Miquéias 7

Miquéias 7

MacDonald - The city has been stripped of men who are faithful and upright; violence and murder abound. The sad situation is compared with gleaning vintage grapes and finding no cluster to eat. Kaiser - The Greeks used to tell the story about one of their philosophers named Diogenes who searched all the land with a lantern looking for one honest man. Similarly, in the Bible, God’s servants, who were in tune with His heart and mind, searched continually for that one righteous person. Abraham begged God to save the five cities of the plain if he could find in them ten righteous persons (Gen. 18:23–33). Some have thought that these must have been very small cities, but they were not. We have now uncovered the cemetary used by these five cities at Bab-ed-Dra, in modern Jordan. We have identified some 500,000 persons buried from 2000 to 1800 B.C. at Bab-ed-Dra, roughly the time when Abraham would have lived there. It would appear that ten righteous persons could have saved a population of something in excess of 500,000! NET Bible - “I am like the gathering of the summer fruit, like the gleanings of the harvest.” Micah is not comparing himself to the harvested fruit. There is an ellipsis here, as the second half of the verse makes clear. The idea is, “I am like [one at the time] the summer fruit is gathered and the grapes are harvested.” Which I crave ("which my soul craves" = ESV) - The Septuagint has a different ending and uses the interjection oimmoi again - "Woe my soul!" Crave (0183)(awah) means to incline, to desire, have a strong yearning (Dt 12:20, 14:26). The first use in Nu 11:4 speaks of desires (Lxx = epithumia) which are greedy. In the 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy awah speaks of coveting saying "you shall not desire (Lxx = epithumeo = strong impulse toward something, good or bad, in this case bad) your neighbor's house." (Dt 5:21) In a more neutral sense awah speaks of that which the body needs to sustain itself such as food (Dt. 12:20; 1Sa 2:16; Amos 7:1) or water (2Sa 23:15; 1Chr. 11:17 - although this craving by David might be viewed by some as a bit selfish.). Awah describes God's desire for Zion to be His habitation, His resting place forever (Ps 132:13-14). Avah translated in NAS as - been greedy(1), crave(1), craved(1), craves(1), craving(1), desire(8), desired(2), desires(5), desires*(1), had(1), had a craving(2), longed(1), longing(1), longs(1). Avah - 26v - Nu 11:4, Nu 11:34; Deut 5:21 (Lxx = epithumeo); Dt 12:20; 14:26; 1Sa 2:16; 2Sa 3:21; 23:15; 1Kgs 11:37; 1 Chr 11:17; Job 23:13; Ps 45:11; 106:14; 132:13-14; Pr 13:4; 21:10, 26; 23:3, 6; 24:1; Eccl 6:2; Isa 26:9; Jer 17:16; Amos 5:18; Mic 7:1. Here is an interesting thing to crave for... Amos 5:18 Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD, For what purpose [will] the day of the LORD [be] to you? It [will be] darkness and not light Micah 7:2 The godly person has perished from the land, And there is no upright person among men. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed; Each of them hunts the other with a net. good - or, godly, or, merciful. is perished. Ps 12:1; 14:1-3; Isaiah 57:1; Romans 3:10-18 they all Proverbs 1:11; 12:6; Isaiah 59:7; Jeremiah 5:16 hunt 1 Samuel 24:11; 26:20; Ps 57:6; Jeremiah 5:26; 16:16; Lamentations 4:18; Habakkuk 1:15-17 GODLINESS IS GONE! The godly person has perished from the land - Men with "God-like" character were not to be found! Indeed, such men are becoming a rare commodity in post (anti) - Christian America! We need to pray Ps 12:1 asking for His help! The description of the psalmist would be apropos - "They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one." (Ps 14:3)