CHAPTER ONE

 

 

1:1:  “the Morasthite” = Or from “Moresa,” a village near the city of Eleutheropolis, in the southern part of Judah, possibly identifying himself as a “Moreshethgath,” verse 14 (see my Introduction).

 

1:8:  “stripped and naked” = From “John Gill’s Bible Commentary” we read:  “To his shut, putting off his upper garment; the rough one, such as the prophets used to wear; which he did as the greater sign of his mourning: sometimes, in such cases, they rent their garments; at other times they stripped themselves of them, and walked naked, as Isaiah did (Isa. 20:3).

 

“owls” = The Hebrew is “H1323; bath,” and should be translated as “daughters.”

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

 

2:8:  “ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war” = From “John Gill’s Bible Commentary” we read:  “. . .or ‘returning from war;’ such who escaped in the battle, and fled for their lives; and when they imagined they, were safe, and out of danger, fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped them of their garments.”

 

2:13:  “The Breaker. . . and their King” = From a Jewish book, “In Mattanot Cehunah in Bereshit Rabba, parash.” 85. “fol.” 75. 2. “Vid. Galatia. Arcan. Cathol. Ver.” l. 3. c. 30, we read:  “The Messiah, being so called with respect to His incarnation, being the firstborn that opened the womb, and broke forth into the world in a very extraordinary manner.”

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

 

3:1-3:  “heads of Jacob, and ye princes” = The point is that Princes and prophets, when they faithfully discharge the duty of their office, are to be highly honored above other men.  By contrast, when they betray their trust and act contrary to it, they should hear of their faults and should be reminded that there is a God above them to Whom they are accountable.

 

The Word of God has reproofs for the greatest of men, which the ministers of that Word ought to apply as there is occasion.  And here is the part that God abhors:  They barbarously devour those whom they should protect.  It is fit indeed that he who feeds a flock should eat of the milk of the flock (1Co. 9:7).

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

4:1-2:  “[1] people shall flow unto it. [2] And many nations shall come” = This would be after the Third Coming of Christ.  See my Bible Study:  “MILLENNIUM, THE.”

 

4:8:  “tower of the flock” = The Hebrew word translated as “flock,” is “eder,” which does mean “flock.”  However, this is speaking of a place and as such should be translated as, “Eder.”  The proof is this is found in Genesis 35:21, where this “tower of Edar” is mentioned.

 

Jerom, in his work “De locis Hebr. fol.” 89. E., locates the tower of Ader, about a mile from Bethlehem, the supposed place where the shepherds were watching over their “flocks” at the time of Christ’s birth.  Plus, the “Jerusalem Talmud” specifically states that the Messiah would be born in “Bethlehem,” Micah 5:2.

 

 

CHAPTER FIVE

 

 

5:1:  “daughter of troops:  he” = Or better, a detachment of troops, from what we learn later to be, i.e., the “he,” being Rome.

 

“smite the Judge of Israel” = Smite our Lord Jesus.

 

5:2: “He” = The Messiah.

 

“going forth” = Non-Trinitarians use this phrase, the Hebrew being “H4163; motsa’ah,” meaning, ‘Origin, place of going out from,” as actually meaning “coming out of God the Father, “ meaning the beginning of Christ’s existence.  That Christ had pre-existence is agreed upon.  But His existence came from the Father.  To ignore the last part of the text, that Christ was/is “from everlasting,” meaning “infinite in one direction,” never was there a time when Jesus did not exist, is to ignore Hebrew structure and a plain Biblical truth of Christ being the Creator of everything (John, Chp. One, etcetera).  You cannot be the Creator of everything and be a created being yourself.

 

5:3:  “Therefore will He give them up” = Nothing much is heard about the Jewish nation in history and Biblically after their return to the land of Israel and the building of the Temple, until the birth of Messiah in “Bethlehem,” Micah 5:2; “until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth,” this verse.

 

“then the remnant of His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel” = That is, though Messiah is presented to Israel as their Savior, He shall be rejected, except by a remnant,

 

5:5:  “this Man shall be the peace” = “Man” is a supplied word not in the original text.  I capitalize it because only our Lord is the author of “peace” (see Isa. 9:6; Luke 2:14; John 14:27; Eph. 2:14, 17; etcetera).  The Hebrew word for “shall be” can also mean, “cause,” as in to “cause peace.”

 

“when the Assyrian shall come” = “By the Assyrian,” says Cyril, in “Albert Barnes Notes On The Bible,” “he here means no longer a man out of Babylon, but rather marks out the inventor of sin, Satan.”  Assyria, though long gone, has always been used as a metaphor for sin.

 

“when he shall tread in our palaces” = This second “he” refers to the Assyrian occupation.

 

“then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men” = This phrase is used in Ecclesiastes 11:2, and just refers to “many” or a “large company.”  Thus, this entire passage put together states:  When Satan (sin) tempts you, our Lord sends many of His angels to give you peace.

 

 

CHAPTER SIX

 

 

6:8:  “He hath shewed thee” = This is practical godliness.

 

6:10:  “scant measure that is abominable” = That is, a deficient measure, less than it should be; see Proverbs 11:1 & Amos 8:5.

 

6:16:  “statues of Omri” = Namely, idolatrous statuettes, built for an idolatrous king.

 

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 

 

7:1:  “there is no cluster to eat” = Micah is picturing here Israel as a vine that produces no fruit.

 

7:4:  “brier” = A “brier” is a thorny bush.  These men will stick you.

 

“the most upright is sharper” = “Sharper” in the sense of deceitfulness.

 

7:11:  “the decree” = The decree of Artaxerxes, forbidding and hindering the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.

 

7:14:  “Carmel. . . Bashan and Gilead” = All these were desirable grazing lands on the other side of the Jordan River; which is why the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh wanted to dwell there instead of the land God wanted for Israel.  See Deuteronomy 3:12-17.  However, the idiom is in reference to the entire land becoming as such.

 

7:17:  “fear because of thee” = It must be astutely remembered that ALL prophecy is CONDITIONAL upon OBEDIENCE.