Micah 1:8

"For this will I lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches."

Many of the prophets of God reinforced their prophetic denunciations by symbolical behavior in themselves, as when Hosea was married to Gomer. For such a lament as that pictured here to have had any effect at all, or for it to have been in any manner appropriate, would require that it be done before the fall of Samaria came. After it had fallen, there would have been no point whatever in it. No one goes around wailing about history; it was an approaching disaster that broke the prophet's heart; and he vainly tried to warn the people.

The character of the lament which Micah began here, as it unfolded, indicated that Jerusalem and Judah also would be involved in the approaching ruin. "To confirm this, he announced the destruction of a number of cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem."[27]

"Stripped and naked ..." probably signifies the removal of all except a loin-cloth. It would have been a device for getting attention.

"Jackals and ostriches ..." Those who have heard the howl of jackals declare that it is an especially bloodcurdling scream. The noises made by ostriches were also calculated to convey a sense of grief and horror.