(18) Micah the Morasthite.--On the general history and work of this prophet, see Introduction to Micah. The Hebrew text gives Micaiah, the two forms being (as in Judges 17:1; Judges 17:4, compared with 5, 12), in the Hebrew interchangeable. The epithet indicated his birth in Moresheth-gath in Philistia (Micah 1:14). As Micah had prophesied under Jotham and Ahaz (Micah 1:1), the prediction here referred to must have been delivered towards the close of his ministry. The words cited are from Micah 3:12, and immediately precede the prediction of an ultimate restoration of Judah in the last days in Micah 4:1-2, which we find in identical terms in Isaiah 2:2-3. Here, then, was a case, is the implied argument of the elders, in which a threat did its work, and therefore was not fulfilled. It did good, and not evil. The phrase "mountain of the house" is not found elsewhere in Jeremiah as a description of the Temple.

Verses 18, 19. - Micah the Morasthite, etc. The "elders" appeal for a precedent to the case of Micah (called after his native place, Moresheth-Gath, to distinguish him from other Micahs), who had been equally explicit in his declarations of woe to Jerusalem, without incurring the charge of blasphemy. The prediction referred to is in Micah 3:12, the form of which agrees verbally with our passage.

26:16-24 When secure sinners are threatened with taking away the Spirit of God, and the kingdom of God, it is what is warranted from the word of God. Hezekiah who protected Micah, prospered. Did Jehoiakim, who slew Urijah, prosper? The examples of bad men, and the bad consequences of their sins, should deter from what is evil. Urijah was faithful in delivering his message, but faulty in leaving his work. And the Lord was pleased to permit him to lose his life, while Jeremiah was protected in danger. Those are safest who most simply trust in the Lord, whatever their outward circumstances may be; and that He has all men's hearts in his hands, encourages us to trust him in the way of duty. He will honour and recompense those who show kindness to such as are persecuted for his sake.Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah,.... Or, Micah of Maresha, as the Targum. Mareshah was a city of the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:44; the native place, of this prophet; who appears, by the following quotation, to be the same Micah that stands among the minor prophets; and who is also so called, and lived in the times of Hezekiah, Micah 1:1;

and spake to all the people of Judah; very openly and publicly, and just as Jeremiah had done, Jeremiah 26:2;

saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps; Mount Zion, on part of which the temple was built, and on the other the city of David, together with the city of Jerusalem, should be so demolished, as that they might be ploughed, and become a tillage; as the Jews say they were by Terentius, or Turnus Rufus, as they call him, after their last destruction by the Romans:

and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest; covered with grass and shrubs, and thorns and briers; even Mount Moriah, on which the temple stood, which is designed by the house; and so the Targum calls it the house of the sanctuary. Now this was saying as much against the city and temple as Jeremiah did; and was said in the days of a good king too, who encouraged a reformation, and carried it to a great pitch. See Micah 3:12.