CRITICAL NOTES.]
Micah 3:5. Prophets] False prophets flatter and promise security from judgment. Bite] Like serpents; cry, Peace] When they are doing mischief. Prepare] Lit. “sanctify war against him (cf. Joel 3:9); as if the cause of their own appetite were the cause of Heaven!” [Words].
Micah 3:6. Night] Calamities like a dark night would come upon them (Isaiah 8:22; Amos 5:18; Amos 8:9).
Micah 3:7. Ashamed] Because their predictions proved lies. Confounded] False prophets had no visions from God. “Their lying being punished in its results, they become, since God by no word of revelation helps them out of their necessity, entirely disgraced” [Hitzig]. Cover] i.e. to cover the face up to the nose, a sign of sorrow (Leviticus 13:45); here of shame (Ezekiel 24:17). With their lips they had lied, now they are dumb and covered with shame. “They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths, or boast of the name of prophet” [Calvin].
Micah 3:8. I] In contrast to false prophets, am filled with power. Judgment] A sense of justice (Acts 1:8). Might] “Moral intrepidity in speaking the truth at all costs” (2 Timothy 1:7). Sin] Not to flatter with false promises of peace.
HOMILETICS
THE DESCRIPTION OF FALSE TEACHERS.—Micah 3:5-7
From unjust judges Micah turns to false prophets, who are accused of flattering in sin and seducing by error. Corruption and crime in the nation will always endanger the Church. It is bad enough to be under ungodly rulers, but worse to be guided by false teachers.
I. They are mercenary in their purpose. Their chief end and only desire is gain. Rents and tithes, preferment and honour, govern their lives. Their god is their belly, filthy lucre their aim, and their “gospel is their maw”—supplied with food, they are satisfied and promise peace; but when no one puts anything into their mouths they are offended and intolerant. “They are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain.”
II. They are deceptive in their teaching. They flatter and mislead the people. “They make my people err.” An unfaithful ministry carries the people from God and leaves them to perish in sin. “For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and they that are led of them are destroyed.”
1. They deceive by predicting prosperity when there is danger. They cry peace when God threatens judgment. They bite with treachery and deadly poison in their mouths.
2. They deceive by flattering rebellion when they should urge to repentance. They rebuked no extortion and excess. They soothed and smoothed the people, and fawned like greedy dogs to those who fed them. “Will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?”
III. They are hypocritical in their spirit. “They even sanctify war against him” that withholds their due. Acting professedly on the authority of God, they abuse the word of God. Men now are denounced as “atheists” and “infidels,” condemned as “disloyal” and “traitors,” if they obey not the behests of the priest. Ecclesiastics threaten and discountenance, bless or curse, to get what they require. They rebuke only when their gains are disturbed, and comfort others to promote their own ends.
IV. They are judged in their ministry. They promise what never comes to pass. Instead of peace they have calamity.
1. They are darkened in their minds. “Therefore, night shall be unto you.” Moral obliquity shuts out the light, darkens the understanding, and brings judicial blindness. When teachers are dark, how can light be expected? “If the blind lead the blind,” &c.
2. They are silenced in their pretensions. They pretended to do good, but sinned against light and were condemned by their own consciences. Deprived of power to divine, and robbed of an answer of God; they had neither vision nor courage to speak. They were seen in their true colours, and deciphered before the world.
3. They were confounded in their ways. Events put them to shame, reputation waned, and confidence failed them. They kept others in the dark; God kept them in the dark, and perplexed them with their own devices. When God’s providence contradicts the religious teacher, he is seen to be opposed to God’s will, and proved not to be sent of God.
4. They were overwhelmed in their circumstances. They preached falsehood, walked in darkness, and stumbled in distress. There was darkness without and darkness within, a night of sorrow and calamity. Their sun went down, and dark cold night settled upon them. They had to cover their lips and hold their tongue.
THE TRUE MINISTER.—Micah 3:8
Micah now contrasts himself with the false prophets, sets forth the nature of the true ministry, which is one of Divine power, earnest appeal, and pure aim.
I. It is a ministry of power. “I am filled with power.”
1. Personal power. Power lodged in him, controlling heart and life.
2. Power exerted upon others. Power must be in the soul, before it can be expressed in the doctrine. This will prove the Divine calling and vindicate the real character of a minister.
3. Power of the highest nature. “By the Spirit of the Lord.” Not the power of intellect and gifts, but “power from on high.” “The power of God unto salvation.”
4. Power in the greatest degree. “Filled with power.” Here is no stint nor measure, except moral capacity. This is most needful, and the best furniture to the minister. Mr. Gladstone recently said that we had nothing to depend upon but moral power. “Tarry ye, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Power in yourselves, power in your words, and power in the hearts of men. “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
II. It is a ministry of light. “And of judgment.”
1. The minister himself is enlightened. He is endowed with “a spirit of wisdom and knowledge.” He has judgment to discern things that differ, to speak a word in season, from a sense of justice, a regard to truth, and not to please men.
2. The doctrine which he preaches enlightens others. It is judgment; an impartial view of God’s word, righteous indignation against sin, and mercy to the penitent. He has an ardent love for souls, and great zeal for the glory of God. Under such a ministry, sinners are convinced, inquirers enlightened, and saints edified.
III. It is a ministry of courage. “And of might.” He feared not the wrath, nor flattered the sins of man. He had courage to brave danger, adhere to truth, and reprove the mighty. He was manly in his utterances, endued with spiritual boldness, and steeled against all opposition in declaring “unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.”
“Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful” [Shakespeare].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Micah 3:8. Here we have a pattern ministry by which to test all others. Israel’s prophets were demoralized, and had sadly declined from the dignity of the days of Samuel. The entrance of the earthly-minded and unspiritual into the sacred calling will be a curse to the nation. Here we perceive the distinction between a false and a true prophet, between a converted and an unconverted teacher, and the different ground, nature, and object of their office. There is with the true man, spirit, power, light, self-denial, wise temperance, pure, uncorrupted delivery of God’s plan of salvation; and with the false, envy, imagination, self-love, which puffs up, personal gain, respect of persons, deception, &c. [Lange].
The Three Gifts of a true ministry.
1. Their Divine source.
2. Their human necessity.
3. Their practical design. All the fruits of one Spirit, all to qualify for the discharge of one duty, “to declare unto Jacob,” &c. “So, then, of these three gifts power expresses the Divine might lodged in him; judgment, the substance of what he had to deliver; might or courage, the strength to deliver it in face of human power, persecution, ridicule, death” [Pusey].
Micah 3:5-8. Warning to the Heralds of God’s Word.
1. Their ideal character (Micah 3:8).
2. Their danger of darkening God’s Word through self-seeking, in that either they for personal advantage preach what the ears of people lust after, or brand their personal enemies as God’s enemies.
3. The aggravation of their sin; desecration of the Word; confusion of God’s congregation.
4. Their punishment; they lose the capacity to discern God’s Word, and speak to the disgust of others and of themselves [Lange].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Micah 3:5-7. It shall be dark. Misery assails riches as lightning does the highest towers; or as a tree that is heavy laden with fruit breaks its own boughs, so do riches destroy the virtue of their possessor [Burton].
Micah 3:8. Power. The crowning power of the messenger of God is power over the moral man; power which, whether it, approaches the soul through the avenue of the intellect or of the affections, does reach into the soul. The sphere of the Christian power is the heart,—the moral man; and the result of its action is not to be surely distinguished from that of mere eloquence by instantaneous emotion, but by subsequent moral fruit. Power which cleanses the heart and produces holy living is the power of the Holy Ghost [Wm. Arthur].