Micah 5:13

Mic 5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

Ver. 13. Thy graven images also will I cut off] Sorcery and idolatry are fitly coupled here and elsewhere: for they commonly go together, as in the Pope and his clergy, see Rev 9:21; Rev 21:8; as also in the Canaanites, Philistines, and other heathens. True it is that the temples at Rome were without images for 170 years after it was built; that the Lacedaemonians would not endure pictures or images, lest by them they should be distracted; that the Turks and Jews both at this day do abhor Christian religion, for the abominable idolatry they see among Papists: for since the captivity of Babylon the graven images and statues have been so cut off from the Jews, that they would never be drawn to worship the work of their hands. They have a saying among them to this day, that no punishment befalleth them, wherein there is not an ounce of that golden calf they once made in the wilderness (Moses Gerand). Having paid, therefore, for their learning, they abhor idols, Rom 2:22, and count it sacrilege, as Plutarch did, to worship by images. The Papists should do so likewise; and not say, as their Vasquez (unable to answer our arguments) doth, that the second commandment belonged to the Jews only; or bring such proofs of their idolatry that the images themselves (if they were sensible) would blush to hear repeated.

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.

5:13-14 sacred pillars . . . Asherah poles: Stones were set up as places or objects of worship; they could represent pagan deities. The Asherah poles were green poles or trees that represented the goddess Asherah and her powers of fertility. Both the stones and the trees may have had sexual implications—one male, the other female. Asherah was seen as the mother of gods and El’s (or Baal’s) consort.

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

graven images . . . cut off--(Compare Isa 2:8, Isa 2:18-21; Isa 30:22; Zac 13:2).

standing images--statues.

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 13. Thy graven images also will I cut off] Thou shalt be no more an idolatrous people.

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

He now adds, I will cut off thy graven images and thy statues from the midst of thee; and thou shalt not hereafter bend down before the works of thine hands This verse is plain and contains nothing new: for the Prophet teaches that God cannot become propitious to his Church, to keep and make her safe, until he purges her from her filth, even from idolatry and other vices, by which the worship of God was corrupted, or even entirely subverted. I will, therefore, cut off thy graven images and statues from the midst of thee We see that God anticipates us by his gratuitous goodness, not only by forgiving us, but also by calling us back, when wandering, into the right way. Since then we have deviated from the right way, and God thus withdraws his hand that it might appear that he has cast us away it is certain that we ought not only to pray him to have mercy on us, but also to ascribe to him a higher favor, inasmuch as he takes away the very impediments which separate us from him, and suffer him not to come nigh us. We hence see that God is not only inclined to pardon when men repent, but that it is his peculiar office to remove the obstacles.

This ought to be carefully noticed, that we may know that our salvation, from the first beginning, proceeds from the mere favor of God, — and that we may also learn, that all those things, of which the Papists vainly talk respecting preparations, are mere figments.

He then adds, thou shalt not bend hereafter before the work of thine hands. God expresses here the cause why he so much abominates idols, even because he sees that his honor is transferred to them: this is one thing. He further arraigns the Jews as guilty, while he makes evident their defection: for surely nothing could have been more shameful, than to take away from God his honor and worship, and to transfer them to dead things; and he says here by way of reproach, that they were the work of their hands. What can be more insane, than for men to ascribe divinity to their own inventions, or to believe that it is in the power of men to make a god from wood or stone? This is surely monstrous in the extreme. Then the Prophet by this form of speaking aggravates the sin of the people of Israel, that is, when he says that they bowed the head before the work of their oven hands.

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.

13. Thy graven images … thy standing images] The former, images of wood or metal; the latter, stone pillars consecrated to a divinity. Comp. Lev_26:1, ‘Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a (sacred) pillar,’ Deu_16:22; Deu_27:15, Exo_23:24. The denunciation of sacred ‘pillars’ and Ashérahs is however much more emphatic in the legislation of the Pentateuch than in Micah. The latter prophet mentions them rather as constituent parts of the corrupting civilisation imported from abroad. Isaiah (a contemporary of Micah’s) actually gives his sanction to the erection of ‘pillars’ to the true God (Isah 19:19); and Hosea (also a contemporary) merely mentions the want of sacred ‘pillars’ as among the misfortunes of the captivity, concurrently with the want of king and sacrifice (Hos_3:4). This tolerant attitude of Isaiah and Micah is in perfect harmony with the Book of Genesis, which relates how Jacob set up and anointed the ‘pillar’ which marked out Bethel as a sanctuary. In fact, as long as ‘high places,’ or local sanctuaries, were tolerated, it was natural to tolerate ‘pillars’ with them, the ‘pillar’ being one of the traditional signs of a ‘high place.’ Isaiah lets the sanctuaries alone (though not, of course, the graven images, Isa_2:20, Isa_30:22), and with them the sacred ‘pillars;’ Micah begins to protest against both, but still gently, compared with the legislation of the Pentateuch (comp. on Mic_1:5).

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.

Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee,.... The former were such as were made of wood or stone; the latter statues, such as were molten or cast, and made of gold, silver, or brass; Such as the Jews sometimes worshipped, and are now found in the apostate church of Rome; but will have no place in the Christian churches, or those so called, in the latter day. The Jews indeed have had no idols or idolatrous worship among them since the Babylonish captivity; and the prophet here speaks, not of what would be found among them, and removed at their conversion; but of what was in his time, or had been, or would be again, but should not be in future time, when they should turn to the Lord, and be like dew among the people; and so we are to understand some following passages. The Targum is,

"I will cut off the images of the people, and their statues:''

and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands; as not to fall down to idols and worship them, so neither to trust in carnal privileges, ceremonial rites, observances of the traditions of the elders, or any works of righteousness done by them, which they had been prone unto.

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

CHAPTER V.

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).

Thy graven images; which were for the matter of them made of wood or stone, smoothed, and fashioned to the images, which the blind idolater thought did well represent his god.

Standing images: statues erected in places chosen for the purpose, fixed that they move not, had this different name from their posture, the matter still the same.

Out of the midst of thee, O Israel, in the type, and, O Israel, antitype: this is verified among the Jews, who to this day hate images for Divine uses, and learnt this in their captivity; and it is verified in the church of Christ, which condemns all religious use of images.

Thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands: it was once the great sin of the Jews to worship and rely on idols; but when God shall by the Messiah redeem both his Israels, they shall no more sin thus, Hos 14:3, for they shall know he is the only true God, and there is no Saviour beside him.

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

13, 14. Idolatry also will come to an end. Of objects connected with the idolatrous cult three are mentioned: graven images, pillars, and the Asherim.

Graven images — Images made of stone (Mic_1:7) or wood (Deu_7:5); sometimes the term appears to refer to images of the deity in general (Isa_42:8). The attitude of the Old Testament toward these images is one of intense hostility (Hos_8:5-6; Hos_10:5; Deu_7:5, etc.).

Standing images — Better, R.V., “pillars”; Hebrews massebhah. The word is used almost exclusively of a “pillar” connected with the religious cult. It denotes the upright stone or pillar which seems to have been a regular accompaniment of Hebrew sanctuaries during the pre-exilic period. Its origin must probably be sought in an earlier stage of Semitic religion, when sacred stones were objects of worship, because it was thought that the deity inhabited the stones or was in some way attached to them. A crude, material symbolism of this sort would inevitably retard the progress toward the highest spiritual conception of the nature of Jehovah; hence the Book of Deuteronomy (Deu_7:5; Deu_12:3; Deu_16:22) condemns these pillars mercilessly. The eighth century prophets were not quite so severe; in fact, Isaiah (Isa_19:19) seems to regard the pillar a legitimate element in Jehovah worship.

Groves — Better, R.V., “Asherim.” As the “pillar” points back to primitive stone worship, so the “Asherim” appear to be a relic of primitive tree worship. The Asherah (singular) was a representation of the sacred tree where a living tree was not available; the use of the plural implies the existence of whole groves of such sacred trees or of artificial poles. “From a survey of all the passages in which the word is used it appears that the Asherah was a post or a pole, planted in the ground, like an English Maypole, beside an altar,… and venerated as a sacred symbol” (Driver). Remnants of ancient tree worship are still seen in Palestine (compare Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religions Today, pp. 90ff.). The Old Testament attitude toward the Asherim is one of hostility; there is no passage corresponding to Isa_19:19.

So will I destroy thy cities — A similar threat is made in Mic_5:11, where it is quite natural; not so here. Some suggest that the word should be rendered “adversaries” (margin, R.V. “enemies”), giving to it a meaning which it has in Aramaic, or to change one letter, which would give the corresponding Hebrew word. If this is done, the expression would pave the way for Mic_5:15. But one would expect rather another reference to idolatry; for this reason many change the word so as to read “thy idols” (compare 2Ch_24:18, “the Asherim and the idols”).

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

Graven images, of stone or metal. (Lev_26:1) Standing images; Septuagint, tav sou , "thy columns;" Vulgate, statuas tuas These are stone images or pillars dedicated to false gods. (1Ki_14:23) A pillar to mark a place consecrated to the worship of the Lord was allowed. (see Gen_28:18 Gen_31:13, 45 Isa_19:17) Itwas when this custom degenerated into idolatry that it was sternly denounced. (Deu_16:22 Deu_27:15, etc.)

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

Graven images - This was verified among the Jews, who to this day hate images for divine uses, and learnt this in their captivity.

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

and I will destroy your enemies Heb. עָרֶיךָ. Jonathan renders: And I will destroy your enemies. Similarly, (Isa. 14:21) “And fill the surface of the earth with enemies (עָרִים),” and (I Sam. 28:16) “And has become your adversary (עָרֶךָ).”

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.