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Mic_2:7 O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? [are] these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
Ver. 7. O thou that art named the house of Jacob] That hast a name to live but art dead, Rev_3:1; that art called a Jew, and makest thy boast of God, Rom_2:17; thou hast a form of knowledge, Rom_2:20, and a form of godliness, 2Ti_3:3; a semblance of sanctimony, Luk_8:18; acting religion, playing devotion, as if it were a name only, or as if it were enough to be named the house of Jacob, or to have his voice, though the hands are the hands of Esau, the practice nothing suitable to the profession. Thus many among us content themselves with the bare name of Christians, as if many a ship hath not been called safeguard or good speed which yet hath fallen into the hands of pirates. The devil will surely sweep and hell swallow all such Nominalists; such shall find that an empty title yields but an empty comfort at the last. What was Dives the better for this, that Abraham called him son, or Judas, that Christ called him friend, or the rebellious Jews,. that God styleth them his people? Doth he not elsewhere disclaim them, and call them a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity; the people of his wrath and of his curse? May not all formalists fear Jacob’s fear, Gen_27:12, "My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing." Our heavenly Father will surely feel us in our addresses, and if he find us but complimenting and contenting ourselves to be called the house of Jacob, he will confute our vain confidences, and cut us out of the roll, as he did Dan and Ephraim, who were named the house of Jacob, and yet, for their wickedness, are passed by in the reckoning up of the twelve tribes, Rev_7:4-8, as if they were soldiers put out of pay and cashiered.
Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?] Or shortened? Is he a penny father? Hath he but one blessing? Is there not with him "the residue of the spirit," Mal_2:15; plenteous redemption, an exceeding abundant goodness, even to a super redundancy? õðåñåðëåïíáóå , 1Ti_1:14. Where, then, is the fault that you are no more Jacob-like, plain hearted and persuasible; that ye refuse to be reformed, hate to be healed, saying to me, Depart, and to my prophets, Drop not, &c. Neither curse ye nor bless ye, as he said to Balaam. Wherein if they should hearken to you, and be ruled by you, yea, should you straitly threaten them with bonds to speak henceforth to no man in my name, as Act_4:17; yet my word is not bound, 2Ti_2:9, but runs and is glorified, 2Th_3:1; my Spirit is not straitened, but is free and not fettered. I tell you that if these (prophets) should hold their peace, and not drop, the stones would immediately cry out, Luk_19:40; which against change of weather do stand with great drops of water to confute your unyieldingness. "Turn ye therefore now at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you," Pro_1:23. I will do it howsoever; yea, in despite of you I will do it, as some sense the foregoing verse, reading it thus, and the original will bear it, Drop ye not, but they shall drop.
Are these his doings?] i.e. Such as God doth approve of, or rather, are these Jacob’s doings? Tread you in the steps of your father Jacob? Did he ever silence the prophets and withstand those that were sent unto him? Did he not rather lie low, put his mouth in the dust, and cry out, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth?" Good is the word of the Lord which ye have spoken. And whereas ye will be apt enough to reply that Jacob had no other cause, for the prophets never spake but good and comfortable things to him, it is answered in the next words:
Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?] Heb. upright; that pondereth his paths by the weights of my word, and turneth not to the right hand nor to the left, Pro_4:26-27, but walketh exactly, accurately, and precisely, Eph_5:15, keeping within my precincts. Do not my words do good to such, and speak they not peace to him? David felt it as sweet as honey, Psa_119:103. But as honey causeth pain to exulcerate parts, though of itself it be sweet and medicinal, so doth the word of God to exulcerate consciences. Children, though they love to lick in honey, yet they will not endure to have it come near their lips when they have sore mouths: so is it here, äñéìõ ôï ìåëé ôïéò åëêåóé . Excellently saith St Austin, Adversarius est nobis, quamdiu sumus et ipsi nobis. The word of God is adversary to none but such as are their own greatest adversaries. It may well be compared to Moses’s rod, which, while he held it in his hand, it flourished and brought forth almonds, but being cast on the ground it turned into a serpent. Did it not take hold of those refractories, Zec_1:6, that would not take hold of God’s covenant, and choose the things that pleased him? Isa_56:4. Does it not still sting wicked people with unquestionable conviction and horror, when as "great peace have they which love God’s law, and nothing shall offend them?" Psa_119:165.