Judges 17

3–6 Out of gratitude for the return of her silver, Micah’s mother decided to consecrate (devote) it to the Lord by using it to make a carved image and a cast idol⁷⁰ (verse 3). How mixed up she was! She thought she could please God by breaking one of the most important commands He had given to Israel! (Exodus 20:4,23; Deuteronomy 4:15–18). Furthermore, she used less than a fifth of the silver for these idols; the rest she kept. The idols were then placed in Micah’s house, where he had a shrine (verse 5); Micah had even installed one of his sons as a “priest” and made an ephod for him (see Exodus 28:6–14). What a perversion of the worship God required! The thought of it prompted the writer to lament that in those days everyone did as he saw fit (verse 6)—as he pleased—without regard to God’s commandments.

7–13 Then one day a Levite came along looking for a place to stay.⁷¹ Micah at once invited the Levite to live with him and become his religious father and priest (verse 10). He thought that by having a real Levite as his priest the Lord would surely be good to him (verse 13). But Micah was badly mistaken. Only the descendants of Aaron could be appointed priests; the rest of the Levites were to serve as their assistants (Numbers 3:5–10; 18:6–7). Furthermore, in a short time both his idols and his priest would be taken from him and he would be left a broken man (Judges 18:24–26)—a man who had placed his confidence in the wrong things.