MICAH vii. 7-20.
After so stern a charge, so condign a sentence, confession is natural, and, with prayer for forgiveness and praise to the mercy of God, it fitly closes the whole book. As we have seen,[916] the passage is a cento of several fragments, from periods far apart in the history of Israel. One historical allusion suits best the age of the Syrian wars; another can only refer to the day of Jerusalem's ruin. In spirit and language the Confessions resemble the prayers of the Exile. The Doxology has echoes of several Scriptures.[917]
But from these fragments, it may be of many centuries, there rises clear the One Essential Figure: Israel, all her secular woes upon her; our Mother of Sorrows, at whose knees we learned our first prayers of confession and penitence. Other nations have been our teachers in art and wisdom and government. But she is our mistress in pain and in patience, teaching men with what conscience they should bear the chastening of the Almighty, with what hope and humility they should wait for their God. Surely not less lovable, but only more human, that her pale cheeks flush for a moment with the hate of the enemy and the assurance of revenge. Her passion is soon gone, for she feels her guilt to be greater; and, seeking forgiveness, her last word is what man's must ever be, praise to the grace and mercy of God.
Israel speaks:--
_But I will look for the LORD,_ _I will wait for the God of my salvation:_ _My God will hear me!_ _Rejoice not, O mine enemy, at me:_ _If I be fallen, I rise;_ _If I sit in the darkness, the LORD is a light to me._
_The anger of the LORD will I bear--_ _For I have sinned against Him--_ _Until that He take up my quarrel,_ _And execute my right._ _He will carry me forth to the light;_ _I will look on His righteousness:_ _So shall mine enemy see, and shame cover her,_ _She that saith unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God?--_ _Mine eyes shall see her,_ _Now is she for trampling, like mire in the streets!_
The prophet[918] responds:--
_A day for the building of thy walls shall that day be!_ _Broad shall thy border be_[919] _on that day!_
...[920]_and shall come to thee_ _From Assyria unto Egypt, and from Egypt to the River,_ _And to Sea from Sea, and Mountain from Mountain;_[921] _Though_[922] _the land be waste on account of her inhabitants,_ _Because of the fruit of their doings._
An Ancient Prayer:--
_Shepherd Thy people with Thy staff,_ _The sheep of Thy heritage dwelling solitarily...._[923] _May they pasture in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old!_ _As in the days when Thou wentest forth from the land of Miṣraim, give us wonders to see!_ _Nations shall see and despair of all their might;_ _Their hands to their mouths shall they put,_ _Their ears shall be deafened._ _They shall lick the dust like serpents;_ _Like worms of the ground from their fastnesses,_ _To Jehovah our God they shall come trembling,_ _And in fear before Thee!_
A Doxology:--
_Who is a God like to Thee? Forgiving iniquity,_ _And passing by transgression, to the remnant of His heritage;_ _He keepeth not hold of His anger for ever,_ _But One who delighteth in mercy is He;_ _He will come back, He will pity us,_ _He will tread underfoot our iniquities--_ _Yea, Thou wilt cast to the depths of the sea every one of our sins._ _Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, leal love to Abraham,_ _As Thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of yore._