Literal Commentary on Micah

Interpretation of the Prophecy of Micah, Literally, Micah Again, the interpretation of the prophecy of Micah, literally, Micah, was prophesied in the time of Hosea, Joel, and Amos, and in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of the line of David. The first word of the Lord was revealed to him. "Hear, all you peoples," he calls to the tribes, "peoples," to the two kingdoms. "Listen, O earth," he says, "hear, O earth of the kingdom," because the Lord came forth from Mount Zion, the place where he dwells. And he descended and trod upon the height of the land of the kingdom of fire, to be for its inhabitants beneath him, for kings and for nobles. And the depths, a cutting, like a covering, all is interpreted. Like a madness. And like the waters of the Jordan that descend in a descent from the height, so with ease they are led from the captives. What is the iniquity of Jacob? Is it not that you worshipped the idols that were in Samaria? Behold, also those of Judah, the idols that were in Jerusalem. I will make Jerusalem because of these sins a ruin, Jerusalem, and it will become a house of desolation for the seed of every nation. And its stones, the farmers uprooted, all its dwellings from its foundation, and they cast its stones on the threshing-floor, as more suitable for the threshing of grain and for the sowing of seed and for the pressing of the vine, because with the wages of sin came the idols, as wages for the demons who sinned in it, and for the wages of the sin that went forth, when wages calls to the repentance that they receive. And it reached Judah, it reaches and is carried also to those two tribes, a dance of weeping.

Gath, do not rejoice, do not rejoice, O daughter of Jerusalem, over the idols of Gath that were taken captive, as you have inherited their land, and because you also will be taken captive. And I ask, do not weep over them, but over yourselves, weep. For it is not for weeping, nor for rejoicing, that you are left. The houses of the calf, its village and its destruction, were rolled in the dust, O Israelites, by the repentance that is not for the opposite to happen to you. With one village of the calf, he speaks concerning all their land. I have made for you a dwelling, O behold, I have come, behold, I have prepared these. You, however, O dwelling of Israel, I have made for you that which is good, either by repentance or by other means for your help. The uncircumcised one went out, the uncircumcised one went out before the captives, the dwelling of Israel that dwelt from of old in Egypt. From of old, when they were in Egypt. The dancing floor of Beth-Asul, will you bear the evil blow of the coal for those in Asul the city? When they took, they took that counsel for themselves, as it was more grievous than the blow that came upon you. Because she was sick for good things, she became sick and fell into the snare of the head of the captivity upon the face of her who was sick and was prevented from doing good, and she raged against God and against the prophets. Upon the gates of Jerusalem, O behold, the Lord who is sacrificed, I am from them. I am moved, and I am dead, upon Jerusalem, the chariots and horses of the Babylonians. The dwelling of Lachish, O from it began the service of wickedness, and it hunted after the Jerusalemites, the dwellers of Lachish, for they were the cause of your rejoicing in these two tribes, the erring ones of Baal and the calf of the tribes.

others say that the king of the Philistines was killed in it, that is, Amoziah king of Judah, and she was the first to kill a king in the kingdom of Judah, and she was the first to kill a king in the kingdom of Judah in the likeness of the kingdom of the ten tribes. Therefore, you will be left, O inheritance that you took from the Philistines. You will be left from your captivity. For it does not say that you will leave your land and the Philistines will come and inherit it, because before them they were being taken captive with the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians, as it is revealed that you should weep bitterly, it is fitting for you when you are in captivity. And as it is revealed at the time of her old age, she sent out all her strength. This also, when the time comes that passes over you, God sends out all your strength into the hands of the enemies. And do not weep, do not weep over the afflictions that have come upon you, but only over your sins that have increased and caused you to weep. They angered his spirit, they embittered his will. Behold, the good words, this will be for you a demonstration of the power of the Almighty, that as the good words of your fathers were completed and fulfilled in deed, so also the words of captivity and your sustenance that came through the prophets will be completed and fulfilled over you. With me, like a locust, in the likeness of a locust that stands in its place, also this people stands against God and against the prophets who were proclaiming peace and goodness to him. It is possible that the Assyrians will spread over the face of these people. It is possible that they will spread, that they will pass over that wealth which they plundered from the camps and were confident and thought it would remain for them. And they will turn the battle, they will come to the Israelites.

by your iniquity you turned war against yourselves, so that enemies came again and fought with you, because of the error—that same error which you practiced in this land, which he calls "the abyss"—it will destroy you and ruin you. A man who walks, and drunkenness—the false prophet who walks in falsehood and in a spirit of deceit, he led you astray, placing a chief over you, naming him "the one who arranges and nourishes," as if he held in his hand that of the Lord, and he became like the mother of rebellion, in which the people who are filled with blood in the likeness of a flood were swallowed up, even the false prophets who led him astray. To all of you, Jacob, what now? Will you go to be consoled among the Egyptians or in other lands among peoples who are not moved at all? Because this one is a stumbling block, this one is for you a burden to Jerusalem, and they made her like a flock, with sheep that were shut up within Jerusalem by the hands of the Babylonians, and they were pressed like sheep of the spring and shorn or plucked, with nails and shears. And if a sign or a father comes, it is all lost. Go up, O roar, among the Babylonians who will breach for him the wall of Jerusalem before the Jews, and they will lead them out into captivity. And the Lord at their head—over them they were found among the Babylonians to perform these things, because the Lord came at the head of the camp of the Babylonians, and he fights with the Jews. Concerning the false prophets. It is clear that he proclaims war against them, war is waged against the false prophets, and he says that when they cannot eat bread, evil is stirred up against them.

the whole night, he says, because death came upon them, the darkness of affliction in which they are held, when nothing is seen or chosen for them, as for their salvation. But this word, this very word, shows the prophet the distinction of the false prophets. This word is not spoken, but with the spirit of holiness this word is spoken, and from it the power of a man who does not sin is strengthened. And Mount Beth-El to Beth-Ava, that is, the way with the mountain upon which he commanded destruction, and trees were planted in it as in a desolate mountain. The sign of the Lord's mountain is placed at the head of the mountains and is high with heights, as is the custom of the prophets in the midst of afflictions, mixing joys. In the last days of the Passover, when all the Jews were gathered to Jerusalem, it became known to all in divine idleness. This mountain of Zion, upon which the Lord's house is commanded, is high and glorious with all the mountains of the dwelling, and is established so that it cannot be shaken by the power of him who dwells in it. And the house of the peoples, that is, those who rejoiced and covered many peoples from afar and beyond, refers to the house of Gog. And their swords were drawn, that is, when the house of Gog was destroyed, all the peoples who were armed with their weapons were scattered without shame, when no longer was the thought of war against the Jews established. But the tower, the shepherd, that is, after the others, he says concerning the Passover, it turns and fights against them. He calls Jerusalem a tower because of the temple within it. And that kingdom which has a shepherd and a deep ruler, he calls it dark, as it was darkened by idols, and with it the light of the fear of God was extinguished. Zechariah says, that is, that you will be subject to Babylon in captivity.

And the ruler, the ruler, came to Nebuchadnezzar, who said, "When he came to Nebuchadnezzar, he ruled over you and enslaved you." Before he called him because of his greatness and his power and because of all that preceded him in his dominion. "Woe is me, and alas!" said the elder, "Woe that has overtaken me justly, and alas, is there or can there be another in the likeness of the evil of one who has borne pain and affliction?" For the time is short. Even if you are patient, you are this one, and after you, the Magi are coming to you. Now, "They will be confounded over you," he says concerning the house of Gog and their people, "They went up after the command. Zion will be polluted," that is, those who were worthy of polluting the sanctity of Zion and seeing the sword of Jerusalem by the sword that will be fulfilled in her. Now, "You will go out with an army," that is, you will go out and you will make war against all those who came to make war against you. He calls the mighty armies Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and David because of their victory in war, who stood against and struck, that is, this was their goodness, as with a rod on the faces they struck them harshly, not with the head of the people. "You, however, are from Bethlehem," that is, now come up, for the commander of the war, who is Zerubbabel the Maccabee. "From you will go forth," that is, not even a small one from Bethlehem will go forth with force and with armies in the furnace of enemies, and you are not sufficient to stand at the heads of the thousands of Judah as before. But for God, this is not difficult, that all the multitude of enemies he will destroy and cast down by the hand of that one who will go forth from you, Zerubbabel your king. For from you it is destined to go forth and to conquer the house of Gog. His going forth with the first ones, that is, these are concerning the Messiah of the loaves.

Because of Zerubbabel, in the days of the captivity, he was born, and not from the beginning and the days of the world was he born, that is, he was born and Jerusalem is called a mother, because of the covenant in the afflictions, as in the pains and the pangs of the one who was born in her, the Redeemer, and her pains were loosed. And he says, "Henceforth, Jerusalem is loosed from the afflictions of the captivity until the time when the Helper is born to her, and until the captivity is finished, these things are fulfilled." Spiritually: Jerusalem is loosed from the afflictions until the Messiah is born in the flesh. And the rest of his brothers are divided, when they are not reconciled to the two kingdoms as before, but like brothers under one head, which is Zerubbabel, they are subjugated henceforth. And the land, and from the great things that God did through the Helper, then his name grew and was praised in the whole inhabited world, and there was peace when Gog fell. And he took hold of all the remnant. And the Assyrian, when he came, because those were far off, as if for the truth of their own, those who were with Hezekiah were reminded that in that time they were being fulfilled. And he set up against him seven counsels, that is, this interpretation: "Take for yourselves that God destroys the house of Gog." With this, he also destroys the Assyrian and his army by means of Sennacherib. And this, that seven counsels and eight great ones of the chiefs over the complete and perfect and abundant destruction that Jerusalem inflicted upon the Assyrians by the hand of the angel, he hints, as this: "He gave a sign to seven and to eight others." Seven counsels: and the prophets before the ascent of the Assyrian to Jerusalem, who were prophesying concerning his fall. Eight chiefs: Hezekiah and his people, that is, the great ones.

and he went down to the land of Assyria, and he stirred up against him the Assyrians to the Babylonians, and he came and laid waste to his land and his kingdom, which is destroyed with Merodach. And the rest of the prophecy is with the Lord, when the Assyrians fell, those who remained in Jerusalem. And he showed that God is merciful to all peoples, like a child when he falls to the ground, and like drops. For the head is like a child or drops, when they are taken up they do not remain or endure for a man. So also with the peoples who fled and took refuge in him, they returned to Jerusalem when the Assyrian fell and fled to his land. Raise your hand, Ezekiel, over your enemies. And all your enemies, the Assyrians, perished, or the chariots of your horses with you are called upon the destruction of the one who pursues the Assyrians with the Babylonians. Your plants are the trees with which the Assyrians used to worship idols. Arise, judge, over the mountains, again called upon those who came against Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Arise, you prophet. And judge over the mountains and heights around Jerusalem that received the corpses of the Assyrians. And hear that they were shut up in the house of their God. And they heard incantations instead of interpretations. And they silenced the silent ones to the words of those who silenced themselves. The Lord covers his violence. With a hundred, he is head over the good things that were with him from Egypt, and that image of good things was found. With a hundred, my shepherd reminds him of that which burned when he wanted to destroy the people by the curse of Balaam. And with a hundred, Balaam turned him in the beginning, and he came to his end, and he turned the curses into blessings.

and he remained until the end of the Persian kingdom, which was the beginning of the church until its conclusion. Because he knew that even Balaam knew the righteousness of God among the people, and it did not seem good to him to be silent. At that time he anticipated the Lord, while he was a prophet, to rebuke the people, saying as he said to them in his person. And he succeeded because in all of them it was seen that there was oppression of his good deeds. The Lord was not able to do this to the prophet for the people. If he had brought his firstborn, immediately he would have said to this prophet in the person of the people: "You shall do justice," and immediately the prophet would show what is right to offer. And mercy would be shown, the compassion of the Lord toward the poor. And you would be ready to go; he would remain with that which by sacrifices would please God. And he would take care that these things which Moses commanded, love toward God and compassion toward relatives, be observed. The tribe heard what he testified, and what he testified that they were the tribe and inheritance of God. For just as it is not possible for fire to be placed on wood and not burn, so also injustice in your houses cannot be hidden, just as in treasuries it is not possible for fire not to burn you more than fire burns wood; injustice burns its doers, and especially you who are in treasuries of injustice. And by unjust weights and measures your sins are increased. The joining of what is for the church and the weights are placed in it. And the passage will be divine wrath by means of enemies passing through your land. And everything that eats does not remain in it, and its desire is not fulfilled; this will be with God for everything that you have done. And you will also attain the good things that you attain, being taken away from the enemies, and it is not sufficient in your hands to save yourselves.

and he remained until the end of the Persian kingdom, which was the beginning of the church until its conclusion. Because he knew that even Balaam knew the righteousness of God among the people, and it did not seem good to him that the people should be deprived of the reward for their righteousness, and the blasphemy against the God of the people is received in that everyone who sees her blasphemes her, that upon the face of his sins he bore the cross, that of ZZZ and Woe is me, that I was that prophet, he took his suffering. But not to them, for they changed from good to evil, like the summer harvest, and Woe is me, I do not know how it is that I see a prophet among this people, that when he was laboring in the good deeds of the God of the people, he was empty of the fruits of good deeds. And like a laborer of a vineyard who gathers the fruits of good deeds, at the time of the destruction of the fruits, he gleans a little and gathers, and for the firstborn, desire spreads, the firstborn for the head of the fruits is named, and he says that she desired to find in them a man who is suitable for the divine will, like the qualities of the people, and the great king speaks, not to those who are worthy of evil, to bring tribute, he speaks, and not according to the divine laws. The day of your examination, when he hastens in her, he says this: that the day has come in which, according to the proofs of the false prophets, my redemption is accomplished. I, however, to the Lord, I hold as if with his person, he says at the time of the answer. I, however, when it is good for me with the evils that are like these, I do not cease, I do not lose hope of my redemption. But when I look to God, I trust that he will hear me and loosen my bonds. Do not rejoice over me, he calls to Edom in enmity. Even if I have fallen into captivity, again I stand in the answer. And they see in her. He was hinting at the sword that would overtake the Edomites in the house of the answer of the people. It shall be for the head, she shall be sanctified with the enemies like a hedge of streets with passersby.

that day for the end he spoke concerning the interpretation. And the beginnings of the two gates for the enemies, that it might be taken, the battle approached him on the day on which it would be taken upon the shoulders of the people, and it would be extended to Jerusalem. The interpretation opposite this meaning he spoke: that day on which the multitude of enemies would increase, and it would be taken from your land by captivity, and its dust would be mixed with the dust of the peoples. He said that in the destruction of the house of Gog they came to the kingdom and were entangled, and like moles they hid themselves in the earth from their fear, in the form of moles and serpents; when they heard the sound of a man, they turned to their hiding place and no longer appeared in that place. Thus also the peoples, when they saw what happened in the house of Gog, turned from the preparation for battle, and their anger remained from their action, which was prepared with anger. Finished. And the vision from Micah the prophet: Micah killed Jorem son of Ahab, because this Lord went out from his land, and from Jerusalem he went out, for it is known that he went out from his land, he was heard and came to us, and he was at the head and trod with the feet of the body which took upon the height of the earth. The mountains were dissolved before him, and the kings, the accusers and demons, whose power was dissolved, and the depths were stirred up, the dark thoughts of the peoples by which the accuser was working were stirred up, and they were scattered when Christ appeared. Like a web that is dissolved and falls, so the Samaritans were dissolved and fell into captivity hastily, like waters that fall in a descent. What is the iniquity of Jacob but the Samaritans, because they killed the prophets of truth and corrupted the prophets of Baal.

And they made Samaria like a field, because she was not willing to receive that she might be sown in her, and by her will the word of God. And they made her a planting of a vineyard, because she was not fitting that there should be a vine in the vineyard of the high place. They cast stones with a sling, her stones being polished. And her polished ones, the confidence of the strength of her wall, were with the wages of victory, or with the spoil of the great ones, and were given to the Assyrians as spoil. He made dancing-places like a free woman, many and not modest. In seventy like a child, or a child swallowed up when, being distressed, he strikes with his tail. And the serried ranks of birds, which know the nests and the depths of the sea, swim, and when they are taken in the nets and their voices from the waves. The nests, the high place, sing. Thus Samaria was not weary for the destruction of her houses. Houses of the young of the partridge, or the city of Ge'u, which was destroyed, which was given to Zion in blood, or the pure blood which was shed, and to Jerusalem in judgment, or the iniquity of the judgment. Zion, you will be led as a field, because of the wages which her priests took. Jerusalem, a ruin, because of her sacrifice which was cut off for silver. And it was in the house of the Lord, it was established, that after seventy years the mystery of the church which was hidden was revealed, and at the head of the mountain he was hung in flesh, Emmanuel, on the cross. And the people did not take up the sword against the people, but he showed the good things which were for them, a sign concerning the sign which is by the cross. And they plowed their swords into plowshares, not to cultivate the land of the stars, but a spiritual paradise, and not a sword and a sickle and iron are moved, but the thoughts of hearts.

They were hiding in enmity with the sword of the people, and they changed these hearts to the sword, as they struck the mouth of that one who struck. He drove away the distant ones, that one of Babel, with a secret ascending against the erring peoples who were distant from God and were scattering in terrors. And the Gospel drove them away, and they became one Church. The deep shepherd is Zechariah. He was called a tower because the people dwelt in his shadow. And a shepherd because of his kingdom. Deep because of his error. A secret mystery is he, because in darkness he held the self, which is comparable in thirst and not in light, and the time of its nullification arrived. And they went to Babel, and there they were to be redeemed. Babel calls the upper room in which the tongues were divided. And they go out in an army, that is Jerusalem. Not in a troop and evil captivity, but with that one who captured the captivity and ascended to the height when he came to the earth. That is the daughter of armies, Abraham and David, who captured the demonic peoples. The great priests are mighty armies. Many peoples are those of the house of Gog. They struck with a rod on the mouth of Zechariah. His completion was in the Lord who swallowed on his mouth. Also Bethlehem came. He went out, being Thomas, and his going out from the beginning is he and that God. Therefore, he completed that God, that is, he completed his decrees for God until the time of the birth of the one from the Virgin, the rest of his brothers were to be done for the Lord for the sons of Israel, for he called brothers to the disciples. And he rose and shepherded that one in this acceptable hour. And when the fear of the idols was done for honor, and his Gospel grew until the ends were filled with it. And there was peace between the high and the low, as peace was upon the earth.

And the Assyrian, Sennacherib, set up against him seven shepherds: Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. And the twelve great ones of the men of Hezekiah: Eliakim and the rest of the great righteous ones of his people. The Assyrian, the slanderer who destroyed the shepherds and the twelve great ones, again seven shepherds: prophets and twelve great apostles, who in the course of the days were led twelve, and as he gave a gift to seven, also to twelve. For these prophets and apostles stood against the tyrant and from him were hidden. In the seventy-two weeks, he said on behalf of the great ones: "They destroyed Assyria with the sword," that is, with the prayer of the righteous, which heard concerning the sword of his power and turned in shame. Like a child, a weakling who does not endure, thus the Assyrians were overthrown before Hezekiah. "Rise up, go with the mountains, and they will hear your voice," he calls to his testimony to the mountains, and they will hear your voice, he calls to his testimony to the mountains that were seen from him and to the depths of the foundations of the sea, where it was divided before them. "My people, what have I done to you?" He came to the perfect ones who acted in their salvation by the hands of Moses, and then he said, "If I have done anything for you, show me and testify for me." And see where Balaq swallowed when he sought to destroy you with the curse of Balaam, and you did not leave. From the gate and as far as Gilgal, the wagons that Balaq was bringing to Balaam, by which he sought to curse Israel. "With what can I redeem the Lord?" "I was not commanded to be pleasing to God in these things, but show me something helpful that I may do between a man and his neighbor." Concerning the cities of Jerusalem.

that does not lack bread, teaching about the hunger and thirst that came upon the peoples to receive the gospel. Eat and do not be satisfied, concerning the fact that you were fed on what is not yours. Eat from what is yours, and do not be satisfied. Again, the people learn the scriptures and do not increase in understanding. A passing through will be in you, as in the passing through the scriptures passed through the hearing of the people and they did not believe them. And you will pursue and not be caught, concerning the fact that there is no hearing in your ear for those things that were spoken because of the idols. Pursue your seed and do not reap, and do not anoint with your olives, and do not drink from your wine. In the seventieth year, you will pursue and not be saved, when they are persecuted with the cities to the school for the others, they were caught with the enemies, and those who were not saved fell to the sword. They were delivered. All the commandments of my people concerning the plagues of the dead upon the tribe of Ephraim, in these he hints at them. Like the summer harvest, in the days of the Aramean, I said these things, Jerusalem. There is no possession to eat, the possession of the life of the Messiah. For this he was angry, and for the gospel, as for a firstborn, he was seeking, because he perished with the people. The righteous one perished, O Lord. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, these things Jerusalem said to Babylon, that I was taken captive, or rather I fell, a redeemed one, I ask. The plague of the Lord I will bear, I will bear in captivity, because I sinned against him within the demon. The peace upon the church in the darkness of error. She was sitting in the hand of the captive, she was for the side. And she said these things to the bride. And he saw in his righteousness, when the judgment of my hand in righteousness and turns the cup over the oppressors of the face, anger came upon me quickly. They are more, they helped the evil.

and the kingdom of the Babylonians shall be for a threshing-floor. Or of the Babylonians and the Medes, to lay waste your walls, O Jerusalem. That day when you are trampled, the Church was trampled by the fear of Christ. Shepherd your people with your staff, O Zorobabel, in a hidden manner. Christ who shepherded his people with gentleness. Do not take a wife, as if seeking affliction. Give truth to Jacob, in the days when he made a covenant with him, that your seed was cast to the ground. End of Micah.