Micah 6:9-16 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Commercial Dishonesty and its Punishment. This rather corrupt passage is quite distinct from Micah 6:1-8. It may have been written by Micah, and forms a parallel to his denunciation of agrarian dishonesty in Micah 2:1 ff. But it might equally well belong, e.g. to the time of Malachi 3:5 (c. 450) in respect of the sins which are denounced and the threat of their punishment. Let Jerusalem listen to Yahweh, who asks concerning the wealth of the wicked, and the dishonest means by which it has been acquired (Deuteronomy 25:14; Proverbs 20:10; Amos 8:5). He will punish these sins by the sufferings of famine (Leviticus 26:26; Deuteronomy 28:38 ff.), and by plunder and slaughter at the hands of an enemy. The foe shall intervene between the sowing and the harvest, between the pressing out of the oil from the olives (Thomson, op. cit., p. 207) and its personal use (Ruth 3:3), between the treading of the grapes (Isaiah 16:10; Isaiah 63:2) and the joy of drinking the wine. These are the consequences of such unjust conduct as that of Ahab towards Naboth; the result is the desolation of the city and the scorn of the peoples (LXX for my people).

Micah 6:9. hear ye the rod yields no good sense; read with Wellhausen and others, after LXX and Targum, Hear, O tribe, and the assembly of the city. wisdom will see thy name also yields no sense, and is probably a gloss; the LXX suggests that its original was Wisdom is it to fear thy name.

Micah 6:10. abominable means accursed (cf. Deuteronomy 25:16). Omit yet, as a corrupt fragment of the emended clause in Micah 6:9, and read Can I forget for Are there. The ephah was a dry measure of about a bushel.

Micah 6:11. VSS read Shall he (i.e. anyone) be pure.

Micah 6:13. The perfects are prophetic; read, perhaps, I will begin to smite, with LXX.

Micah 6:14. humiliation and the mg. are guesses for the unknown Hebrew word, which LXX renders it will be dark.

Micah 6:16. statutes means customs (cf. Jeremiah 10:3, mg.); the historical reference is apparently to 1 Kings 21, as typical of the Omri dynasty, rather than to the offences against Yahwistic religion condemned in 1 Kings 16:25; 1 Kings 16:30 f.

Related Commentaries of Micah 6:9

Micah 6:9-16

9 The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

11 Shall I count them purec with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.