Micah 1:10

"Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all: at Bethleaphrah have I rolled myself in the dust."

In this and the next few verses, there is a series of puns, or paronomasias, as the scholars call them, two of which are here. The word Gath means "Tell-town"; and the word Bethleaphrah means "Dust-town."[28] A similar thing is true of a number of other names in the following verses; but the true impact of the meaning is lost in the translation. A rough approximation of it in this verse is "Tell it not in Tell-Town, I roll in the dust at Dust-town." Hailey gave a quotation from Farrar in which, by taking great liberties with the text, he thus rendered the whole passage. James Moffatt did a very similar thing, thus:

Weep tears at Tear-town (Bochim), Grovel in the dust at Dust-town (Beth-ophra),

Fair stripped, O Fair-town (Saphir)!

Stir-town (Zaanan) dares not stir...

To horse and drive away, O Horse-town (Lakhish)...

Israel's kings are ever balked at Balk-ton (Achzib).[29]

The differences in some of the names, as evidenced by various renditions are due to uncertainties in the text. Some scholars affirm that the text (the Masoretic text) of Micah is corrupt in places. Bruce Vawter said, "Second only to Hosea, the book of Micah is in an extremely bad state of preservation."[30] However, Wolfe declared that, "The text of Micah is in a good state of preservation, which indicates it was in possession of people who gave it good care during the pre-canonical period."[31] Certainly, there are not enough uncertainties to make very much difference in understanding the prophecy. The broad message is clear as the sun at noon on a cloudless day.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MICAH 1:8-16

The overwhelming significance of this part of Micah lies in the prophet's behavior, which would have been an absolute absurdity if his prophetic doom of Samaria and Jerusalem had already occurred. These verses therefore have the utility of demonstrating that we are most certainly dealing with a prophecy of terrible events yet future at the time Micah uttered it. There is no other rational explanation of Micah's behavior and the entire tone of this lament. No wonder that those who deny the prophecy can find nothing in the passage. Wolfe declared that, "The passage carries little religious significance."[32] E. Leslie Carlson observed that the very sequence of town names in this passage is significant, because, "The listing of the cities showed the route of the invader. Whereas, the first five cities are north of Jerusalem, the last five are south or southwest of Jerusalem."[33] This was exactly the route followed by the Assyrians. There is plenty of significance in this portion of the Word of God for those willing to perceive it.