Глава 6

1–2. Judgment with Israel. 3–5. God's blessings to Israel. 6–9. Means of reconciling the people with God. 10–16. The moral state of the people and the punishments awaiting them. Ch. VI-th presents the prophet's accusatory speech to Israel, which takes the form of a judicial contest. Regarding the general meaning of ch. VI-VII see introduction. Micah 6:1. Hear what the Lord says: Arise, stand before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice! “Arise and judge” and other words of God addressed to the prophet. “Be judged before the mountains (eth-beharim), and let the hills hear your voice”: mountains and hills are called as witnesses of the Lord’s judgment with Israel. “Since intelligent beings,” explains Blessed. Theodoret, “they suffer from lack of understanding, then I will make inanimate things reasonable judges.” Mountains and hills are called as witnesses also because they were, as it were, eyewitnesses of those blessings of God for the people, which are discussed below. In glory In the text, the expression in question is conveyed somewhat differently - “sue the mountains” (πρὸς τὰ ὄρη), as the Hebrew itself should have conveyed. eth-haharim: i.e. the mountains are not witnesses of judgment, but the subject of judgment. The same idea was found in Art. 1st many ancient and modern interpreters (Goonaker). Instead of the people, in this case, the prophet turns to the mountains and hills on which the people are settled. The ancients also interpreted the words of Art. 1st and in the allegorical sense: mountains and hills are Angels who are entrusted with the care of human affairs (Blessed Jerome) or before whom judgment is carried out (St. Cyril Al.), demons, princes and nobles of the Jews (Sankius, Menochia), Abraham and the patriarchs, etc. But there is no need for such allegorical interpretations. Micah 6:2. Hear, O mountains, the judgment of the Lord, and ye solid foundations of the earth: for the Lord has judgment with His people, and with Israel He contends. “Solid (haethanim) foundations of the earth”: the meaning of the word haethanim is not clear, and it is translated differently (Symm. ancient, Blessed Jerome audifte, listen; LXX - φὰραγγες wilds, valleys). Some commentators suggest reading ch. haazinu (Velg., Novak, Marti) - listen, listen, like the blessed one. Jerome. “The foundation of the earth” (Isaiah 24.18; Ps 81.5; Proverbs 8.29) - mountains that seem to hold the earth with their roots. At LXX in glory. instead of “the solid foundations of the earth,” it reads “the wilds (φάραγγες) of the foundations of the earth,” that is, deep valleys that serve as the foundation of the earth. Micah 6:3–5. Beginning with the very judgment with Israel, the prophet points out the ingratitude of the people and their oblivion of God's blessings - namely, the deliverance from Egypt, salvation from the curse planned by Balak and Balaam (Numbers 22.24) and, in general, miraculous help in the conquest of the land of Canaan. Micah 6:3. My people! What have I done to you and how have I burdened you? answer Me. “My people”: in glory, plural. including “my people”, accordingly, even plural pronouns. h. To the words “what burdened you” (glory: “cold weather for you”) in LXX and in glory. added ῆ τὶ ἐλύπησὰ σε, “by whom I offended you.” Micah 6:5. My people! remember what Balak king of Moab planned, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteous actions of the Lord: “From Shittim to Gilgal” (slav. From Sitia to Gilgal): naming the names of two places in Palestine, the prophet wants to briefly recall the time of the conquest of Canaan. The Valley of Shittim served as the last camp of the Jews on the eastern side of the Jordan (Numbers 22.1, 25.1); Gilgal had the first camp of the Jews after crossing the Jordan; the tabernacle was located here throughout the conquest of Canaan (Numbers 33.49; Joshua 2.5, 10, 10.43, 14.6). Heb. the word schittim is the name of the acacia tree, from the abundance of which the valley received its name. LXX instead of own. the name schittim was translated into naritsat. απὸ των σχοίνων (σχοινος – reed, cane), but in glory. translated from Hebrew - “from Sitia”. Micah 6:6. “With what should I appear before the Lord, bow before the God of heaven? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings and first-year-old calves? Micah 6:7. But is it possible to please the Lord with thousands of rams or countless streams of oil? Shall I give him my firstborn for my transgression, and the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul? A number of questions in Art. 6–7 is offered on behalf of the people, personified in one person. According to some commentators (Keil, Shegg), with these questions the people are against accusations of ingratitude, indicating that they are fulfilling all the instructions about sacrifices. But the mentions in Art. 7 about pleasing God, about sacrifice for sins give the majority of commentators reason to believe that the questions express the repentance of the people and the desire to learn the path of true knowledge of God. The prophet speaks on behalf of the repentant and explains that sacrifices in themselves cannot be sufficient for the Lord. To express this idea more strongly, the prophet mentions the most generous and costly sacrifices that can be imagined. The words of the prophet about the “sacrifice of the firstborn” do not necessarily indicate that such sacrifices were made in his time in the kingdom of Judah, and that Art. 6–8 refer to the reign of Manasseh (Novak): the prophet speaks of what is possible and what happened in other times (2 Kings 3.27; Jer 7.31, 16.21). “Countless streams of oil”, in glory. “in the darkness of the fat goats”, according to the reading of the LXX χ´ιμἀρρων πιόνων, Vulg. hirorum pingvium. It is possible that χ´ιμἀρρων (goats) arose from the original χειμὰρρων ("streams") preserved in some manuscripts. Micah 6:8. Oh man! It has been told to you what is good and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. The prophet points out the true path to please God: justice, mercy and humility. The Prophet, like his predecessors Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, does not deny in Art. 8 sacrifices in general, but explains under what conditions sacrifices receive value in the eyes of God (cf. Am 4.4; Hos 5.6, 8.5; Isa 1.1). Micah 6:9–16. The prophet describes the behavior of the people that is contrary to true godly behavior and announces future disasters. Micah 6:9. The voice of the Lord calls to the city, and wisdom fears Your name: listen to the rod and to Him who set it: Art. 9 is difficult to translate and is conveyed differently in different texts. “The voice of the Lord calls (slav. “will be called”) to the city,” that is, to the city of Jerusalem, as most commentators think, or to Samaria, as some think (Blessed Jerome, Yungerov, Goonaker). “Wisdom (thuschijjuh) reveres (ireh) before Your name” (schemecha): the translation is tentative, the meaning of which is that the wise should listen with reverence to the voice of God. At LXX in glory. The sentence in question reads: “He will save those who fear His name.” Ch. σωζει saves, appeared in LXX due to the fact that the Heb. tewchijjah they, like the blessed one. Jerome, mistakenly taken for the form of ch. jascha (to save). The reading φοβουμένους (those who fear) shows that LXX, like Sir, is Khald. and blessed Jerome, instead of Heb. raah to see (“look with reverence”) had in the text jareh to fear. The newest commentators also prefer the latter reading and, accordingly, the entire expression under consideration conveys: “there is wisdom - to fear His name” (Novak, Goonaker - “Thy name”). – “Listen to the rod (matteh) and the One who set it” (umi jeadah): according to the meaning of Russian. text, the prophet calls the coming punishment a rod (cf. Isaiah 10.5–15; Ezekiel 7.10–11) and calls to listen to the Lord who sent the punishment. But the words of the original can be translated in another way. At LXX and in glory. in the text they are conveyed: “listen, tribe, and who will decorate the city.” The reading of LXX arose because Heb. matteh, meaning “rod” and “knee,” they took to mean knee; jeadah (set) was read as jaadeh (from jadah to decorate) and, transferring the particle od (yet) from the next verse, they read it as ir (city). The understanding of matteh in the meaning of “knee” is accepted by the blessed. Jerome (audite tribus), and the reading of LXX-ta ir (city) also by the latest commentators; from here the not entirely clear expression is conveyed: “listen, tribe and assembly of the city” (Novak, Goonaker). Micah 6:10. Are there not even now in the house of the wicked the treasures of wickedness and the reduced measure of the abominable?: Micah 6:11. Can I be clean with unfaithful scales and deceptive weights in my bag?: In Art. 10–11 The causes of the approaching disasters are wickedness, in particular, laying up treasures through unrighteousness, deception through the wrong measure (ephah) and scales. Mic. 6:11 presents some difficulties in translation and is transmitted in the LXX, in the Vulg. and the new commentators differ from the Russian text. Heb. haisch, taken in our text for haesch (ha asks, particle and each - “is”) (cf. 2 Kings 4.19) and conveyed by the words “are they not”, in LXX, in Sir. and Vulg. are understood in the meaning esch – fire; beth (in the house), LXX was mistaken for an eminent person. pad. ("Dan"); creatures ozroth (from azar to collect), estates, treasures, translated twice θηραυρίζων θησαυροὺς; the words veephah (measure, ephah) rason (lean, reduced) seumah (angry, disgusting), read, perhaps, instead of veephalveeth (with μετα), they conveyed explanatoryly μετὰ ὑβρεος ἀδικῖας, with a reproach for untruth. From here to glory. i.e. it reads: “food is fire and the house of the wicked, gathering up the property of the wicked and with the reproach of unrighteousness,” i.e. “is it not the fire that has the power to destroy everything, which contains within itself the house of the wicked, gathering up unrighteous riches.” The newest commentators correct the unclear haisch in haeschschah (from naschah - move from place, in gif. push away, leave without punishment) and they convey: “shall I leave the house of the wicked without punishment”, etc. (Marti, Goonaker). Art. The 11th complements the thought of Art. 10th. “Can I be pure” (haeskeh from sachah): spoken in Micah 6:9-16 on behalf of God; therefore Art. 11 must be conveyed - “may I purify it” (haasakkehu), as in the Vulg. num guid justificabo, will I really justify it? LXX has djghjc in the 3rd person; from here to glory: “food will be justified in the measure (ἐν ζυγφ - in scales) of the wicked and in sackcloth (Russian “in the bag”) of the measure (Russian “gir and”) wrong.” Micah 6:12. Because its rich people are full of unrighteousness, and its inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceit in their mouth, Micah 6:13. then I will strike you with desolation for your sins without healing. The prophet expresses in direct form what is expressed in interrogative form in Micah 6:10–11. We are talking about the inhabitants of the city with which the Lord has judgment in Jerusalem or Samaria. Instead of the words “since his rich people are filled with unrighteousness” in glory. according to the LXX it reads: “from them (ἐξ ῶν) you filled your wealth with wickedness”; LXX tied up st. 12th with the previous one: “from them” - from incorrect weights and measures. - “Their tongue is deception (remijjah) in their mouth”: in glory. “their tongue was exalted in their mouth,” since LXX creatures. remijjah was taken as the form of ch. rum to raise. – “I will strike you incurably (hakkothecha)” (hechelethi): to glory. “and I will begin to smite you”; LXX, instead of the second verb (chalal to strike), synonymous with the first (nachah - to strike), they read hachilothi from chalol to begin, which is the reading adopted by the newest commentators. The form haschmem (indefinite from schamem - to be dumb, devastated) LXX translated express. incl. ἀφανιῶ, slav. "I'll ruin" Micah 6:14. You will eat and not be full; there will be emptiness inside you; You will keep, but you will not save, and what you save, I will put to the sword. Micah 6:15. You will sow, but you will not reap; You will crush olives, and you will not anoint yourself with oil; You will squeeze grape juice, but you will not drink wine. The prophet explains what the punishment of the people will be. The cause of disasters, within the meaning of Art. 14–15, there will be an invasion of enemies. The Prophet, thus, repeats the threats already expressed by Moses (Lev. 26:26, 28:33, 39, 40). Text in Greek. and glory have in Art. 14–15 deviations from the original. Instead of the words “emptiness (jeschacha) will be inside you” in glory. “and it will darken in you and turn away”; LXX, probably, instead of jeschacha they read the similar jecheschach (from chaschach to fade), and ch. vethaseg (Russian: you will store, from nasag to cover, to remove); translated by the word e ἐκνεύσει or, as in many manuscripts, ἐκνεύσεις to evade, to seduce. At the end of Art. 15th in glory. i.e. the sentence reads: “and the laws of my people will perish”; This sentence has no correspondence in the original text; it is believed that it arose from an erroneous reading of the beginning of Art. 16th veischthammer chukkoth amri, preserved the customs of Omri. Micah 6:16. You have preserved the customs of Omri and all the affairs of the house of Ahab, and you act according to their advice; and I will make you a desolation and your inhabitants a mockery, and you will bear the reproach of my people. Omri is the founder of a dynasty stained with idolatry and iniquity (1 Kings 16.31, 18.18). Ahab was the most prominent representative of this dynasty. Through Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab (2 Kings 8.18), who married the Jewish king Jehoram, the wickedness of the house of Omri spread to Judea. “You will bear the reproach of My people” (ammi), that is, you will bear the punishment appointed for My people. Not without reason, however, some commentators (Novak) read, in agreement with the LXX, instead of ammi (“My people”) – amim – peoples, people. The thought will be that Israel, for its wickedness, will become an object of reproach for all nations. In glory t. Art. On the 16th, instead of Omri, Zamri is named, as in LXX, which, of course, is erroneous; the words “thy inhabitants” in the LXX and in glory. referred to as the inhabitants of Samaria, which is why it is read: “living in it.” You might be interested in: