Micah 1:12

“For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good, etc.] Or, “though [they] waited for good”f66; expected to have it, yet the reverse befell them: or “verily [they were] grieved for good”f67; for the good things they had lost, or were likely to lose; and which they had no more hope of, when they saw Jerusalem in distress. Grotius thinks, by transposition of letters, Ramoth is intended by Maroth, or the many Ramahs which were in Judah and Benjamin; but Hillerusf68 is of opinion that Jarmuth is meant, a city of Judah, (<061535>Joshua 15:35); the word Maroth signifies “bitterness”; (see <080120>Ruth 1:20); and, according to others, “rough places”; and may design the inhabitants of such…”

“Maroth--possibly the same as Maarath (Jos 15:59). Perhaps a different town, lying between the previously mentioned towns and the capital, and one of those plundered by Rab-shakeh on his way to it. waited carefully for good--that is, for better fortune, but in vain [CALVIN]. GESENIUS translates, "is grieved for her goods," "taken away" from her. This accords with the meaning of Maroth, "bitterness," to which allusion is made in "is grieved." But the antithesis favors English Version, "waited carefully (that is, anxiously) for good, but evil came down." from the Lord--not from chance. unto the gate of Jerusalem--after the other cities of Judah have been taken.”

“For the inhabitant of Maroth - (bitterness) waited carefully for good She waited carefully for the good which God gives, not for the Good which God is. She looked, longed for, good, as men do; but therewith her longing ended. She longed for it, amid her own evil, which brought God’s judgments upon her. Maroth is mentioned here only in Holy Scripture, and has not been identified. It too was probably selected for its meaning. The inhabitant of bitternesses, she, to whom bitternesses, or, it may be, rebellions, were as the home in which she dwelt, which ever encircled her, in which she reposed, wherein she spent her life, waited for good! Strange contradiction! yet a contradiction, which the…”

“Maroth - A town in Judea. But evil - The flood of affliction by the Assyrian, swallowed up other cities, and swelled even to the head city, Jerusalem. Micah 1:13”

“1:12 even to . . . Jerusalem: God’s judgment reaches wherever corruption has taken hold (cp. 1:9).”

“Maroth: Rut 1:20 waited carefully: or, was grieved, Sa1 4:13; Job 30:26; Isa 59:9-11; Jer 8:15, Jer 14:19 but: Mic 1:9; Isa 45:7; Amo 3:6 Micah 1:13”