The Bible

 

Micah 2

Study

   

1 Wo [to] those devising iniquity, And working evil on their beds, In the light of the morning they do it, For their hand is -- to God.

2 And they have desired fields, And they have taken violently, And houses, and they have taken away, And have oppressed a man and his house, Even a man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am devising against this family evil, From which ye do not remove your necks, Nor walk loftily, for a time of evil it [is].

4 In that day doth [one] take up for you a simile, And he hath wailed a wailing of wo, He hath said, We have been utterly spoiled, The portion of my people He doth change, How doth He move toward me! To the backslider our fields He apportioneth.

5 Therefore, thou hast no caster of a line by lot In the assembly of Jehovah.

6 Ye do not prophesy -- they do prophesy, They do not prophesy to these, It doth not remove shame.

7 Doth the house of Jacob say, `Hath the Spirit of Jehovah been shortened? Are these His doings?' Do not My words benefit the people that is walking uprightly?

8 And yesterday My people for an enemy doth raise himself up, From the outer garment the honourable ornament ye strip off, From the confident passers by, Ye who are turning back from war.

9 The women of My people ye cast out from its delightful house, From its sucklings ye take away My honour to the age.

10 Rise and go, for this [is] not the rest, Because of uncleanness it doth corrupt, And corruption is powerful.

11 If one is going [with] the wind, And [with] falsehood hath lied: `I prophesy to thee of wine, and of strong drink,' He hath been the prophet of this people!

12 I do surely gather thee, O Jacob, all of thee, I surely bring together the remnant of Israel, Together I do set it as the flock of Bozrah, As a drove in the midst of its pasture, It maketh a noise because of man.

13 Gone up hath the breaker before them, They have broken through, Yea, they pass through the gate, Yea, they go out through it, And pass on doth their king before them, And Jehovah at their head!

   

Commentary

 

People (nation)

  

The Bible generally uses two different terms for large groups: “people” and “nations.” When it uses “nation,” it is talking about a group with the desire for good as its ultimate underlying motivation; when it uses the term “people” it is talking about a group whose deep motivation is to seek true ideas and concepts. As with all symbolism in the Bible, this can be also used in a negative sense, to describe groups with the lust for evil or those driven by false concepts. It can also be used in the abstract, with “nation” representing desires for good themselves and “people” representing true ideas themselves. In a way, these meanings make sense if we look at the two words themselves. “People” brings to mind a collection of individuals, and that is somewhat how it is with ideas -- you can have many of them that inter-relate, but also stand somewhat on their own, individually. “Nation” is a more unified term, reflecting the way that a desire for good tends to unify other feelings.