Micah 1:10-12

Micah 1:10-12. Declare ye it not in Gath Lest the Philistines triumph. The words seem to be taken out of David s lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, 2 Samuel 1:20, where see the note. Weep ye not at all Or, weep ye not with loud weeping, as Archbishop Newcome renders it. Do not make any loud lamentations, lest the evil tidings be spread. In the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust Or, wallow in the ashes, as was commonly practised in times of great mourning. The word Aphrah signifies dust; and the prophet, it is likely, puts it here for Ophrah, a town in the tribe of Benjamin, that the name might better suit their present condition. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir Houbigant says that Eusebius places this city, the name of which signifies fair, or elegant, in the tribe of Judah, between Eleutheropolis and Askelon. Some think, however, that Saphir is not a proper name, and that there was no place so called in Judea; but that the clause ought to be rendered, Pass away, thou inhabitant of a delightful place, that is, Samaria, which was very pleasantly situated. The prophet here threatens the inhabitants of that place that they should go into captivity, in a way very unsuitable to their former softness and luxury, even stripped by the conquering enemy, and without so much as a covering to hide their nakedness. The inhabitant of Zaanan A place in the tribe of Judah, called Zenan, Joshua 15:37; came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel “There was no burial of her dead with solemn mourning out of the precincts of her city, but she was besieged and put to the sword.” Newcome. Or, the meaning may be, the inhabitants of Zaanan were so much concerned to provide for their own safety, that they took no notice of the mournful condition of their near neighbour Beth-ezel, which seems to have been a place near Jerusalem, termed Azal, Zechariah 14:5. Grotius, however, supposes Zaanan to denote Zion, and Beth-ezel to signify Beth-el, called here by another name, importing the house of separation, because it was the principal seat of idolatrous worship. He shall receive of you his standing The standing, or encamping of an army against the city; that is, the enemy shall encamp among you, shall stand on your ground, so that you will have no opportunity of coming out to the help of your neighbours. For the inhabitant of Maroth A town in Judea, (the same probably that is called Maarath, Joshua 15:59,) waited, &c. Or rather, as the words may be translated, Although the inhabitant of Maroth waited for good, yet evil came, &c., unto the gate of Jerusalem Such a calamity as stopped not at Maroth, but reached even to Jerusalem. By Maroth, which signifies bitterness, or trouble, Grotius understands Ramah, or, expressed as it often is in the plural, Ramoth, a place in the tribe of Benjamin, near Beth-lehem, and not far from Jerusalem.