Micah 5:13-14

13, 14. Idolatry also will come to an end. Of objects connected with the idolatrous cult three are mentioned: graven images, pillars, and the Asherim.

Graven images Images made of stone (Micah 1:7) or wood (Deuteronomy 7:5); sometimes the term appears to refer to images of the deity in general (Isaiah 42:8). The attitude of the Old Testament toward these images is one of intense hostility (Hosea 8:5-6; Hosea 10:5; Deuteronomy 7:5, etc.).

Standing images Better, R.V., “pillars”; Hebrews massebhah. The word is used almost exclusively of a “pillar” connected with the religious cult. It denotes the upright stone or pillar which seems to have been a regular accompaniment of Hebrew sanctuaries during the pre-exilic period. Its origin must probably be sought in an earlier stage of Semitic religion, when sacred stones were objects of worship, because it was thought that the deity inhabited the stones or was in some way attached to them. A crude, material symbolism of this sort would inevitably retard the progress toward the highest spiritual conception of the nature of Jehovah; hence the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3; Deuteronomy 16:22) condemns these pillars mercilessly. The eighth century prophets were not quite so severe; in fact, Isaiah (Isaiah 19:19) seems to regard the pillar a legitimate element in Jehovah worship.

Groves Better, R.V., “Asherim.” As the “pillar” points back to primitive stone worship, so the “Asherim” appear to be a relic of primitive tree worship. The Asherah (singular) was a representation of the sacred tree where a living tree was not available; the use of the plural implies the existence of whole groves of such sacred trees or of artificial poles. “From a survey of all the passages in which the word is used it appears that the Asherah was a post or a pole, planted in the ground, like an English Maypole, beside an altar,… and venerated as a sacred symbol” (Driver). Remnants of ancient tree worship are still seen in Palestine (compare Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religions Today, pp. 90ff.). The Old Testament attitude toward the Asherim is one of hostility; there is no passage corresponding to Isaiah 19:19.

So will I destroy thy cities A similar threat is made in Micah 5:11, where it is quite natural; not so here. Some suggest that the word should be rendered “adversaries” (margin, R.V. “enemies”), giving to it a meaning which it has in Aramaic, or to change one letter, which would give the corresponding Hebrew word. If this is done, the expression would pave the way for Micah 5:15. But one would expect rather another reference to idolatry; for this reason many change the word so as to read “thy idols” (compare 2 Chronicles 24:18, “the Asherim and the idols”).