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Judges 17

KJV · Chapter 17/21

1And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

2And 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.

3And 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.

4Yet 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.

5And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

6In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

7And there was a young man out of Beth–lehem–judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

8And the man departed out of the city from Beth–lehem–judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

9And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth–lehem–judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

10And 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.

11And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.

12And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

13Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

📖 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. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 17:7A young Levite from Bethlehem-judah then appears, who was living there as a sojourner, with no fixed place of his own.
  8. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 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. Judges 17:11The Levite agrees to live there, and comes to be treated almost like a son of Micah's household.
  12. Judges 17:12Micah consecrates the Levite as his personal priest, and the young man officially comes to live in his house in that role.
  13. Judges 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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