Micah 5:13

Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee,.... The former were such as were made of wood or stone; the latter statues, such as were molten or cast, and

Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. Thy graven images also will I cut off - (cf.

Thy graven images; which were for the matter of them made of wood or stone, smoothed, and fashioned to the images, which the blind idolater thought did well represent his god. Standing images: statues erected in places chosen for the purpose, fixed that they move not, had this different name from their posture, the matter still the same. Out of the midst of thee, O Israel, in the type, and, O Israel, antitype: this is verified among the Jews, who to this day hate images for Divine uses, and learnt this in their captivity; and it is verified in the church of Christ, which condemns all religious use of images. Thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands: it was once the great sin of the Jews to worship and rely on idols; but when God shall by the Messiah redeem both his Israels, they shall no more sin thus, , for they shall know he is the only true God, and there is no Saviour beside him. Thy graven images; which were for the matter of them made of wood or stone, smoothed, and fashioned to the images, which the blind idolater thought did well represent his god. Thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands: it was once the great sin of the Jews to worship and rely on idols; but when God shall by the Messiah redeem both his Israels, they shall no more sin thus, , for they shall know he is the only true God, and there is no Saviour beside him.

Micah 5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.Ver. 13. Thy graven images also will I cut off] Sorcery and idolatry are fitly coupled here and elsewhere: for they commonly go together, as in the Pope and his clergy, see Revelation 9:21; Revelation 21:8; as also in the Canaanites, Philistines, and other heathens. True it is that the temples at Rome were without images for 170 years after it was built; that the Lacedaemonians would not endure pictures or images, lest by them they should be distracted; that the Turks and Jews both at this day do abhor Christian religion, for the abominable idolatry they see among Papists: for since the captivity of Babylon the graven images and statues have been so cut off from the Jews, that they would never be drawn to worship the work of their hands. They have a saying among them to this day, that no punishment befalleth them, wherein there is not an ounce of that golden calf they once made in the wilderness (Moses Gerand). Having paid, therefore, for their learning, they abhor idols, Romans 2:22, and count it sacrilege, as Plutarch did, to worship by images. The Papists should do so likewise; and not say, as their Vasquez (unable to answer our arguments) doth, that the second commandment belonged to the Jews only; or bring such proofs of their idolatry that the images themselves (if they were sensible) would blush to hear repeated.

Verse 13. Thy graven images also will I cut off] Thou shalt be no more an idolatrous people.

13. Thy graven images … thy standing images] The former, images of wood or metal; the latter, stone pillars consecrated to a divinity. Comp. Leviticus 26:1, ‘Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a (sacred) pillar,’ Deuteronomy 16:22; Deuteronomy 27:15, Exodus 23:24. The denunciation of sacred ‘pillars’ and Ashérahs is however much more emphatic in the legislation of the Pentateuch than in Micah. The latter prophet mentions them rather as constituent parts of the corrupting civilisation imported from abroad. Isaiah (a contemporary of Micah’s) actually gives his sanction to the erection of ‘pillars’ to the true God (Isah 19:19); and Hosea (also a contemporary) merely mentions the want of sacred ‘pillars’ as among the misfortunes of the captivity, concurrently with the want of king and sacrifice (Hosea 3:4). This tolerant attitude of Isaiah and Micah is in perfect harmony with the Book of Genesis, which relates how Jacob set up and anointed the ‘pillar’ which marked out Bethel as a sanctuary. In fact, as long as ‘high places,’ or local sanctuaries, were tolerated, it was natural to tolerate ‘pillars’ with them, the ‘pillar’ being one of the traditional signs of a ‘high place.’ Isaiah lets the sanctuaries alone (though not, of course, the graven images, Isaiah 2:20, Isaiah 30:22), and with them the sacred ‘pillars;’ Micah begins to protest against both, but still gently, compared with the legislation of the Pentateuch (comp. on Micah 1:5).

THE MESSIAH AND THE ERA, 1-15 (in Hebrew, Micah 4:14-5:14).In Micah 5:1, the prophet returns once more (Micah 4:9; Micah 4:11) to the condition now present or imminent; but immediately he rises from