pluck their skin from upon them and their flesh from upon their bones] A gloss as is shown by the lack of any antecedents for the pronouns, and by its substantial identity of contents with v. ".

Str. II is marked by the transfer to the 3d person from the 2d person of direct address in Str. I, and by the contrast the picture of the actual conduct of the rulers affords to the ideal suggested for them in Str. I.-3. But they eat the flesh of my people] The people are in Micah's eyes like a defenceless flock at the mercy of wild beasts; the watch-dogs who should protect the flock have pounced upon them like ravening wolves. Micah's passionate sympathy with his countrymen is reflected in the pronoun "my."-And their skin from upon them they strip off and lay bare their bones] The figures here employed suggest the violence and lawlessness of the processes whereby the very life was crushed out of the small landowners. And break them up like meat in the pot and flesh within the caldron] These words are omitted by some scholars as an editorial expansion of the preceding figure.* Similes or comparisons are not common in Mi. 1-3, it is true, though they are not wholly lacking (18. 16 3); nor is the adjustment to the metre here the most easy; while the verbs 'lay bare' and 'break' have different objects, the latter referring to the fellow-citizens of Micah. But all this is not conclusive of secondary origin. Micah, quite as well as a later reader, could carry his figure through to the very end. The devastation of the poor is total and irreparable.†

Str. III announces the coming of a day when Yahweh will ignore the cry of these oppressors now brought low, because they have ignored his call to righteousness and justice.-4. Then will they cry] A reference to the coming judgment spoken of in 23.4. 10; cf. the similar use of 'now' as = 'then' in Am. 67 Ho. 212.—And he will not answer them] For the converse of this attitude, cf. Ps. 3415-But will hide his face from them] That he may not be moved to pity by the sight of their distress. A common figure for

* So We., Now., Marti, Löhr, Siev., Gu..

+ If the language of Micah be thought stronger than the facts warranted, attention need only be called to the atrocities perpetrated upon the peasants of Germany in a supposedly more civilised age, which resulted in the outbreak of the Peasants' War; and that too with the support of the laws. See Schaff, History of the Christian Church, VI, 440 ff.; Newman, Manual of Church History, II, 69 ff.; Zimmermann, Allgemeine Geschichte des grossen Bauernkriegs (1854).

the divine displeasure; cf. Is. 115 817 Dt. 3117. 18 3220 Jb. 132 Ps. 131. -At that time] A gloss, as shown by the metre,* intended to define more closely the application of 'then' in line 1; cf. 23.-Inasmuch as they have made their deeds evil] A pregnant use of, implying a comparison; the wicked conduct of the rich is clear evidence that they have turned a deaf ear to the call of Yahweh through his prophets; Yahweh now treats them in like manner.†

11

Str. IV turns to another class of offenders, the popular prophets, whom Micah charges with base subservience to selfish ends.-5. Thus has Yahweh said] This phrase, stating the divine authority of the message about to be uttered, lies outside of the movement of the poem; cf. Am. 18e 21sb 315b 43 89a-Concerning the prophets who lead my people astray] The prophets here denounced are the members of the prophetic guilds (see H.AH, xlix-lviii), the best of whom were victims of a too narrow patriotism and a low idea of God. Micah, with the undiscriminating passion of indignation, treats them all alike as swayed by unworthy motives. The cleft between the lower and the higher types of prophecy began at least as early as the days of Micaiah ben Imlah (1 K. 22) and grew wider with each succeeding generation; cf. 3" Am. 712 Is. 915 Je. 28. But the true prophet, in the face of opposition and isolation, remained certain that he only was the interpreter of the will of God. -Who when they bite with their teeth preach peace] Not in the sense that they hypocritically proclaim prosperity though conscious that they are all the time injuring the people;‡ but, as is shown by the following lines, that their good will is conditioned upon their being well fed.§ For a later estimate of the value and authenticity of prophecies of prosperity, see Je. 288. 9.-But if one puts not into their mouths they declare war against him] It seems less likely that prediction of national war is meant by this,** than that these mercenary prophets levy a tyrannical species of blackmail upon their constituents. The man who will not contribute

* So Marti, Now.K, Löhr, Siev., Gu., Du.; so also in Am. 513

† Gu. suspects this clause to be a later addition; but the only ground urged is its prosaic character. May not a prophet descend to prose occasionally? Homer sometimes nods. So Casp..

§ For a similar indignant charge made by the Greek tragic poets against venal soothsayers, v. Sophocles, Antigone, 1036; Æschylus, Agamemnon, 1168. ** We., Van H..

to their support is subjected to slander and abuse of various kinds. They represent it to be Yahweh's will that such men be treated as his enemies. The verb rendered 'declare' literally means 'sanctify,' 'consecrate,' and has reference to the religious ceremonies always associated with the actual commencement of hostilities; cf. 1 S. 138-12 Je. 6 Is. 133 Jo. 4° Dt. 202.* Prophets who thus brought their high calling into disgrace for the furtherance of their own selfish ends seem never to have been lacking, from the earliest times (cf. Am. 712) even down to the days of the early Christian church.†

Str. V, under the figure of an eclipse, represents the spiritual darkness into which the prophets will be plunged on the approaching day of doom which they have been preparing for themselves. -6. Therefore, it will be night for you without vision] This is not merely a figurative way of saying that the power of prophetic insight and foresight will soon be withdrawn from those who have abused such gifts, but rather a description of the great day of Yahweh (cf. Am. 518), which awaits the whole nation. The sins of the leaders involve the entire people in suffering. The calamities of that day will stagger the shallow optimism of the prophets who would heal Israel's wounds lightly. They will have no message for such times.-And darkness for you without divination] The verb 'to divine' is never used of legitimate prophetic activity, but always of the arts of magic, soothsaying, necromancy, and the like. Yea, the sun will set, etc.] The second half of the str. repeats and so emphasises the thought of the first half.

Str. VI describes the shame and confusion that will enshroud the pseudo-prophets when in the light of the events of the day of Yahweh their prophecies are seen to be lies and they find themselves utterly unable to read the will of God.-7. And the seers will be ashamed, and the diviners will blush] The terms 'seer' and 'diviner' are suggested by the opening lines of Str. V.-And they will

V. Schwally, F., Semitische Kriegsaltertümer, I. Der heilige Krieg im alten Israel (1901). + Cf. Didache, XI, 3-6:-"Now concerning apostles and prophets and the teaching of the gospel, so do ye: every apostle that comes to you, receive him as the Lord. But he shall remain only one day; if there be need, however, a second also. But if he remain three days, he is a false prophet. And when a prophet sets forth, let him take nothing except bread until he may find a lodging; if he ask for money, he is a false prophet."

cover the upper lip, all of them] A common sign of mourning; cf. Ez. 2417. 22 Lv. 135. The origin of this veiling of the lip and mouth in mourning is variously explained; by some, as a substitute for an older custom of shaving off the beard as a hair-offering to the departed spirit; by others, as a method of disguise adopted to protect the survivors from recognition and injury at the hands of the departed; by others, as a method of blocking the mouth against the entrance of malicious spirits; by still others, as a device to discourage conversation so that the mourner might be undisturbed in his grief. Its original significance, however, had probably long been forgotten by Micah's day.-Because there is no answer from God] Not that all this has come about because their oracles had been of their own concoction, and not of divine origin;* but rather that in the approaching day, Yahweh will refuse to reveal his will to them.

In Str. VII Micah unhesitatingly declares his consciousness of possessing the indispensable equipment for the prophetic office which his opponents lack; hence his message is of a totally different character from theirs.-8. But I, indeed, am full of power] In contrast with the vacillating pseudo-prophets who are swayed to and fro by every wave of public opinion, the true prophet forges straight ahead in the line of Yahweh's will which often compels him to defy the popular will. Micah knows he has strength sufficient for all his needs.-The spirit of Yahweh] A prosaic gloss by some editor who deemed it necessary to indicate the source of Micah's power. Its extraneous character is shown by the fact that it alone of the four attributes is accompanied by ♫, by its unnatural position in the series of four, and by its violation of the metrical movement. And justice and strength] The time-serving prophets are filled with and inspired by the people's gifts; Micah's inspiration and satisfaction come from his God-given sense of right and his energy in the enforcement of righteousness upon his contemporaries. To declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin] This was the task to which Micah and all true prophets felt themselves called, to denounce and expose sin and to hold up in contrast with it higher conceptions of God and duty.-This str. fur

So Ro., Ry..

nishes a hint as to the psychology of prophecy. The truths enunciated by the prophet were not things imposed upon him from without, but the choicest possessions of his own inner spirit, the product of his own divinely illuminated experience, observation, and meditation upon the practical problems of life.

2.

1. Obligatory idea lies in a ] Kö. § 397d; not in ny] Ges.

§ 114 1; Dr. § 204 n. On force of the rhetorical question, cf. Ges. § 150 e. ] Qr. y is supported by the balance it furnishes for the monosyl. , and the fact that and y accompany each other just as regularly ash and my; v. Ps. 525 382 3512 Pr. 1630 Nu. 2413.—3. 3] ά; not from, to break (so BDB. and HWB."), but from, to lay bare (so Bevan, cited by Marti), ordinarily used in Ar. to denote the exposure of vices or faults; v. Lane, Lex. 2410.-D] = and spread out, which does not suit the following similes; it is better taken as a byform of D, used in Qal of the breaking of bread and in Hiph. of the dividing of the hoofs of animals; cf. Nö. ZA. I, 417 f.. The sequence of tenses here demands '.-] On absence of article, cf. Kö. § 299 1 ̧— nnp] Only here and 1 S. 214, but context in both cases renders its general sense quite clear; cf. Lagarde, Übersicht, 88; Erman, ZDMG. XLVI, 121.-4.0] The jussive, as in , is without any of its characteristic force here; it is most easily accounted for as a case of defective writing of the normal indicative form, Dr. § 174; but cf. Kö. § 1924, which attributes è to "the vowel-oppressing influence of the consonantal environment"; Ges. 109 k, which explains forms of this kind as often caused by necessities of rhythm; and Hpt. who calls it an Aramaicism.—>] For similar usage, cf. Ju. 627 1 S. 2818 Nu. 271⁄4 2 K. 1726; v. Kö. § 389 8 ̧—5. Drown] Serving as the protasis of a condition, Ges. § 116 w.-6. пp] On 3d pers. sg. fem., as in , used for natural phenomena, cf. Ges. §144 c; Kö. § 323 k ̧ But the parallelism demands a noun.-7. D] Lit. mustache; cf. 2 S. 192 (Œ μúOTA§); on root, cƒ. Barth, ZDMG. XLI, 633 and Jensen, ZA. VII, 218.-8. 1 m ns] On function of ns here, cf. Kö. § 288 0. The 'thing with which' is usually found in the acc. after xp, when used in the Qal, and without the sign of the acc. even when the noun is defined; e. g. Dt. 349 Jb. 2011; but cases with л, as here, are not wanting, e. g. Ex. 817 Ez. 10'. Less likely does л have prepositional force 'with,' 'by,' 'through,' as perhaps in Gn. 41.

=