Judges 17:4-5

4 So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels^[a] of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah’s house.

5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest.

Judges 17:4-5 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.

Cross References

• 1. S Exodus 32:4; S Isaiah 17:8
• 2. Isaiah 44:13; Ezekiel 8:10
• 3. S Judges 8:27
• 4. S Genesis 31:19; Judges 18:14
• 5. S Numbers 16:10
• 6. S Exodus 29:9; Judges 18:24

Footnotes

• [a] That is, about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms