Judges 17:10

_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._ Be unto me a father - a spiritual father, to conduct the religious services of my establishment. He was to receive, in addition to his board, a salary of 10 shekels of silver, equal to 25 shillings a year. A SUIT OF APPAREL - not only dress for ordinary use, but vestments suitable for the discharge of his priestly functions....

7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them....

Verse Judges 17:10. _BE UNTO ME A FATHER AND A PRIEST_] Thou shalt be _master_ of my house, as if thou wert my father; and, as _priest_, thou shalt appear in the presence of God for me. The term _father_ is often used to express _honour_ and _reverence_. _TEN_ SHEKELS _OF SILVER_] About thirty shillings per annum, with board, lodging, and clothes. Very good wages in those early times....

TEN SHEKELS - About 25 shillings to 26 shillings (see Exodus 38:24)....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 17:1 We here light upon quite a different kind of history from that which has preceded. We no longer have to do with judges and their mighty deeds in delivering Israel from his oppressors, but with two detached histories, which fill up the rest of the book, relating to the internal affairs of Israel. There is no note of time, except that they happened before the time of Saul the king (Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1), and. that Phinehas the son of Eleazar was alive at the time of the occurrence of the second (Judges 20:28). Both, no doubt, are long prior to Samson. The only apparent connection of the h

AND MICAH SAID UNTO HIM, DWELL WITH ME,.... Hearing that he was a Levite, he thought him a fit man for his purpose, and would give some credit to, and put a better face upon his new form of worship, and therefore, without further inquiry after him and his character, invites him to make his abode with him: AND BE UNTO ME A FATHER AND A PRIEST; a father to instruct him in the knowledge of divine things; so prophets were called fathers, and their disciples their sons; and a priest to offer sacrifices for him, and to consult before him by his teraphim upon occasion: AND I WILL GIVE THEE TEN SHEKELS OF SILVER BY THE YEAR; or yearly, which was but a small sum, a poor salary for a priest, at most amounting but to twenty five shillings, and scarce so much: AND A SUIT OF APPAREL; or "an order of apparel" m; such as was fit for one of his rank and order as a priest to wear, so Jarchi and Abarbi...

III. THE APPENDIX: ISRAEL'S INTERNAL CORRUPTION 1. Micah's and Dan's Idolatry and Its Punishment CHAPTER 17 The Images Made and the Hired Priest _ 1. The stolen money restored and the images (Judges 17:1)_ 2. The Levite hired for a priest (Judges 17:7) The last five Chapter s of the book form an appendix. The events given did not occur after Samson's death, but they happened many years before. These Chapter s are not in chronological order but arranged in this way to teach the root of the evil and its results. This answers much, if not all, of the objections of the critics. These Chapter s reveal the internal corruption which existed in Israel during the different declensions. Idolatry and lawlessness are the two characteristic features. True worship and dependence on God is

JUDGES 17-18. This section is the first of two supplements. It explains the origin of the famous shrine at Dan, and the _naî veté_ of its moral and religious ideas proves how ancient it is. In not a few places the text has evidently been tampered with by scribes, who took offence at practices which were from a later point of view irregular. The events in question must have occurred before the time of Deborah (Judges 5:17)....

_father_ A title of honour given to a priest Judges 18:19, a counsellor Genesis 45:8, cf. [Apocr.] Esther 16:11, 1Ma 11:32, a prophet 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 6:21, a master 2 Kings 5:13, a king 1 Samuel 24:11. _ten_pieces _of silver … victuals_ The Levite has to seek a home and maintenance; and he receives a payment of money for his services, cf. 1 Samuel 2:36. At the more imp

_Micab's Hired Priest Judges 17:7-13_ 7 And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem-judah 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 Beth-lehem-judah, 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 Mic