Micah 2:8

By failing to warn them of coming judgment for sin, the false prophets were really treating their fellow Israelites as their enemies; they were not doing them a service but a disservice. Micah proceeded to list more sins that the wealthy in Judah were practicing. They had taken the clothing of their fellow Israelites as payment for their debts, something their law forbade (cf. Exodus 22:26-27; Amos 2:8). They also did this to unsuspecting travelers who passed through their land and to soldiers who had recently returned from war.

It is possible that Micah had the false prophets in view here and in the following verses and not just the rich Israelites (cf. Micah 3:5). However, "My people" seems to imply a larger group of Israelites than just the false prophets, probably the numerous wealthy oppressors among the people. They might as well have been the Assyrians or the later Babylonians in spoiling Israel. [Note: Waltke, in The Minor . . ., p. 646.]

Waltke noted that in 1993, when he wrote, 35 percent of the wealth of the United States was concentrated in the hands of less than 1 percent of the people, many of whom functioned as patrons to the supposed representatives of the people. [Note: Ibid., p. 647.]