Judges 17

Micah's Priest

1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.

2 He said to his mother, "The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about-here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you."^[a] Then his mother said, "My son, you are blessed by the Lord!"

3 He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I personally consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son's benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver."^[b]

4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image overlaid with silver,^[c] and it was in Micah's house.

5 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel;^[d] everyone did whatever he wanted.^[e][f]

7 There was a young man, a Levite, from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah.

8 The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah's home in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 "Where do you come from?" Micah asked him. He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to settle wherever I can find a place.

10 Micah replied,^[g] "Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions." So the Levite went in

11 and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.

12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah's house.

13 Then Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest."

Judges 17 Commentary

Chapter 17

The beginning of idolatry in Israel, Micah and his mother. (1-6) Micah hires a Levite to be his priest. (7-13)

Verses 1-6 What is related in this, and the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua: see chap. ( Judges 20:28 ) . That it might appear how happy the nation was under the Judges, here is showed how unhappy they were when there was no Judge. The love of money made Micah so undutiful to his mother as to rob her, and made her so unkind to her son, as to curse him. Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses. This woman's silver was her god, before it was made into a graven or a molten image. Micah and his mother agreed to turn their money into a god, and set up idol worship in their family. See the cause of this corruption. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and then they soon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Verses 7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

Footnotes

• [a]. MT places this sentence at the end of v. 3.
• [b]. Or image and a cast image
• [c]. Or image and a cast image
• [d]. Jdg 18:1; 19:1
• [e]. Lit did what was right in his eyes
• [f]. Jdg 21:25
• [g]. Lit replied to him

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 17

This chapter relates the first rise of idolatry in Israel after the death of Joshua, which began in Mount Ephraim, occasioned by a sum of money stolen by a man from his mother, which being restored, part was converted to an idolatrous use; two images were made of it, Jud 17:1-5 and there being no king in Israel to take cognizance of it, the idolatry took place and continued, and afterwards spread, Jud 17:6, and this idolater not only made one of his sons a priest, but took a Levite for another, whom he hired by the year to serve him, Jud 17:7-13.