Judges Chapter 17

“And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, etc.] This and the four following chapters contain an history of facts, which were done not after the death of Samson, as some have thought, and as they may seem at first sight, by the order in which they are laid; but long before his time, and indeed before any of the judges in Israel, when there was no king, judge, or supreme governor among them, as appears from (<071706>Judges 17:6 19:1 21:25) even between the death of Joshua and the elders, and the first judge of Israel, Othniel; and so Josephus f367 places them in his history, and the connection of them is with…”

“MICAH RESTORING THE STOLEN MONEY TO HIS MOTHER, SHE MAKES IMAGES. (Jdg 17:1-4) a man of mount Ephraim--that is, the mountainous parts of Ephraim. This and the other narratives that follow form a miscellaneous collection, or appendix to the Book of Judges. It belongs to a period when the Hebrew nation was in a greatly disordered and corrupt state. This episode of Micah is connected with Jdg 1:34. It relates to his foundation of a small sanctuary of his own--a miniature representation of the Shiloh tabernacle--which he stocked with images modelled probably in imitation of the ark and cherubim. Micah and his mother…”

“See the introduction to the Book of Judges. The only point of contact with the preceding history of Samson is, that we are still concerned with the tribe of Dan. See Judges 18:1-2, note. Josephus combines in one narrative what we read here and in Judges 1:34, and places it, with the story in Judg. 18–21, immediately after the death of Joshua. return to 'Top of Page'”

“There was, &c. - The things mentioned here, and in the following chapters, did not happen in the order in which they are put; but much sooner, even presently after the death of the elders that over - lived Joshua, as appears, because Phinehas the son of Eleazar was priest at this time, Jdg 20:28, who must have been about 350 years old, if this had been done after Samson's death. Judges 17:2”

“am 2585, bc 1419, An, Ex, Is, 72 there was: It is extremely difficult to fix the chronology of this and the following transactions. Some think them to be here in their natural order; others that they happened in the time of Joshua, or immediately after the ancients who outlived him. All that can be said with certainly is, that they happened when there was no king in Israel; that is, about the time of the judges, or in some time of the anarchy ( Jdg 17:6.) mount: Jdg 10:1; Jos 15:9, Jos 17:14-18 Judges 17:2”

“Jdg 17:1-3 A man of the mountains of Ephraim named Micah (מיכיהוּ, Jdg 17:1, Jdg 17:4, when contracted into מיכה, Jdg 17:5, Jdg 17:8, etc.), who set up this worship for himself, and "respecting whom the Scriptures do not think it worth while to add the name of his father, or to mention the family from which he sprang" (Berleb. Bible), had stolen 1100 shekels of silver (about 135) from his mother. This is very apparent from the words which he spoke to his mother (v. 2): "The thousand and hundred shekels of silver which were taken from thee (the singular לקּח refers to the silver), about which thou cursedst and…”