| Geneva Study Bible And there {a} was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. (a) Some think this history was in the time of Othniel, or as Josephus writes, immediately after Joshua. Wesley's Notes 17:1 There was, and c. - The things mentioned here, and in the following chapter s, did not happen in the order in which they are put; but much sooner, even presently after the death of the elders that over - lived Joshua, as appears, because Phinehas the son of Eleazar was priest at this time, chap.20:28, who must have been about 350 years old, if this had been done after Samson's death. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary CHAPTER 17 Jud 17:1-4. Micah Restoring the Stolen Money to His Mother, She Makes Images. 1. a man of mount Ephraim-that is, the mountainous parts of Ephraim. This and the other narratives that follow form a miscellaneous collection, or appendix to the Book of Judges. It belongs to a period when the Hebrew nation was in a greatly disordered and corrupt state. This episode of Micah is connected with Jud 1:34. It relates to his foundation of a small sanctuary of his own-a miniature representation of the Shiloh tabernacle-which he stocked with images modelled probably in imitation of the ark and cherubim. Micah and his mother were sincere in their intention to honor God. But their faith was blended with a sad amount of ignorance and delusion. The divisive course they pursued, as well as the will-worship they practised, subjected the perpetrators to the penalty of death. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 17:1-6 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. Jud 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. | 
