Chapter 7 of Micha is the final chapter, bringing the book to a close. It opens with a bitter lament over the degradation of the generation: the pious and the upright have vanished from the earth, and the prophet is left alone, still walking with God, still bound to the Holy One, Blessed be He. Let us preface by reiterating what has been noted more than once: the verses of Micha are exceptionally intricate, requiring a "carpenter and son of a carpenter" to dismantle and understand them. Anyone who attempts to read them solely on the level of simple literal meaning will struggle immensely, and therefore we will follow primarily the path of the Malbim.
אַלְלַי לִי כִּי הָיִיתִי כְּאׇסְפֵּי־קַיִץ כְּעֹלְלֹת בָּצִיר אֵין־אֶשְׁכּוֹל לֶאֱכוֹל בִּכּוּרָה אִוְּתָה נַפְשִׁי׃ - Woe is me! For I am like the gatherings of summer fruit, like the gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul craves.
"Alilai li" ("Woe is me") is an expression of lamentation. The prophet depicts the generation before him as a vineyard and a fig orchard whose season has passed. Regarding the figs, he is like "the gatherings of summer fruit": the finest figs have already been harvested, and what remains is like a solitary fig at the end of summer, something no one even bothers to pick. Regarding the grapes, he is like "the gleanings of the vintage" - those stray grapes left behind after the harvest, which no one takes or pays any attention to.
Corresponding to "the gleanings of the vintage," he says, "there is no cluster to eat"; and corresponding to "the gatherings of summer fruit," he says, "my soul craves a first-ripe fig" - I seek to eat a full cluster of grapes or an early fig, but I find none. And what is a bikkurah? Rashi explains: a prime fig that ripens early in its season. Targum Yonatan similarly translates, "my soul craved the finest" - referring to the prime and choicest fruit.
אָבַד חָסִיד מִן־הָאָרֶץ וְיָשָׁר בָּאָדָם אָיִן כֻּלָּם לְדָמִים יֶאֱרֹבוּ אִישׁ אֶת־אָחִיהוּ יָצוּדוּ חֵרֶם׃ - The pious man has perished from the earth, and there is no upright person among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, each hunts his brother with a net.
Corresponding to "there is no cluster to eat," he says, "The pious man has perished from the earth." Why is the pious man likened specifically to a cluster? Because all his actions are deeds of righteousness, fully virtuous, both between man and God and between man and his fellow. Just as a cluster is laden with grapes, so too is he filled with the fruits of righteousness and justice. When Chazal wish to describe someone who encompasses everything, they call him an ish eshkolot - a person in whom all virtues are contained, as the Mishnah states: "The anshei eshkolot ceased."
Once, a great man was great in all fields, whereas today that has become exceedingly rare. There were individuals who knew the answer no matter what matter you asked them: if you asked for minute details in the laws of purity, he answered; in the laws of STaM (Torah scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot), he answered; in the laws of Shabbat, he answered; in monetary law and Choshen Mishpat, he was fluent down to the very last subsection. That is an ish eshkolot. And here, the prophet speaks also in terms of deeds: individuals whose every action is pure and refined - and these have perished from the earth.
The Chazon Ish once remarked that in this generation there are no longer any elders. They asked him: But what about so-and-so and so-and-so? "Elders" not in the sense of ninety-year-olds, but in the Talmudic sense of zeh she-kanah chochmah, one who has acquired wisdom. He replied: No, they are remnants from the previous generation. We are speaking of elders produced by this generation itself.
And corresponding to "my soul craves a first-ripe fig," he says, "and there is no upright person among mankind" - there is no one who conducts himself with integrity in interpersonal matters. That is why it says "among mankind" (ba-adam): in interpersonal conduct, in the mitzvot between man and his fellow, none is found. Moreover, one might think: true, there are no righteous and upright individuals, but neither are there outright wicked ones. On the contrary, the exact opposite is true: "They all lie in wait for blood" - waiting in ambush to shed blood; "each hunts his brother with a net" - each spreads a net and a snare to trap his fellow. The word cherem means a net or snare spread before someone's feet, similar to the phrase ish chermi, the man for whom I laid a trap to capture him.
עַל־הָרַע כַּפַּיִם לְהֵיטִיב הַשַּׂר שֹׁאֵל וְהַשֹּׁפֵט בַּשִּׁלּוּם וְהַגָּדוֹל דֹּבֵר הַוַּת נַפְשׁוֹ הוּא וַיְעַבְּתוּהָ׃ - Both hands are upon evil to do well: the prince demands, the judge seeks payment, and the great man speaks the perversity of his soul; and together they weave it.
The verse is quite puzzling, and the Malbim offers a wonderful explanation. The syntax of the verse is read as if it said: "Concerning the evil of the hands, the officer asks and the judge demands - to do well in return for payment." That is to say, even if you see the minister and the judge interrogating and probing into "evil of the hands" - a person who committed a crime, stole, was caught in wrongdoing, and was brought before law enforcement - do not imagine that their interrogation is intended to execute justice, punish the wrongdoer, and bring him to trial. Not at all. The entire purpose of these questions is "to do well" with the evil "in return for payment" - by taking a bribe from him, they will clear him and treat him favorably.
How does this work? They exaggerate the severity of the offense: "Do you have any idea how grave a crime you've committed?" This is exactly what happens in third-world countries. A policeman finishes his shift at seven in the evening and goes out to earn a little "supplemental income": he parks his squad car on the highway, pulls over a driver, inspects the paperwork, and begins: "Oh boy, not only does your vehicle have severe safety violations, but your license is expired, and the car registration too - this is going to cost you thousands of rubles, and it will take me half an hour just to write up the citations." The driver gets nervous, pulls some cash from his pocket, the officer makes a face, demands double and triple, and finally says: "Fine, get out of here, and if you get stopped again, make sure it's by me." In plain terms: exaggerating the crime serves a single goal - to make you pay more. And this is what the prophet is saying: Do not think that someone investigating evil intends to eradicate evil; on the contrary, he interrogates only to benefit the evildoer in exchange for payment.
The Malbim explains who the key players are: The officer (*sar*) is the one tasked with disciplining and punishing the wrongdoer; the judge is the one meant to examine the case and determine whether a crime occurred. Both of them took their cut, both received their payoff, and both intend to look favorably upon the evildoer. Yet above them stands a third figure - "the great man" (*hagadol*), the most distinguished member of the Sanhedrin, the senior judge. When a person stood trial in a lower court and did not receive a fair trial, he appeals to a higher court and approaches this great man.
And here it says: "And the great man speaks the destruction of his soul" (*havat nafsho*). *Havat* denotes ruin or destruction - implying that one's soul must be crushed over such a deed. The great man realizes that spoils are being divided, and he needs his piece; the pie must be shared with him as well, and he has no intention of being left out. Therefore, he cries out: "Woe is me! This evil is the utter destruction of a soul; it is extraordinarily severe; we haven't seen such heinous offenses in ages!" And when he sees that the defendant remains unmoved, he adds: "For such a sin, prison isn't enough - it calls for the death penalty!" And why all this? So that the defendant begins to squirm in the net, realizing that unless he silences the great man as well, he faces years of imprisonment or lashes - and thus he will pay him off too.
The Malbim notes the precise wording of "speaks" (*dover*). Why does it say "speaks" rather than "judges"? Because all these words are said purely for show, as mere talk, simply to frighten him into opening his wallet. "The officer asks," "and the great man speaks" - and all of it is "to do well in return for payment," to extract a higher bribe and ensure a payout for the officer, the judge, and the great man.
From here comes "and they weave it" (*vaye'abtuha*) - from the root *avot*, like a thick cord woven from at least three strands. The wickedness here has become a thick, braided rope: the officer, the judge, and the great man - all three join hands to incriminate the person and magnify his guilt, so that he must pay all three of them to gain his freedom. "And they weave it" - they have made it into a thick rope, and a three-ply cord is not easily severed. For such sins, for corruption that has infected every level of authority, there is no doubt that desolation is deserved, and as we saw at the end of the previous chapter, fitting punishments must follow.
טוֹבָם כְּחֵדֶק יָשָׁר מִמְּסוּכָה יוֹם מְצַפֶּיךָ פְּקֻדָּתְךָ בָאָה עַתָּה תִהְיֶה מְבוּכָתָם׃ - The best of them is like a briar; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, your visitation, has come; now shall be their confusion.
The Malbim explains: *Chedek* (briar) and *mesuchah* (thorn hedge) both refer to thorns, brush, and fencing, hence the phrase "like a hedge of briars." The briar itself is full of twists and crooked branches, and when one weaves it into a hedge, it is bent, entangled, and twisted even further. It turns out, then, that the briar is still considered "upright" relative to the hedge. And this is the prophet's intention: "The best of them" - even the finest among them - are devious and crooked, yet they are like a briar compared to a hedge. What kind of "upright" are we talking about here? One is a petty thief and the other is a bank robber, so the petty thief is considered an "honest thief" - he merely shoplifts, he doesn't rob banks. The "righteous" among them are like a briar, which is considered upright only when compared to a tangled hedge.
"The day of your watchmen, your visitation has come" - on the day of calamity awaiting "your watchmen," meaning the nations that eagerly watch and wait to see Israel's downfall, on that very day prepared for their downfall, your visitation comes as well; you too will be punished. On the day designated to exact retribution from the nations, retribution will also be visited upon Israel. Therefore, "now shall be their confusion": You anticipate that Hashem will punish the nations that acted wickedly and caused distress - and that is all well and good, but are you any better than them? On the very day you long for, Hashem will punish you as well, for your deeds are corrupt, as we read in the preceding verses. Consequently, the day you did not anticipate will become a day of bewilderment.
אַל־תַּאֲמִינוּ בְרֵעַ אַל־תִּבְטְחוּ בְּאַלּוּף מִשֹּׁכֶבֶת חֵיקֶךָ שְׁמֹר פִּתְחֵי־פִיךָ׃ - Do not believe a friend, do not put confidence in a leader; from her who lies in your bosom, guard the doors of your mouth.
"Do not believe a friend" - integrity is so distant from this generation that a person cannot even trust his close friend. "Do not put confidence in an aluf" - the Radak explains that an aluf is the elder brother. The eldest brother in a family was considered like half a father, as was customary in their times, and a person would usually rely upon him - yet even in him there is no security. "From her who lies in your bosom, guard the doors of your mouth" - even from your wife, who is devoted to you and whom you trust, guard your mouth; for if you speak ill of someone in her presence, she might reveal it to him.
To what extent this is a generation of disloyalty! And that is in the best-case scenario. Today is an era of recordings and documentation - there is no one to rely on, because everyone arrives with a recording device, ready to pull it out on the day of reckoning. Police officers today hardly need to exert themselves: anyone who committed a crime with partners - each one documented his friend. Even a prime minister holding an illicit meeting with a newspaper publisher, each recorded the other's words. How much do people trust one another? Everyone keeps recordings. And know that today, the most frequently sold hidden cameras and recording devices are between spouses, Heaven spare us - so she can claim her husband is acting violently, and he can claim she says and does such-and-such. What a generation we have arrived at.
The Malbim explains that this verse continues "now their confusion will come": the confusion among them will be so immense that their hearts will turn away from one another. They will not trust a friend whom they had previously believed in and relied upon, and they will not trust an aluf. In the Malbim's view, unlike the Radak, an aluf is not the elder brother, but rather the mentor or leader who teaches him and guides his path, related to "my leader and companion" (alufi umeyudai) and "and I will teach you wisdom" (ve'aalefcha chochmah) - terms signifying instruction, like the Aramaic roots yalfinan, yalfeh, and malfeh. And even "from her who lies in your bosom guard the doors of your mouth," meaning that domestic harmony will cease as well.
כִּי־בֵן מְנַבֵּל אָב בַּת קָמָה בְאִמָּהּ כַּלָּה בַּחֲמֹתָהּ אֹיְבֵי אִישׁ אַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ׃ - For a son degrades a father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the people of his own house.
The Radak explains: everything that occurs in this generation is the direct opposite of what is desirable and accepted. A son naturally ought to elevate his father, raising him up and honoring him - yet here the son degrades his father, humiliating and dishonoring him. A daughter naturally honors her mother - yet here "a daughter rises up against her mother," and the daughter-in-law rises against her mother-in-law. Everything is overturned from propriety and custom, the very reverse of what is fitting, right, and customarily honorable.
The Malbim adds: see how immense the confusion will become, that one's own offspring will rise against their parents. This is far worse than a friend, a mentor, or the wife of one's bosom - for a wife is still not one's biological child, whereas here we are speaking of children, flesh of his flesh. This points to the ultimate corruption, the deepest moral plunge to which they descended, until there is no bond of love, fraternity, or connection left, and no peace to be found between one person and another.
The Malbim notes a precision in the phrase "a daughter rises up against her mother" (kama ve'imah, with the preposition bet): when someone physically attacks another, Scripture uses the preposition al ("upon"), as in "rose up against him (kam alav) to kill him." But when the preposition bet is used, it indicates rising up to testify falsely against someone, as in "false witnesses have risen against me (kamu vi)," "my lying testimony rises against me (vayakam bi kachashi)," and "if a malicious witness rises against any man (ki yakum ed chamas be'ish)." To such an extreme will children be capable of turning on their parents, offering false testimony against them. Tragically, this reality exists in our own times as well: children turn against their parents, and if an inheritance dispute or some quarrel breaks out between them, they are even capable of bearing false witness against their own father.
וַאֲנִי בַּיהֹוָה אֲצַפֶּה אוֹחִילָה לֵאלֹהֵי יִשְׁעִי יִשְׁמָעֵנִי אֱלֹהָי׃ - Yet as for me, I will look to Hashem; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Despite all the lowliness and corruption of the generation, the prophet declares: "Yet as for me, I will look to Hashem." The Malbim explains that the expression metzapeh ("looking / anticipating") refers to a distant era, like a watchman looking into the far distance, as in "I have made you a watchman (tzofeh) for the House of Yisrael." That is to say: I am looking toward a distant future time, when the Holy One, blessed be He, will return and redeem us.
And what is "I will hope" (ochilah)? The Malbim explains that there are two aspects to the future redemption. The first is to hope and wait until the appointed time arrives, until the end of days (Ketz HaYamin), at which point the redemption must inevitably come. The term "hoping" (yichul) is used for something one is certain will arrive: there is no possibility that the redemption will not come; we hope for "I will hasten it" (achishena), but "in its time" (be'itah) it will surely come. Just as a person waits for the morning - which will certainly arrive. Regarding this it is said, "I will hope for the God of my salvation."
And the second is that the redemption may precede and arrive before its time, when they repent and become worthy of it, during a time of favor, as it is written: "In a time of favor I have answered you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." Regarding this he says, "my God will hear me" - that Hashem should hear my prayer in a time of favor and bring the redemption sooner. It turns out that the prophet addresses both possibilities here: if the redemption comes in its appointed time - for this I wait with certainty, and if it comes before its time - for this I pray that my God will hear me.
אַל־תִּשְׂמְחִי אֹיַבְתִּי לִי כִּי נָפַלְתִּי קָמְתִּי כִּי־אֵשֵׁב בַּחֹשֶׁךְ יְהֹוָה אוֹר לִי׃ - Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; though I have fallen, I have arisen; though I sit in darkness, Hashem is a light to me.
The prophet says to the nations: Do not rejoice over me because I am in exile. Rashi elaborates, referring to Babylon and "the guilty city," while some texts read "guilty Babylon and Persia," referring to the nations that harmed Israel.
"Though I have fallen, I have arisen" - note the precise wording: this is not a fall about which one says, "Do not worry, I will yet rise," but rather a fall through which I arise. The fall itself is the very instrument by which I have arisen and gained courage, and through it my salvation will come. And even when I sit in the darkness of troubles and everything I am going through right now - "Hashem is a light to me." If I lack physical light, which is material success and financial prosperity, I still have the light of truth, the light of faith, the light of hope, the light of Hashem's salvation illuminating my way. Physically I am afflicted and persecuted, but my hope is in the Holy One, Blessed be He, and that hope illuminates my path even in the direst circumstances.
זַעַף יְהֹוָה אֶשָּׂא כִּי חָטָאתִי לוֹ עַד אֲשֶׁר יָרִיב רִיבִי וְעָשָׂה מִשְׁפָּטִי יוֹצִיאֵנִי לָאוֹר אֶרְאֶה בְּצִדְקָתוֹ׃ - I will bear the wrath of Hashem, for I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I will behold His righteousness.
Through the fall, I will merit cleansing and atonement for my sins. "I will bear the wrath of Hashem, for I have sinned against Him" - I have sinned, and therefore I must bear His wrath. "Until He pleads my cause" - until the time of redemption, when Hashem will champion my cause and execute judgment upon those who oppress and afflict me, and then "He will bring me forth to the light, and I will behold His righteousness." Until that time, the only light I have is "Hashem is a light to me": I sit in darkness, my eyes prevented from seeing Hashem's righteousness, and the future hope for the light Hashem will shed is what sustains me. But once I emerge from the darkness - "I will behold His righteousness."
And what is "I will behold His righteousness"? That in retrospect I will realize that all the darkness in which I was immersed, which appeared to me as distress, catastrophe, and an awful ordeal, will in the Future to Come be revealed as having been entirely for the good. This is like the teaching that today we recite over troubles "Blessed is the true Judge" (Baruch Dayan Ha'emet), whereas in the Future to Come we will recite over them "Who is good and does good" (HaTov VeHaMeitiv). Now, one might ask: Will there be troubles in the Future to Come? After all, "They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain," "The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra," and "The leopard shall lie down with the young goat" - what troubles could there possibly be? The answer is that in the Future to Come we will recite "Who is good and does good" over the troubles of today, because then we will understand in retrospect that everything that seemed to us today like suffering was only for the good, meant solely to bestow loving-kindness upon us. And this is "He will bring me forth to the light, and I will behold His righteousness": when He brings me out into the light, I will understand that what I could not see while sitting in the darkness was actually entirely for illumination, entirely for the good, entirely to shower Hashem's kindness upon me.
וְתֵרֶא אֹיַבְתִּי וּתְכַסֶּהָ בוּשָׁה הָאֹמְרָה אֵלַי אַיּוֹ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיִךְ עֵינַי תִּרְאֶינָּה בָּהּ עַתָּה תִּהְיֶה לְמִרְמָס כְּטִיט חוּצוֹת׃ - Then my enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said to me, "Where is Hashem your God?" My eyes shall gaze upon her; now she will be trodden down like mire in the streets.
The Malbim explains: Not only will I be in the light, but my enemy will also see this, and then shame will cover them. And why? Because until now they kept saying to me: "Where is Hashem your God?" Where is this God you constantly speak of, why did He remove His providence from you? This was the claim of the Christians who persecuted the Jewish people throughout all the years of exile. Once it was with spear, pitchfork, and hoe, and today it is with the UN and the rest of the plagues, left-wing organizations, the "New Ishmael Fund," and the like. They continue to persecute us, only today it is "politically correct," with clean hands, with all kinds of Goldstone Reports.
And the reason is twofold: First, they hold that we killed their false messiah. And second, as we have mentioned more than once, their entire objective is to prove that the Jewish people abandoned Hashem and therefore Hashem abandoned them; and since He abandoned them, things must go badly for them, for otherwise how could it be proven that He took them in our stead? The worse things are for the Jewish people, the greater proof it is, in their eyes, that Hashem abandoned them and chose them instead.
Therefore, "My enemy will see, and shame will cover her": when they see that everything we said all along was true - that Hashem is with us, that the Holy One, blessed be He, shields us and protects us, and that even when He conceals and hides His face, His providence certainly hovers over us - then shame will cover her. It will become clear that the Holy One, blessed be He, was with us throughout all the days of the exile, and even in the difficult periods when it appeared He had hidden His face from us, it will emerge that everything was for the good. And this is "I will behold His righteousness" - His righteousness regarding the past, that the entire past was actually for our ultimate benefit.
"My eyes will gaze upon her" - the Malbim notes that wherever seeing is mentioned followed by the prepositional letter beit, it denotes gazing with contempt, as in "They look, they stare upon me." The prophet says: Now my eyes behold the degradation and disgrace, and I see that even though she currently enjoys success and prospers - this is purely in the material realm, but in the end, "now she will be trampled like mud in the streets," like mud scattered in the streets that everyone treads and tramples upon, and her destruction is near. Notice how the prophet maintains two perspectives throughout: the perspective of today and the perspective of the future. In the future perspective, everything will be revealed for the good, while in today's perspective - "My eyes will gaze upon her."
The chapter opens with a bitter lament: the pious and the upright have perished, and the prophet is left like a final fig that no one bothers to gather. Not only are there no good people, but the wickedness is organized: the prince, the judge, and the dignitary have joined hands into a "thick rope," magnifying the transgression merely to extort bribes, and even the best of the generation are like a briar, considered straight only in comparison to a thorn hedge. From here stems the collapse of all circles of trust - in friend, in confidant, in wife, and even in sons and daughters - reaching utter corruption. Yet opposite them stands the prophet alone and declares, "And as for me, I will gaze toward Hashem": yearning for the redemption in its due time, and praying that it arrive at a time of favor even earlier. "Though I have fallen, I have arisen" - out of the very fall itself the rising will blossom, and "though I sit in darkness, Hashem is light to me." And in the future to come, when He brings us forth to the light, we will behold His righteousness and understand retroactively that everything that seemed like distress was entirely for the good, and the nations who mocked, "Where is Hashem your God?" will be covered in shame.