Micah 1:9

Mic 1:9 For her wound [is] incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem.

Ver. 9. For her wound is incurable] Or, she is grievously sick of her wounds; or, her wounds are full of anguish, neither is there any to pour in balm of Gilead, to allay it; any to lick it whole, as the Lady Elinor did her husband Prince Edward’s wound, traitorously given him in the Holy Land, by an assassin, with a poisoned knife.

For it is come unto Judah] viz. Samaria’s wound and plague is come, i.e. shall shortly come, though now they live as if out of the reach of God’s rod, or as if they had a protection.

He is come unto the gate of my people] Sennacherib (flushed with former successes at Samaria, which had been carried captive by his father) came up to the very gate of Jerusalem as an overflowing scourge; and thought to have cut off all the Jews at once, as if they had had all but one neck. He came up over all his channels, and went over all his banks. He passed through Judah, and overflowed, reaching even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings filled the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel, Isa 8:8. But Immanuel soon took a course with him, Isa 37:33, so that though he came to the gates, yet he entered not into the city, nor shot an arrow there, nor cast a bank against it. "Look upon Zion," saith that prophet, "the city of our solemnities," and see if Jerusalem be not still "a quiet habitation," Isa 33:20. "Walk about Zion," saith the psalmist, "and go round about her: tell the towers thereof." See if any be missing since Sennacherib came up against them. "Mark ye well her bulwarks": are they diminished? "consider her palaces": are they at all defaced? Psa 48:12-13. What if Jerusalem be wicked? yet Sennacherib is insolent. If therefore Jerusalem shall be smitten with the rod of Sennacherib’s fear, Sennacherib shall be smitten with the sword of God’s revenges, who of all things cannot endure a presumptuous and self-confident vaunter; but will deal with his people not according to his ordinary rule, but according to his prerogative. Surely "Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the Lord of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel," Jer 51:5.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mic_1:9 points to the impending ruin of Judah as one of the reasons for the grief and consternation of the prophet. He knows that, if Samaria falls, the enemy will sooner or later attack the south. This fear was seen to be justified when in 702-701 the army of Sennacherib advanced to the very gates of Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:37; compare Isa_1:7).

Wound — More accurately, stripes; the devastation wrought by the enemy.

Incurable — Nothing can cure the effects of the judgment, or prevent the spread of the disaster; it will steadily spread until the very heart, Jerusalem, becomes affected. Not even the presence of Jehovah in the temple can save the city.

It is not possible to reproduce in English the plays upon words so evident in the original of 10-15; sometimes it is difficult to apprehend the allusion of the prophet, and in more than one place the correctness of the present Hebrew text is not beyond question. The word plays are not due to the playful mood of the prophet. “He could not possibly jest about the fate of his friends. No, he is in sober earnest, and sees a preordained correspondence between names and fortunes.” Some consider the artistic character of the passage sufficient reason for denying the verses to Micah.

The apostrophes to the cities remind one of Isa_10:28 ff. It is possible that Micah, like Isaiah, intends to describe the route taken by the enemy toward the capital, though in view of the uncertainty with regard to some of the cities this cannot be proved. If this is the prophet’s purpose, Micah, unlike Isaiah, expects the advance to come from the west, the territory of the Philistines; and this is the direction followed by Sennacherib in 702-701.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:9 into Judah . . . Jerusalem: The corruption now permeated the entire nation, north to south.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

wound . . . incurable--Her case, politically and morally, is desperate (Jer 8:22).

it is come--the wound, or impending calamity (compare Isa 10:28).

he is come . . . even to Jerusalem--The evil is no longer limited to Israel. The prophet foresees Sennacherib coming even "to the gate" of the principal city. The use of "it" and "he" is appropriately distinct. "It," the calamity, "came unto" Judah, many of the inhabitants of which suffered, but did not reach the citizens of Jerusalem, "the gate" of which the foe ("he") "came unto," but did not enter (Isa 36:1; Isa 37:33-37).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Her wound is incurable] Nothing shall prevent their utter ruin, for they have filled up the measure of their iniquity.

He is come - even to Jerusalem.] The desolation and captivity of Israel shall first take place; that of Judah shall come after.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He afterwards subjoins, that the wounds vault be grievous; but he speaks as of what was present, Grievous, he says, are the wounds Grievous means properly full of grief; others render it desperate or incurable, but it is a meaning which suits not this place; for אנושה, anushe, means what we express in French by douloureuse. The wounds, then, are full of grief: for it came, (something is understood; it may suitably be referred to the enemy, or, what is more approved, to the slaughter) — It came then, that is, the slaughter, to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself. He says first, to Judah, speaking of the land; and then he confines it to the cities; for when the gates are closed up against enemies, they are forced to stop. But the Prophet says, that the cities would be no hindrance to the enemies to approach the very gates and even the chief city of Judah, that is, Jerusalem; and this, we know, was fulfilled. It is the same then as though he said that the whole kingdom of Israel would be so laid waste, that their enemies would not he content with victory, but would proceed farther and besiege the holy city: and this Sennacherib did. For after having subverted the kingdom of Israel, as though it was not enough to draw the ten tribes into exile, he resolved to take possession of the kingdom of Judah; and Jerusalem, as Isaiah says, was left as a tent. We hence see that the threatening of the Prophet Micah were not in vain. It now follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Her wound is incurable.—The state of Samaria is incurable: she is doomed: the destroyer is approaching—nay, he comes near, even to Jerusalem. The outlying towns are described as shuddering at the invader’s advance, but Jerusalem itself is spared.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. her wound] Lit. her stripes. Samaria’s trouble is a chastisement (comp. Isa_1:3-4), but it is not Samaria’s trouble only. It has reached Jerusalem; hence the ‘incurableness’ of the ‘wound,’ for Jerusalem is the heart of the nation. The past tenses vividly express the certainty of the prophet’s intuition of the future.

he is come] Or, it is come. The subject may be either the ‘stripe’ or the dealer of the stripe—Jehovah.

the gate of my people] Jerusalem is to the chosen people in general what the gate is to the city itself. The shady space in the city gate was the favourite place of meeting; so Jerusalem is the scene of ‘our solemn meetings’ (Isa_33:20), our religious and political centre.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For her wound is incurable,.... Or her "stroke is desperate" (e). The ruin of Samaria, and the ten tribes, was inevitable; the decree being gone forth, and they hardened in their sins, and continuing in their impenitence; and their destruction was irrevocable; they were not to be restored again, nor are they to this day; nor will be till the time comes that all Israel shall be saved: or "she is grievously sick of her wounds"; just ready to die, upon the brink of ruin, and no hope of saving her; this is the cause and reason of the above lamentation of the prophet: and what increased his grief and sorrow the more was,

for it is come unto Judah; the calamity has reached the land of Judah; it stopped not with Israel or the ten tribes, but spread itself into the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; for the Assyrian army, having taken Samaria, and carried Israel captive, in a short time, about seven or eight years, invaded Judea, and took the fenced cities of Judah in Hezekiah's time, in which Micah prophesied;

he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem; Sennacherib, king of Assyria, having taken the fenced cities, came up to the very gates of Jerusalem, and besieged it, where the courts of judicature were kept, and the people resorted to, to have justice done them; and Micah, being of the tribe of Judah, calls them his people, and was the more affected with their distress.

(e) "desperata est plaga ejus", V. L. "plagae ejus", Montanus, Drusius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For her - Samaria’s

Wound - o, (literally, her wounds, or strokes, (the word is used especially of those inflicted by God, (Lev 26:21; Num 11:33; Deu 28:59, Deu 28:61, etc.) each, one by one,) is incurable The idiom is used of inflictions on the body politic (Nahum 3 ult.; Jer 30:12, Jer 30:15) or the mind , for which there is no remedy. The wounds were very sick, or incurable, not in themselves or on God’s part, but on Israel’s. The day of grace passes away at last, when man has so steeled himself against grace, as to be morally dead, having deadened himself to all capacity of repentance.

For it is come unto - (quite up to) Judah; he, (the enemy,) is come (literally, hath reached, touched,) to (quite up to) the gate of my people, even to (quite up to) Jerusalem Jerome: “The same sin, yea, the same punishment for sin, which overthrew Samaria, shall even come unto, quite up to Judah. Then the prophet suddenly changes the gender, and, as Scripture so often does, speaks of the one agent, the center and impersonation of the coming evil, as sweeping on over Judah, quite up to the gate of his people, quite up to Jerusalem. He does not say here, whether Jerusalem would be taken; and so, it seems likely that he speaks of a calamity short of excision. Of Israel’s wounds only he here says, that they are incurable; he describes the wasting of even lesser places near or beyond Jerusalem, the flight of their inhabitants. Of the capital itself he is silent, except that the enemy reached, touched, struck against it, quite up to it. Probably, then, he is here describing the first visitation of God, when 2Ki 18:13 Sennacherib came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, but Jerusalem was spared. God’s judgments come step by step, leaving time for repentance. The same enemy, although not the same king, came against Jerusalem who had wasted Samaria. Samaria was probably as strong as Jerusalem. Hezekiah prayed; God heard, the Assyrian army perished by miracle; Jerusalem was respited for 124 years.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

CHAPTER I.

Gate. That is, the destruction of Samaria shall be followed by the invasion of my people of Juda, and the Assyrian shall come and lay all waste even to the confines of Jerusalem. (Challoner) --- Juda received the worship of Baal from Israel. It shared in the punishment of that kingdom. The prophet alludes to the ravages of Sennacherib, ver 13. Yet Juda was much afflicted by Razin and Phacee, before that invasion: which caused Achaz to call in the aid of Theglathphalassar, 2 Paralipomenon xxviii., and 4 Kings xvi. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Her wound is incurable; the wounds of Samaria and the ten tribes; her own sins, God’s just displeasure, and the enemy’s rage have deeply wounded her, she is senseless, impenitent, and furious against her Physician, and she shall at last die by sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity.

It is come unto Judah; the contagion of her sins, and the indignation of God against it, and the enemy’s successes, viz. Sennacherib’s, or Nebuchadnezzar’s, like a flood have reached to Judah also; and this is the reason why the prophet foretells such mourning, and is willing to personate it to awaken both kingdoms to repent and turn to God.

He is come; the insulting, conquering, and cruel enemy, or, in the neuter gender, it, i.e. the evil, is come, i.e. in the prophetic style, will certainly and suddenly come.

Unto the gate of my people; either signifying the Assyrians besieging Jerusalem, as Sennacherib son of Shalmaneser did some few years after the sack of Samaria, or else by

gate of my people is meant the city where the sovereign court of judicature to the whole kingdom is, denoting the victories of the Assyrian over the rest of the kingdom of Judah, or else the victories of Nebuchadnezzar.

Even to Jerusalem: this seems added to explain the former phrase.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Her wound; her stripes, the punishment inflicted on Samaria. Incurable (comp. Jer_15:18) The day of grace is past, and Israel has not repented. It is come. The stripe, the punishment, reaches Judah. To the prophetic eye the Assyrians" invasion of Judaea seems close at hand, and even the final attack of the Chaldeans comes within his view. The same sins in the northern and southern capitals lead to the same fate. He is come. He, the enemy, the agent of the "stripe." The gate of my people. The gate, the place of meeting, the well guarded post, is put for the city itself. (comp. Gen_22:17 Deu_28:52 Oba_1:11) Pusey thinks that Micah refers to something short of total excision, and therefore that the invasion of Sennacherib alone is meant. (2Ki_18:13) But the fore shortened view of the prophet may well include the final ruin.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Her wound - The wounds of Samaria, her own sins, and God's just displeasure. It is come - The contagion of her sins, and the indignation of God against it, have reached to Judah also, yea, to Jerusalem.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

For she is mortally ill [from] her wounds Heb. אֱנוּשָׁה. For she is ill from her wounds. Cf. (II Sam. 12:15) “And it became mortally ill (וַיֵּאָנַשׁ.).”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.