Micah 2:2 - Exposition

They carry out by open violence the fraud which they have devised and planned (comp. Isaiah 5:8 ; Amos 4:1 ). Covet fields. Compare the ease of Ahab and Naboth ( 1 Kings 21:1-29 .). The commandment against coveting ( Exodus 20:17 ) taught the Jews that God regarded sins of thought as well as of action. The Law forbade the alienation of landed property and the transfer of estates from tribe to tribe (Le 25:23-28; Numbers 36:7 ). A rich man might buy a poor man's estate subject to the law of jubilee; but these grandees seem to have forced the sale of property, or else seized it by force or fraud. Oppress ; Vulgate, calumniabantur . The Hebrew word involves the idea of violence.