Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Micah
Chapter 2: The Breaker Is Come Up Before Them
Micah 2 opens with a woe on the powerful who lie awake plotting how to rob the poor: they 'devise iniquity' on their beds and carry it out at dawn, coveting fields and seizing houses 'because it is in the power of their hand.' God answers their scheming with a scheme of His own: 'against this family do I devise an evil.' When Micah's warnings sting, the people try to silence him, 'Prophesy ye not,' preferring preachers who promise 'wine and strong drink.' Yet the chapter ends with a sudden burst of hope: God will gather the remnant of His people like sheep in a fold, and 'the breaker is come up before them,' a leader who breaks open the way and marches His flock out to freedom, 'and the LORD on the head of them.' Amid judgment on greed and false religion shines the promise of a delivering King.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Micah chapter 2, the woe on greedy oppressors and the promise of a delivering King. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter moves from the sin of covetous violence to the hope of the Breaker who leads His flock out. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Iniquity on Their Beds
The powerful who plot by night to rob by day.
They Covet Fields
Seizing the homes and heritage of the poor.
Prophesy Ye Not
A people who want only comfortable preaching.
The Breaker Is Come Up
A King who opens the way and leads His flock out.
They Covet Fields, and Take Them by Violence (Micah 2:1-5)
Micah pronounces woe on the powerful who plot injustice on their beds and seize the property of the poor at daybreak; God will devise a fitting judgment against them, stripping away the very fields they stole.
Woe to Them That Devise Iniquity
"Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil. In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD."
Hebrew Study
"they covet fields, and take them by violence," chamad (חָמַד), to covet, desire. This is the very sin the tenth commandment forbids, "neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field" (Deuteronomy 5:21), and here covetousness has grown into open theft: they "take them by violence." Covetousness is never harmless; it is the root that grows into oppression. In Israel, land was a family's God-given inheritance, meant to stay in the family forever (Leviticus 25:23), so seizing a man's field was not just economic injury but the theft of his God-given "heritage." The New Testament calls covetousness "idolatry" (Colossians 3:5), for it sets the heart on gain in the place of God, and from that idol flows every kind of injustice, "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).
"against this family do I devise an evil." God answers their scheming with poetic justice. They "devise iniquity" on their beds; God says, "against this family do I devise an evil" (the "evil" of just judgment, calamity). The word "devise" is deliberately the same: as they plotted, so God plots against them. What they measured out, they will receive, "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you" (Matthew 7:2). The very fields they stole will be taken from them and divided among their conquerors, "turning away he hath divided our fields." God is not mocked; the schemer is caught in his own scheme, and the land-grabber loses his land.
Explanation
Micah's woe falls on a particular kind of sinner: the calculating oppressor. These are not people who stumble into sin but who "devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds", lying awake scheming, then rising at dawn to "practise it, because it is in the power of their hand." Their power is their license; whatever they can seize, they take. They "covet fields, and take them by violence," strip families of "houses," and rob a man of his God-given "heritage." Sin here is premeditated, deliberate, and cruel.
God's judgment fits the crime exactly. Since they "devise" evil, "against this family do I devise an evil." A yoke is coming from which "ye shall not remove your necks," and the proud who "go haughtily" will be humbled. In a bitter reversal, the land-grabbers will themselves be plundered, and a mocking "lamentation" will be sung over them: "We be utterly spoiled... he hath divided our fields." The very system of dividing inheritance "by lot in the congregation of the LORD" will be denied them, they will have no portion in the land they loved more than God. The oppressor loses everything he oppressed to gain.
Gospel Focus
Micah exposes the deadly progress of covetousness. It begins in the heart and on the pillow, "work evil upon their beds," and ends in violence and theft. We are tempted to think coveting is a private, harmless sin, but Scripture treats it as idolatry and as the seed of oppression. What we desire in secret shapes what we do in the open; the schemes we entertain at night become the sins we commit by day. The gospel calls us to guard the heart, "take heed, and beware of covetousness" (Luke 12:15), and to be "content with such things as ye have" (Hebrews 13:5), because a heart set on getting will eventually trample someone to get it.
And see the justice of God: "against this family do I devise an evil." God is not indifferent to how the powerful treat the weak. He sees the sleepless scheming, the seized fields, the ruined families, and He will repay. This is sobering for every oppressor and comforting for every victim: no injustice is overlooked, and no one gets away with it forever. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). The wise response is to repent of covetousness now, to deal justly and generously with others, and to set the heart not on fields that can be lost but on the inheritance "incorruptible... that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 1:4), which no one can take by violence.
The Breaker Is Come Up Before Them (Micah 2:6-13)
The people try to silence Micah's warnings and prefer prophets who promise pleasure, while they strip the robes and homes of the vulnerable; yet God promises to gather the remnant of His people like a flock and lead them out behind the Breaker, their King, with the LORD at their head.
Their King Shall Pass Before Them, and the LORD on the Head of Them
"Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. 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? Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them."
Hebrew Study
"Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy." The people command God's true prophets to be silent so "that they shall not take shame", they do not want to be exposed. Instead they welcome any preacher who will "prophesy... of wine and of strong drink," a false prophet who promises pleasure and never rebukes sin. It is the perennial temptation of a hardened people, "say to the seers, See not... speak unto us smooth things" (Isaiah 30:10), and the danger Paul foretold, "they will not endure sound doctrine; but... shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (2 Timothy 4:3). Micah answers with a piercing question: "do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?" God's word is only bitter to those who love their sin; to the upright it does good.
"The breaker is come up before them," parats (פָּרַץ), one who breaks through. After the judgment comes a burst of gospel hope. God will "gather the remnant of Israel" like a penned flock and lead them out, and at their head goes "the breaker" (ha-porets), one who breaks open the way, bursts through the barrier, and makes a path for the flock to follow. "Their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them." This is a Messianic picture: the King who breaks the way open and leads His people out of captivity is the LORD Himself. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the good Shepherd who "goeth before" His sheep (John 10:4), the Captain of salvation who breaks the power of sin, death, and the grave and leads His flock out to freedom, "having spoiled principalities and powers... triumphing over them" (Colossians 2:15). The Breaker and the King and the LORD are one.
Explanation
The people push back against Micah: "Prophesy ye not." They cannot bear a word that shames them, and they welcome instead any liar who will "prophesy... of wine and of strong drink." Micah defends God's word, "do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?", and exposes their cruelty: they treat their own people "as an enemy," strip the "robe" from the peaceable, cast "women" out of their "pleasant houses," and rob children of "my glory for ever." Because the land is thus "polluted," they will lose their "rest" and face "a sore destruction."
Then, abruptly, the tone changes to pure promise. "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel." God pictures His scattered people brought together like "the flock in the midst of their fold," a thronging multitude. And at their head marches a deliverer: "The breaker is come up before them," bursting open the gate so that they "have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it." Their "king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them." The same God who judges the oppressors will one day break open the way and lead His gathered remnant out to freedom, a King and a LORD who are one at the head of His people.
Gospel Focus
First, take warning from a people who said, "Prophesy ye not." They wanted preaching that soothed, not preaching that searched, and they got the false prophets they preferred. The same temptation is alive today: to seek out teachers who promise "wine and strong drink," blessing without repentance, comfort without conviction, and to silence the word that would correct us. But "do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?" God's word wounds only to heal. The mark of a humble heart is not that it enjoys rebuke, but that it receives it, "let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness" (Psalm 141:5). Do not muzzle the word that would save you.
And rejoice in the Breaker. When judgment has done its work, God promises a King who bursts the way open and leads His flock out. This is Jesus Christ, the good Shepherd who goes before His sheep, the Captain of our salvation who broke through the barriers no one else could, sin, death, the grave, and made a way for His people to follow Him out to liberty. "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death" (Psalm 68:20). Whatever fold of bondage you are in, the Breaker has gone up before you; the gate is broken open, and your King and your LORD leads the way. Follow Him out.
Chapter 2 in Review
Micah 2 sets the greed of men against the grace of God. It begins with a woe on those who "devise iniquity" on their beds and seize the fields, houses, and heritage of the poor "because it is in the power of their hand"; God answers by devising a fitting judgment, stripping the land-grabbers of the very land they stole. The people try to silence Micah, "Prophesy ye not," preferring prophets of "wine and strong drink," while they trample the vulnerable. Yet the chapter ends in sudden hope: God will gather the remnant like a flock, and "the breaker is come up before them," a King who bursts open the way and leads His people out, "and the LORD on the head of them."
For the Apostolic reader this chapter warns and comforts. It exposes covetousness as the idolatrous seed of oppression, and assures us that God repays the schemer in his own coin, no injustice is overlooked. It warns against the itching-ears religion that silences the searching word and welcomes only what pleases, calling us instead to receive the word that "does good to him that walketh uprightly." And it lifts our eyes to the Breaker, the King who is the LORD, fulfilled in Jesus Christ the good Shepherd, who broke through sin and death and leads His gathered flock out to freedom. The oppressor loses his fields; the flock follows its King.
- Covetousness is idolatry and the seed of oppression; it begins on the bed and ends in violence (2:1-2; Colossians 3:5).
- God repays schemers in kind: "against this family do I devise an evil" (2:3; Galatians 6:7).
- A hardened people silences the searching word and prefers preachers of pleasure (2:6, 11; 2 Timothy 4:3).
- God's word "does good to him that walketh uprightly"; it wounds only to heal (2:7; Psalm 141:5).
- God gathers His scattered remnant like a flock in the fold (2:12).
- The Breaker, the King who is the LORD, leads His people out, fulfilled in Christ the good Shepherd (2:13; John 10:4; Colossians 2:15).
Questions for Reflection
- What do you "devise" in your heart, and where might covetousness be growing there?
- Do you welcome God's searching word, or prefer only what soothes?
- How does it steady you that God repays every injustice, even the ones the powerful get away with now?
- Are you following the Breaker, your King and Shepherd, out of every bondage?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Key terms: chamad ("covet," verse 2); parats ("breaker," one who breaks through, verse 13). The commandment against coveting and seizing a neighbor's land: Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21; and the inalienable family inheritance, Leviticus 25:23; 1 Kings 21:1-19 (Naboth's vineyard). Covetousness as idolatry and the root of evil: Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Timothy 6:9-10; Luke 12:15-21. God repaying in kind: Psalm 7:14-16; Proverbs 1:18-19; Matthew 7:2; Galatians 6:7. Silencing the true prophets and preferring smooth words: Isaiah 30:10-11; Jeremiah 6:14; Amos 2:12; 7:12-13; 2 Timothy 4:3-4. The gathering of the remnant like a flock: Micah 4:6-7; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:11-16; Jeremiah 31:10. The Breaker and Shepherd-King, fulfilled in Christ: John 10:1-4, 11; Hebrews 2:10; Colossians 2:15; Isaiah 52:12; Psalm 68:20. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Woe on the covetous who seize the fields of the poor, and God's fitting judgment: Micah 2:1-5; Colossians 3:5; Galatians 6:7.
- The silenced prophets, the gathered remnant, and the Breaker-King who leads them out: Micah 2:6-13; John 10:4; Colossians 2:15.