Micah 2:10

2:6-11 Since they say, Prophesy not, God will take them at their word, and their sin shall be their punishment. Let the physician no longer attend the patient that will not be healed. Those are enemies, not only to God, but to their country, who silence good ministers, and stop the means of grace. What bonds will hold those who have no reverence for God's word? Sinners cannot expect to rest in a land they have polluted. You shall not only be obliged to depart out of this land, but it shall destroy you. Apply this to our state in this present world. There is corruption in the world through lust, and we should keep at a distance from it. It is not our rest: it was designed for our passage, but not for our portion; our inn, but not our home; here we have no continuing city; let us therefore arise and depart, let us seek a continuing city above. Since they will be deceived, let them be deceived. Teachers who recommend self-indulgence by their doctrine and example, best suit such sinners.

That is, out the land; do not think of a continuance in it, but expect a removal from it; prepare for captivity and exile; look for it every moment, to hear it said to you, arise, and be gone from hence; for, since you have drove others out of their inheritances and possessions, this shall be your case: for this is not your rest; the land in which the ten tribes then dwelt, and which was given to their fathers for an inheritance, and for a resting place, and had been so for ages past, now would be no more so, because of their sins and transgressions; they must not expect to abide here long, and enjoy rest and ease; but to be turned out, and deprived of all the blessings of it, and be carried into a foreign country, where, instead of rest and case, they should be in slavery and bondage: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction; because the land that was given them to dwell in was defiled by their manifold iniquities, particularly adulteries, before hinted at: all sin is of a defiling nature; it defiled the bodies and souls of these men; defiled the estates they were possessed of, and the land on which they dwelt, and their fellow inhabitants of it; therefore utter destruction, even a sore and grievous one, should come upon them, by which their land should be laid waste, and they consumed off of it: or; "it shall corrupt you, even with a grievous corruption" (s); or you being corrupt upon it, it shall spew you out as a corrupt thing, as it did

Micah 2:10 . Arise ye, and depart — Ye Israelites prepare for your departure out of this land, for it shall be no longer yours; it is not your rest, because it is polluted — Though it was given to the posterity of Jacob for a place of rest, under my protection, yet this was on condition of their continued obedience. And because you have polluted it by your sins — You shall be cast out of it, or shall be destroyed in it; even with a sore destruction — This threatening is to the same effect with the declaration made by Moses concerning the Canaanites whom God drove out before Israel. The land is defiled, therefore do I visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. And it accords with the solemn caution which God then gave his people, saying, Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and shall not commit any of these abominations; that the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you, Leviticus 18:25-28 .

(10) This is not your rest. —The Lord, requiting them for their cruelty to the poor and defenceless, declares that their own time of trouble was imminent. They should be thrust forth from the land which they polluted. It was no place of rest for them. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”

10 . Arise ye, and depart ] As a just retribution for the expulsion of others, the oppressors shall be expelled themselves. your rest ] i.e. your resting-place (as Isaiah 11:10 ). ‘Rest’ was one of the chief aspects under which Canaan was regarded ( Deuteronomy 12:9 , Isaiah 63:14 , Psalm 95:11 ). because it is polluted , &c.] viz. the land, by the sin of its inhabitants. Comp. Leviticus 18:25-28 .

10. Arise ye, and depart—not an exhortation to the children of God to depart out of an ungodly world, as it is often applied; though that sentiment is a scriptural one. This world is doubtless not our "rest," being "polluted" with sin: it is our passage, not our portion; our aim, not our home (2Co 6:17; Heb 13:14). The imperatives express the certainty of the future event predicted. "Since such are your doings (compare Mic 2:7, 8, &c.), My sentence on you is irrevocable (Mic 2:4, 5), however distasteful to you (Mic 2:6); ye who have cast out others from their homes and possessions (Mic 2:2, 8, 9) must arise, depart, and be cast out of your own (Mic 2:4, 5): for this is not your rest" (Nu 10:33; De 12:9; Ps 95:11). Canaan was designed to be a rest to them after their wilderness fatigues. But it is to be so no longer. Thus God refutes the people's self-confidence, as if God were bound to them inseparably. The promise (Ps 132:14) is quite consistent with temporary withdrawal of God from Israel for their sins. it shall destroy you—The land shall spew you out, because of the defilements wherewith ye "polluted" it (Le 18:25, 28; Jer 3:2; Eze 36:12-14).

Verse 10. - Arise ye, and depart. The prophet pronounces the oppressors' punishment - they shall be banished from their land, even as they have torn others from their home. This is not your rest. Canaan had been given as a resting place to Israel ( Deuteronomy 12:9, 10 ; Joshua 1:13 ; Psalm 95:11 ), but it should be so no longer. Because it is polluted. The land is regarded as polluted by the sins of its inhabitants. The idea is often found; e.g. Leviticus 18:25, 28 ; Numbers 35:33 ; Jeremiah 2:7 . It shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. The land is said to destroy when it ejects its inhabitants, as though the inanimate creation rose in judgment against the sinners. The Revised Version, with Keil and others, translates, Because of uncleanness that destroyeth, even with a grievous destruction ; Septuagint, Διεφθάρητε φθορᾷ , "Ye were utterly destroyed;" Vulgate, Propter immunditiam ejus corrumpetur putredine pessima . The Authorized Version is correct. Micah 2:10

Arise ye, and depart; you inhabitants of Israel, especially you oppressors, bestir yourselves. and prepare for your departure out of this land; for, will ye nill ye, so it is, you shall be carried away: the words also may fairly be applied to the oppressed, to lessen the troubles they were under, and to advise them to retire out of this land. This is not your rest: though it was given this people for a rest under God’s wing, yet it was on condition of continued obedience; but since they do not observe the condition, they shall never find the expected rest; one trouble shall succeed another, until the captivity sweep them all away, both oppressors and oppressed; these therefore should grieve the less at their present trouble, nor grudge to transplant themselves. Because it is polluted, with many, and great, and old sins, it shall destroy; spew them out as a burden intolerable to the earth that bears them, as Leviticus 18:25 ; this polluted land shall be destroyed. A sore destruction; such as may well require a lamentation; such as Micah 2:4 ; a grievous desolation, such as never shall be repaired.