ticular part only of the great
whole. _Finally_--It is peculiar to Micah, that he thus views so
specially the two _capitals_; and this again is in harmony with the
inscription, where just these, and not Israel and Judah, appear
as the subjects of the prophecy. It is in the capitals that Micah
beholds the concentration of the corruption (i. 5); and to them the
threatening also is chiefly addressed, i. 6, 7, iii. 12. Of the
promise, also, Jerusalem forms the centre.--The statement, too, in the
inscription--that Micah uttered the contents of his book under various
kings--likewise receives a confirmation from the prophecy. The mention
of the high places of Judah in i. 5, and of the walking in the statutes
of Omri, and in all the works of the house of Ahab, refers especially
to the time of Ahaz; compare 2 Kings xvi. 4; 2 Chron. xxviii. 4, 25;
further, 2 Kings xvi. 3; 2 Chron. xxviii. 2; and _Caspari_ on Micah, S.
74. On the other hand, the time of Hezekiah is suggested by v. 4, 6 (5,
6), which implies that already, at that time, Asshur had appeared as
the enemy of the people of God,--and so likewise by the prophecy in iv.
9-14.

CHAP. I. AND II.

The prophet begins with the words: "_Hear, all ye people, hearken, O
earth and the fulness thereof, and let the Lord God be witness against
you, the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the Lord cometh forth
out of His place, and cometh down, and treadeth upon the high places of
the earth. And the mountains are melted under Him, and the valleys are
cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters poured down a steep place. For
the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house
of Israel._" Vers. 2-5.

This majestic exordium has been misunderstood in various ways: _First_,
by those who, like _Hitzig_, would understand by the people, [Hebrew:
emiM] in ver. 2, the tribes of Israel. We shall show, when commenting
on Zech. xi. 10, that this is altogether inadmissible. But in the
present case especially, this interpretation must be rejected; partly
on account of the reference to the words of the elder Micah, and partly
on account of the parallel terms, "O earth and the fulness thereof,"
which, according to the constant _usus loquendi_, lead us far beyond
the narrow limits of Palestine. On the other hand, they who by the
[Hebrew: emiM] rightly understand the nations of the whole earth, are
mistaken in this, that they consider them as mere wi