The Pulpit Commentary — Micah — Section 48

"Here be attach the false prophets, e.s before he had attackerl the ' princes.' ' That make my people err '-knowingly mislead my people, by not denouncing their sins as incurring judgmente. • 'l'ha.t bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace;' i.e. who, so long 1\8 they are supplied with food, promise peace and prosperity in their prophecies. • An<l he that puUeth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against bim.' Whenever they e.re not supplied with food, they foretell war and calamity: they sanctify war, i.e. proclaim it as a holy judgment of God, because they are not ferl. • 'l'herefore nil(M shall be unto you, the.t ye shall not have a vision; and it shall ho dark.' Calamities press on you so overwhelmingly as to compel you to cease pretending to divine (Zech. xiii. 4). Darkness is often the image of calamity (Isa. viii. 22; Amos v. 18; viii. 9). 'Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounderl: yea, they shall all cover their lips.' The Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard. To cover the upper lip, therefore, was a token of shame, mourning, and sorrow (Lev. xiii. 45; Ezek. xxiv. 17). 'Cover not thy lips,' i.e. asHume not the usual token of one mourning (Ezek. xxiv. 22). They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths, or boast of the name of prophet. 'For there is no answer of God.' 'l'hey shall no more profess to have responses from Goel, being struck dumb with calamities" (Fausset). False prophets are here brought under our attentiuu again, and three things are suggested concerning them. I. THEY ABE DECEIVING. God says, they " make my people err." Preachers often make their he11rers err. 1. In theology. They propound ideas, crude and ill digested, concerning God, Christ, moral conditions e.nd relations, utterly inconsistent with truth. 2. In worship. The forms they propose to use in worship, the rules they enjoin for it, are often such as to give the people wrong ideas as to what worship really is. 3. In morality. Their standard of duty is often wrong; hence wars are sanctioned, priestly exactions and assumptions encouraged and maintained. Ah me I how the preachers me.ke men err on these gree.t subjects! 11. THEY ABE AVARICIOUS. They" bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace." Greed governs tbem in all their ministries. They are ever hungering after gain; pelf with them is a passion. Their eyes are ever on pew-rents, offerings, tithes, etc. If their greed is offended, they " prepare war against" the offender ; they raise an opposition strong e.nd deadly against him. 'fhey are" greedy of filthy lucre.'' III. THEY ABE CONFOUNDED. Confounded in darkness. "Night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have e. vision; and it she.ll be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun she.11 go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over tbem." 'l'hey were blind leaders of the blind, and they tbemsel ves fall into the ditch. Confounded in shame. " Thon she.11 the seers be ashamed, and the diviners be con- founded." Jehovah ignores them. "There is no e.nswer of God.'' "Those," says Me.tthew Henry, "who deceive others are but preparing confusion for their own faces."-D. 'l'. Vers. 8-12.-Tlie true prophet. "But truly I e.m full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, e.nd of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his tre.nsgression, and to Israel his sin. Hear this, I pray you," etc. It is supposed the.t this chapter belongs to the reign of Hezekiah; if so, the mournful state of me.tters which it depicts belongs to the time preceding the reformation. These words lead us to consider the true prophet. I. 'fHE WORK OF A TRUE PROPHET. "To decle.re unto Jacob his transgression, and to Isre.el his sin." It is a characteristic of all true prophets, that they have a keen more.I sense to discern wrong, to loathe it, and to burn at it. No me.n is e. true prophet who is not roused to thunder by the wrong. It he.s been charged e.gainst the preachers of England the.t it is not wrong the.t rouses them, but little dogmas that agree not with their theology, sects the.t unite not with their Church, policies that interfere with their income e.nd position. We fee.r this is too true. The crimes of the people of England e.re not denounced by the pulpit as they should be-the vice in high places, the injustices perpetrated under the name and se.nction of law, the cupidity 1>f traders, the swindlings of joint stock company men, by which lhey become milliouaires and win e. see.t iu the Parliament of the nation. These things are not held up as they should be for public execration, in the broad sunlight of eternal truth.  48 THE BOOK OF MIOAH. [OB, III, 1-12,