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Juízes 17

ARC · Chapter 17/21

1E havia um homem da montanha d'Ephraim, cujo nome era Micah.

2O qual disse a sua mãe: As mil e cem moedas de prata que te foram tiradas, por cuja causa deitavas maldições, e tambem as disseste em meus ouvidos, eis que este dinheiro eu o tenho, eu o tomei. Então disse sua mãe: Bemdito seja meu filho do Senhor.

3Assim restituiu as mil e cem moedas de prata a sua mãe: porém sua mãe disse: Inteiramente tenho dedicado este dinheiro da minha mão ao Senhor para meu filho, para fazer uma imagem de esculptura e de fundição: de sorte que agora t'o tornarei a dar

4Porém elle restituiu aquelle dinheiro a sua mãe: e sua mãe tomou duzentas moedas de prata, e as deu ao ourives, o qual fez d'ellas uma imagem de esculptura e de fundição, e esteve em casa de Micah.

5E teve este homem, Micah, uma casa de deuses: e fez um ephod e teraphins, e consagrou a um de seus filhos, para que lhe fosse por sacerdote.

6N'aquelles dias não havia rei em Israel: cada qual fazia o que parecia direito aos seus olhos.

7E havia um mancebo de Beth-lehem de Judah, da tribu de Judah, que era levita, e peregrinava ali.

8E este homem partiu da cidade de Beth-lehem de Judah para peregrinar onde quer que achasse commodidade: chegando elle pois á montanha d'Ephraim, até á casa de Micah, seguindo o seu caminho.

9Disse-lhe Micah: D'onde vens? E elle lhe disse: Sou levita de Beth-lehem de Judah, e vou peregrinar onde quer que achar commodidade.

10Então lhe disse Micah: Fica commigo, e sê-me por pae e sacerdote; e cada anno te darei dez moedas de prata, e vestuario, e o teu sustento. E o levita entrou.

11E consentiu o levita em ficar com aquelle homem: e este mancebo lhe foi como um de seus filhos.

12E consagrou Micah ao levita, e aquelle mancebo lhe foi por sacerdote; e esteve em casa de Micah.

13Então disse Micah: Agora sei que O Senhor me fará bem: porquanto tenho um levita por sacerdote.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A man named Micah steals and returns silver to his mother, who uses part of it to make idols. He hires a wandering Levite to be his personal priest, in an Israel without a king where 'every man did that which was right in his own eyes.'

Explanation

This chapter begins the final section of Judges, which no longer speaks of external wars but of widespread internal religious decay - showing that Israel's true crisis was not only military but spiritual. The irony is evident: Micah and his mother bless the LORD with their mouths while crafting carved idols with their hands, mixing genuine faith with idolatrous practice without perceiving the contradiction. The repeated phrase 'there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes' functions as a refrain that explains all the moral and religious chaos reported in these final chapters - without a central authority to ensure faithfulness to God's law, each family created its own version of religion according to personal convenience.

Fun facts

  • The amount of silver mentioned (1,100 pieces) is exactly the same sum that the Philistine lords promised Delilah for each of them to betray Samson in chapter 16, a possible literary connection between the two accounts of corruption.
  • Having a Levite as a personal priest was illegal under Mosaic law, which established a single central sanctuary of worship - Micah's practice reflects the religious fragmentation typical of this period.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Juízes 17:1The chapter introduces a man named Micah, from the hill country of Ephraim, whose story opens the final part of the book, with no judge leading the people.
  2. Juízes 17:2Micah confesses to his own mother that it was he who stole the eleven hundred pieces of silver over which she had cursed the thief out loud; his mother, relieved, blesses him instead of punishing him.
  3. Juízes 17:3Micah gives the money back, and his mother announces she had already dedicated that silver to the Lord for the very purpose of making a carved and molten image for her son.
  4. Juízes 17:4His mother uses two hundred pieces of silver to have a silversmith make the image, which ends up kept in Micah's own house.
  5. Juízes 17:5Micah sets up his own private house of gods, with an ephod and household idols, and even consecrates one of his own sons as priest. It is a mixture of worship of the Lord with forbidden practices that shows how Israel's religion had fragmented without central leadership.
  6. Juízes 17:6The remark that there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes appears several times toward the end of the book, as an explanation for the moral and religious chaos of the final stories. It is not necessarily a defense of monarchy, but a picture of the lack of central authority.
  7. Juízes 17:7A young Levite from Bethlehem-judah then appears, who was living there as a sojourner, with no fixed place of his own.
  8. Juízes 17:8This Levite leaves Bethlehem in search of a better place to live and, along the way, arrives at Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.
  9. Juízes 17:9Micah asks him where he is from, and the Levite explains that he is from Bethlehem-judah and is looking for a place to settle.
  10. Juízes 17:10Micah proposes that the Levite stay with him as a kind of father and personal priest, offering yearly pay, clothing, and food; the Levite accepts.
  11. Juízes 17:11The Levite agrees to live there, and comes to be treated almost like a son of Micah's household.
  12. Juízes 17:12Micah consecrates the Levite as his personal priest, and the young man officially comes to live in his house in that role.
  13. Juízes 17:13Micah feels secure, thinking that now the Lord will bless him for having gotten a real Levite as his personal priest, even though this whole arrangement is irregular.

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