5 And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons, who became his priest.
And Laban had gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that [belonged] to her father.
And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah; and all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
And now that thou must needs be gone, because thou greatly longedst after thy father's house, why hast thou stolen my gods?
And he said, "You take my gods which I made, and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, 'What ails you?'"
And thou shalt gird them with the girdle -- Aaron and his sons, and bind the high caps on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs for an everlasting statute; and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without statue, and without ephod and teraphim.
And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a cloak, and a checkered vest, a turban, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may serve me as priest.
And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.
After this thing Jeroboam turned not from his evil way, but made again from all classes of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became [one] of the priests of the high places. And by this thing there was sin on the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.
And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put in the house of his god.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 17
Commentary on Judges 17 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 17
All agree that what is related in this and the rest of the chapters to the end of this book was not done, as the narrative occurs, after Samson, but long before, even soon after the death of Joshua, in the days of Phinehas the son of Eleazar, ch. 20:28. But it is cast here into the latter part of the book that it might not interrupt the history of the Judges. That it might appear how happy the nation was in the judges it is here shown how unhappy they were when there was none.
Jdg 17:1-6
Here we have,
Jdg 17:7-13
We have here an account of Micah's furnishing himself with a Levite for his chaplain, either thinking his son, because the heir of his estate, too good to officiate, or rather, because not of God's tribe, not good enough. Observe,