7:8 When Micah's enemies saw him experience some discouraging situation, they rejoiced. He told them not to rejoice, because though he fell God would raise him up. Though he appeared to be groping in the darkness (cf. Lam. 3:6), the Lord would be a light to him and illuminate the right path for him to take.
7:9 Micah identified with his people by confessing his guilt (cf. Dan. 9:5, 8, 11, 15). Though he had not personally committed the sins that he criticized his fellow Israelites of practicing, as a part of His nation he was with them in their guilt. He would have to bear the consequences of divine discipline as they did. Nevertheless the divine advocate, whom we have seen indicting the Israelites in this book, would come to the prophet's defense. Micah would not suffer the same amount of punishment as the guilty in the nation. He would eventually come out of his dark circumstances into the light of God's presence, and he would behold God's righteousness. That is, he would see God demonstrate his justice and faithfulness to His promises. God will vindicate the faithful.
7:10 Then Micah's enemies would see God's rightness and feel ashamed for accusing Yahweh of abandoning His watchman. Micah would also see these enemies humiliated and brought low, trodden down like mud in the street (cf. Josh. 10:24; Ps. 110:1).
7:11 That day, when the Israelite critics of Micah and his prophecies would see they were wrong, would be when the walls around vineyards would be rebuilt and the boundaries of Judah extended (cf. Ezek. 47:13-23; Obad. 19-20).43This refers to the distant future when God will regather and reestablish Israel in her land, in the Millennium, not following the Babylonian captivity. This is clear from what follows.
7:12 Israel's former enemies from all over the world, represented by Assyria and the Euphrates River on the northwest and Egypt on the southeast, would come to the Israelites in their land (cf. Isa. 19:23-25; Amos 9:11-15). They would come from everywhere between the seas and the mountains, a synecdoche for everywhere on earth (cf. Ps. 72:8; Zech. 9:10).
7:13 Before that, however, the earth will become desolate because God will judge its inhabitants for their sinful deeds (cf. Isa. 24:1; 34-35). This will happen in the Tribulation and in the judgment of the nations that will immediately follow the Lord's second coming (cf. Matt. 25:32-33, 46).
