John Calvin Complete Commentary - Micah 5:13 - 5:13

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John Calvin Complete Commentary - Micah 5:13 - 5:13


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He now adds, I will cut off thy graven images and thy statues from the midst of thee; and thou shalt not hereafter bend down before the works of thine hands This verse is plain and contains nothing new: for the Prophet teaches that God cannot become propitious to his Church, to keep and make her safe, until he purges her from her filth, even from idolatry and other vices, by which the worship of God was corrupted, or even entirely subverted.I will, therefore, cut off thy graven images and statues (158) from the midst of thee We see that God anticipates us by his gratuitous goodness, not only by forgiving us, but also by calling us back, when wandering, into the right way. Since then we have deviated from the right way, and God thus withdraws his hand that it might appear that he has cast us away it is certain that we ought not only to pray him to have mercy on us, but also to ascribe to him a higher favor, inasmuch as he takes away the very impediments which separate us from him, and suffer him not to come nigh us. We hence see that God is not only inclined to pardon when men repent, but that it is his peculiar office to remove the obstacles.

This ought to be carefully noticed, that we may know that our salvation, from the first beginning, proceeds from the mere favor of God, — and that we may also learn, that all those things, of which the Papists vainly talk respecting preparations, are mere figments.

He then adds, thou shalt not bend hereafter before the work of thine hands. God expresses here the cause why he so much abominates idols, even because he sees that his honor is transferred to them: this is one thing. He further arraigns the Jews as guilty, while he makes evident their defection: for surely nothing could have been more shameful, than to take away from God his honor and worship, and to transfer them to dead things; and he says here by way of reproach, that they were the work of their hands. What can be more insane, than for men to ascribe divinity to their own inventions, or to believe that it is in the power of men to make a god from wood or stone? This is surely monstrous in the extreme. Then the Prophet by this form of speaking aggravates the sin of the people of Israel, that is, when he says that they bowed the head before the work of their oven hands.



(158) מצבות, rather pillars or columns than statues: τας στηλας in the Sept. The pillar of stone which Jacob set up is called by this name, Gen_28:18. They were commemorative pillars at which the Canaanites, and afterwards the Jews, offered idolatrous worship. There was a pillar of this kind in the house of Baal, 2Kg_10:26. They were not altars, though altars might have been reared by them, for both are mentioned together in Deu_12:3. The word is derived from יצב, to set, to fix firmly. The noun is rendered by Parkhurst, a standing pillar. Ed.