Micah — Chapter 7

Inimici hominis domestici eius

'A man's enemies shall be they of his own household.' À Lapide notes that Christ quotes this verse verbatim in Matthew 10:35-36 to describe the social divisions that follow the Gospel. The prophetic anticipation and the apostolic application are treated as demonstrating the unity of the two Testaments under a single authorial intention. The family divisions that follow conversion are a providential purification.

Quis Deus similis tui qui aufers iniquitatem

'Who is a God like thee, who takest away iniquity and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy heritage?' À Lapide reads this as the Old Testament's most explicit declaration of God's nature as merciful forgiver. He connects it to the Kyrie eleison of the Mass and to John 1:29 ('Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world'). The divine name 'Micah' (who is like God?) is answered: none, precisely because only God forgives in this way.