Judges 17

Chapter context

What is happening in Judges 17?

apostasydeliverancedisorderleadership

Judges 17 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as the Levite concubine narrative and civil war. Judges recounts the troubled era of charismatic deliverers, recurring apostasy, local rescues, and the national unraveling summed up by the line that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Read this chapter with the wider themes of apostasy, deliverance, and disorder in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.

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. 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. 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. 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.

Study helps

Glossary

Micah Person v. 1, 4-5, 8-10, 12-13: A shortened form of Micaiah, who is like Jehovah? (1. ) A man of Mount Ephraim, whose history so far is introduced in Judg.
Bethlehem Place v. 7-9: House of bread. (1. ) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath ( Gen. 35:16 , 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11 ). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah ( Micah 5:2 ), Beth-lehem-judah. Modern identification: Bethlehem.
Levite Tribe v. 7, 9-13: A descendant of the tribe of Levi ( Ex. 6:25 ; Lev. 25:32 ; Num. 35:2 ; Josh. 21:3 , 41).
City People v. 8: The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain ( Gen. 4:17 ). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).