Micah 7:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Micah 7:14
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
to tend a flock · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
people
עַמְּךָ֣'a.me.Kha
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
rod
בְשִׁבְטֶ֗ךָve.shiv.Te.kha
H7626
a scion · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
flock
צֹ֚אןtzon
H6629
a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · noun, common both genders singular construct
heritage
נַֽחֲלָתֶ֔ךָna.cha.la.Te.kha
H5159
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
dwell
שֹׁכְנִ֣יsho.khe.Ni
H7931
to reside or permanently stay (literally or figurativel… · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct
solitarily
לְבָדָ֔דle.va.Dad
H910
separate · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
wood
יַ֖עַרYa.'ar
H3293
a copse of bushes · noun, common masculine singular absolute
midst
בְּת֣וֹךְbe.Tokh
H8432
a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Carmel
כַּרְמֶלKarmel
H3760
Karmel
feed
יִרְע֥וּyir.'U
H7462
to tend a flock · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Bashan
בָשָׁ֛ןva.Shan
H1316
Bashan (often with the article) · proper noun, a place name
Gilead
וְגִלְעָ֖דve.gil.'Ad
H1568
Gilad · conjunction + proper noun, a place name
days
כִּימֵ֥יki.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
old
עוֹלָֽםo.Lam
H5769
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 23:1-4 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Micah 5:4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall…
Psalms 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Isaiah 40:11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those th…
Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the spr…
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Psalms 28:9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.
Psalms 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Micah 7:14–end
Here is, I. The prophet's prayer to God to take care of his own people, and of their cause and interest, Mic 7:14. When God is about to deliver his people he stirs up their friends to pray for them, and pours out a spirit of grace and supplication, Zac 12:10. And when we see God coming towards us in ways of mercy, we must go forth to meet him by prayer. It is a prophetic prayer, which amounts to a promise of the good prayed for; what God directed his prophet to ask no doubt he designed to give. Now, 1. The people of Israel are here called the flock of God's heritage, for they are the sheep of his hand, the sheep of his pasture, his little flock in the world; and they are his heritage, his po…
Feed thy people--Prayer of the prophet, in the name of his people to God, which, as God fulfils believing prayer, is prophetical of what God would do. When God is about to deliver His people, He stirs up their friends to pray for them.
Feed--including the idea of both pastoral rule and care over His people (Mic 5:4, Margin), regarded as a flock (Psa 80:1; Psa 100:3). Our calamity must be fatal to the nation, unless Thou of Thy unmerited grace, remembering Thy covenant with "Thine heritage" (Deu 4:20; Deu 7:6; Deu 32:9), shalt restore us.
thy rod--the shepherd's rod, wherewith He directs the flock (Psa 23:4). No longer the rod of punishment (Mic 6:9).
which dwell solitarily in the wood,…
Feed thy people with thy rod - בשבטך beshibtecha, "with thy crook." The shepherd's crook is most certainly designed, as the word flock immediately following shows. No rod of correction or affliction is here intended; nor does the word mean such.
Solitarily - They have been long without a shepherd or spiritual governor.
In the midst of Carmel - Very fruitful in vines.
Bashan and Gilead - Proverbially fruitful in pasturages.
John Gill on Micah 7:14
The Church Fathers
(Verse 14 and following) Feed your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest of Carmel. They will graze in Bashan and Gilead as in ancient times, as in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show (or have shown) them wonders. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hands over their mouths; their ears will become deaf. They will lick the dust like serpents; they will tremble from their hiding places. They will fear our Lord God, and they will fear you. LXX: Feed your people with your staff, the sheep of your inheritance, who dwell alone in the woods. They will be fed on the mountains of Carmel, in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old, as in the days when you led them out of the land of Egypt. I will show them wonders. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will put their hands over their mouths; their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like snakes, moving along the ground. They will be in distress in their own territories. They will fear and be afraid of our Lord God; they will fear you. This is what is said: Feed your people with your staff, God the Father speaks to the Son, that is, to our Lord Jesus Christ, that because he is a good shepherd, and he lays down his life for his sheep (John 10), he may feed his people with his staff, and the sheep of his inheritance. And lest we think that the same people are both the sheep, in another place we read: But we are your people, and the sheep of your pasture (Psalm 78:21). The people refers to those who are rational, but the sheep refers to those who are not yet using reason, being content only with simplicity, and they are called the heritage of God."] Both the people and the sheep need the shepherd's staff, of which the Apostle also speaks: 'What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?' (I Cor. IV, 21). I think it was for this reason, because the people of Israel were stiff-necked and always longed for Egyptian meat, that Moses used the staff not only against the Egyptians, whom he struck with ten plagues, but also against the people in the wilderness, with the legal staff, the striking staff, and by breaking all the earthen and fragile vessels. But the Apostles of the Lord Savior, who spoke wisdom among the perfect (I Cor. II), the staff was…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
Sceptre — (Heb. shebet = Gr. skeptron), properly a staff or rod. As a symbol of authority, the use of the sceptre originated in the idea that the ruler was as a shepherd of his people (Gen. 49:10; Num. 24:17;…
Bashan · Distinguished for its fine — Distinguished for its fine
Carmel · . — .
Forests · Often afforded pasture — Often afforded pasture
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Feed thy people with thy rod,.... These are either the words of God the Father to Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, calling upon him to do his office as such; to feed the people he had given him, the sheep of his hand, the flock of his pasture, by his Spirit, and with his word and ordinances; see Zechariah 11:5; or of Christ to his ministers, his undershepherds, to feed his sheep and his lambs, the people committed to their care and charge, with wholesome words, with sound and good doctrine, by faithfully preaching the Gospel, and administering the ordinances to them: or rather the words of the prophet, a prayer of his to God or Christ, to take care of the people of God in their desol…
Micah 7:14
14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
14. Pasce populum tuum in virga tua (vel, paedo tuo) gregem haereditatis tuae, habitantes in solitudine (vel, seorsum) in sylva, in medio Carmeli; pascentur in Basan et Gilead, secundum dies antiquos.
Here the Prophet turns to supplications and prayers; by which he manifests more vehemence, than if he had repeated again what he had previously said of the restoration of the Church; for he shows how dreadful that judgment would be, when God would reduce the land into solitude. This prayer no doubt con…
The promise of salvation impels the congregation to pray that it may be granted (Mic 7:14); whereupon the Lord assures it that His covenant mercies shall be renewed, and promises the thorough humiliation of the hostile nations of the world (Mic 7:15-17). Mic 7:14. "Feed thy people with thy staff, the sheep of thine inheritance, dwelling apart, in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of the olden time." The question in dispute among commentators, whether this prayer is addressed to the Lord by the prophet on behalf of the nation, or whether the prophet is still speaking in the name of the believing church, is decided in favour of the latter by t…
The Lord promised to completely renew Israel, his special possession (see Exod 19:5; Mal 3:17). Judgment would not mean the destruction of hope, but a cleansing so that true hope could prevail. The restoration would be God’s work alone as he restored the remnant of his special people and removed their guilt by his love, compassion, and faithfulness (see Exod 32:12-14).
7:14 • With a shepherd’s staff, an ancient Near Eastern shepherd could defend his sheep from wild beasts. Likewise, the prophet prayed that God would protect his people from hostile Gentile nations (cp. Exod 4:1-5). • special possession: Cp. Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Mal 3:17; 1 Pet 2:9. • Bashan and Gilead, east of t…
who dwell alone—That they should dwell alone, in security.
a forest in the midst of a fruitful field—Jonathan renders: Those who were desolate in a forest shall settle in the “karmel”; those who were desolate in the forests shall dwell alone in the midst of the “karmel,” which is a settled place. It is also possible to explain: who dwell alone—In the forests will not fear the wild beasts as [they would not] in the midst of a fruitful field.
