troublesome fact.

Ver. 11. "_And now many nations assemble themselves against thee, that
say: Let her be profaned, and let our eyes look upon Zion._"

Israel, with its claim of being alone the people of the only true God,
was a thorn in the eyes of the nations. These here [Pg 471] burn with
eager desire to prove, actually and by deeds, that this presumptuous
claim was unfounded, and, by the destruction of the city, to take from
it its fancied holiness, and the glory of holiness. Destruction and
profanation are, in their view, inseparably connected. The contrast to
the verse under review is formed by vii. 10: "And mine enemy shall see
it, and shame shall come upon her who said. Where is the Lord thy God?
Mine eyes shall behold her, now shall she be trodden down as the mire
of the streets." The words, "Where is the Lord thy God?" entirely agree
in substance with, "Let her be profaned!" But the desire of profaning
Jerusalem must be conceived of as the human motive only. According to
the view of Scripture generally, and of Micah particularly, all the
distress of the people of God has its foundation in _sin_; and from the
whole context, and especially from v. 2 (3), where this event also is
comprehended within the time when God's people are given up, it clearly
appears that, notwithstanding the happy issue, we have here before us a
heavy calamity. By a new phase of sin, a new phase of judgment is
brought about; and by a new phase of worldliness, a new phase of
aggression by the world's power.--It is owing to a striving after
variety, that the word "and" here stands before "now," while it is
omitted in the third scene. It may stand, or it may be omitted, because
the various catastrophes are independent of each other, and yet, at the
same time, form a connected whole, as is evident from the words, "He
will give them up," in v. 2 (3), by which they are connected together.
The heavy oppression of Judah appears here under the form of a
siege of its centre, in accordance with the scope of prophecy, which,
everywhere, seeks to impart vividness and animation to the scene, by
uniting into one picture that which is separated by time and space. The
historical reference of the prophecy is thus very accurately stated by
_Calvin_: "Although the Babylonish captivity has come to an end, and
Israel has been restored from it, the promised kingdom shall not
immediately come. Before that takes place, the neighbouring nations
shall assemble th