Judges 17:6

6 In those days was no king in Israel, but each man did that, that seemed rightful to himself. (In those days there was no king in Israel, but each person did what seemed right to himself.)

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.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Apud Hottinger. Smegma Orient. p. 522.

Judges 17:6 In-Context

4 Therefore he yielded to his mother; and she took two hundred pieces of (the) silver, and gave those to a workman of silver, that he should make of those a graven image and (a) molten (image), that was (to be put) in the house of Micah. (And so he gave the silver back to his mother; and she took two hundred pieces of the silver, and gave them to a craftsman of silver, so that he could make them into a carved idol, and a cast image; and they were put in Micah's house.)
5 And Micah also separated a little house, or an oratory, therein to God; and made (an) ephod, and teraphim, that is, a priest's cloak, and idols; and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he was made a priest to him (and he consecrated, or dedicated, one of his sons, and he became his priest).
6 In those days was no king in Israel, but each man did that, that seemed rightful to himself. (In those days there was no king in Israel, but each person did what seemed right to himself.)
7 Also another young waxing man was of Bethlehem of Judah, of the kindred of Judah, and he was a deacon, and dwelled there. (And there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the tribe of Judah, and he was a Levite, and lived there.)
8 And he went out of the city of Bethlehem, and would be a pilgrim, wherever he found (it) profitable to himself. And when he made journey, and had come into the hill of Ephraim, and had bowed [down] a little into the house of Micah, (And he went out of the city of Bethlehem, and would be a visitor, wherever he found it profitable for himself. And when he had made a journey, and had come to the hill country of Ephraim, and had rested a little at Micah's house,)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.