieves: all of them loving a bribe and pursuing paybacks; they do not judge for the orphan, and the cause of the widow doesn't get to them… 3:14 Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and its governors: It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses... 5:20 Woe to those who say to evil, ‘Good!’ and to good, ‘Evil!’ - setting darkness for light and light for darkness, setting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter…. 10:1-2 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees... to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of judgment, that widows may be their spoil, and prey upon the fatherless!” (NAW)
You probably don’t have to spend much time reading the news today to realize that this lament is a very relevant one for our day and age. “Corruption in the United States is apparently at its worst in almost a decade, according to ... Transparency International. Advocates attribute the drop to declining trust in democratic institutions and poor oversight of pandemic-related financial aid. In the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the United States fell in 2021 to a low of 67 out of ... 100, down from a high of 76 in 2015... Two-thirds of the 180 countries and territories included in the 2020 index scored below 50, with an average of 43. Scott Greytak, the advocacy director for the U.S. office of Transparency International... noted that public confidence in U.S. elections has been undercut by disinformation and record-setting amounts of untraceable money in elections—especially in 2020, when twice as much was spent compared with 2016. Second, and increasingly important… [is] how major banks had knowingly allowed trillions of dollars of suspect financial transactions to go ahead, enabling drug kingpins, kleptocrats, and terrorists to move corrupt cash around the world.10”
It is right and good to mourn before God about this.
Micah compares his political leaders to a thorny Hedge. I have often seen Hedge trees with thorns lining the boundaries of fields here in Kansas. I tried to cut a dead one down once and chop it up with a chainsaw, and the thorns just shredded my clothes and made mincemeat of my arms and legs! As good as hedge is for firewood, I don’t know if I’ll ever try that again!
Micah says, in effect, that anyone who tries to tangle with these corrupt officials and straighten them out just gets hurt. As a prophet, he probably had firsthand experience with that:
Micaiah got locked up in chains (1 Kings 22).
Jeremiah got thrown down a well (Jer. 38:6).
John the Baptist got beheaded (Matt. 14).
Today we talk about draining the political swamp (if I may switch the metaphor from briers to swamps), but it seems that everyone who tries to go in and drain the political swamp just ends up drowning in it. When we pin our hopes on a political leader to bring about the change we want, we always end up disappointed. How should we cope with this?
Micah shows us the way: after bewailing how bad things have gotten in the culture around him in the first three and a half verses, Micah turns a corner in the second half of verse 4 and asserts faith in God that this injustice, corruption, and loss will not go on forever. God will “visit/bring accountability to” the leaders of his nation. (He calls them “watchmen” here, for they should be “guardians” of the nation11.) In faith Micah says God will “punish” these rapacious, ungodly leaders by “confounding/confusing/perplexing” them and putting a stop to their corruption and oppression.
This pattern of going to God with an affirmation of faith after lament can also be seen in other prophets like: Isaiah 56:10-12 “Its watchmen are blind – all of them! They do not know. All of them are mute dogs; they are not able to bark! delirious, lying around, loving to sleep. Yet the dogs are violently selfish; they never know satisfaction. And those shepherds do not know to understand. All of them have faced toward their own way, each to his profit from his end: ‘Come, let me get wine and let us get drunk on alcohol, and tomorrow will be like today, a very large excess!’ 10:3 “And what will you all do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will you flee for help? and where will you leave your glory? 22:4-5 Therefore I said: ‘Look away from me; let me be bitter with tears; do not urge me to be comforted over the destruction of the daughter of my people.’ For the Lord Yahweh Commander of armies has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a cry to the mountain….” (NAW, cf. Ezekiel 2:6, 28:24)
In verses 5-6, we’re back to lament.
In v.5 there seems to be a progression in loss of intimacy
from “neighbor/fellow-citizen/casual friend”
to “close friend and associate that you take guidance from”
to “your own spouse and children that you literally allow to lie down on your chest/in your embrace.”
You can’t trust anybody. This can be taken in two senses:
1. No human being, no matter how much they love you, can fix all your problems. But Jesus can!
2. No human being, no matter how much they love you, will be perfectly faithful to you.
Given the right circumstances, any of them will betray you because they have a sin nature just like you, and when wickedness and corruption begin to run rampant in a community, betrayal of relationships becomes commonplace.
In the corrupt culture of the Philistines Delilah betrayed her own husband (Samson).
Jeremiah 9:4 “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers.” (NKJV, cf. Ezekiel 22:7)
All the Bible commentators I read interpreted verses 5-6 in terms of lament, in other words, a description of the breakdown of society due to patterns of sin which resulted in nobody being able to trust anybody else. This phenomenon undeniably occurs when a nation rebells against God, and we are seeing it more and more in our own nation as lying becomes more and more pervasive in business and government and media, and in personal relationships.
But I think this is more than just a description. Micah, as God’s spokesman, issues two prohibitory commands at the beginning of v.5: “Do not trust a fellow-citizen and do not confide in a friend…” And since this is God’s prophet, this can’t be mere secular business advice along the lines of, “Hey since you can’t trust anybody, make sure you don’t have any confidences; that way all you corrupt officials can be more secure!” No, this has to be about how to “walk humbly with your God,” and it is clear that the flip-side of “not trusting your fellow citizen” is, as v.7 puts it, “watching for the LORD” – trusting the God who saves.
Both reasons seem to be in view with Micah, thus, on the one hand, he sets the example to trust in God who can save (instead of in man who cannot), but on the other hand, he laments how untrustworthy leaders and even family members have become.
Three centuries before Micah, David proclaimed over and over and over again in the Psalms the importance of trusting God instead of man12, for instance Psalm 118:8-9 “It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD Than to put confidence in princes.” (NKJV)
And it is also a major theme that Isaiah was preaching during Micah’s time, for instance in Isaiah 50:10 “Who among you fears Yahweh, listening to the voice of His Servant? Whoever walked dark places and there was no brightness for him, let him trust in the name of Yahweh and lean into his God.” (NAW, cf. Isa. 12:2; 26:4; 31:1; and chapters 36-37)
Trusting in our own way (Hos. 10:13) – trusting in man to make everything right – results in corruption such that nobody can be trusted. The only way out of it is to place faith in God.
God came and “visited” this earth on the first Christmas as the baby Jesus. He grew up and proclaimed the word of God in the Gospels. And “This verse [in Micah] is applied by Christ to the period of the [“judgment”] which will attend His [second] coming, in His instruction to the apostles in Mat. 10:35-36 (cf. Luk. 12:53). It follows... that these verses contain the explanation of [“now will be their confounding”], in this sense13, that at the outbreak of the judgment and of the visitation, the faithlessness will reach the height of treachery to the nearest friends, yea, even of the dissolution of every family tie (cf. Mat. 24:10-12).” ~C.F. Keil
Matthew 10:21-39 “...brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father [will do the same to his] child, and children will rise up against parents and put them to death, 22 and it will continue to be that you are hated by all on account of my name, but the one who has persevered into the end, this one will be saved... 26 Therefore, don't start being afraid of them, for nothing exists which, having been covered up will not be uncovered, and [there is nothing] secret which will not be known…. 32 Therefore, whoever will confess being with me in front of men, I will also confess being with him in front of my Father in the heavens. 33 But whoever shall not speak up for me in front of men, I will also not speak up for him in front of my Father in the heavens. 34 Don't y'all start assuming that I came in order to drop off peace onto the earth; I didn't come in order to drop off peace, but rather a sword! 35 For I came to divide a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a bride against her mother-in-law, 36 and the man's enemies will be those of his household. 37 The one who loves father or mother above me is not worthy of me, and the one who loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me. 38 and he who is not accepting his cross and following after me is not worthy of me. 39 The one who has found his life will destroy it, but the one who has destroyed his life for the sake of me, he will find it!” (NAW)
Finally, after sharing with God his lament over sin and its consequences, Micah sets the example to make a statement of faith in God in v.7.
But, as for me, it is Yahweh that I will keep watching/looking/hoping for; I will wait expectantly for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me!
Giving in and joining the world in its rebellion against God is folly. John Calvin noted that “we think that to be lawful which is sanctioned by the manners and customs of the age; and when success attends the wicked, this becomes a very strong incentive. Thus it happens, that the faithful can hardly, and with no small difficulty, keep themselves within proper bounds: when they see that wickedness reigns everywhere, and that with impunity; and still more, when they see the abettors of wickedness increasing in esteem and wealth... The Prophet, in order to prevent this temptation, bids the faithful to look to God...”
And God will hear you when you look to Him and speak to Him. He will hear-out your griefs and complaints. You aren’t just blowing into the wind when you pray! The almighty Creator of heaven and earth listens when you bring your lament.
This has got to be our posture. Not turning our gaze to the world, not hurrying to fix everything ourselves, but calmly trusting God to hear our complaint and take care of all our problems, keeping our eyes on Christ (Heb. 12:2), trusting Him to save, and “casting our cares on Him” believing that He will care for us (1 Pet. 5:7). Resigning ourselves to His timing for making things right rather than our timing, resolving to “wait” for Him. Don’t stop your lament until you get to that resolution point.
Psalm 4:3 “...Yahweh will heed when I call to Him. 5:1-7 “... Please be attentive to my voiced cry, my king and my God, because it will be to You that I pray. Yahweh, [every] morning you will hear my voice, [every] morning I will get organized before You and I will watch expectantly. Because You are not a god [who] inclines toward wickedness, Evil will not be [Your] guest... You have hated all workers of iniquity. You will destroy speakers of falsehood; a man of bloodshed and deceit Yahweh will abhor. But as for me, through an abundance of your lovingkindness I will go to Your house; I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of You… 25:5 You are the God of my salvation; It is for You that I have waited [קוה] all this day.” (NAW)
Isaiah 8:17 “...I will wait14 for Yahweh, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look eagerly15 for Him… 12:2 Look, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not dread For Yah Yahweh is my strength and song And He has become my salvation 25:9 ...Look, this is our God; we have waited [קוה] for Him, and He saved us. This is Yahweh; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” (NAW)
“When a child of God has ever so much occasion to cry, ‘Woe is me...’ yet it may be a comfort to him that he has a God to look to, a God to come to, to fly to, in whom he may rejoice and have satisfaction. All may look bright above him when all looks black and dark about him. The prophet had been complaining that there was no comfort to be had, no confidence to be put, in friends and relations on earth, and this drives him to his God: Therefore I will look unto the Lord. The less reason we have to delight in any creature the more reason we have to delight in God. If princes are not to be trusted, we may say, Happy is the man that has the God of Jacob for his help, and happy am I, even in the midst of my present woes, if he be my help. If men be false, this is our comfort, that God is faithful; if relations be unkind, he is and will be gracious. Let us therefore look above and beyond them, and overlook our disappointment in them, and look unto the Lord.” ~M. Henry
DouayB (Vulgate) |
LXXC |
BrentonD (Vaticanus) |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic HebrewF |
1
Woe is me, for I am become as
|
1
ΟἴμμοιG
ὅτι ἐγενόμην ὡς
συνάγ |
1
Alas
for me! for I am become as
|
1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. |
1 Woe to me, for I have become like /a\ gatherer after harvest-season, like gleaners after grape-harvest. There is no grape-cluster to eat – [none of the] first-fruit my heart desired. |
(א) אַלְלַיK לִי כִּי הָיִיתִי כְּאָסְפֵּיL קַיִץ כְּעֹלְלֹתM בָּצִיר אֵין אֶשְׁכּוֹלN לֶאֱכוֹל בִּכּוּרָהO אִוְּתָה נַפְשִׁי. |
2
The |
2
ὅτι ἀπόλωλεν εὐ |
2
For the godly is perished from the earth; and there is none among
men that orders his way aright: they all |
2
The |
2 The godly man has perished from the land, and there is no one righteous among mankind. All of them set ambushes for bloodshed; men hunt their brother /to\ extinction. |
(ב) אָבַד חָסִיד מִן הָאָרֶץS וְיָשָׁר בָּאָדָם אָיִן כֻּלָּם לְדָמִים יֶאֱרֹבוּT אִישׁ אֶת אָחִיהוּ יָצוּדוּ חֵרֶםU. |
3
X The evil
[of their]
hands they
|
3
ἐπὶ τὸ κακὸν [τὰς] χεῖρας [αὐτῶν]
|
3
they X
prepare
[their]
hands for mischief,
the prince asks [a
reward], and
the judge [speaks]
X |
3
That
they may |
3 Hands upon what is evil, purposing to bring good, the governor (and the judge) are making asks including payback, and, as for the important man, he dictates the desire of his heart and they work it out. |
(ג) עַל הָרַעX כַּפַּיִם לְהֵיטִיבY הַשַּׂר שֹׁאֵל וְהַשֹּׁפֵטZ בַּשִּׁלּוּםAA וְהַגָּדוֹלAB דֹּבֵר הַוַּתAC נַפְשׁוֹ הוּא וַיְעַבְּתוּהָAD. |
4 He that is best among them, is as a brier, [and] he that is righteous, [as the thorn] of the hedge. The day of thy inspection, thy visitation cometh: now shall be their destruction. |
4
τὰ ἀγαθ |
their
good[s]
as a |
4 The best of them is as a brier: the [most] upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. |
4 The best of them is like a thorn straight from a thorn-hedge! Because of your watchmen, the day of your accountability has come; their confounding will happen now! |
(ד) טוֹבָםAI כְּחֵדֶקAJ יָשָׁר מִמְּסוּכָהAK יוֹם מְצַפֶּיךָ פְּקֻדָּתְךָAL בָאָה עַתָּה תִהְיֶה מְבוּכָתָםAM. |
5 Believe not a friend, [and] trust not in a prince: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that sleepeth in thy bosom. |
5
μὴ καταπιστεύετε ἐν φίλ |
5
Trust not in friend[s],
[and]
confide not in guide[s]:
beware
of thy X X wife,
[so as not
to] |
5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. |
5 Don’t y’all put faith in a fellow-citizen, /and\ don’t put trust in a friend. Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies down on your chest, |
(ה) אַל תַּאֲמִינוּ בְרֵעַ ANאַל תִּבְטְחוּ בְּאַלּוּףAO מִשֹּׁכֶבֶתAP חֵיקֶךָ שְׁמֹר פִּתְחֵי פִיךָ. |
6 For the son dishonoureth the father, [and] the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law: and a man's enemies are they of his own household. |
6 διότι υἱὸς ἀτιμάζει πατέρα, θυγάτηρ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτῆς, νύμφη ἐπὶ τὴν πενθερὰν αὐτῆς, ἐχθροὶ ἀνδρὸς [πάντες] οἱ ἄνδρες οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ. |
6
For the son dishonours
[his]
father, the daughter will rise up against her mother, the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: |
6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house. |
6 because son treats father as a fool, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies are people of his own household! |
(ו) כִּיAQ בֵן מְנַבֵּלAR אָב בַּת קָמָה בְאִמָּהּ כַּלָּה בַּחֲמֹתָהּ אֹיְבֵי אִישׁ אַנְשֵׁיAS בֵיתוֹAT. |
7 But I will look towards the Lord, I will wait for God, my saviour: my God will hear me. |
7 Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἐπιβλέψομαι, ὑπομενῶ ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου, εἰσακούσεταί μου ὁ θεός μου. |
7 But I will look to the Lord; I will wait upon God my Saviour: my God will hearken to me. |
7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. |
7 But, as for me, it is Yahweh that I will keep watching for; I will wait expectantly for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me! |
(ז) וַאֲנִי בַּיהוָה אֲצַפֶּהAU אוֹחִילָה לֵאלֹהֵי יִשְׁעִי יִשְׁמָעֵנִי אֱלֹהָי. |
1Two other notable examples of lament: Psalm 120:5 “Woe is me that I dwell in the tents of Mesach…” and 1 Kings 19:10 Elijah said, “...I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” (NKJV)
2Cohen noted that the older Jewish commentators assumed the speaker was Micah, while newer commentators personified the nation of the Jews as the speaker. Liberal commentators may attribute this prophecy to some writer late in Israel’s history, but traditional Christian commentators (e.g. Waltke) assume this is Micah speaking, although Keil believed Micah was “speaking… in the name of the church.”
3Symmachus’ Greek translation from the late 2nd century AD (“the last of the summer fruits”), also adopted by Cohen, also lends support to my thesis that is after, not during, the time of harvest. Cf. M. Henry “...to find any of the summer fruits... when the harvest was over.” This also agrees with Caspari. Keil took a more refined position that was lost on me. Waltke noted that not only was this “after the harvest” but “The countable plural [“gatherings’”] indicates that the harvest was gathered several times so as to leave no gleanings whatsoever.”
4Ezekiel 13:17-21 “Likewise, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; prophesy against them, and say,`Thus says the Lord GOD: “Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their sleeves and make veils for the heads of people of every height to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive? And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies?” Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and let the souls go, the souls you hunt like birds. I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be as prey in your hand. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.”’” (NKJV)
5https://www.statista.com/topics/12305/homicide-in-the-united-states/#topicOverview accessed 13 Dec 2024
6https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states and https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2022/08/12/where-most-people-die-by-assisted-suicide-infographic/ accessed 13 Dec 2024
7שֹׁחַד, a synonym for the word שִׁלּוּם in Micah. Micah does use the word שֹׁחַד in 3:11, though, and שֹׁחַד is the word in Deut. 16:19.
8For similar messages from the later prophets, see Zephaniah 3:3, Jer. 8:10, Eze 22:6-27.
9כֹפֶר, another synonym for the word שִׁלּוּם in Micah.
10https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/28/report-transparency-international-corruption-worst-decade-united-states/ accessed 13 Dec 2024
11Calvin (and Keil, citing Ezekiel 3 & 33) followed traditional Jewish interpretation, equating these “watchmen” with “prophets” (but then Micah would be inditing himself!). Kimchi specified “false prophets,” while Isaiah da Trani interpreted it as the day of judgment of which the true prophets warned (which was also M. Henry’s and Waltke’s position).
12Viz. Psa. 4:5; 9:10; 21:7; 26:1; 28:7; 31:6,14; 32:10; 37:3,5; 40:3; 84:12; 91:2; 112:7; 115:9,10,11; 118:8,9; 125:1.
13Waltke also suggested that it reached a crisis point in the Assyrian invasion of Israel and Judah.
14From חכה, a synonym to Micah’s root-word יחל
15From קוה, another synonym with an emphasis on “hope.”
AMy
original chart includes the following copyrighted English versions:
NASB, NIV, ESV, Bauscher’s version of the Peshitta, and Cathcart’s
version of the Targums, but I remove these columns from my public,
non-copyrighted edition of this chart so as not to infringe on their
copyrights. NAW is my translation. When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular. I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Micah 7 are 4Q82 (containing parts of verses 2-3
& 20 and dated between 30-1 BC), and the Wadi Muraba’at Scroll
(containing parts of verses 1-20 and dated around 135 AD). Where the
DSS is legible and in agreement with the MT, the MT is colored
purple. Where the DSS supports the
LXX/Vulgate/Peshitta with omissions or text not in the MT, I have
highlighted with
yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I
have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with
{pointed brackets}.
BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword.
C“Septuagint” Greek Old Testament, edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935. As published on E-Sword.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%94.
%D7%91/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA .
DSS text comes
from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
G2nd Century AD Greek translators Aquilla and also Symmachus rendered this Hebrew word αλαλαι, which could be translated “[I am] speechless!” or “an unintelligible cry,” or it could be simply a transliteration of the Hebrew word (which is pronounced allai) and which they might not have been able to translate.
HSymmachus dropped this word, making his version more like the MT in that respect, but rendering the previous word less like the MT ως εν τοις εσχατοις της οπωρας “as in the last ones of the summer fruits.”
ILXX appears to have mistaken the Hebrew word for “desired” for another term of woe. Fields cited several Greek codices which instead read επεποθησεν (“it has eagerly desired”), comporting with the MT.
J“for me” appears to have been inserted by Brenton; it is not in the Greek.
KThis is a rare form of אלה with the lamed reduplicated, found only here and in Job 10:15 “If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery!” (NKJV) The only place where the form without the lamed reduplication means the same thing is Joel 1:8 “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.” (NKJV) (otherwise it means “put under oath/swear/curse”) Keil quoted March that it means “...sorrowing, groaning, and howling rather than threatening,” but Waltke said it was the latter “woe to one who is found guilty.” I side with Keil; Micah is not the guilty party.
LThe
Masoretic pointing indicates that this is a noun, but all the
versions interpret it as a participle, which it could be with a
different vowel pointing (and the pointing as a participle is
recommended by the BHS editor).
Also, it is plural in the MT
(as reflected in the KJV “they that gather” and NASB “pickers”),
but all the ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Peshitta, and Targums)
rendered it singular, thus the NIV “one who gathers.” ESV oddly
adds a passive voice “it has been gathered.” (However, all the
versions agree that the word in the parallel phrase that follows is
plural. I could more-easily imagine a Hebrew scribe changing the
word in the first phrase to plural so that the two phrases would be
more parallel, than I could imagine the translators of the Peshitta,
Septuagint, and Vulgate all independently deciding to change the
first word to singular so that it would no longer be
parallel.)
Waltke noted that there is an invisible beth
preposition in this word (“as in”), since “the
preposition ke can ‘absorb’
another prepostiion such as be.”
The
construct form, usually translated “of/from,”
does not lend much clarity to the meaning in this verse if
translated “of,” as most
English versions do. It
makes no sense to say he feels like a “grape-harvester” if the
latter part of the verse says he’s not actually harvesting
grapes. The Vulgate and
Greek translated the Hebrew (and Aramaic) construct form
here as the preposition “in,” (“as
one that gathers/gleans in/during
autumn/harvest”). But
again, it makes no sense to say that this is “during
harvest-time” if, as
the latter part of this verse says,
the harvest has already
been picked by someone
else and there’s
nothing but “gleanings” left. There are other ways that this
Hebrew construct form can be translated, and I
think the Targums hit upon a better translation which makes more
sense: in the next
phrase when the same construct form occurs in the Hebrew concerning
the relationship of the “gleanings/gleaners” to the “harvest,”
the Targums
translated this construct form
with the preposition
“after” (“like gleanings after/בָתַר
the harvest.”
The ESV was
the only standard version I found that came close to this idea with
“when the grapes have
been gleaned.” If we
translate the Hebrew constructs in this verse with the English word
“after,” it all makes good sense: “Woe to me, for I have
become like a gatherer after harvest-season, like gleaners after
grape-harvest. There is no grape-cluster to eat...”
MGrapes do not all ripen all at once. When a good number of them are ripe, we harvest them before they rot, then we wait a week or so and pick the ones that have ripened later, but there aren’t as many. And there are fewer still in the subsequent weeks as the last of the grapes ripen. Those last grapes – or gleanings – might be left by the owner of the vineyard because they weren’t worth the trouble, and the poor would be welcome to harvest them if they were willing to put out the effort. cf. Judges 8:2b “...Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?” (NKJV) Calvin confusingly objected to this interpretation, insisting that “by gleanings we must understand the collected fruit” but his final explanation ends up in keeping with my interpretation: “The Prophet refers here to the scarcity of good men… the people... were like a field after gathering the corn.”
N“You can find no societies of them as bunches of grapes, but those that are are single persons:” ~M. Henry
OThis
word only appears in one other place for sure: Hos. 9:10, although
it is although thought to be in Isa. 28:4 and Jer. 24:2. Its root
meaning has to do with being first and best.
Gilby commented:
“...Biccurah the first ripe frutes meanynge the fore fathers first
borne & the former age Abraham. Isaac, Iacob, Dauid.” Calvin
and Henry generally agreed, but Waltke said it represented
“longed-for… righteous magistrates and judges” which should
have been there. I side with Gilby, Calvin, and Henry.
PThe LXX referenced by Fields read ευσεβης (“godly” – which is the reading of Brenton and thus perhaps of Vaticanus as well as MT) instead of ευλαβης (“well-received”). Aq. and Sym. read ‘οσιος (“holy”).
QLit. “enter into judgment.” Other Greek versions render it ενεδρυουσιν “ambush” (from the idea of being “among trees”), which is a good translation of the word in the MT.
RAq. and Sym. both translated this closer to the meaning of the MT with θηρευσοθσιν αναθεματι (“they will hunt devotedly/to destruction”).
SCohen and Keil made a big deal of the “land” being the whole earth, but Waltke said it refers to the “land of Israel.” I side with Waltke because Micah seems to be addressing Israel and describing parochial judgment, not a world-wide judgment.
TA phrase from the Proverbs. The only other O.T. instance of this phrase “lie in wait for bloodshed” is Prov. 1:18, and the only other instances in the HOT of this verb together with the root for “blood” are Prov. 1:11, & 12:6.
UThis word can mean “net” or it can mean “devoted to destruction.” All the ancient versions opted for the latter meaning. As far as I can tell, Gilby and the Geneva Bible were the first to interpret it “net,” and this has dominated subsequent English versions. Jewish scholars have also gone with “net” (viz. Rashi, Cohen and the AJV, and also Keil), although some, such as deTrani and Daath Soferim have interpreted it as a figure of speech for entrapment and plunder.
VSymmachus’ version is more like the MT: ...εν ανταποδοσει, και ‘ο μεγας λαλει… (“with bribing and the big man speaks...”)
Wcf. Sym. και κατα τους δασεις ‘η δασυτης αυτου. (“and according to the dividing is his division.”)
XWaltke associated “the evil” with “net” (at the end of v.2) and with “weaving” (at the end of v.3).
YWith the notable exception of the Geneva Bible (“To make good for the euil of their hands, the prince asked...”), all the standard English versions (plus Gilby, Marckus, Owen, Henry, and Waltke among the commentators) render this infinitive construct of “good” in terms of “doing evil earnestly/skillfully/well,” but in the five other Scripture passages where this same Hebrew word occurs (Lev. 5:4; Deut. 28:63; Ps. 36:4; Jer. 13:23; 18:10; & Zech. 8:15), every English translation renders it along the lines of “to do what is good;” no English translation of any of those other occurrences of this same word renders it “to do something well/skillfully.” This may be a confusion of the wider range of meaning of the English word “good/well” with the more-limited range of the Hebrew word for “good.” Calvin agreed, saying that “acting vigorously” was “a frigid exposition” and rather interpreted it “to excuse themselves for the wickedness of their hands… coverings were ready for all crimes.” Cf. other translations cited by Owen in the footnotes to Calvin’s commentary: Rabbi Jonathan: “For doing evil [are their] hands instead of doing good.” Junius and Tremelius: “Evil [they do] with their hands, [and] they do [no] good. Keil also translated it “make good”
ZWaltke claimed that this was a hendiadys (“the prince and the judge” = “the judging ruler”), but the facts that each is the subject of a different verb, that there is a verb inbetween these two nouns, and there was more than one judge and prince in Judean politics, not to mention Waltke’s own contradiction of himself later in speaking of a plurality of princes and judges (see endnote AS) combine to make me skeptical.
AAThe only other occurrences of this word in the Hebrew Old Testament (HOT) are Isa. 34:8 and Hos. 9:7, both expressing God’s vengeance to pay the wicked back for their evil.
ABWaltke claimed that “The article precludes this singular noun from being a collective… [It is] metonymy for the king…” but no other commentator I read came up with this interpretation, and Micah doesn’t really address the king in his prophecy, and besides, it seems inconguous to interpret the previous two articular singular nouns in the verse (“the prince… and the judge”) as collectives, but not this one.
AC“desire of the soul” recapitulates the end of v.1 and forms a contrast between the politically-corrupt bigwigs’ evil desires and Micah’s righteous desire for godly fellowship. Calvin and the KJV translated as “wicked/mischievous” (as did Newcome, Henderson, and Piscator, according to Owen, and surprisingly, Keil also went with this), and Calvin interpreted it in terms of the wicked boasting about their sin, but the Hebrew word is used both for evil and good “desire,” and Calvin’s English editor (Owen) corrected the interpretation to be like mine.
ADHapex Legomenon. Thus the wide range of translations, including: trouble, divide, conspire, weave, take away, wrap up, reject, corrupt. The idea seems to be that the bigwigs in society tell the government what they want, and bribe the governors and judges, so all the rich and powerful get what they want while justice is corrupted and the common folk are ignored. Gilby and Calvin and Keil followed Rashi and Kimchi in the idea that it was a “weaving” of the three confederates of corrupt businessmen, governors, and judges.
AESym. corrects to singular.
AFSym. and Theod. read more like the MT and other versions with ακανθα (“thorns”) cf. Aq. βολις (“javelin”).
AGSymmachus corrected to a reading more like the ΜΤ & modern English versions with ‘ο ορθος [ως] εξ εμφραγμου (“the upright as out of a hedge”).
AHSym. corrected by adding σοι (“to you”) and omitting the “woe”s.
AIOwen asserted that this was merely “positive” (“good” as per the LXX and Targums), but Waltke asserted that this is a “superlative” (“best” as per the Vulgate and English versions).
AJThe only other occurrence of this word in the HOT is Prov. 15:19, which speaks of a hedge made of thorns/briars.
AKHapex Legomenon, but it is thought that this is a variant spelling of the word מְשׂוּכָּה (found in Prov. 15:19 and Isa. 5:5 – where it is clearly a protective wall) where the sibilant ש is exchanged for the identical-sounding letter ס. Hedge-apple (also called Osage Orange) trees can be found around the borders of fields near my residence.
ALWaltke argued well for the 2nd person masculine singular pronoun to refer to “the great one” and not to “God.”
AMThis word “confusion” is only found here and in the parallel passage of Isaiah 22:5. Waltke suggested it could refer to the “panic of the Assyrian invasion” and that the 3rd person plural pronoun refers to the “rulers and judges [sic] of v.3.”
ANThe ancient versions all insert “and,” and multiple Hebrew manuscripts, including the DSS, have an “and” here too.
AOThis word seems to be used for its meaning of the number 1,000 as in “chiliarch/duke/district/clan-leader” in the Pentateuch and History books of the HOT (Gen. 36:15-43; 1Ch. 1:51-54), but with the meaning of a “friendly associate” in the Wisdom and Prophetic books of the HOT (Pro. 2:17; 16:28; 17:9; Jer. 3:4; 11:19; Mic. 7:5). The Vulgate and LXX (and Calvin, Owen Diodati) followed the Pentateuchial meaning, but the ancient Aramaic translators seemed to be aware of this distinction and translated this word in terms of a close relative. LXX and Peshitta pluralize both “neighbor” and “friend,” but Vulgate and Targums (at least for the most part) keep singular like the MT, so most English versions kept these nouns singular.
APThe ancient Latin and Greek versions translated this Hebrew euphamism literally “her who lies down of your bosom” while the Aramaic versions changed the figure of speech to the simpler term “wife.”
AQ
“...without any reason… they say that we ought not to trust in
men; for this was not the design of the Prophet… Our Prophet says,
that there was no regard to humanity among men; for the wife was
ready to betray her husband, the son treated his father with
reproach; in short, they had all forgotten humanity or natural
affection.” ~Calvin
Calvin’s position is extreme
considering the previous and following verses (“Do not trust a
fellow-man…, but as for me I will watch for the Lord”).
ARIn Isaiah, Ezekiel, Exodus, and the Psalms (Exod. 18:18; Ps. 1:3; 18:46; 37:2; Isa. 1:30; 24:4; 28:1, 4; 34:4; 40:7-8; 64:5; Ezek. 47:12), this word only means “fade/wilt,” but in Deut. Prov. & Nahum (Deut. 32:15; Prov. 30:32; Nah. 3:6), it only means “make foolish.” Jeremiah (8:13; 14:21) seems to use it in both senses.
ASAlthough the Hebrew is literally “men of his house” (and, despite their paraphrastic English renderings, the Vulgate and LXX and Targums confirm this), the Peshitta “sons of” and NIV “members of” in the context of the earlier statement “she who lies in your bosom” raises the possibility that “men of” might not be gender-specific and could mean “persons/people of.” Cohen also cited Alschich approvingly on this point (“Not his servants… more likely his family”), and M. Henry seemed to concur (“the men of his own house, his own children and servants”), as did Keil (“people”), but Waltke was adamant that it was only the males.
ATcf. Mat 10:35-36, where Jesus quotes this verse.
AUThis is the same root as the “watchmen” in v.4, providing another subtle contrast between the economic opportunities and military threats that the current leadership of Judah is on the lookout for and the LORD that Micah is on the lookout for.