Judges 17:1-6

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]

Judges 17:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

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.

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