Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that cause my people to err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace! but whoso putteth not into their mouths they prepare war against him
Micah turns from the rulers of Israel to the men who claimed to speak for God. The charge against them is that their message moved with their pay. So the verse raises a simple question: whom does a preacher serve when his word depends on what lands in his mouth?
The chapter opens by addressing the rulers, and only then names the prophets among them. Position changes the weight of a sin.
All the people have their responsibility. But the chief weight must fall according to each person's position. Wickedness in a man who holds an office of trust is worse than the same evil in someone under him, and it rightly counts as more serious. Wrongdoing in a judge, for example, is more serious than dishonesty in a stableman or his master.
That is why this failure is worse than plain self-will.
It is bad enough when a man's will makes him go wrong. How much worse when the very thing that ought to be the strongest check on his will, and the surest guard of holiness, drives him headlong into everything that is against God.
Older translations read "bite with their teeth" where the ESV has "when they have something to eat." One commentator takes the biting to mean being fed. The prophet's verdict then followed the meal.
They make the people err. To bite with their teeth means to be fed. So they cried "peace" to the patrons who fed them, and they fought and denounced those who put no food in their mouths.
The damage is not only that the message is false. It is that a comfortable message stops the very process by which God would bring people back.
When the people of God go wrong, there is always the spirit of false prophecy which would make them believe that all goes well. Men in authority do not like to be discouraged: look at the opposition Jeremiah met in Jerusalem. The false prophet helps to stop the conscience from turning back to God. God would use chastening to bring the conscience into direct contact with Himself. The spirit of falsehood would persuade them that they are very happy. Those who call them blessed are the misleaders.
Micah says these men lead God's people astray. Their method is not usually open invention. It is the true word bent until it fits what the hearer wants.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and lies. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval on its own desires. So prophets grew popular by saying, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken. We should not suppose that these prophets were always inventing lies. But they corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste.
Commentators apply this beyond Micah's day. Where a preacher's income depends on his hearers, the same pull is still at work. It does not need a wicked man to work on.
Money also decides the kind of man they want. They usually want a successful man, by the fashionable idea of success. They want a man who will fill the church, and maybe help pay off the debt on it. His own salary very likely depends on it… But even if they get a godly man, he faces the strongest personal temptation to soften the truth. Preached in full, that truth may cost him his influence and even his living.
Their message came from their patrons, not from God. So God leaves them with no message at all.
These false prophets were the mere instruments of the people. So Micah predicts that night will come to them instead of their pretended light… Those who misled others will be left to their own delusions. They preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil.
- Position. Trust sets the weight of guilt: wrongdoing in a judge or a prophet counts heavier than the same act in someone under him.
- Payment. Feed these prophets and you hear "peace"; give them nothing and they declare war. The fee, not God, set the message.
- Pull. Even a godly man paid by his hearers faces the strongest temptation to soften truth that could cost him his living.
- People. False words do more than mislead; they quiet the conscience. Those who call a straying people blessed are the ones misleading them.
- Punishment. Men who served the people instead of God end in the dark they preferred: night instead of their pretended light.
therefore ye shall have night without a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, without divination; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.
Micah faces men who claimed to speak for God. He tells them their light is about to go out. Why would God take away His own word? And what does it mean when heaven stops answering?
These prophets were paid speakers. Their message followed the food supply. Micah's threat of darkness matches what they had done with the light.
The false prophets were mainly responsible for these evils. It is the same today: false teachers in the Christian world, those who deny the faith, destructive critics and others are responsible for the state of the professing Church. They lead the people astray. While they had food in their mouths, they cried "peace" to the men who paid them. Those who did not feed them they attacked and condemned. Night would come for them, with no vision. Darkness would fall on them. They would be ashamed and dismayed. Covering the lips was a sign of mourning and silence. This will be the end of all false prophets and teachers.
Micah's images are bold, and one writer insists they are also exact. The darkness God announces is the darkness these men had already chosen.
Nothing could be more magnificent than his images; and, better still, they are true… Those who misled others will be left to their own delusions. They preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil, and Jehovah makes that clear to them through Micah.
Notice what the punishment is. Micah names no army here and no exile. God simply removes His voice. That silence falls on the leaders who cry out and on the seers who used to answer them.
The prophet again denounces the heads and princes of Jacob. They should cry to Jehovah. But He would not hear them. No prophet should enlighten them with the light of His word. The seers should be confounded; there should be no answer from God.
Is this darkness only something that happens to people, or does God send it? One writer answers, and turns the warning on anyone who is given light and refuses to act on it.
Does God cause darkness? Yes, He does — and blindness too, if people refuse His light. No darkness is so deep and no blindness so total as the darkness God sends as judgment on those who treat His Word lightly… He will turn the light they claim to have into thick darkness and the shadow of death. All of this is very serious. It should make us tremble at the very thought of refusing to act on the light God kindly gives us.
The chapter does not end in silence. The paid prophets go dark, but Micah keeps speaking. The difference between them is where the power comes from.
If they cried "Peace" without a vision or light from God, Micah could say something very different of himself. He was filled with power by the Spirit of Jehovah, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
The same judgment shows up elsewhere as a famine. One writer traces that pattern forward and warns it can come again.
A great famine is announced. It is not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. God will take His Word and the light of His revelation away from them completely. They despised the Word of the Lord, and then they would long to seek it and not find it… The same judgment is coming fast on the Christian world. In its falling away it rejects the Word of the Lord and turns to fables. The day will come when the Spirit leaves, and then there will be a famine of the Word — no comfort and no help for those who are ripe for judgment.
- Light abused. The prophets sold their message. They promised peace to whoever fed them and attacked everyone else. The darkness answers that.
- Light withdrawn. God's response is not a storm but a sunset: no vision, no divining, day turned to night over the very men who claimed to see.
- Light replaced by delusion. Those who misled others are left to their own delusions. They preferred darkness, and darkness is what they get.
- Light gone means silence. The seers cover their lips because no answer comes from God. The silence is the punishment.
- Light still burns somewhere. Micah keeps speaking, full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah. God still has a voice. The men who sold His Word are the ones left in the dark.
And the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners confounded; and they shall all cover their lips, for there will be no answer of God.
Micah names a moment when heaven goes quiet. The men paid to see visions and read the future are left with nothing to say. It raises a hard question: what happens when God stops answering?
The chapter's charge is that these men shaped their message around who was feeding them. One writer shows the punishment matching the crime: the light they claimed becomes night.
These false prophets were nothing more than the tools of the people. Micah predicts that night will come to them instead of their pretended light. "You shall have night, without vision, and darkness, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them." His images could not be more magnificent. Better still, they are true.
Covering the mouth was a recognised gesture, not just embarrassment at a failed prediction. One commentator links it to men who told people whatever they paid to hear, and finds the same pattern among those who deny the faith today.
The false prophets were mostly responsible for these evils, just as today those who deny the faith and attack Scripture are responsible for the state of the church that claims His name. They make the people err. They had something to bite with their teeth — that is, they were fed — so they cried "peace" to their patrons. Anyone who did not support them by putting food in their mouths, they fought and denounced. There would be night for them, with no vision; darkness would come upon them. They would be ashamed and confounded; the covering of the lips was a sign and emblem of mourning and silence. Such will be the fate of all false prophets and teachers.
The silence runs both ways. The leaders call and God does not answer. The prophets look for a vision and see nothing.
The heads and princes of Jacob would cry to Jehovah. But He would not hear them. No prophet would give them light from His word. The seers would be confounded; there would be no answer from God.
Why does God withhold an answer? Because these men had already chosen darkness, and He gives them what they chose.
Those who misled others will be left to their own delusions. They preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. Jehovah tells them so plainly through Micah.
Another writer sets this judgment beside wars, plagues and famines. He finds this one worse, because it dulls the feelings that would drive a person to cry out.
The judgment of God on this guilty nation takes the form of a delusion. There had been wars, plagues and famines. Now comes something that dulls their feelings. Under the earlier troubles they might have wept and cried to the Lord, as they often did in the times of the judges. But now they will be deceived. What judgment is more terrible, apart from the eternal one, than "I also will choose their delusions"? And this came because when God called, there was no one to answer.
The line in quotation marks there comes from an older English translation.
Why does the judgment fall hardest on these men? One commentator gives the principle.
All the people have their responsibility. But the chief weight must fall according to a person's position. Wickedness in someone who holds a position of trust is worse than the same evil in someone under him. It is right to treat it as more serious. Wrongdoing in a judge, for instance, is graver than dishonesty in a stable-hand or his employer.
The silence is not universal. Beside the silenced seers stands a prophet with plenty to say.
The eighth verse is a magnificent outburst from God's true prophet — Micah's own confession. As the true prophet he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. So filled, he declared to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
- Bought — The seers served whoever fed them. They cried peace to their patrons and attacked anyone who held back support.
- Darkened — They chose darkness over light, so God gave them darkness: night instead of vision, delusion instead of an answer.
- Silenced — Covering the lips is the sign of mourning and silence. When God says nothing, the trade collapses — the end of every false teacher.
- Weighed — The heaviest guilt sits on those in positions of trust. The same sin is more serious in a leader than in a servant.
- Answered — In the silence, one man is still full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. God's word had not failed; they had lost their access to it.