Judges 17:5

_AND THE MAN MICAH HAD AN HOUSE OF GODS, AND MADE AN EPHOD, AND TERAPHIM, AND CONSECRATED ONE OF HIS SONS, WHO BECAME HIS PRIEST._ The man Micah had an house of gods, х_ BEEYT_ (H1004) _ 'ªLOHIYM_ (H430)] - a house of God/gods-a domestic chapel, a private religious establishment of his own. AN EPHOD - (see the note at Exodus 28:4.) TERAPHIM - tutelary gods of the household (see the note at Genesis 31:19; Genesis 31:30). CONSECRATED ONE OF HIS SONS, WHO BECAME HIS PRIEST. The assumption of the priestly offices by any one out of the family of Aaron was a direct violation

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 17:5. _THE MAN MICAH HAD A HOUSE OF GODS_] בית אלהים _beith_ _Elohim_ should, I think, be translated _house_ or _temple of God_; for it is very likely that both the mother and the son intended no more than a private or domestic chapel, in which they proposed to set up the worship of the true God. _MADE AN EPHOD_] Perhaps the whole of this case may be stated thus: Micah built a _house of God _- a chapel in imitation of the _sanctuary_; he made a _graven image_ representing the _ark, a molten_ _image_ to represent the _mercy-seat, teraphim_ to represent the _cherubim_ above the _mercy-seat_, and an _ephod_ in imitation of the _sacerdotal garments_; and he consecrated one of his sons to be priest. Thus gross idolatry was not the crime of Micah; he only set up in his own house an epi

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 THE MAN MICAH HAD AN HOUSE OF GODS,.... Having two images in it, besides teraphim, which were a sort of idols; and the Targum is, an house of images, or idols; though it may be rendered "an house of God"; a temple, a place for religious worship: AND MADE AN EPHOD; a priestly garment, a linen one very probably, not so rich an one with a breastplate to it as the high priest had, which was very costly. Ben Melech interprets it a girdle, and there was a curious girdle of the ephod, with which it was girt; this may be here put for the rest of the priestly garments which Micah provided: AND TERAPHIM; which were a sort of household gods, like the Lares and Penates of the Romans, and by which consultations were made; Hosea 3:3 Hosea 3:4...

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....

HOUSE OF GODS. The true house of God was neglected, and as hard to find as it is to-day (Judges 21:19); and, when found, dancing was the prominent feature, not sacrifice or worship (Judges 21:21). EPHOD. In imitation of Aaron's. Exodus 25:7; Exodus 28:4. CONSECRATED. See note on Exodus 28:41.Leviticus 9:17. HIS PRIEST. Not Jehovah's, but "made with hands"....

_had an house of gods_ But according to his lights Micah was a zealous worshipper of Jehovah; so follow Marg. _had an house of_ GOD, i.e. a private shrine. The narrative hardly permits the identification of Micah's _beth-elohim_with Beth-el, as has been proposed; nor does it intend to brand his shrine, and the sanctuary at Dan, as idolatrous foundations. _an ephod and teraphim_ Instruments for consulting the divine oracle; 1 Samuel 23:9-12; Zechariah 10:2. In Hosea 3:4 they are mentioned, together with sacrifice and pillar, in a way which suggests that they were to be found in public sanctuaries. Such was the case with the ephod,...

AN HOUSE OF GODS— This might be rendered more properly, a temple or house of God; אלהים בית _beith elohim:_ so the LXX and the Vulgate render it, as well as Houbigant, _aedes deo sacra._ Micah and his family were desirous to have a little tabernacle, a place consecrated to the _elohim,_ at their own house, without the trouble of going up to Shiloh. Respecting the teraphim, see Genesis 31:17....