Judges 17:8

8 And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find [a place], and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

Judges 17:8 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 17:8

And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah,
to sojourn where he could find a place Either being a man that had a rambling head, and of an unsettled mind, and could not easily fix any where; or else there being no supreme magistrate, to take care that the Levites had their due maintenance, for which there was a sufficient provision made by law; and the people being negligent of paying their tithes, there being none to oblige them to it, and they indifferent to the true worship of God, and prone to idolatry; this man was obliged to go abroad, and seek for a livelihood where he could get it, and sojourn in a place the most convenient for him:

and he came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed:
not with a design to stay there, but called by the way, having heard perhaps that Micah was both a wealthy and an hospitable man, and he also might have heard of the new form of worship he had set up in his house.

Judges 17:8 In-Context

6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there.

8 And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find [a place], and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find [a place].

10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten [pieces] of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.