CRITICAL NOTES.]
Micah 2:6. Prophesy] Lit. to drip, to cause words to flow, prophesying (Amos 7:16). “The people, the false prophets, the politicians, forbade God and Micah to prophesy. Prophesy not] God, by Micah, recites their prohibition to themselves, and forewarns them of the consequences” [Pusey]. Shame] Lit. shames, manifold shame (cf. Amos 7:16).
Micah 2:7. Straitened] i.e. shortened, impatient. These] i.e. the punishments threatened; a speech which claims for itself the promises regardless of moral condition. God not less merciful than formerly (Exodus 34:6); but their sins have changed his proceedings towards them.
HOMILETICS
OPPOSITION TO GOD’S WORD AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.—Micah 2:6-7
A second accusation is brought against them, for contempt of God’s Word and opposition to his servants. The wicked could not endure the threatening of judgment, sought to silence the Prophet (Amos 7:10-12), or make him preach to please only, as their false prophets did. This conduct adds to their sins, leaves them without true teachers, and throws them into deeper shame.
I. Man’s opposition to God’s Word. “Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy.” Opposition to God’s Word is an insult to his character, and a denial of his authority.
1. Men are offended with the faithful preaching of the Word. The truth is unwelcome to those who live in sin. Judgment terrifies them and conscience accuses them in guilt. The cross is an offence, and the gospel a stumbling-block to many. They want the preacher to please them, withhold the truth, and speak peace when there is no peace. “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”
2. Men are offended with the constant preaching of the Word. “Drop not,” distil not; indicating habitual and unceasing warning and lamentation. Occasional appeals may be overlooked; but to be constantly threatened is disagreeable and offensive. It is vinegar and nitre dropped in the conscience instead of dew and refreshment to the heart. It argues an ungodly life and a degenerate age to resist the warnings of the gospel. “Did we not straitly command you, that ye should not teach in this name?”
II. God’s purpose to fulfil His Word. When the wicked said prophesy not, the Lord answered, they shall prophesy. The Word must be published. Men must be warned whether they hear or forbear.
1. God’s servants must obey their commission. Persecuted and opposed, they must be faithful to their trust and to their God. “Of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears” (Jeremiah 26:10-15).
2. God’s Spirit cannot be restrained. “Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?” Can you overcome God by opposing his servants? Can you restrain the Spirit from uttering the truth, or resolve its purpose to what you please? Can you quench the sun or imprison the light? Then you may limit the Holy Spirit in its operations. If God thunders in judgment, it is not because he cannot give mercy. His power is not diminished, and his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting (Cf. Isaiah 1:2; Psalms 103:17). But sins and iniquities hide his face from you, hinder his word, and procure your punishment.
III. The awful consequences of opposing God’s Word. God takes them at their word. They shall not prophesy, and their shame shall not be removed.
1. This will deprive them of the faithful ministry. If men silence God’s ministers and hinder God’s word, God will leave them without light and reproof. They will have their wish and be righteously punished for their choice. Ephraim is joined to his idols, let him alone.
2. This will offend the Spirit of God. In silencing the prophets they did what they could to silence and limit the Spirit. “Is the Lord’s Spirit straitened?” But impenitence cannot shut out conviction from the heart. Human sinfulness cannot frustrate Divine purposes.
3. This will rob them of religious privileges. “Thou art named the house of Jacob,” but this conduct is most unreasonable for such dignity. Men study to keep up a name, but it is only a name, without anything to answer to it in life. God discerns between show and substance, fair titles and truth. Men may boast of descent, rely on false security, and flatter themselves that they are Abraham’s children; but God will reject them, call them a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity. Their privileges will be taken away, and their profession will bring a curse and not a blessing. “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”
THE ADVANTAGES OF REVELATION.—Micah 2:7
The Word of God must operate according to the principles and dispositions within us. If it be food, it is nothing to the dead, but to the living only. The benefit is only to. them that walk by it. We are not to expect that his words will do us good mechanically, that is, without our consciousness or activity; or that they will act in us as physical causes operate in the body, where the concoction of the food and the circulation of the fluids go on when we are asleep as well as when we are awake, being independent of our volitions and thoughts. The Scriptures can only affect us morally, in a way of motive, in the exercises of the mind, and in the use of the means which God has appointed. This is the only way in which we are authorized to look for it to work We must read, hear, and understand them; we must pray over them, speak of them, and reflect upon them. It is endless to describe the benefit they will then do for us. They will do us good in a way of information. For the soul to be without knowledge it is not good. There is no knowledge like that of the Scriptures. It is clear, full, and blessed. It gives life to them that have it. It is an advantage in duty and perplexity to hear the voice: This is the way, walk ye in it. They will do us good in a way of excitement. We get dull and formal, have a name to live, but are dead. God quickens us according to his Word, endears it to us, and enables us to remember it. “I will never forget thy precepts; for with them thou hast quickened me.” They will do us good in a way of rebuke. They never flatter, but deal truly with us, and frequently reprove us. If we are concerned for our welfare we shall not esteem them our enemy because they tell us the truth. It is improper to limit the benefit of the Word to encouragement, to suppose that we have never a good opportunity, unless it comforts us. It is a blessing to be humbled and emptied of self, to see our vileness, and cry “God be merciful to me a sinner.” We talk of benefactors! What good has the Bible done! What millions has it blessed! How much do we owe it! Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift [Jay].
GOD’S APPEAL TO EXPERIENCE.—Micah 2:7
God’s Word does good and not harm. It is folly, therefore, to oppose it. You are then acting not merely in opposition to God, but against your own benefit and the best interests of your country.
I. The words of God design to do good. Words express mind. God’s Word reveals God’s will and design, and this design is merciful. There are mysteries, but no proofs of malevolent feelings, in the world. Benevolence predominates in nature, notwithstanding sin. Providence wears a benign aspect. The sun shines and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But in the gospel we have the purpose of God to save, the words of God to bless. “God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
II. The words of God have done good in human experience. Their truth has been confirmed within us. The greatest sinners have received good. Saul of Tarsus, Bunyan, and Newton have been forgiven and saved. We can point to trophies of its power in characters most sinful and profligate. “Such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified,” &c.
III. But the good which the words of God effect depends upon our moral condition. To him that walketh uprightly. They operate not on outward but moral nature, and influence us according to our relation to them. The sun that melts the wax will harden the clay. Good must be within us before good can come to us. An evil disposition will bring a curse and not a blessing. “To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Micah 2:6. The words are very emphatic in Hebrew, from their briefness: Prophesy not; they shall indeed prophesy; they shall not prophesy to these; shame shall not depart [Pusey]. I. Opposition to God.
1. In his servants.
2. In his Word. II. Consequences of opposition.
1. Shame shall rest upon them.
2. The Word shall be proclaimed to others. “God would have turned away the shame from them; but they, despising his warnings, drew it to themselves. It was the natural fruit of their doings; it was in its natural home with them. The sinner hath but to remain as he is; the shame encompasseth him already, and only departeth not. The wrath of God is already upon him and abideth on him [Pusey].
Micah 2:7. Named. The name is belied,
1. By conduct which contradicts profession.
2. By claiming the promises of God regardless of moral condition before God. Jacob was not copied in spirit and example by those who boasted of his name, a name which reminded of favours, which they abused, and of which they were deprived.
Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? No, for that would—
1. Contradict his Word.
2. Be at variance with the facts of human experience. It is free and unfettered, gracious and abundant in its operations (Cf. Malachi 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:9). “Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”
My words.
1. The benevolent nature of God’s words, “do good.”
2. The power of God’s words, “do good.”
3. The persons who enjoy the benefits, “the upright.” Those who return to the way of righteousness and do not forsake it (Proverbs 4:26-27).
That is the old and still practised way of avoiding God’s threatenings, namely, that men so readily form conceptions of God, and imagine that he cannot be angry because he is merciful. Let one learn, first of all, to understand God from his own sayings. He who hates the light may for a while resort to imaginary comfort, but it cannot help him [Lange].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Micah 2:7. My words. They do evil and injury to many. Thousands will curse for ever the hour they became acquainted with the Scriptures, for they derive from them only an increase of guilt and condemnation. But this is not the effect of design or of natural tendency in them, for the Bible is intended and adapted to do us good only, but is the accidental result of depravity; and therefore it is confined to those who pervert it, abuse it, neglect it, and thus turn the blessing into a curse [Jay].