Judg. 17 Micah stealeth money of his mother; then confesseth and restoreth it. She dedicates it to the Lord; maketh images: he sets them up in the house of his gods; and consecrates one of his sons for his priest; there being then no magistrates in Israel, Judg. 17:1–6.

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 overlived Joshua, Judg.

About which thou cursedst, i.e. didst curse the person who had taken them away, and that in my hearing, as it follows. I took it; the fear of thy curse makes me acknowledge mine offence, and beg thy pardon.

The Lord; in the Hebrew it is Jehovah, the incommunicable name of God; whereby it is apparent that neither she nor her son intended to forsake the true God or his worship; as appears from his rejoicing when he had got a priest of the Lord’s appointment, of the tribe of Levi, Judg.

Yet he restored the money unto his mother; though his mother allowed him to keep it, yet he persisted in his resolution to restore it, that she might dispose of it as she pleased; and did actually restore it, as was said before; and now confirms the former restitution, and therefore is twice said…

An house of gods, i.e. an house or place consecrated for the service of God in this manner. An ephod; an eminent part of the priestly garments, Ex. 28:4, which, some think, is here put for all of them. Teraphim; some sort of images so called, of which see Gen. 31:19, Hos. 3:4.

No king, i.e. no judge to govern and control them. The word king being here used largely for a supreme magistrate; as Gen. 36:31, Deut. 33:5. God raised up judges to rule and deliver the people when he saw fit; and at other times for their sins he suffered them to be without them, and such a time…

Out of Beth-lehem-judah, or, of Beth-lehem-judah; so called here, as Matt. 2:1, Matt. 2:5, to difference it from Bethlehem in Zebulun, Josh. 19:15. There he was born and bred. Of the family of Judah, i.e.

Where he could find a place, for employment and a livelihood; for the tithes and offerings, which were their maintenance, not being brought in to the house of God, the Levites and priests must needs be reduced to great straits.

A father and a priest; for, a father; that is, a priest; a spiritual father, a teacher or instructor, for such are called fathers: see 2 Kings 6:21, 2 Kings 8:9, 2 Kings 13:14, Isa. 22:21. He pretends reverence and submission to him; and what is wanting in his wages he pays him in empty titles.

The Levite was content; being constrained by necessity, and infected with the common contagion of the superstition and idolatry of the times. Was unto him as one of his sons, i.e. treated with the same degree of kindness and affection.

Consecrated the Levite, to be a priest, for which he thought a consecration necessary, as knowing that the Levites were no less excluded from the priest’s office than the people. Became his priest, instead of his son, whom he had consecrated for want of a fitter, Judg.

I am assured God will bless me. So blind and grossly partial he was in his judgment, to think that one right circumstance would answer for all his substantial errors, in making and worshipping images against God’s express command, in worshipping God in a forbidden place, and in that he, being an…