Micah 7:2

The good [man] is perished out of the earth,.... Here the prophet expresses in plain words what he had before delivered in figurative terms.

The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. The good man is perished out of the earth.

The good man; who loves and is kind to men in need, and is so from the sense of God’ s goodness, and in a designed imitation of God, is godly in the frame of his heart and course of life towards God, and beneficent to men for God’ s sake. Is perished; is dead and gone, and left no heir of his godlike virtues. Out of the earth; out of Israel and Judah too, though Hezekiah was (probably) now their king. None upright; an honest, plain-hearted man, who thinketh no deceit, but speaketh the truth, that is, without crooked and perverse designs; such a one may possibly, but not easily, be found among the people of the ten anti of the two tribes. They all lie in wait for blood: this proves the prophet’ s charge against this people, for the good and upright man imagineth not evil against any, but it is evident that in Israel (and Judah too) the temper of the most was sly, designing, and watching to do mischief, to the ruining of families, the murdering of. innocents, and seizing their estates, Ahab like, 1 Kings 21 Pr 1:19. They hunt; they proceed with all diligence, craft, and power, as a hunter that hath set his toils, and is now by all his arts endeavouring to bring the prey into the toils, that he may make his advantage by it. Every man his brother; were they strangers they so hunted it were barbarous, but this is inhumanly barbarous, these bloody men hunt and destroy their brethren, the seed of Jacob, the worshippers of the God of Jacob, their own circumcised brethren. With a net; which is spread beforehand, and laid close; so it is secret, premeditated cruelty and rapine they do universally exercise against each other. The good man; who loves and is kind to men in need, and is so from the sense of God’ s goodness, and in a designed imitation of God, is godly in the frame of his heart and course of life towards God, and beneficent to men for God’ s sake. With a net; which is spread beforehand, and laid close; so it is secret, premeditated cruelty and rapine they do universally exercise against each other.

Micah 7:2 The good [man] is perished out of the earth: and [there is] none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.Ver. 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] Heb. The saint, or, gracious man, that out of mercy obtained from God, can extend mercy to men. Rari quippe boni. Of such it may be said, as one doth of faithful friends in this age, that they are all (for the most part) gone on pilgrimage; and their return is uncertain. And there is none upright among men] None (to speak of) that maketh straight paths for his feet, Hebrews 12:13, that foots it aright (ορθοπαδει), according to the truth of the gospel, Galatians 2:14, that walketh evenly, Genesis 17:1, and accurately (ακριβως), as it were by line and by rule, Ephesians 5:15, and that halts not between two opinions, as those Israelites; but is right in his judgment, and undefiled in his way, Psalms 119:1, rather desiring to be good than to seem to be so: few such to be found surely; black swans you may count and call them. “ Sed nec Brutus erit, Bruti nec avunculus usquam ” ( Juven.). They all lie in wait for blood] A company of sanguinaries, blood suckers, hunting for the precious lives of men; but especially of such as reprove them in the gate. If you touch them in their lusts, they will seek to touch you in your life, as Joash did Zechariah, and as the priests and people said of Jeremiah, This man worthy to die. All malice is bloody, and wisheth him out of the world whom it spiteth. They hunt every man his brother with a net] They add fraud to their force and craft to their cruelty; these seldom go sundered: as some write of the asp, he never wanders alone without his companion with him; and as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey and desolation, none of them shall want their mate, Isaiah 34:16. The matter is made the worse, because it is a brother whom they hunt: whether he be so by race, place, or grace, a brother should be better dealt with.

(2) With a net.—The net, which in the Hebrew term comes from a verb meaning to shut up, was used both by the fisherman and the fowler. “They lay wait for one another, as hunters for wild beasts.”

Verse 2. The good man is perished out of the earth] A similar sentiment may be found, Psalms 12:1; Isaiah 57:1. As the early fig of excellent flavour cannot be found in the advanced season of summer, or a choice cluster of grapes after vintage, so neither can the good and upright man be discovered by searching in Israel. This comparison, says Bp. Newcome, is beautifully implied. They hunt every man his brother with a net.] This appears to be an allusion to the ancient mode of duel between the retiarius and secutor. The former had a casting net, which he endeavoured to throw over the head of his antagonist, that he might then despatch him with his short sword. The other parried the cast; and when the retiarius missed, he was obliged to run about the field to get time to set his net in right order for another throw. While he ran, the other followed, that he might despatch him before he should be able to recover the proper position of his net; and hence the latter was called secutor, the pursuer, as the other was called retiarius, or the net man. I have explained this before on Job, and other places; but because it is rarely noticed by commentators, I explain the allusion here once more. Abp. Newcome by not attending to this, has translated איש את אחיהו יצודו חרם ish eth achihu yatsudu cherem, "They hunt every man his brother for his destruction;" though he put net in the margin.

2. The good man] More fully rendered, ‘The pious man,’ he who makes love his rule of action—love to God and love to man. ‘The idea of khâsîdh is not passive [he who experiences grace or love], for God Himself is called khâsîdh, Psalms 145:17, but he who exercises khesedh (Proverbs 11:17), i.e. makes men, according to God’s will, and God Himself (comp. Jonah 2:8, Psalms 144:2) ‘the object of his loving endeavours’ (Delitzsch on Psalms 16:10). Observe, ‘The pious man,’ not ‘pious men’ is the phrase employed, ‘indicating the fewness and isolation of these Abdiels.’ There is a striking parallel to the first half of this verse in Isaiah 57:1, ‘The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart, and men of piety are gathered,’ &c. Both passages must have been written in time of persecution. they all lie in wait for blood] Not merely persecution, but anarchy seems to have been the order of the day: at least the rich and powerful were under no legal restraint; they did that which was right in their own eyes. Similar circumstances are described in many of the Psalms (see e. g. Psalms 10:8-9). every man his brother] Although, as children of Abraham, they ought to love each other; comp. Leviticus 19:18.

The, good - or godly, or merciful, the English margin Man - The Hebrew word contains all. It is “he who loveth tenderly and piously” God, for His own sake, and man, for the sake of God.

OF THE NATION’S , Micah 7:1-6.Scholars are not agreed on the person of the speaker in these verses; some think of the prophet, some of Zion, some of the “true Israel,” that is, Israel after the spirit.