Micah 1:8
Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
Sermons
An Incurable WoundMicah 1:8-9
Moral IncurablenessD. Thomas Micah 1:8, 9
Moral IncurablenessHomilistMicah 1:8-9














Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. These verses have been thus translated: "Therefore will I lament and howl; I will go spoiled and naked; I will keep lamentation like the jackats, and mourning like the ostriches. For her stripes are malignant; for it comes to Judah, reaches to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem." Micah's intention is not only to exhibit publicly his mourning for the approaching calamity of Judah, but also to set forth in a symbolical form the fate that awaits the Judaeans. And he can only do this by including himself in the nation, and exhibiting the fate of the nation in his own person. "Wailing like jackals and ostriches is a loud, strong, mournful cry, those animals being distinguished by a mournful wail." We shall take these words as suggesting the subject of moral incurableness. Samaria and Jerusalem were, in a material and political sense, in a desperate and hopeless condition. Our subject is moral ineffableness, and we make two remarks concerning it.

I. IT IS A CONDITION INTO WHICH MEN MAY FALL.

1. Mental philosophy shows this. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that the repetition of an act can generate an uncontrollable tendency to repeat it; and the repetition of a sin deadens altogether that moral sensibility which constitutionally recoils from the wrong. The mind often makes habit, not only second nature, but the sovereign of nature.

2. Observation shows this. That man's circle of acquaintance must be exceedingly limited who does not know men who become morally incurable. There are incurable liars, incurable misers, incurable sensualists, and incurable drunkards. No moral logician, however great his dialectic skill, can forge an argument strong enough to move them from their old ways, even when urged by the seraphic fervour of the highest rhetoric.

3. The Bible shows this. What did Solomon mean when he said, "Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words" (Proverbs 23:9)? What did Christ mean when he said, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine"? And again, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes"? We often speak of retribution as if it always lay beyond the grave, and the day of grace as extending through the whole life of man; but such is not the fact. Retribution begins with many men here; the day of grace terminates with many before the day of death. There are those who reach an unconvertible state; their characters are stereotyped and fixed as eternity.

II. IT IS A CONDITION FOR THE PROFOUNDEST LAMENTATION. At the desperate condition of his country the prophet is brought into the most poignant distress. "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls." Christ wept when he considered the moral incurableness of the men of Jerusalem. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" etc. There is no sight more distressing than the sight of a morally incurable soul. There is no building that I pass that strikes me with greater sadness than the Hospital for "Incurables;" but what are incurable bodies compared to morally incurable souls? There are anodynes that may deaden their bodily pains, and death will relieve them of their torture; but a morally incurable soul is destined to pass into anguish, intense and more intense as existence runs on, and peradventure without end. The incurable body may not necessarily be an injury to others; but a morally incurable soul must be a curse as long as it lives. Were we truly alive to the moral state of wicked men around us, we should be ready to break out in the words of the prophet, "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked," etc. - D.T.

For her wound is incurable
Homilist.
Samaria and Jerusalem were, in a material and political sense, in a desperate and hopeless condition.

I. MORAL INCURABLENESS IS A CONDITION INTO WHICH MEN MAY FALL.

1. Mental philosophy shows this. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that the repetition of an act can generate an uncontrollable tendency to repeat it; and the repetition of a sin deadens altogether that moral sensibility which constitutionally recoils from the wrong. The mind often makes habit, not only second nature, but the sovereign of nature.

2. Observation shows this. That man's circle of acquaintance must be exceedingly limited who does not know men who become morally incurable. There are incurable liars, incurable misers, incurable sensualists, and incurable drunkards. No moral logician, however great his dialectic skill, can forge an argument strong enough to move them from their old ways, even when urged by the seraphic fervour of the highest rhetoric.

3. The Bible shows this. "Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words." "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes." We often speak of retribution as if it always lay beyond the grave, and the day of grace as extending through the whole life of man; but such is not the fact. Retribution begins with many men here.

II. IT IS A CONDITION FOR THE PROFOUNDEST LAMENTATION. "Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls." Christ wept when He considered the moral incurableness of the men of Jerusalem. There is no sight more distressing than the sight of a morally incurable soul. There is no building that I pass that strikes me with greater sadness than the Hospital for "Incurables"; but what are incurable bodies, compared to morally incurable souls? There are anodynes that may deaden their pains, and death will relieve them of their torture; but a morally incurable soul is destined to pass into anguish, intense and more intense as existence runs on, and peradventure without end. The incurable body may not necessarily be an injury to others; but a morally incurable soul must be a curse as long as it lives.

(Homilist.)

The late Dr. A.J. Gordon gave the following anecdote in one of the last sermons he preached: "Dr. Westmoreland, an eminent army surgeon, tells of a soldier who was shot in the neck, the ball just grazing and wounding the carotid artery. The doctor knew that his life hung on a hair, and one day as he was dressing the wound the walls of the artery gave way. Instantly the surgeon pressed his finger upon the artery, and held the blood in check; and the patient asked, 'What does this mean?' 'It means that you are a dead man,' answered the doctor. 'How long can I live?' 'As long as I keep my hand on the artery.' 'Can I have time to dictate a letter to my wife and child?' 'Yes.' And so the letter was written for him, full of tender farewell messages, and when all was finished he calmly closed his eyes and said 'I am ready, doctor.' The purple tide ebbed quickly away and all was over. What a parable is here of a far more solemn fact. Oh, unsaved one, you are by nature 'dead through trespasses and sins'! But God keeps His hand upon your pulse, preserving your life that you may have an opportunity to repent and be saved."

People
Ahaz, Hezekiah, Jacob, Jotham, Micah, Ophrah
Places
Achzib, Adullam, Beth-ezel, Beth-le-aphrah, Gath, Jerusalem, Lachish, Mareshah, Maroth, Moresheth, Moresheth-gath, Samaria, Shaphir, Zaanan, Zion
Topics
Barefoot, Cries, Daughters, Dragons, Full, Grief, Howl, Jackal, Jackals, Lament, Lamentation, Moan, Mourning, Naked, Ostrich, Ostriches, Owl, Owls, Sorrow, Spoiled, Stripped, Unclothed, Uncovered, Wail, Wailing
Outline
1. The time when Micah prophesied.
2. He shows the wrath of God against Jacob for idolatry.
10. He exhorts to mourning.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Micah 1:8

     4612   birds
     5169   nakedness
     5179   sandal
     5198   weeping
     5952   sorrow

Micah 1:8-9

     8239   earnestness

Library
A Holy Life the Beauty of Christianity: Or, an Exhortation to Christians to be Holy. By John Bunyan.
Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.'--[Psalm 93:5] London, by B. W., for Benj. Alsop, at the Angel and Bible, in the Poultrey. 1684. THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This is the most searching treatise that has ever fallen under our notice. It is an invaluable guide to those sincere Christians, who, under a sense of the infinite importance of the salvation of an immortal soul, and of the deceitfulness of their hearts, sigh and cry, "O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Micah
Micah must have been a very striking personality. Like Amos, he was a native of the country--somewhere in the neighbourhood of Gath; and he denounces with fiery earnestness the sins of the capital cities, Samaria in the northern kingdom, and Jerusalem in the southern. To him these cities seem to incarnate the sins of their respective kingdoms, i. 5; and for both ruin and desolation are predicted, i. 6, iii. 12. Micah expresses with peculiar distinctness the sense of his inspiration and the object
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Micah 1:8 NIV
Micah 1:8 NLT
Micah 1:8 ESV
Micah 1:8 NASB
Micah 1:8 KJV

Micah 1:8 Bible Apps
Micah 1:8 Parallel
Micah 1:8 Biblia Paralela
Micah 1:8 Chinese Bible
Micah 1:8 French Bible
Micah 1:8 German Bible

Micah 1:8 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Micah 1:7
Top of Page
Top of Page