Judges 17:3

from my hand for my son LXX. cod. A and Luc. reads from my hand alone, with a slight change in the Hebr.; i.e. the mother alone, the rightful owner, could carry out the vow; so Moore, Lagrange. But the emphasis on aloneis not particularly required, and the text may be retained. Following the rearrangement above, the mother, not suspecting who the culprit is, consecrates her money for the benefit of her son.

a graven image and a molten image According to etymology the one (pesel) was carved out of stone or wood, the other (massçkah) cast in metal; elsewhere both are named together to denote idols of any kind (Deuteronomy 27:15; Isaiah 42:17); and in usage the etymological distinction was not always observed, a pesel, for example, could be cast in gold and silver (Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 44:10). In the present narrative the two words are combined, as though two images were meant; but Judges 17:4 endand Judges 18:20 refer to only one peselin Micah's house, the one which was afterwards set up at Dan, Judges 18:30-31. Probably, therefore, we must take and a molten imageas an explanatory addition inserted here and in Judges 17:4; Judges 18:14; Judges 18:17-18 by a scribe who thought that the silverand the founderin Judges 17:4 necessarily implied a massçkah.

The peselhere must have been an image of Jehovah, for it was made of silver which had been consecrated to Him; and the writer, so far from expressing an objection to the thing, records the making of it as a pious act. Throughout the early period images were used in the worship of Jehovah. Golden bull-calves symbolized Jehovah at Dan and Beth-el, 1 Kings 12:28, cf. Exodus 32:4; the prohibition of molten gods (massçkah) in the ancient code Exodus 34:17 J may be aimed at these. It was not till the viiith century that the prophets began to oppose the use of images (Hosea 10:5; Hosea 10:8; Hosea 13:2; Amos 8:14); and in agreement with the prophets, the Decalogue forbids an image (pesel) of any kind, Exodus 20:4 E = Deuteronomy 5:8. But while images of Jehovah existed in the various local shrines, we hear of none at Shiloh (Judges 18:31) and Jerusalem, where the ark was kept; these sanctuaries had a different character, and probably maintained a higher type of worship.