Micah 1:10 - Exposition

Declare ye it not at Gath. This phrase from David's elegy over Saul ( 2 Samuel 1:20 ) had become a proverbial saying, deprecating the malicious joy of their hostile neighbours over the misfortunes that befell them. Gath is mentioned as the seat of the Philistines, the constant and powerful enemy of Judah. (For its situation, see note on Amos 6:2 .) The paronomasias in this passage, which seem to modern ears artificial and puerile, are paralleled in many writings both Hebrew and classic, and were natural to a people who looked for mystical meaning in words and names. Thus Gath is taken to signify "Tell town," and the clause is, "In Tell town tell it not." Weep ye not at all; Vulgate, lacrymis ne ploretis; i.e. "weep in silence," or "hide your tears," that the enemy may not know your grief. As in cash of the other clauses a town is mentioned, some editors would here read, "In Acco ('Weep town') weep not!"—Acco being the later Ptolemais, the modern St. Jean d'Acre, and taken here to represent another foreign city which would rejoice at Judah's misfortunes (see, 1:31 ). The Septuagint alone of all the versions seems to countenance this reading, by translating, οἱ ἐνακεὶμ μὴ ἀνοικοδομεῖτε , "Ye Enakim, do not rebuild," which has been resolved into οἱ ἐν ἀκεὶμ , supposed to be an error for οἱ ἐν ἀχί The objections against this reading may be seen in Keil and Pusey. There is a play on the words in both these clauses (as in the following five verses), which is not seen in the English Version, begath al taggidu, and bako al tibeku. Knabenbauer imitates the paronomasia in Latin, "Cannis ne canite; Anconae ne angamini;" Ewald and Schegg in German, "In Molln meldet nicht; in Weinsberg. weinet nicht;" Reuss in French, "N'allez pas le dire a Dijon! N'allez pas pleurer a Ploermel!" In these puns, as we should call them, the prophet is far, indeed, from jesting. "He sees," says Dr. Cheyne, "like Isaiah, in Isaiah 10:30 , a preordained correspondence between names and fortunes;" and he wishes to impress this on his countrymen, that the judgment may not come upon them unwarned. In the house of Aphrah ; better, at Beth-le-Aphrah, i.e. "House of dust;" Vulgate, in domo pulveris. The site of Aphrah is unknown. Some identify it with Ophrah in Benjamin ( Joshua 18:23 ), four miles northeast of Bethel; others, with Ophrah in Philistia ( 1 Chronicles 4:14 ). Host of the towns named below lie in the Shephelah. Keil notes that the word is pointed with pathach here for the sake of the paronomasia. Roll thyself in the dust; sprinkle dust upon thyself . This was a common sign of mourning. The Hebrew text gives, "I roll myself," or "I have besprinkled myself," the prophet identifying himself with the people. But as in all the subsequent passages, not what the prophet does, but what the inhabitants do, is the point impressed, the reading of the Keri is hem to be preferred. Vulgate, pulvere vos conspergite. The Septuagint has an inexplicable rendering, κατὰ γέλωτα γῆν καταπάσασθε , "against laughter sprinkle earth," which Brenton translates, "sprinkle dust in the place of your laughter." With this section ( Isaiah 10:10-15 ) should be compared Isaiah 10:28-32 , which describes the alarm occasioned by Sennacherib's invasion of Judah from the northeast, as Micah represents his progress to the southwest.