Micah 3:9

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel,.... As an instance of his boldness, courage, and impartiality, he begins with the principal men of the land,

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob - resumed from Micah 3:1.

This verse is word for word the same in the former part of it with the former part of the first verse of this chapter; we refer thither for explication of it. The prophet having asserted his Divine call, and avowed his faithfulness in the prophetic office, , he here gives us one more proof of it, dealing roundly with the magistrates in both kingdoms, Israel and Judah. That abhor judgment; whereas judgment should be their great delight, as it is of every good magistrate, these had hearts that detested it, were weary of the directions of God’ s law in their polity, and hated to be controlled by it. And pervert all equity; where you can, you wrest the law to countenance your unequal proceedings, and wrong those you should right, and acquit those you should condemn. And there is many a woe denounced against such.

Micah 3:9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.Ver. 9. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads, &c.] He had had a bout with them before; but because little good was thereby done, he is at them again; according to that counsel of the wise man, Ecclesiastes 11:6, "In the morning sow thy seed, in the evening withhold not thy hand: for thou knowest not," &c. "Preach the word," saith the apostle, "be instant" (or stand over the work, επιστηθι) "in season, out of season," 2 Timothy 4:2. Chrysostom told his Antiochians, that he would never give over preaching against that sin of swearing till they gave over their swearing; which, because he could not get them to do, he breaks out into these words, It will be a hard speech unto you, but I will speak it: though there be so many thousands of you, yet there cannot be found a hundred that shall be saved; and I tell you true, I doubt of them too. Ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel] As bad as they were he gives them their titles. The devil also is to have his due; he is called by the Holy Ghost "Prince of the air," and his angels are styled "principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world," Ephesians 6:12. That abhor judgment] They were not only ignorant of it, Micah 3:1, but abhorred it; and therefore abhorred it because they knew it not. Plato could say, that if moral virtue could be beheld with mortal eyes it would attract all hearts to itself. "But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, spake evil of those things that they understood not," 2 Peter 2:12, and "what they knew naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupted themselves," Judges 1:10; being carried away by their impetuous and imperious lusts, they not only did that which was evil, but also hated the light of the law that reproved and sentenced them; licensing others by their practice, at least, to do the like. Such Centaurs and Cyclopes were these princes of Israel grown; such Heteroclites these heads of the house of Jacob. "The whole head was sick," Isaiah 1:5, the rulers were a scab, Isaiah 5:7. The Lord "looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry." They had made the age not unlike that under Nero, wherein nothing almost was unlawful; but villany was acted by authority (Dio Cassius). And pervert all equity] Heb. they pervert, &c. It is spoken to others, in token of abomination; see the like, Genesis 49:4, with the note. Now equity or rectitude is perverted, when the guilty are acquitted and the innocent condemned, see Isaiah 5:20; Isaiah 5:23, when there is accepting of persons. and receiving of gifts,

Verse 9. Hear this] An appeal similar to that in Micah 3:1.

9–12. A recapitulation of the national sins, with a more distinct declaration of the bitter end 10. build up Zion with blood] Probably this alludes to the building of palaces and fortifications, always a fruitful source of oppression in the East. ‘Blood’ is used by synecdoche for ‘violent conduct leading to the ruin of others;’ so Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:3, Proverbs 1:11, and other passages. Unless we admit this, we shall have to take an incredibly dark view of the state of public morals in the Jewish state.

Hear this, I pray you - The prophet discharges upon them that “judgment” whereof, by the Spirit of God, he was full, and which they “abhorred; judgment” against their perversion of judgment.

Renewed condemnation of the nation’s religious and political leaders — Doom of Jerusalem, Micah 3:9-12.After the direct denunciation of the prophets, Micah sums up the sins and crimes which may be