Micah 6:16

16 For you have kept the statutes of ¹Omri,^[a] and all the works of the house of ²Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you ³a desolation, and your^[b] inhabitants ⁴a hissing; so you shall bear ⁵the scorn of my people."

Micah 6:16 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 6:16

For the statutes of Omri are kept
Who of a captain of the army was made king of Israel, and proved a wicked prince; he built Samaria, and set up idolatrous worship there, after the example of Jeroboam, in whose ways he walked, and, as it seems, established the same by laws and edicts; and which were everyone of them observed by the Israelites, in the times of the prophet, though at the distance of many years from the first making of them, which aggravated their sin; nor would it be any excuse of them that what they practised was enjoined by royal authority, since it was contrary to the command of God; for the breach of which, and their observance of the statutes of such a wicked prince, they are threatened with the judgments of God; see ( 1 Kings 16:16 1 Kings 16:24-26 ) ; and all the works of the house of Ahab;
who was the son of Omri, and introduced the worship of Baal, and added to the idolatry of the calves, which he and his family practised; and the same works were now done by the people of Israel: and ye walk in their counsels;
as they advised and directed the people to do in their days: that I should make thee a desolation;
the city of Samaria, the metropolis of Israel, or the whole land, which was made a desolation by Shalmaneser, an instrument in the hand of God; and this was not the intention and design of their walking in the counsels and after the example of their idolatrous kings, but the consequence and event of so doing: and the inhabitants thereof an hissing;
either of Samaria, or of all the land, who should become the scorn and derision of men, when brought to ruin for their sins: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people;
that which was threatened in the law to the people of God, when disobedient to him; or shameful punishment for profaning the name and character of the people of God they bore; or for reproaching and ill using the poor among the people of God; and so it is directed to the rich men before spoken of, and signifies the shame and ignominy they should bear, by being carried captive into a foreign land for their sins.

Micah 6:16 In-Context

14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

15 You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people."

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 16:25, 26; [Micah 1:13]
• 2. See 1 Kings 16:30-33; 1 Kings 21:25, 26
• 3. See 2 Chronicles 29:8
• 4. See 2 Chronicles 29:8
• 5. Isaiah 25:8

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew For the statutes of Omri are kept
• [b]. Hebrew its