Micah 3:6-7

Micah 3:6-7 are addressed directly to the mercenary prophets, not to the “heads” of the nation.

Night… dark Figures of calamity and distress. At such time the advice of a prophet is most needed, but they will have no advice to give.

Sun… day The “sun” of prosperity will set and the “ day” of judgment, which is “darkness and not light” (Amos 5:18), will dawn.

Have a vision… divine At present the mercenary prophets may claim that they receive their message in the same manner as the “true” prophets, but in the day of calamity a difference will be seen, for they will have no message with which to encourage their grief-stricken countrymen. The reason for the silence is stated in Micah 3:7.

Seers… diviners Synonymous terms denoting the mercenary prophets, the second calling attention to the illegitimacy of their pursuit.

Ashamed,… confounded Also synonyms. They will “stand ashamed, because their own former prophecies are proved by calamity to be lies, and fresh, true prophecies fail them, because God gives no answer.”

Cover their lips Literally, beard. They will no longer venture to speak. The phrase means covering the face up to the nose, which is a sign of humiliation, shame, and mourning (Leviticus 13:45; Ezekiel 24:17). For a study of the phenomenon of “false” prophecy in Israel, see Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, iv, pp. 116ff. All that needs to be said here is that there were two distinct classes of false prophets: (1) The mercenary prophets, who are condemned here for their insincerity; (2) the political prophets, who may have been sincere, but who lost sight of the religious mission and destiny of the nation, and whose prophecies were determined entirely by political ambitions.