V. 1. [This is the word of the Lord, which came to Micah from Mareshah, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, Jehizkiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem].
"In the days of the kings of Judah." He does not remember the kings of Israel, although he predicts the destruction of both. Amos and Hosea include both, the kings of Judah and Israel, but because Micah prophesied only in the kingdom of Judah, he remembers for this reason only the kings of Judah. "Maresa" is a city in the kingdom of Judah, as is clear from Joshua [Cap. 15, 44], therefore he is called "of Maresa" (Morasthites). Incidentally, Micah was in the office of the Word for a long time, which can be inferred from the time when the kings under whom he prophesied reigned. Therefore he did not proclaim his prophecy in one sermon, also not in one year, but in always different sermons and in different years he said other things. As we have divided the prophet Amos into many sermons above, so we must do the same with Micah, just as Lucas [Cap. 3, 4.] calls the prophecy of Isaiah a "book of the speeches of Jefaiah"-"About Samaria and Jerusalem." This is certainly a great boldness that the prophet mentions Jernsalem immediately in the beginning of his prophecy. For in this way he immediately touched, as it were, the apple of the Jews' eyes, and it is to be wondered at that the prophet was not immediately killed. But he did not have evil kings and prophesied even under the godly Hezekiah; otherwise this prophesy seemed to be completely contrary to the promise of the kingdom of Judah, as we have said above. And the elders of the people who wanted to save the prophet Jeremiah from unjust death,
used this example against the angry priests who wanted Jeremiah dead, as Jeremiah Cap. 26, 18: "In the days of Hezekiah king of Judah there was a prophet, Micah of Mareshah, who spoke to all the people of Judah" etc.
V. 2. Hear, all peoples, take heed, land and all that is within.
With great spirit and with great vehemence he speaks in the beginning of the prophecy. He has imagined the future devastation with such certainty that he does not see how it can be resisted. He would like the people to be advised, since he sees that the lamentable destruction is already present. And his speech is even more vehement in what he adds:
For God the Lord has to speak with you, even the Lord from His holy temple.
That is, what I speak is certainly from the Lord. When you hear me speak to you, believe completely that the Lord is speaking to you. Hear, hear, take note of me, all of you, come together, and do not doubt that you hear the Lord when you hear me. Therefore believe me. So I simply understand what he says [Vulg.], "The Lord be unto you for a witness." That is, receive my preaching no differently than if God Himself spoke to you. "The Lord out of his holy temple," as if to say, Of this witness and this Lord I say, who is in the temple at Jerusalem. With this preface he rejects and completely puts down everything that is their worship, of which they boasted, namely the temple, the sacrifices, in short, everything of which they thought that it only pleased God.
V. 3. For behold, the Lord will go out of his place.
Now he presents what he is going to teach, as if to say: Have no pleasure in yourselves, you are deceiving yourselves, since you are falsely imagining that you have a gracious God; do not be sure, for He certainly does not like the sure and presumptuous. "He will go out," of whom you think he is hidden and silent, but he will soon come.
And drive down.
That is, he will prove himself present through his action, namely through the king of the Assyrians and Babylonia
And step on the heights in the country. .
The Hebrew word, which the Latin interpreter has translated here by excelsa ["heights"], is used to be taken for the altars, but it also means in general everything that is high or outstanding, because I believe that also for this reason the Latins have called the altars full of height and prominence. Therefore the opinion is: "The Lord will tread on the high places in the land", that is, on that which is high in the land, and on that which stands out above others, that is, the princes, the kings, the priests, the temple, the sanctuary, on all of which you rely, that it will stand firm on it, the Lord will tread and make it completely nothing. And this is the purpose of this whole prophecy, the main part or the summa or the goal, because all the following refers to it.
V. 4. that the mountains will melt under him and the valleys will crack.
It is a synecdoche: that which is contained therein for that which is contained therein. With these two words "mountains" and "valleys" he understands, in my opinion, the whole people, as if he wanted to say: Everything will be dissolved, everything will be destroyed, both what is on the mountains and what is in the valleys; no cities will be safe, may they be located in the heights or in the valleys. Thus he alludes to the nature or location of the land, for it is mountainous etc.
Like wax melts before the fire, like the waters that flow below.
He still stops at the devastation, as if he wanted to say: The Lord will disturb you very easily, without any effort. For just as wax cannot but melt at the heat of the fire, and just as a body of water that threatens a precipitous course cannot be prevented from flowing down from the heights, so also this total disturbance of yours is in such a great impetuosity and precipitous course, so it threatens you, that just as wax cannot withstand the heat of the fire, that it should not become liquid etc., so also you cannot remedy this evil in any way. So great is God's wrath when He is angry against the ungodly despisers of His word.
V. 5: All this because of Jacob's transgression.
The prophet taught this with a certain great joy of faith and with your great boldness, because he dared to accuse people of godlessness, who were apparently very holy, who were very careful about the works of the law, so that they would not transgress any part of it, who thought they were perfectly holy. If you compare with them our saints of works monks and all that there is of people of this kind, they are nothing. For those went about with works that God had commanded, and that with the greatest care and zeal; ours have to do with foolish and ridiculous works that they themselves have invented. But it should [instead of: in scelere Jacob omne istud in the Vulgate] have been translated more correctly thus: "All this because of Jacob's transgression," as also Hof. 12, 13. should have been translated, "Israel had to serve for (propter) a wife," where our books read, in uxorem. But with this sermon, the prophets aroused the anger and bitterness of all against themselves, because the works saints, the Jews, could not suffer anything less than that their righteousness should be condemned, just as ours do not want to suffer it, even though they are already convicted by God's word.
But what is the transgression of Jacob? etc."
Here the prophet himself indicates that the godless works saints have stubbornly held on to theirs. Therefore, in imitative speech in the person of the people, he himself makes the objection: "But which is the transgression of Jacob?" [To which the prophet answers:] 1) "Is it not Samaria?"
But what are the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
Here the word "high places" means altars. Therefore the opinion is: I will discover to you the sins of both, Israel and Judah. Israel sins in Samaria, Judah in Jerusalem. This is the main piece of all ungodliness, namely worship and sacrifice neither instituted by God nor commanded by God's Word. And here we see again, as in all of Scripture, how it is not pleasing to God, even how he hates it, when we do something without his word, no matter how seemingly holy it may be in appearance; such were the services and sacrifices of the Jews, which they did to the true God; so that our people may finally be ashamed and renounce their error, since they know that God does not like any of the things that they themselves have done.
V. 6. And I will make Samaria a heap of stones in the field, which are put round vineyards.
He answers their objections with which they protected their ungodliness against God's word. The same word that we read here, "heap of stones", is also in the Psalm [Ps. 79, 1.]: "They have made of Jerusalem heaps of stones", that is, a kind of fence of stones around the vineyards, in which the stones are not smeared with mortar and inserted.
And wants to drag their stones into the valley.
That is, in heaps and with impetuosity I will roll them into the valley and overthrow them, so that neither tower nor wall shall remain.
1) Supplemented by us according to the Hall manuscript.
And to break ground.
That is, I will mow them down in such a way that not one stone will be left upon another, so that the foundations will be visible to each one.
V. 7. All their idols shall be broken, and all their whoredoms shall be burned with fire.
That is, the things of which you even alone boast, as the idols, the calves, and the rest of the images, shall be utterly broken by the king of Assyria. - "Reward," that is, the consecration gifts, the interest, the gifts given to the priests, or to the temples, to set up worship, as in Hosea above [Cap. 2, 5. 12.].
For they are gathered of whoredom, and shall be whoredom again.
This is a proverbial ned image. The whole people he calls a harlot. Therefore the meaning is: You have brought together by your whoredom these images, works of art and wages or votive gifts: they are whores' wages; that is, everything is acquired by ungodliness. Therefore I will again deliver it up to the ungodly king, who also delighteth in idolatry: and as it is acquired, so shall it perish. This is quite the same idiom that the Latins have: Male parta male dilabuntur [evil gained, evil torn]. Thus, out of God's judgment, the goods and treasures of the monasteries will undoubtedly also become the plunder and booty of some godless warriors. For they came no less from whores' wages than the wages of the Jews, as he calls it here. The word of God will not lie etc.
V. 8. I must lament and weep over this.
The remaining part of this chapter is very difficult, because the difficulty of this passage is so great that the prophet has used Hebrew images and transferred idioms in almost every single word, so that I think that almost everything that the Hebrew language has in terms of images is brought together in this passage. Therefore, we are very nonsensical if we undertake to interpret the prophets without experience and a very thorough knowledge of the Hebrew language.
the Hebrew language. But I will do as much as I can with God's help to interpret this. I cannot promise anything else, nor should I.
So far he has prophesied the disturbance of the kingdom of Israel and Judah: that all idols and votive gifts should be destroyed by the king of Assyria, who should come out of God's judgment as a destroyer against them. This he has completely set before his eyes as if the disturbance had already happened, and he behaves as if he were a spectator of the disturbance, and he begins with the greatest emotion of heart, as it were, with their present ruin: "At this I must lament. "etc. Everything must be read and understood in the mode of possibility if we are to translate it into Latin. For the Hebrews have no optative, therefore they cannot speak thus according to our manner. But a Latin would say like this: Someone could or should mourn and lament.
I must go deprived and bare.
This "to be naked" must be referred to more exquisite adornment, namely: I will put on a bad and lowly garment and take off all other, more respectable garments, in order to indicate thereby the wretchedness of the desolation. Thus, at the command of the Lord, Isaiah also went naked. By this nakedness he indicated, as the text in Isaiah [Cap. 20, 2. ff.] says, the captivity of Egypt. It does not take place, however, that we would like to think that Isaiah went along completely naked in the whole body, but he was only dressed with a small and very short garment, while he had taken off the long and more respectable garment. This is also how the passage in the Gospel history [Marc. 14, 52] about the disciple who let go of the linen and just escaped is to be understood.
I must wail like the dragons.
The Hebrew word means both a whale and a dragon. I do not know what the lamentation of the dragons is like. By the way, the prophet mentions large animals, which, because of the size of their bodies, emit a great roar, and by this he makes the future sorrow great etc.
And mourn like ostriches.
Like the young ostriches (filiae struthionum). The kind of the ostrich is described Job 39, 14. ff. It leaves the eggs it has laid on the ground, but it does not care for its young at all. Therefore, he calls young ostriches those who are completely abandoned and missed by their mothers.
V. 9. 1) For their plague is no counsel.
That is, it is quite a miserable and hopeless plague. For this is what the Hebrew word means: "A wretched, poor, sorrowful being."
Which shall come into Judah, and shall reach unto the gates of my people unto Jerusalem.
I think the prophet is not talking about the Babylonian 2) captivity, but about the fear that arose from the captivity of the neighbor, just as if the Turk devastated a city very close to us, this neighborhood would frighten us all, so that we would fear that the Turk would also come to us etc. So I think, in this passage, the opinion is as if to say: the plague of the kingdom of Israel is lamentable and tremendous. The damage will not be healed, and this plague frightens and makes Judah fearful, so that it thinks it will also be destroyed and disturbed.
V. 10. Do not proclaim it to Gath, do not let yourselves be heard crying.
The word lachrimis [with tears], which is added in the Latin translation, could have been omitted. This passage is taken from the Song of David 2 Sam. 1, 20, as the prophets are used to take much from the histories. For the same words are here as there: "Announce it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the street of Asklon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised be glad." For it was a great calamity to Israel that King Saul was slain. When the enemies of Israel heard this-
1) This verse number is missing in the Weimar edition.
2s Although the Zwickau manuscript also has ^ss^riuea here like our original, Babylonia will have to be read with the Hallic manuscript. '
they would have wished him luck for their king's downfall etc. So here Micah imitates the same, as if to say: Conceal it in every possible way, so that your enemies do not rejoice over the misfortune you have suffered. For there was not only the disturbance, but also a very special fear of disgrace, that the enemies would mock them, that they would impose upon them God, whom they had always praised as their protector and leader.
But go into the mourning chamber (in domo pulveris).
The Hebrew word actually denotes excavated earth, earth that is not clumped together but tends to be like that which is thrown out of graves. In other places it is translated by the word earth. It is a Hebrew way of saying: in domo pulveris ^in the house of dust], as if to say: in the house of sprinkling with dust, where dust tends to be sprinkled. Therefore the opinion is: Do not mourn publicly; it is proper that you hide yourselves in some corner, where mourners are wont to hang on to their grief. Hide yourselves in corners, so that your enemies, when they hear of your exceedingly miserable misfortune, will not laugh at you and mock you.
And sits in the ashes.
The Hebrew says: There cover thee with dust, namely, that the enemies may not know thy desolation. Thus, in all these things, he holds up the future thing as a present thing, that he may move them to repentance by the expressed wretchedness of the future desolation.
V. 11. You beautiful city must go with all the shame; the inhabitant of Zaenan will not go out for the sake of the suffering of the next house; he will take it from you when he camps there.
There is an extraordinary difficulty in this passage. According to the Hebrew I read thus: transi tibi, habitatio pulchra, discooperta ignominia, non egreditur habitatio Zaenan vel Zenan. Planctum domus vicina de vobis accipiet, dum stat ipsa. Jerome has this
In his translation of the Bible he always translates the proper names by generic names, but in his interpretations he translates the generic names by proper names. Thus in this passage, where he translates ["the inhabitant of Zaeuan"]: quae habitat in exitu, where by all means it had to be translated by a proper name. It is a Hebrew peculiarity in the word habitatio. For the Hebrew word denotes a citizen, and we, if we were free to form a word, would actually render it by cividitas. But the prophet says with a bitter and harsh concession: Go away (transi), as if to say: Go away, thou beautiful city, thou glorious kingdom of Samaria, go away, "go away, thou tender city," for thee there is no salvation, it is done for thee. There is no one to stop the Lord; the Lord's wrath runs against you like a sudden flood, as he said above. For this your shame has been revealed, that is, it has been made public that you are passing away and are being disturbed; it is not hidden from anyone. For what we read [in the Vulgate]: confusa ignominia, is an inconsistent reading. - "She will not go out," this seems to me to say the prophet imitatively. "Zenan" is a city in the tribe of Judah, which is clear from the 15th chapter of the book of Joshua [v. 37.]. The prophet added a letter. This city with the others mentioned here were the closest to the prophet when he proclaimed this prophecy. For he prophesied in the kingdom of Judah, as we said above. Therefore, he addresses the nearest and neighboring cities to him. Therefore, this passage has a twofold opinion: first, go forth, kingdom of Israel, "go forth"; our city where we dwell does not yet go forth with you, it is safe etc. Second. The other opinion pleases me better; as if the prophet wanted to say: My people at Zaenan siud still safe and say: To us the Assyrian will not come, to us this evil will not approach, we will be safe. So here everything is spoken quite figuratively, as if he wanted to say, "Oh no, Zenan will not go." This seems to be only the most appropriate interpretation. Whoever does not like this may teach better than I do. But, as I have said, a proper name must certainly be read here.
"For the sake of the suffering of the next house" etc. 1) That is, you are already going, and the Assyrian is leading you away captive; therefore the neighboring Hans, that is, the kingdom of Judah, will receive suffering from you, which has stood by itself, that is, is still standing unharmed. Therefore, even though it still exists, it is suffering because of the fear of the captivity of its neighbor, as I said above.
V. 12. The afflicted city is not able to comfort itself. 2)
He gives the reason of the suffering. First, he says that she has become weak in good, so that the opinion would be: she is weak for good, she does not exert herself for good, the dwelling of bitterness, that is, of disobedience. And so we relate it to the guilt, as if he wanted to say: that she will be frightened, and that she will complain, she has earned that with her bitterness. The other opinion is: she stands indeed, she is unharmed, but she bears sorrow, mourns, and is grieved for your sake, since she also fears misfortune for herself. And this opinion refers to the punishment, and I like it better.
For calamity will come from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem.
That is, it has also come close to them.
V. 13. You city of Lachish, harness runners and drive away.
As everything in this passage at the end of this chapter is very difficult, this passage is also equal to the others. I translate after the Hebrew thus: Bind (or harness) the chariot to drive, you inhabitant of Lachi. What Lyra teaches about the city is nothing, since this city is sufficiently known, which in
1) This reads in the Vulgate: ktanetum äoruus vieirm aeeipiet ex vodis, Huue stetit sibimet ^the neighboring house will receive suffering from you, which is still unharmed4 This is what the interpretation refers to.
2) Our text offers: Huia inürrnuta est in kono UaUitatio nmnrituctinurn [for grown weak in good is the dwelling of bitterness^; whereas the Vulgate: Huiu inürmata 68t in donuin, Hnas Uabitat in nmaritnäinidns.
was in the midst of Judah, near the Philistines, very near the others mentioned here. And since the prophet prophesied in the midst of these cities, he fits the prophecy to them, as we have said. But the prophet speaks with a bitter concession, as above, and it is the opinion: Harness wagons, prepare yourself, Lachish, you must also go away, the captivity is also close to you.
For you are the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, and in you are found the transgressions of Israel.
These histories are unknown to us, for they are nowhere else contained in Scripture; therefore the prophet must be believed that this city was the occasion and originator of the kingdom of Judah, that it followed the ungodlinesses of the kingdom of Israel. It is therefore the summa of the passage: Because you, Lachish, have been the comrade of Israel in sin, and have given Judah the first occasion to follow the ungodliness of Israel, you will also be the comrade in punishment, and the first in captivity. This also happened, because this city was first conquered in the kingdom of Judah. Therefore, when the prophet says, "In you are found," he does not mean that this city was the first to commit these wickednesses, but that it was also the first to follow these wickednesses, led by the example of Israel, before all the other cities of Judah etc.
V. 14: You will have to give prisoners, as well as Gath. 3)
The Hebrew word "Siloah" is Joh. 9, 7. where John adds: "that is interpreted, sent". a sending; to the Hebrews it means both a gift and a messenger. I interpret it here by messengers, so that the opinion is: Well, send gifts, look for auxiliaries, by whom surrounded, you will think to be safe. Oh how badly you will succeed 4) the thing, in vain you try everything etc.
3) Vulgate: kroptereaäaditemissarios super Iiereäitateru OatU. Likewise our text, but with a different beginning: IUeo cla (vel mitte) ete.
4) Instead of sidi in our template, we adopted tidi.
The city of Achsib will lack the kings of Israel. 1)
Here the Latin interpreter translated very badly and unrhymed by generic names, while it should have been translated by a proper name, as also above. For this ["Achsib"] is also a city in the kingdom of Judah, as can be seen from Jos. 15, 44. The interpreter translates: House 2) of lies. So great was the blindness of the interpreter. Therefore the opinion is: You, Lachish, and you, Israel, you agree in your godlessness; well, go on, gather the Philistines, send to the city of Achsib (domos XXXX) because of a covenant, but so the kings of Israel will deceive themselves. That is, the kings of Israel will ally themselves with the Philistines, and will rely on this confidence, but the very thing in which they trust will cause them to be deceived.
V. 15. I will bring you, Maresa, the right heir.
This can be understood either ironically or simply. Ironic in this way: I will bring you an inheritance of which you are worthy, namely the king of Assyria. You are equal in evil, therefore I will make the inheritance equal. Here is such a play on words, which one cannot transfer into the Latin language with the best will in the world. Among the Hebrews, "Maresa" means [sriV] an inheritance; to this name he alludes when
1) Vulgate: vomus mendaoil in d666ptiov6m rsZibus Israel. Our text has doinos instead of domus.
2) In our template domos instead of domus.
he wanted to say: "Harre, harre", Erbtheil (hereditas), "I will send you an heir (heredem)". The simple interpretation of this passage is this, which I also like more: You, Maresa, are still standing there unharmed, you are safe. The enemy, the devastator, has not yet come to you; an heir is sent to you, namely I, so that I may preach repentance to you through my prophecy, so that you, if you believe my preaching, will be preserved and escape captivity. And this my prophecy is "the glory of Israel, which shall come unto Adullam". So we have finished this extraordinarily complicated and difficult passage, and accomplished what we could with God's help. What follows now is an explanation of what has gone before.
V. 16. Let the hair be shorn off and go bald.
. Baldness was a sign of mourning among this people, as we said above about the other prophets.
About your tender children.
That is, about your descendants, in whom you have delighted, in whom you have had great joy.
Make yourself as bald as an eagle.
That is, bear heavy sorrow and mourn, there is a great and lamentable captivity ahead of you. 3) Give yourself a complete makeover, as an eagle is wont to cast off its old feathers and grow new ones, and thus become young again, as it says in the Psalm [Ps. 103:5].
3) Weimarsche: de instead of: te.