Micah 1:12 - Exposition

Maroth ; bitterness . Its site is unknown; but it was in the immediate neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Ewald suggests that it is the same as Maarath ( Joshua 15:59 ), hod . Beit Ummar, six miles north of Hebron. Waited carefully for good; waited, expecting succour. But the better translation is, writhed in anguish on account of good, which they have lost, whether property or liberty. But evil came; for (or, because ) evil is come. Unto the gate of Jerusalem (comp. Micah 1:9 ). The prophet refers to the invasion of the Assyrian kings, Sargon or Sennacherib, also mentioned by Isaiah ( Isaiah 22:7 ), and the haughty message ( Isaiah 36:2 ).