Judges 17

The returned silver used to make an idol, a private priest, and no standard of right
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Text
Explanation
1 ¶ And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
2  And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.
3  And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
4  Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
  1 - Mount Ephriam See on jg0209, jg0327.
  2,3 - Cursedst ... blessed We can gather from this how the people were relating to a God they barely knew. The blessing was apparently to neutralize the curse which they thought could not be withdrawn.
  2 - Unto the Lord (Yahweh). Violation of the second commandment ex2004.
  4 - Graven image ... molten image The two processes were used together at times. In jg1817 we see two and in jg1820,30 one. See ex2004. Perhaps it was some sort of dual purpose god.
5  And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
6  In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
  5 - House of gods Or, "a house of God."Micah was apparently sincere about this place of worship although in violation of the laws of Moses which he must not have known much about.
  6 - Right in his own eyes What a pitiful situation. We might question whether it would have been better with a king since most were wicked. See on jg2125. and de1208.
7 ¶ And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.
8  And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.
9  And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.
  7 - Bethlehemjudah Called this to distinguish it from the Bethlehem in Zebulum jos1915. The "young man" was apparently a grandson of Moses jg1830.
  8 - Where he could find a place The Levites were not supported by the tithe as they should have been
10  And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.
11  And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.
12  And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
13  Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
  10 - Father A term of respect ge4508, 2ki0212.
  13 - Was this the right motive?

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