Shofetim 17:8

8 And the ish departed out of the Ir from Beit-Lechem Yehudah to sojourn where he could find a place; and he came to har Ephrayim to the bais Mikhay’hu, as he made his derech.

Shofetim 17:8 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 17:8

And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah,
to sojourn where he could find a place Either being a man that had a rambling head, and of an unsettled mind, and could not easily fix any where; or else there being no supreme magistrate, to take care that the Levites had their due maintenance, for which there was a sufficient provision made by law; and the people being negligent of paying their tithes, there being none to oblige them to it, and they indifferent to the true worship of God, and prone to idolatry; this man was obliged to go abroad, and seek for a livelihood where he could get it, and sojourn in a place the most convenient for him:

and he came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed:
not with a design to stay there, but called by the way, having heard perhaps that Micah was both a wealthy and an hospitable man, and he also might have heard of the new form of worship he had set up in his house.

Shofetim 17:8 In-Context

6 In those yamim there was no melech in Yisroel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

7 Meanwhile there was a na’ar from Beit-Lechem Yehudah of the mishpakhat Yehudah, who was a Levi, and he sojourned there.

8 And the ish departed out of the Ir from Beit-Lechem Yehudah to sojourn where he could find a place; and he came to har Ephrayim to the bais Mikhay’hu, as he made his derech.

9 And Mikhay’hu said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levi of Beit-Lechem Yehudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

10 And Mikhay’hu said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me an av and a kohen, and I will give thee ten pieces of kesef a year, and a set of begadim, and mikhyah (maintenance, livelihood). So the Levi went in.