Judges 17:6

6 There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted. ¹

Judges 17:6 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 17:6

In those days there was no king in Israel
That is, no supreme magistrate, judge, or ruler, Joshua being dead and Caleb also, and the elders contemporary with them; for what the Samaritan Chronicle says ^F12 is without foundation, that Joshua a little before his death cast a lot in the presence of the congregation, to know who should govern after him, and the lot came to one Abel, of the tribe of Judah:

[but] every man did that which was right in his own eyes;
which accounts for the idolatry of Micah, there being no supreme magistrate to take cognizance of his sin, and restrain him from it, or punish him for it according to the law of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Apud Hottinger. Smegma Orient. p. 522.

Judges 17:6 In-Context

4 Then he gave them back to his mother. She took two hundred of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah's house.

5 This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest.

6 There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted.

7 At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah.

8 He left Bethlehem to find another place to live. While he was traveling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

Cross References

• 1. 17.6Judges 21.25.