Micah 1:4

“And the mountains shall be molten under him, etc.] As Sinai was when he descended on it, and as all nations will be at the general conflagration; but here the words are to be taken, not literally, but figuratively, for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and for the kings, and princes, and great men in them, that lifted up their heads as high, and thought themselves as secure, as mountains; yet when the judgments of God should fall upon them, their hearts would melt through fear under him; as well as all their glory and greatness depart from them, and they be no more what they were before, but levelled with the meanest subject: and the valleys shall be cleft: have chasms made in them by the…”

“Imagery from earthquakes and volcanic agency, to describe the terrors which attend Jehovah's coming in judgment (compare Jdg 5:5). Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low degree, as the valleys, can secure themselves or their land from the judgments of God. as wax-- (Psa 97:5; compare Isa 64:1-3). The third clause, "as wax," &c.; answers to the first in the parallelism, "the mountains shall be molten"; the fourth, "as the waters," &c.; to the second, "the valleys shall be cleft." As wax melts by fire, so the mountains before God, at His approach; and as waters poured down a steep cannot stand but are diffused abroad, so the valleys shall be cleft before Jehovah.”

“And the mountains shall be molten under Him - It has been thought that this is imagery, taken from volcanic eruptions ; but, although there is a very remarkable volcanic district just outside of Gilead, it is not thought to have been active at times so late as these; nor were the people to whom the words were said, familiar with it. Fire, the real agent at the end of the world, is, meanwhile, the symbol of God’s anger, as being the most terrible of His instruments of destruction: whence God revealed Himself as a consuming fire Deuteronomy 4:24, and at this same time said by Isaiah; “For behold, the Lord will come with fire ... to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of…”

“Cleft - Or rent in sunder, broken up and slide away. Micah 1:5”

“1:4 The strong and apparently immovable mountains will melt at the Lord’s presence (see Ps 97:5). Nothing can stand against him.”

“the mountains: Jdg 5:4; Psa 97:5; Isa 64:1-3; Amo 9:5; Nah 1:5; Hab 3:6, Hab 3:10; Pe2 3:10-12; Rev 20:11 the valleys: Zac 14:4 as wax: Psa 68:2 a steep place: Heb. a descent Micah 1:5”