HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

MICHEAS 3

CHAPTER III.

Ver. 1. I. Heb. and Sept. "He, the Lord, said;" or, Micheas addressed the princes of both kingdoms, under Ezechias. v. 12. Jer. xxvi. 18. --- To know and practice. Osee vi. 3. C. --- Both rich and poor strove to extort from each other. W.

Ver. 2. Skins. When some exhorted Tiberius to lay on more taxes, he replied: "a good shepherd must shear the flock, and not tear off the skin." Suet. xxxii.

Ver. 5. Peace. They pretend goodness, while they do the greatest mischief. --- Prepare. Lit. "sanctify," (H.) or denounce war. C. --- False prophets seek their private lucre. W.

Ver. 6. Vision. Impostors shall skulk through fear, when the people shall see that they were not sent. v. 7.

Ver. 8. Spirit. I am no impostor. C. ii. 11.

Ver. 10. Iniquity. You offer victims unjustly procured, or build your palaces with what belongs to the poor.

Ver. 11. Hire. It is not lawful to refuse instruction to those who have nothing; nor must priests act solely for a temporal reward, though reason shews that they should be supported by those whom they have to teach. Mat. x. 8, 10. Gal. vi. 6. and 1 Tim. v. 18. C. --- The judges grew rich by other people's quarrels; and, as all ranks offended, they were justly involved in ruin. v. 12. W.

Ver. 12. Forests, after its destruction by Nabuchodonosor. C. --- In the space of three years' neglect, shrubs were growing in the courts of the temple. 1 Mac. iv. 38. H. --- Rufus ploughed up the spot where the temple had stood, after the Romans had burnt it down. S. Jer. Jos. Bel. vii. 20. --- This prediction made a deep impression on the minds of the people. It caused them to refrain from killing Jeremias. v. 1. C.