1 AND there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
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.
3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.
4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
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.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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 Beth-lehem-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 Micah.

13 Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

1And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

2And he said vnto his mother, The eleuen hundred shekels of siluer, that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine eares, behold, the siluer is with mee, I tooke it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my sonne.

3And when hee had restored the eleuen hundred shekels of siluer to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the siluer vnto the Lord, from my hand, for my sonne, to make a grauen image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it vnto thee.

4Yet hee restored the money vnto his mother, and his mother tooke two hundred shekels of siluer, and gaue them to the founder, who made thereof a grauen image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah.

5And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an Ephod, and Teraphim, and consecrated one of his sonnes, who became his Priest.

6In those dayes there was no king in Israel, but euery man did that which was right in his owne eyes.

7 And there was a young man out of Bethlehem Iudah, of the family of Iudah, who was a Leuite, and he soiourned there.

8And the man departed out of the citie from Bethlehem Iudah, to soiourne where he could finde a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he iourneyed.

9And Micah said vnto him, Whence commest thou? And he said vnto him, I am a Leuite, of Bethlehem Iudah, and I goe to soiourne where I may finde a place.

10And Micah said vnto him, Dwell with me, and be vnto me a father and a Priest, and I will giue thee ten shekels of siluer by the yeere, and a suite of apparell, and thy victuals. So the Leuite went in.

11And the Leuite was content to dwell with the man, and the yong man was vnto him as one of his sonnes.

12And Micah consecrated the Leuite, and the young man became his Priest, and was in the house of Micah.

13Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will doe me good, seeing I haue a Leuite to my Priest.

II == Gen 14:19 ; Ruth 3:10

 

 

 

 

 

III == Ex 20:4 , 23 ; Lev 19:4

 

 

 

IV == Isa 46:6

 

 

 

 

V == Gen 31:19 , 30 ; Ex 29:9 ; Judg8:27 ; 1st Kings 13:33 ; Hos 3:4

VI == Deut 12:8 ; 33:5 ; Judg 18:1 ; 19:1 ; 21:25

VII == Josh 19:15 ; Judg 19:1 ; Ruth 1:1-2 ; Mic 5:2 ; Matt 2:1 , 5-6

 

 

 

 

 

 

X == Gen 45:8 ; Judg 18:19 ; Job 29:16

 

 

 

 

XII == Judg 17:5 ; 18:30

 

1 There was a man in the mountain region of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

2 He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver over which you pronounced a curse in my hearing when they were taken from you, are in my possession. It was I who took them; so now I will restore them to you."

3 When he restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she took two hundred of them and gave them to the silversmith, who made of them a carved idol overlaid with silver.

4 Then his mother said, "May the LORD bless my son! I have consecrated the silver to the LORD as my gift in favor of my son, by making a carved idol overlaid with silver." It remained in the house of Micah.

5 Thus the layman Micah had a sanctuary. He also made an ephod and household idols, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what he thought best.

7 There was a young Levite who had resided within the tribe of Judah at Bethlehem of Judah.

8 From that city he set out to find another place of residence. On his journey he came to the house of Micah in the mountain region of Ephraim.

9 Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and am on my way to find some other place of residence."

10 "Stay with me," Micah said to him. "Be father and priest to me, and I will give you ten silver shekels a year, a set of garments, and your food."

11 So the young Levite decided to stay with the man, to whom he became as one of his own sons.

12 Micah consecrated the young Levite, who became his priest, remaining in his house.

13 Therefore Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, since the Levite has become my priest."

 “In those days”, v 6, refers to all of the book of Judges, but each one doing what was right in their own eyes is especially prominent in these later chapters. See additional comments on 21:25. In Judges we see religious apostasy, moral degeneration and political anarchy. However we will see a Godly remnant in Ruth, during the same time period.

v 1,2. This chapter is mainly to show how in chapter 18, all of the tribe of Dan became involved in idolatry. Micah’s mother apparently had this money stolen and cursed whoever did it. Fearing the curse, Micah admitted he was the guilty one and is ready to restore it, so she blesses him for his honesty.

v 3,4. She had dedicated it to the Lord, but now placated, she wants to restore it to Micah so he can make a graven image. Perhaps his conscience tells him not to violate the command not to make a graven image, Ex. 20:4, so he gives it back to her and she hires it done. We don’t know what she did with the other 900 shekels, but she may have used some of it to set up the house of gods for Micah.

v 5,6. Not only did Micah set up other household gods, but made an ephod as substitute Levite ephod and set his son as a priest in his house instead of worshiping at Shiloh, as commanded by God, and under a Levite priest, as commanded by God. The people had neglected God’s leadership and were making their own decisions.

v 7,8. Levites had no inheritance, and since people had neglected their support, this one, like other priests, was wandering about looking for work.

v 9,10. Micah knew it was only Levites who were to be priests, not his son, so he jumped at the chance to have this Levite as priest, and they could “play church” together.

v 11-13. The young Levite was just as willing to be a priest in Micah’s house under the wages offered. Micah expects the blessing of the Lord now that he has a Levite for priest, although he is linking idolatry with Levitical worship. We see the same thing in idolatrous Romanism mixed with Christianity. This is the nature of apostasy, having a show of godliness but denying the power thereof, 2 Tim. 3:5.