Judges 17:2

_AND 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._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-6 What is related in this, and the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua: see chap. Judges 20:28. That it might appear how happy the nation was under the Judges, here is showed how unhappy they were when there was no Judge. The love of money made Micah so undutiful to his mother as to rob her, and made her so unkind to her son, as to curse him. Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses. This woman's silver was her god, before it was made into a graven or a molten image. Micah and his mother agreed to turn their money into a god, and set up idol worship in their family. See the cause of this corruption. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and then they soon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord....

Verse Judges 17:2. _ABOUT WHICH THOU CURSEDST_] Houbigant and others understand this of _putting the young man to his oath_. It is likely that when the mother of Micah missed the money, she poured imprecations on the thief; and that Micah, who had secreted it, hearing this, was alarmed, and restored the money lest the curses should fall on him....

THOU CURSEDST - or, “adjuredst me by God.” Compare Matthew 26:63; Leviticus 5:1....

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 HE SAID UNTO HIS MOTHER,.... Who seems to have been a widow, and an ancient woman since Micah had sons, and one of them at age to become a priest: THE ELEVEN HUNDRED SHEKELS OF SILVER THAT WERE TAKEN FROM THEE: which were taken away by stealth from her, though it may be rendered "taken to thee" i; which she had taken to herself out of the rest of her substance, and had separated and devoted it to religious uses; but Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it as we do, and which seems to be the best sense; of the value of this sum, Judges 16:5 and because the like sum is there offered, and was given to Delilah, hence some have thought, as Jarchi relates, that this woman was Delilah; but, as he observes, it is a mistake; for this woman lived long before the times of Samson and Delilah: ABOUT WHICH THOU CURSEDST; which when she perceived was stolen from her, she fell

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

MICAH'S GRAVEN IMAGE. The dread of a curse, uttered by an indignant mother against the unknown thief of her money, made the culprit, her own son, confess his guilt. At a certain stage of religious development, blessings and curses are supposed to have supernatural potency (p. 143). In this instance the mother made her curse still more effective by devoting the lost money to Yahweh. Judges 17:2 f. Change the order: I took it; now therefore I restore it to thee. And his mother said, etc. Judges 17:4. Comparing a graven image and a molten image with it was in the house and the graven image in Judges 18:30 f., we conclude that a molten image is throughout a later addition....

ELEVEN HUNDRED. See note on Judges 16:5. TAKEN. Idolatry in Israel commenced with dishonesty. THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4....

_eleven hundred_pieces _of silver_ See on Judges 16:5. _and didst also speak it_ A paraphrase; lit. -and didst also say.…" The text of Judges 17:2-3 has suffered disturbance; the words of the speech are missing here; the sequence -and he restored … I will restore (Judges 17:3) … And he restored (Judges 17:4)" is unintelligible. Of the various corrections proposed the most satisfactory is that of Moore: -and thou didst utter a curse and didst also say in mine ears, I verily dedicate the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image [and a molten image]; behold, the silver is with me; I took it; now therefore I wi