Micah (Or The Righteous Of Israel) Bewails The Condition Of The People (Micah 7:1-6).
Micah (or the righteous of Israel whom he represents) now describe(s) the dreadful moral condition of his own people. From rich and powerful to the lowest level of society all are untrustworthy and undependable. Even close members of families cannot trust each other.
This passage bore heavily on the heart of Jesus when He considered the conditions of the people of His own day, and what was to come. The idea behind Micah 7:1 may well be the motivation which led to Jesus' dealings with the fig tree in Mark 11:11-25; compare Matthew 21:18-22, while Micah 7:6 was cited by Him in Matthew 10:21; Matthew 10:35-36.
‘Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits,
As the grape gleanings of the vintage,
There is no cluster to eat,
My soul desires the first ripe fig.
Micah is on the search for righteous people. He likens himself to a man going out into the orchards after the summer fruits have been gathered in, when according to the Law there should have been some left-overs, the gleanings, for the poor. But there were none. The rich had stripped every branch bare for greatest profit. Thus all that was left to him was to long for the firstripe fig which would begin the next season (which men could pluck if they were hungry). That was either an early green fig from a particular type of fig tree which could be gathered before the usual fig crop, or simply ‘the firstripe fig before the summer, which when he who looks on it sees, he eats it up while it is in his hand' mentioned in Isaiah 28:4. There are two points to the illustration. Firstly that Micah went looking for fruit and found none, and could only wait in hope for the first ripe fig of the following season, (a disastrous situation for the poor who depended on the gleanings) an illustration of the barrenness of the nation. And secondly that the growers were failing to observe God's commandments. Thus accentuating the barrenness. Jesus did not even find the first ripe figs, so bad were the spiritual and moral conditions in Jerusalem in His day.
The godly man is perished out of the earth,
And there is none upright among men,
They all lie in wait for blood,
They hunt every man his brother with a net.
In the same way as there was no fruit on the fruit trees, so were there no godly people in the land. As Micah looked around he bewailed the fact that ‘the godly man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men.' That was how it seemed to him. Christians in places where there is little fellowship often feel that way. But things are never quite as bad as they seem, as is evidenced by the fact that righteousness wins in the end, because of the activity of God.
Indeed rather than being upright men are steeped in sin. Like a hunter out to get his victim every man is out to entrap his brother. Violence abounds, and there is internecine rivalry. Brotherly love is totally lacking.
Their hands are on that which is evil,
To do it diligently,
The prince asks, and the judge is ready for a reward,
And the great man, he utters the evil desire of his soul,
Thus they weave it together.
Everyone is diligent in putting their hands to what is evil. Even the prince wants rewarding for his favours, and the judges are waiting for a bribe. The great man thus gets his own way by saying what he wants and then paying the appropriate bribe. They all in their own ways are weaving the same pattern of sin together. Of course such things happen in many societies. But here it had become blatant.
The best of them is as a briar,
The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge,
The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, is come,
Now will be their perplexity.
Indeed the best of them is like a briar which tears at the hands, and the most upright is worse than a thorn bush. Those who tangle with them soon wish they had not, because they find the equivalent of vicious thorns left in their hands.
But these people should beware. For the day of their watchmen, the day of their visitation is come. This may be referring to the prophets as their watchmen (Isaiah 21:6; Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 33:7; Habakkuk 2:1) and thus be speaking of the day of visitation against which they warned. Or it may have in mind the city's watchmen. In times of peace the watchmen had a weary task for which none were grateful. Day after day they watched in vain, and achieved nothing. But their day came when the enemy were seen on the horizon and they were able to give the warning. All the waiting had then been worthwhile. All then recognised their worth. And this was the day that was now coming, the day when the enemy approached, the day when the people would be visited with God's judgment. Now indeed they would find themselves in a state of perplexity.
Do not trust in a neighbour,
Do not put confidence in a friend,
Keep the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your bosom.
For the son dishonours the father,
The daughter rises up against her mother,
The daughter in law against her mother in law,
A man's enemies are the men of his own house.
But the worst thing of all about the society in which Micah lived as he saw it was the total lack of confidence that it was possible for people to put in each other. Neighbour could not trust neighbour, friend could not trust friend, and even that bastion of loyalty the family, had become a haven of distrust and malice. It was a picture of society at its very lowest.
How far this reflected the actual circumstances under which he lived in Jerusalem, or how far it was simply the direction in which he saw things going, we are left to decide for ourselves. But the warning is clear. This is what eventually happens to society when it turns against God.
Jesus cited Micah 7:6 as an illustration of what Christians must expect from many of their unbelieving families. The thought is tragic. A son dishonouring his father. A daughter rivalling and going against her mother, a daughter-in-law being active against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies being those of his own household. It was almost inconceivable, but such was the depths of human sinfulness that it would happen.