Judges 17:7

7 At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah.

Judges 17:7 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 17:7

And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah
As there were two Bethlehems, one in the tribe of Zebulun, ( Joshua 19:15 ) and another in the tribe of Judah, the place here designed, Judah is added to it, to distinguish it from the other:

of the family of Judah:
which refers either to the young man, who was by his father's side a Levite, and by his mother's side, as Jarchi thinks, of the tribe of Judah, which seems very probable, though the genealogies of families were not reckoned from the mother; wherefore he might be so called because he had lived chiefly in the tribe of Judah, and particularly at Bethlehem; but Kimchi, and several other Jewish commentators, refer this to the city of Bethlehem, that was of the tribe of Judah, family being put for the tribe; or belonged to the children of Judah; though one would think there was no need to have added this, since it was fully expressed before by calling it Bethlehemjudah; the former sense therefore seems best:

who was a Levite;
his father being, as before observed, of that tribe, though his mother might be of the tribe of Judah: and he sojourned there; that is, at Bethlehem; he was not a native, nor an inhabitant there, but a sojourner, it not being a Levitical city.

Judges 17:7 In-Context

5 This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest.

6 There was no king in Israel at that time; everyone did whatever they wanted.

7 At that same time there was a young Levite who had been living in the town of Bethlehem in Judah.

8 He left Bethlehem to find another place to live. While he was traveling, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 Micah asked him, "Where do you come from?" He answered, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a place to live."