Micah 2:12 - Exposition

The prophet, without any preface, introduces abruptly a promise of restoration after exile, a type of the triumph of Messiah. Some commentators, indeed, regard this and the following verso as the language of the false prophets; others, as a denunciation of punishment, not a promise of deliverance; others, as a late interpolation. But the style is entirely Micah's (comp. Micah 4:6 , Micah 4:7 ), the promise is a true one, and such like sudden transitions are common in the prophetical books (comp. e.g. Isaiah 4:2-6 ; Hosea 1:10 ; Hosea 11:9 ; Amos 9:11 ); so that we need not resort to the hypothesis that some connecting link has dropped out of the text, or that the clause is misplaced; and we are fully justified in considering the paragraph as inserted here in its right position, and as predictive of the restoration of the Jews after captivity. Micah would seem to imply—I am not, indeed, as one of the false prophets who promise you earthly good without regard to your moral fitness for receiving God's bounty; neither am I one who has no message but of woe and calamity; I, too, predict salvation and happiness for a remnant of you after you have been tried by defeat and exile. I will surely assemble. This presupposes dispersion among the heathen, such as is foretold in Micah 1:8 , etc.; Micah 2:4 , etc. O Jacob, all of thee. The promise extends to the whole nation, whether called Jacob or Israel, as Micah 1:5 ; but still only a remnant, i.e. that portion of the nation which should make a good use of adversity, and turn to the Lord with sincere repentance (comp. Isaiah 10:20 , etc.; Jeremiah 31:8 ; Ezekiel 34:11 , etc.; Zephaniah 3:12 ,. etc.). Some see in the term "remnant" an allusion to the people that were left in the northern kingdom after the fall of Samaria. As the sheep of Bozrah. There were two or more towns so named—one in Sidon, for which see note on Amos 1:12 ; and another, hod. Buzrah, on the south border of the Hauran. This is mentioned in Jeremiah 48:24 , as one of the cities of Moab, a district celebrated for its flocks ( 2 Kings 3:4 ); hence "sheep of Bozrah" may have become a proverbial saying. Many commentators take Botsrah as an appellative, meaning "fold," in agreement with the Vulgate, quasi gregem in ovili, and Chaldee, as well as Aquila and Symmachus. The parallelism in the following words seems to favour this view. The LXX . reads differently, rendering, ἐν θλίψει , "in trouble." Thus, too, the Syriac. As the flock in the midst of their fold; rather, as a flock in the midst of its pasture . They shall make great noise, etc. Like a numerous flock bleating in its fold, so shall the returned Israelites be, prosperous and happy, celebrating their salvation with praise and exultation (comp. Ezekiel 34:31 ). Septuagint, ἐξαλοῦνται ἐξ ἀνθρώπων , "They shall leap forth from among men," which St. Jerome explains as meaning that the repentant Israelites shall rise above worldly things and aspire to heaven.