Micah 3:6

Mic 3:6 Therefore night [shall be] unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

Ver. 6. Therefore night shall be unto you] Ye shall be benighted, your gifts blasted, and your persons baffled: your lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness; the sword shall be upon your arms, and upon your right eyes; your arms shall be clean dried up, and your right eyes utterly darkened, Zec 11:17. Those illuminations and inspirations that ye seemed to have shall be taken from you, and God shall pass that dreadful sentence, Take the talent from him, even here in this life; let him not have the least dram or drop of a prophetic spirit, of ministerial abilities; and then, in the next world, cast "ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness," &c., Mat 25:28; Mat 25:30.

And it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine] Tenebrae vobis a divinatione, vel propter divinationem, so Calvin. All the reward ye shall have for your divination shall be disgrace and confusion: your folly shall be manifest unto all men, as was that of Jannes and Jambres, 2Ti 3:9.

And the sun shall go down over the prophets] The same thing is set forth by sundry metaphors, for more assurance: for Hypocritis nihil stupidius, it is hard to persuade a hypocrite that evil is towards him. See Mic 3:11.

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 3:6-7. Therefore night shall be unto you — Darkness, uncertainty, perplexity, and heavy troubles, shall be to you prophets; that ye shall not have a vision — You shall see your predictions so fully confuted, that you shall no more pretend to have a vision, or dare to foretel any thing. And the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark, &c. — As they shall have no light, or revelation, from heaven; so dark days, or dismal calamities, shall overtake them, as a just punishment for their frauds and impostures. Or, if the prophet be considered as addressing the people, the meaning of the verse is, Since ye have given ear to such prophets, and rejected the true ones, the time shall come when there shall be no true vision among you, no divine counsel to direct you; but ye shall be involved in darkness and uncertainty, without knowing what course to take. Then shall the seers be ashamed, &c. — For the false pretences which they have made to the gift of prophecy; yea, they shall cover their lips — Covering the lips, or lower part of the face, was used as a sign to express being under some great affliction, or shame; for there is no answer of God — Because the answer, which they pretended to be from God, now appears not to have been from him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mic_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” (Amo_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 Mic_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 (Lev_13:45; Eze_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.

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

3:6-7 Micah announced God’s judgment on the false prophets. Without God’s special communications, these seers and fortune-tellers were like the pagan court prophets of such nations as Babylon, Mari, and especially Assyria, who were expected to toe the party line but who had no real revelation from the Lord (cp. 1 Sam 28:6; Amos 8:11-12).

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

As you have loved to walk in darkness, and to prophesy lies, so God shall reward you with gross blindness and ignorance, so that when all others shall see the bright beams of God’s graces, ye shall as blind men grope as in the night.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

night . . . dark--Calamities shall press on you so overwhelming as to compel you to cease pretending to divine (Zac 13:4). Darkness is often the image of calamity (Isa 8:22; Amo 5:18; Amo 8:9).

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 6. Night shall be unto you] Ye shall have no spiritual light, nor will God give you any revelation of his will.

The sun shall go down over the prophets] They prospered for a while, causing the people to err; but they shall also be carried into captivity, and then the sun of their prosperity shall go down for ever, and the very day that gives light and comfort to others, shall be darkness and calamity to them.

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

God declares here to the false teachers by the mouth of Micah, that he would inflict punishment on them, so that they should be exposed to the reproach of all. Hence the kind of punishment of which the Prophet speaks is — that he would strip the false teachers of all their dignity, so that they should hereafter in vain put on an appearance, and claim the honorable name which they had so long abused. We indeed know, when ungodly and profane men clothe themselves with the dignified titles of being the princes, or bishops, or prelates of the Church, how audaciously they pervert every thing, and do so with impunity. There is then no other remedy, except God pulls off the mask from them, and openly discovers to all their baseness. Of this punishment Micah now speaks.

There shall be to you a night from vision; so is the phrase literally, but the particle מ, mem, means often, for, or, on account of; and we can easily see that the Prophet represents night as the reward for visions and darkness for divination. “As then my people have been deceived by your fallacies, for your visions and divinations have been nothing but lies and deceits, I will repay you with the reward which you have deserved: for instead of a vision you shall have night, and instead of divination you shall have thick darkness.” It is indeed certain, that the false teachers, even when they were, as they say, in great reputation, that is, when they retained the honor and the title of their office, were blind and wholly destitute of all light: but the Prophet here declares, that as their baseness did not appear to the common people, God would cause it to be made at length fully evident. As for instance, there is nothing at this day more stupid and senseless than the bishops of the Papacy: for when any one draws from them any expression about religion, they instantly betray not only their ignorance, but also their shameful stupidity. With regard to the monks, though they be the most audacious kind of animals, (audacissimum animalium genus,) yet we know how unlearned and ignorant they are. Therefore at this time the night has not yet passed away, nor the darkness, of which Micah speaks here.

We now then understand what the Holy Spirit teaches here, and that is, — that God would at length strip those false teachers of that imaginary dignity, on account of which no one dared to speak against them, but received as an oracle whatever they uttered. Night, then, shall be to you instead of a vision; that is, “The whole world shall understand that you are not what you boast yourselves to be: for I will show that there is not in you, no, not a particle of the prophetic spirit, but that ye are men as dark as night, and darkness shall be to you instead of divination. Ye boast of great acuteness and great perspicuity of mind; but I will discover your baseness, so that the very children may know that you are not endued with the spirit.”

To the same purpose is what he adds, Go down shall the sun upon you, and darkened over you shall be the day; that is, such will be that darkness, that even at noon they will see nothing; the sun will shine on all, but they shall grope as in the dark; so that Gods vengeance would be made so manifest, that it might be noticed by all, from the least to the greatest.

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.

6. night shall be unto you, &c.] The prophet is still addressing the rulers. Because of their rapacity, and their league with false prophets, their land shall be overshadowed by adversity, and there shall be no prophecy, whether false or true, to guide them. The false prophets will be ashamed, because of the non-fulfilment of their oracles; and the true will have no fresh revelation till the old cycle of prophecies has been fulfilled. Comp. Lam_2:9.

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.

Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision,.... Not that those outward gifts and illuminations, and that prophetic light they had, or seemed to have should be taken away from them, and it should be quite a night with them; because these men were never sent of God, or received any message from him, or had any prophetic talents at all, and therefore could not be taken away from them, and they be benighted in this sense; though, it is true, such might be the circumstances they would be brought into, that it should appear to the people that they are the dark persons they were, that they have no vision, nor never had any; but rather the sense is, that such dark providences and dreadful calamities should come upon the people in general, and upon those prophets in particular, often signified by "night" in Scripture, that they would not have the face to pretend any more that they had any vision from God of good times and things. It may be rendered, "therefore night shall be unto you because of vision" (c); calamity should come upon them because of their false and pretended visions of peace and prosperity they deluded the people with:

and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; such darkness of affliction should be upon them, that they would not offer to deliver out any divination or prediction of good things coming upon them; or such darkness and distress would be their portion "because of divination" (d), on account of their lying divinations they had imposed upon the people:

and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them; their time of prosperity will be over, and they shall be no more in favour with the people, or courted and feasted by them; but shall be had in the utmost contempt and abhorrence. The Targum of the whole is,

"therefore ye shall blush at prophesying, and be ashamed of teaching; and tribulation as darkness shall cover the false prophets, and the time shall be darkened upon them.''

(c) "propter visionem", Munster, Piscator. (d) "propter divinationem", Munster; "propter divinare, i. e. divinationem", Vatablus; "prae visione----prae divinatione", Burkius.

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

Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision - In the presence of God’s extreme judgments, even deceivers are at length still; silenced at last by the common misery, if not by awe. The false prophets had promised peace, light, brightness, prosperity; the night of trouble, anguish, darkness, fear, shall Come upon them. So shall they no more dare to speak in the Name of God, while He was by His judgments speaking the contrary in a way which all must hear. They abused God’s gifts and long-suffering against Himself: they could misinterpret His long-suffering into favor, and they did it: their visions of the future were but the reflections of the present and its continuance; they thought that because God was enduring, He was indifferent, and they took His government out of His Hands, and said, that what He appeared to be now, He would ever be. They had no other light, no other foresight. When then the darkness of temporal calamity enveloped them, it shrouded in one common darkness of night all present brightness and all sight of the future.

Rup.: “After Caiaphas had in heart spoken falsehood and a prophecy of blood, although God overruled it to truth which he meant not, all grace of prophecy departed Mat 11:13. The law and the prophets prophesied until John. “The Sun of Righteousness went down over them,” inwardly and outwardly, withdrawing the brightness of His Providence and the inward light of grace.” So Christ Himself forewarned; “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you” Joh 12:35. And so it has remained ever since 2Co 3:15. The veil has been on their hearts. The light is in all the world, but they see it not; it arose to lighten the Gentiles, but they walk on still in darkness. As opposed to holiness, truth, knowledge, divine enlightening of the mind, bright gladness, contrariwise darkness is falsehood, sin, error, blindness of soul, ignorance of divine things, and sorrow. In all these ways, did the Sun go down “over them,” so that the darkness weighed heavily upon them. So too the inventors of heresies pretend to see and to enter into the mysteries of Christ, yet find darkness instead of light, lose even what they think they see, fail even of what truth they seem most to hold; and they shall be in night and darkness, being cast into outer darkness 1Co 8:12; sinning against the brethren, and wounding the weak conscience of those for whom Christ died.

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

Vision. Impostors shall skulk through fear, when the people shall see that they were not sent, ver. 7.

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).

Therefore; because of their irreligious and atheistical pretences to Divine revelations, and to come from heaven with promises directly contrary to God’s purpose and word, even when their consciences told them they did lie herein. Night of ignorance, and loss of gifts; but since they had none such as they pretended to, I see not how they could lose them. I rather take this night to be a night of distresses, a time of great calamities upon these prophets more than ordinary, and upon all the people they seduced. Unto you; deceivers, and false prophets.

Ye shall not have a vision; you shall no more pretend to have a vision, you shall not dare any more to foretell any thing to this people.

It shall be dark unto you; a very calamitous time to all, but most to you who lived upon lying visions, and now shall starve for want of them.

Ye shall not divine; have neither skill nor will any more to set up for yourselves in that trade; being found great impostors, and such as have seduced this people into sin first, and misery next, they will be enraged against you, and you shall not safely appear among them.

The sun shall go down over the prophets; a proverbial speech, and contains much the same that night and dark do contain. Perhaps this intimates the visible hand of God extraordinarily against them, and making their sorrows the more dreadful, as darkness by the sun going down at noon, would speak itself an extraordinary judgment, and most terrify the world.

The day shall be dark over them; the best circumstances any of them shall be in shall be so sad and woeful, that they shall not know which way to take for themselves or direct for others.

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

Night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision. The Hebrew is, "from," or "without a vision." Septuagint, ex orasewv , "out of vision;" Vulgate, pro visione. Hence some interpret this as spoken to the false prophets, who, to punish their lying prophecies and pretended revelations, shall be overwhelmed with calamity. But it is best taken as still addressed to the rulers, and Micah tells how that in the time of their distress there shall be no prophecy to direct them. (comp. Pro_1:28 Lam_2:9) "Night shall be unto them without a vision." "Night" and "darkness" are metaphors for calamity, as in all languages. That ye shall not divine; without divination. Septuagint, ek manteiav , "out of prophecy." Parallel and identical in meaning with the preceding clause. The sun shall go down over the prophets; i.e. over the false prophets. The sun of their prosperity shall set. Micah seems to derive his imagery from the phenomena of an eclipse. (comp. Jer_15:9 Amo_8:9) The day. The time of their punishment. (Mic_2:4 Amo_5:18)

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

Night - Heavy calamities. A vision - You shall no more pretend to have a vision, or dare to foretell any thing. And the sun - The hand of God shall be against them, making their sorrows the more dreadful, as darkness by the sun going down at noon.

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