Micah 1:8

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked,.... 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

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. Therefore I will wail.

Therefore, because of those dreadful slaughters and devastations made in Israel and Samaria, I will wail, solemnly, as when they who are skilful in lamentation do at funerals bewail in most affective manner to stir up the like sorrow in others: see . And howl; the same in a word of like sense, to ascertain the thing, and to intimate the doubled sorrow, the multiplied miseries of this people. I will go stripped and naked; as one spoiled of his clothes by force, or as one that in bitterness of passion hath cast off his upper garment, or as if discomposed in mind through the greatness of his vexations; now this the prophet either speaks as fellow sufferer with them, or as intimating what they should be reduced to at last: so ,3: whether of these, or whether both, I determine not. Dragons: see : rather jackals, which haunt desolate places, and make great and hideous noise by night, by their wailing, or doleful cries, in which it is said they answer one another, and fill the air with the sound and travellers with fear: these creatures are between a fox and wolf for bigness, and seem somewhat like each in qualities, and probably their noise may be as mixed of the barking of the fox and howling of the wolf. It is possible the prophet by this kind of wailing would intimate the near approach of the Assyrian lion, hungering and thirsting, and pursuing the prey; as the jackal runs a little before the lion, so this wailing of the prophet should be followed very suddenly with the roaring of the lion. Owls; a melancholy creature, and loves night, and makes a most unpleasant noise, haunts desolate places, and so fitly is an emblem of Israel’ s doleful, desolate state: others render it ostrich, which makes a doleful cry in the deserts: either will fit the place.

Micah 1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.Ver. 8. Therefore I will wail and howl] Good men are usually more deeply affected with the wretched estate of wicked persons than they themselves are. Thus Samuel mourned for Saul’ s rejection; Daniel was astonished and troubled at the import of Nebuchadnezzar’ s dream, Daniel 4:19; Habakkuk’ s belly trembled, and his lips quivered, at the consideration of the judgments that were to come upon the Chaldeans, Habakkuk 3:16. Do we so (saith Mr Perkins) at other men’ s smartings? I will go stripped] Tam mente quam veste, rending off my garments, and casting them from me, as if bereft of my wits: Pro demente vel insane quidam accipiunt, saith Calvin here. See Isaiah 59:15, with the margin, and Isaiah 20:2. I will make a wailing like the dragons] Which, sucking the elephant’ s blood till he fall down dead upon them and oppress them with his huge bulk, make a horrible howling; so horrible (saith Palacius out of Pliny and Solinus) that they amaze, yea, kill those that hear it. Fides sit penes autores. And mourning as the owls] Heb. as the daughters of the owl, or of the ostrich. Young ostriches cast off by their dams, Job 39:14 Lamentations 4:3, and hunger bitten, howl pitifully, as do also the young ravens for like cause, Psalms 147:9. Of the ravens of Arabia it is recorded, that, full gorged, they have a tuneable sweet song; but empty, screech horribly. By these similitudes here used the prophet would express his grief to be unexpressible.

(8) Dragons . . . owls.—Literally, jackals and ostriches. They are selected by reason of the dismal howls and screeches they make during the night.

Verse 8. I will make a wailing like the dragons] Newcome translates: - I will make a wailing like the foxes, (or jackals,) And mourning like the daughters of the ostrich. This beast, the jackal or shiagal, we have often met with in the prophets. Travellers inform us that its howlings by night are most lamentable; and as to the ostrich, it is remarkable for its fearful shrieking and agonizing groanings after night. Dr. Shaw says he has often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.

8–16. Micah’s Lamentation 8. Therefore I will wail] Such exuberance of emotion specially characterizes the Jews and the Arabs; it reminds us of the Homeric heroes. The prophets did not cease to be men when they received the gift of inspiration. Sometimes they seem to have had a kind of double consciousness, uniting them on the one hand with the inspiring Spirit, and on the other with their much-loved people. Hence their abrupt transitions from stern denunciation to tender compassion. stript and naked] i.e. without an outer garment; comp. 1 Samuel 19:24, Amos 2:16, John 21:7. It seems to be a single symbolic act which is referred to (comp. Isaiah 20:2). The word ‘stripped’ indicates that the appearance of the prophet is significant of the enforced nakedness of his people on their way to captivity (Isaiah 20:3-4). dragons … owls] Rather, jackals … ostriches (comp. Job 30:29). The Hebrew poets are fond of likening the note of lamentation to those of animals. In Isaiah the swift, the crane, the dove, and the bear are referred to (Isaiah 38:14; Isaiah 59:11); while here it is the ‘long, piteous cry’ of the jackal, and the ‘fearful screech’ of the ostrich which furnish the object of comparison.

Therefore I will - Therefore I would Wail - (properly, beat, that is, on the breast).

Lament over the fall of Judah, 8-16.The sins of the south (Micah 1:5) demand the punishment of Judah.