And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:
I will cut off thy horses ... chariots - namely, those used for the purposes of war. Israel had been forbidden the use of cavalry, or to go to Egypt for multiplying horses (Deuteronomy 17:16), lest they should trust in worldly forces rather than in God (Psalms 20:7). Solomon had disregarded this command (1 Kings 10:26; 1 Kings 10:28). His disobedience brought on him its consequent punishment. Hadad, his enemy, was supported by aoh of Egypt, and not only sheltered, but was given in marriage the sister of Tahpenes, the queen. Hereafter, saith God, I will remove these impediments to the free course of my grace, horses, chariots, etc., on which ye trust. The Church will never be safe until she is stripped of all creature-trusts, and rests on Yahweh alone (Calvin). The universal peace given by God shall cause warlike instruments to be needless. He will cut them off from Israel (Zechariah 9:10) as she will cut them off from Babylon, the representative of the nations (Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:21, "With thee (Israel) will I break in pieces the horse and his rider: and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider"). As Isaiah (Isaiah 2:7) prophesied the cutting off of horses and chariots, cities and strong towers, in which Judah trusted, rather than in God: so Micah foretells that their removal should be a mercy to those who trust in Messiah.