Micah 7:16, commentary and pictures

The promise belongs to God's caring for and restoring His people in a wilderness setting, as in the days of the exodus from Egypt. It falls within the final division of the prophecy, which closes with a promise of blessing, and the chapter as a whole outlines the history of the church through the second coming. It is part of a striking prophecy of last-day conditions.

The nations will see God's marvelous acts, might, and power displayed for His people and be confounded at that might. They will lay the hand upon the mouth in silence, unable to answer, and their ears will be deaf, unable to hear. God's open defense and deliverance of His people will put the nations' own might to shame, showing them that all their might cannot prevail against Him.

In one fulfillment, the confounded silence pictures the nations seeing their own weakness and being unable to oppose the Medes as they overthrow Babylon. The related language of licking the dust and moving like worms likewise expresses their helplessness. The terror, shame, and overwhelming fear of the nations when God delivers His people parallels the scene in Revelation 6:15-17, where people call for the mountains and rocks to hide them from God.

The verse promises that God will restore and vindicate the people who have endured reproach. It applies to the final triumph of the persecuted remnant church, whose strength becomes evident to the nations through God's power and presence so that onlookers are struck with awe before God. The nations and professed Christians who persecuted and scoffed at God's faithful people for their faith in a coming Christ will see and be confounded and humbled, while those faithful ones, who are the true Jews because they follow Christ, will be honored. The surrounding chapter also sets forth God's mercy and His power to cleanse.