Micah 6:9

King James Version (KJV)

The Lord’s voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

The Lord's voice crieth unto the city - No man is found to hear; but the man of wisdom will hear, תושיה tushiyah ; a word frequent in the writings of Solomon and Job, signifying wisdom, wealth, substance, reason, essence, happiness; any thing that is complete; or that which is substantial, in opposition to vanity, emptiness, mere show, unsubstantiality. When God speaks, the man of common sense, who has any knowledge of God or his own soul, will see thy name; but instead of יראה yireh, will see, the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic, with twelve of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., have read יראי yirey, they that Fear. The Vulgate reads: -

Et salus erit timentibus nomen tuum.

"And thou shalt be salvation to them that fear thy name."

The Septuagint -

Και σωσει φαβουμενους το ονομα αυτου .

And he shall save those who fear his name. -

This the Arabic copies.

The Targum has, "And the teachers shall fear the name." That is, יהוה Yehovah .

The French Bible is very strange: -

Car ton nom volt comme il va de tout.

"For thy name sees how every thing goes."

The word תושיה tushiyah, mentioned above, which occasions all the difficulty, has been read with an ע ain by the Vulgate and Septuagint, as coming from the root ישע yasha, to be saved; and it is very likely that this was the original reading. The two last letters in the word, יה , might have been easily mistaken in the MS. for the letter ע where I may suppose the word stood thus, תושע , shall be saved; and as several MSS. read יראי yirey, they who fear, instead of יראה yireh, he shall see, the whole clause might have been just what it appears in the Vulgate and Septuagint. It is also necessary to remark that the word in dispute has various forms in some MSS., which is a strong presumption against its authenticity. See Kennicott and De Rossi.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

The voice of the Lord crieth unto the city - that is, Jerusalem, as the metropolis of their wealth and their sin, the head and heart of their offending. “Crieth,” aloud, earnestly, intently, so that all might hear. So God says, “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding pat forth her voice? She crieth at the gates, - unto you, O men, I cry, and my voice is to the sons of men” Proverbs 8:1, Proverbs 8:3-4; and Isaiah prophesied of John the Immerser, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3; and our Lord saith, “He that heareth you, heareth Me. And the man of wisdom shall see Thy Name” Luke 10:16. The voice of God is in the hearing of all, but the wise only seeth the Name of God. The word rendered “wisdom” means, “that which is,” “See ye the word of the Lord.”) They shall see His power and majesty and all which His Name expresses, as they are displayed severally in each work of His: He shall speak to them by all things wherein He is; and so seeing Him now in a glass darkly, they shall hereafter see all, His Glory, His Goodness, His Love, Himself, “face to face.”

Hear ye the rod - that is, the scourge of the wrath of God. The name and the image recall the like propecies of Isaiah, so that Micah in one word epitomises the prophecies of Isaiah, or Isaiah expands the word of Micah. “The rod in thine hand is My indignation” Isaiah 10:5; “As if the rod lifted up Him, who is not wood” Isaiah 10:15; “He lifteth up his rod against thee” Isaiah 10:24; “Thou hast broken the rod (which is) on his shoulder” (Isaiah 9:3, Hebrew); “The Lord hath broken the rod of the wicked” Isaiah 14:5; “wheron the grounded (that is, fixed by the decree of God) staff shall pass” Isaiah 30:32.

And who hath appointed it - that is, beforehand, fixing the time and place, when and where it should come. So Jeremiah says, “How canst thou (sword of the Lord) be quiet, and the Lord hath given it a charge to Ashkelon and to the seashore? there hath He appointed it” Jeremiah 47:7. He who has “appointed it,” changeth not His decree, unless man changeth; nor is He lacking in power to fulfill it. He will surely bring it to pass. All which can be thought of, of fear, terror, motives to repentance, awe, hope, trust, is in that word “who.” It is God; hopes and fears may be infinite.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

God, having showed how necessary it was that they should do justly, here shows how plain it was that they had done unjustly. This voice of the Lord says to all, Hear the rod when it is coming, before you see it, and feel it. Hear the rod when it is come, and you are sensible of the smart; hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks. The voice of God is to be heard in the rod of God. Those who are dishonest in their dealings shall never be reckoned pure, whatever shows of devotion they may make. What is got by fraud and oppression, cannot be kept or enjoyed with satisfaction. What we hold closest we commonly lose soonest. Sin is a root of bitterness, soon planted, but not soon plucked up again. Their being the people of God in name and profession, while they kept themselves in his love, was an honour to them; but now, being backsliders, their having been once the people of God turns to their reproach.

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