Micah 1:7

And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces,.... By the Assyrian army, for the sake of the gold and silver of which they were, made, or with which they were adorned, as was usually

And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of

All the graven images; erected in honour to the idols they worshipped, which usually were the images or similitudes resembling their idols, their gods of silver, gold, or stone and brass, or wood. Shall be beaten to pieces; pulled out of their chapels, shrines, or repositories by the conquering Assyrians, who would as was customary with such nations, deal with the gods as with enemies conquered, trample upon them, and use them most contemptibly; and when they break into pieces idols of rich materials, it was to carry them away with them as their booty; others were broken in contempt of them. All the hires, or rewards, or gifts, which idolaters thought their idols gave them, as ; or the rich gifts given for the honour and service of the idols by deceived idolaters; or all the wealth Israel got by leagues with idolaters. Shall be burnt with the fire; when their cities or temples are burnt, as no doubt many were burnt by the Assyrian before he could reduce them to obedience, in which conflagrations many rich donatives belonging to idols were consumed to ashes, or melted down. And all the idols thereof will I lay desolate; thus shall the idols of Samaria be made desolate, i.e. their temples burnt, their images either beaten in pieces in contempt, or to be carried away (if the materials they were made of were worth the carriage); however, they shall neither remain, nor be worshipped any more in Israel or Samaria, but be carried away captives with their captive worshippers. For she, the kingdom of the ten tribes, or Samaria, gathered it, their wealth, or the rich presents made to their idols, or both, of the hire of a harlot; as harlots get rich gifts of their lovers, so did this deceived people think, and say, that their idols gave them the wealth they had; or else as impudent adulteresses, that hire lewd men to come in to them; so this hire was that these blind idolaters (like shameless adulteresses) gave to their idols. And they, these rich presents, shall return to the hire of an harlot; shall be either turned by the Assyrians to the service and honour of their idols, presented as gifts in acknowledgment of their greatness and prosperity, to be the blessings their idols have. given to them, as ; or else thus, as what is got by harlots brings shame and a curse with it, and never continues long, but is as basely wasted as it was gotten, so shall it be with all the ill-gotten goods of these Samaritan idolaters, and all their wealth.

Micah 1:7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered [it] of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.Ver. 7. And all the graven images thereof] Upon these the jealous God will execute vengeance: so to show his hatred of idolatry. "The stones of the altars he will make as chalk stones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and the images shall not stand up," Isaiah 27:9. As for those that "worship them, and repent not of the works of their hands," Revelation 9:20, they shall smart surely for their idolatries, as did those of old in the wilderness; and the more ingenuous of their posterity acknowledge at this day, that there is no punishment befalleth them in which there is not still an ounce of that golden calf. True it is, that the Samaritan superstition which was grosser at first (and for which they were carried captive by the Assyrian), was afterwards refined by Manasseh, a Jewish priest, that in Alexander’ s time made a defection to him, and brought many Jews with him, but that saved them not from utter destruction. And all the hires thereof shall be burnt with fire] Her rewards given her by her sweet hearts, Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:12; Hosea 9:1; her vowed presents and memories (as Papists now call them), her monies and donaries, shall be set on a light fire. God will confute their vain confidences, as he did those Popish rebels of Norfolk, in Edward VI’ s time, who brought into the battle the Pix under his canopy, and with all his trinkets, crosses, banners, candlesticks, memories, &c., which in the end could neither help themselves nor save their friends from the hands of their enemies (Acts and Mon. fol. 1190). For she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, &c.] Ill-gotten goods thrive not. Few harlots are found to be rich. Indeed we read of Phryne, a notable strumpet, that she offered to rebuild the walls of Thebes, on the condition that this might be engraved on them, ’O μεν Aλεξανδροςκατεσκαψεν, &c. Alexander pulled them down, and Phryne set them up again, but it would not be accepted. Flora also, the Roman harlot, was very rich; and so is the whore of Babylon to this day, by her trading with the merchants of the earth; but this will not hold long, Revelation 18:10. In one hour shall her judgment come, and in one hour so great riches shall come to nothing, Revelation 18:17. England was wont to be counted and called the Pope’ s ass, for bearing his burdens, and his puteus inexhaustus, his infinite pit of treasure, whence he drew at pleasure. Polydore Virgil was sometime collector of his Peter Pence here, &c.; but Henry VIII cashiered and cast him out hence, depriving him of his harlot hire.

(7) And all the hires thereof.—The falling away of Israel from her loyalty to God is compared generally by the prophets to a wife deserting her husband; and these “hires” are the offerings made to the shrines of the idols to which the Israelites forsaking Jehovah had transferred their worship. All these treasures shall be destroyed; the Assyrians shall carry them off for the adornment of their temples.

Verse 7. All the hires thereof shall be burned] Multitudes of women gave the money they gained by their public prostitution at the temples for the support of the priesthood, the ornamenting of the walls, altars, and images. So that these things, and perhaps several of the images themselves, were literally the hire of the harlots: and God threatens here to deliver all into the hands of enemies who should seize on this wealth, and literally spend it in the same way in which it was acquired; so that "to the hire of a harlot these things should return."

7. the hires] i.e. the rich votive offerings in the sanctuaries, shortly afterwards called ‘the hire of a harlot,’ with reference to the shameful practices of heathenish religion (Deuteronomy 23:17-18). shall return] i.e. shall again become (as Genesis 3:19 ‘unto dust shalt thou return’). The material of the costly images acquired through the offerings of devotees shall again be used for votive offerings in other no less shameful religions, based, like those of heathen Syria, on the worship of the powers and processes of nature.

And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces - Its idols in whom she trusts, so far from protecting her, shall themselves go into captivity, broken up for the gold and silver whereof they were made.