CRITICAL NOTES.] Judgment has been pronounced in general, now special sins are described. The conduct of the nobility is denounced. Devise] Heb. to form plans (Psalms 36:5). Work] Fabricate, mature the plan (Psalms 58:2). Practise] To execute (Isaiah 41:4). Beds] i.e. by night (Cf. Psalms 4:5; Job 4:13). Morning] i.e. at break of day. Hand] Their hand is their God; right is overruled by might.
Micah 2:2. Covet] Cf. Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18. Oppress] Defraud.
HOMILETICS
THE CONCEPTION AND PRACTICE OF INJUSTICE.—Micah 2:1-2
Special sins are now condemned. The injustice and oppression of the rich are denounced and threatened with punishment.
I. Injustice in its purpose. “That devise iniquity.” Iniquity is first conceived, purposed, or planned. They plot and forecast before they act it. Actions are traced to principles. Devising is the incipient working of the principle. The thought is the fountain of the deed. God calls it the work of evil, and holds us responsible for it (Proverbs 14:22; Matthew 9:3-4). It is bad enough to be led into wickedness by others, but to devise, to scheme it is the depravity of “inventors of evil things” (Romans 1:30).
II. Injustice in its maturity. They “work evil,” mature it in thoughts and desires.
1. It is matured in the night, “upon their beds.” In the rest and stillness of night when they should commune with their own hearts and their God. They turn the chamber of sleep into a place for plotting, and abuse retirement by wicked designs. “He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good.”
2. It is matured in the day. “When the morning is light.” Early, very soon after conception it is perfected. On their bed, and in their waking hours; no leisure between deliberation and practice. It is done
(1) Openly, in the light.
(2) Deliberately, in full light.
(3) Shamefully, against knowledge and conscience.
3. It is matured by might. “Because it is in the power of their hand.” Might, not right, regulated their conduct. The lust for power increases in strength and lawlessness, until it becomes a law to itself, the master passion of the soul. Then no sacrifices are too costly, no measures too atrocious, for the attainment of its object. “This they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.”
III. Injustice in its practice. “They practise it.” There is a gradation in evil. First they sin in thought, then desire, and afterwards in act. To covet and to rob, to desire and to take, were the same thing with them.
1. It is a forbidden practice. They covet, disregard law, and seek to add field to field.
2. It is a violent practice. “Take them by violence.” Grossly and openly, by force and fraud, did they seize the property of others.
3. It is an inhuman practice. “They oppress a man and his house.” They took away houses and heritages, and ruined whole families and their offspring. Human life was not held sacred. Like Ahab, they first coveted, then sought to destroy their fellow-men by violence and false accusation. “Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.”
4. It is a cursed practice. “Woe to them!” Woe in Hebrew means all kind of pain, sorrow, and misery. Covetousness is the root of all evil to ourselves and others (1 Timothy 6:9-10). A covetous man is cursed in this life and in that to come. “Beware of covetousness.”
“You take my house when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house; you take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live” [Shakespeare].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
The reign of selfishness.
1. Each one strives and plans for himself alone.
2. Each one trusts in his own strength.
3. Each one disregards the law [Lange (adapted)]. What a temptation it is to have the power to do what evil spite suggests! What would many a one do if the power of the hand were as great as the boldness of the heart! As it is, however, God judges according to the counsel of the heart, and brings to light what a man has been occupied with even on his bed [Ibid.].
1. Notice the gradation of the evil. Conception, earnest preparation, and execution by force. “They say, they coveted, they took,” like Achan.
2. The relation between wicked thoughts and wicked deeds. The oppressor in his bed, in his heart, and in his life. Resist the first attacks of sin lest ye be eventually overcome.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Micah 2:1-2. Covet fields. No passion so deeply agitates and degrades, so effectually enslaves and destroys, the soul as covetousness. The man who sets his heart upon riches must be a stranger to peace and enjoyment. Fear, care, anxiety, suspicion, and jealousy place him on a constant rack. To the toil of getting is added the trouble of keeping his pelf. Avarice is insatiable as the grave, or rather as a gulf without bottom. The more this passion is supplied with fresh fuel the more vehement is the flame [Rusticus]. No houses, no fields content those who cannot rest in the lust of concupiscence. Yet only seven feet of earth will suffice them at last.