Judges 17:7-13

7 Now there was a young man from ¹Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was staying there.

8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the ²hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.

9 Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" And he said to him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I may find a place."

10 Micah then said to him, "Dwell with me and be ³a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance." So the Levite went in.

11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.

12 So Micah consecrated * the Levite, and the young man ⁴became his priest and lived in the house of Micah.

13 Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest."

Judges 17:7-13 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. Judges 19:1; Ruth 1:1, 2; Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1
• 2. Joshua 24:33
• 3. Judges 18:19
• 4. Numbers 16:10; Numbers 18:1-7

Footnotes

• [a] Or "sojourning"
• [b] Or "sojourn"
• [c] Or "sojourn"
• [d] Lit "filled the hand of"
• [e] Lit "was"