And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft. Imagery from earthquakes and volcanic agency, to describe the terrors which attend Yahweh's coming in judgment (cf. Judges 5:5, whence the language seems derived: "The mountains melted from before the Lord:" a proof of Micah's and Judah's familiarity with the earlier sacred books). Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low degree, as the valleys, can secure themselves or their land from the judgments of God. Moreover, it is implied that not only the high grounds but the low grounds shall be made lower still. A yet deeper dissolution than that whereby the mountain is made a plain shall rend open the very valleys, at the coming dissolution of the earth, before the new heavens and earth appear. Of that judgment the one coming on Israel is threatened.
As wax before the fire - (Psalms 97:5: cf. Isaiah 64:1-3). The third clause "as wax," etc., answers to the first in the parallelism, "the mountains shall be molten;" the fourth, "as the waters," etc., to the second, "the valleys shall be cleft." As wax melts by fire, so the mountains before God, at his approach; and as waters poured down a steep cannot stand, but are diffused abroad, so the valleys shall be cleft before Yahweh. The melting is not merely as that of metals, but as of wax, which is dissolved completely. In Judea the autumnal heavy rains cause torrents to pour down the mountain sides. The decrease of the waters is as rapid as their rise.