Judges 17:1-19:30 KJV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 17:1-6

Here we have, I. Micah and his mother quarrelling. 1. The son robs the mother. The old woman had hoarded, with long scraping and saving, a great sum of money, 1100 pieces of silver. It is likely she intended, when she died, to leave it to her son: in the mean time it did her good to look upon it, and to count it over. The young man had a family of children grown up, for he had one of age to be a priest, Jdg. 17:5. He knows where to find his mother's cash, thinks he has more need of it than she... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 17:1

And there was a man of Mount Ephraim ,.... This and the four following chapters contain an history of facts, which were done not after the death of Samson, as some have thought, and as they may seem at first sight, by the order in which they are laid; but long before his time, and indeed before any of the judges in Israel, when there was no king, judge, or supreme governor among them, as appears from Judges 17:6 even between the death of Joshua and the elders, and the first judge of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 17:1

And there was a man of Mount Ephraim - It is extremely difficult to fix the chronology of this and the following transactions. Some think them to be here in their natural order; others, that they happened in the time of Joshua, or immediately after the ancients who outlived Joshua. All that can be said with certainty is this, that they happened when there was no king in Israel; i.e., about the time of the Judges, or in some time of the anarchy, Judges 17:6 . read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Judges 17:1

See the introduction to the Book of Judges. The only point of contact with the preceding history of Samson is, that we are still concerned with the tribe of Dan. See Judges 18:1-2, note. Josephus combines in one narrative what we read here and in Judges 1:34, and places it, with the story in Judg. 18–21, immediately after the death of Joshua. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Judges 17:1

Judges 17:1. Here begins what may be called a supplement to the book of Judges; which gives an account of several memorable transactions, in or about the time of the judges: whose history the author would not interrupt, by intermixing these matters with it, but reserved them to be related apart by themselves, in the five following chapters. In these he first gives an account how idolatry came into the tribe of Ephraim; which he doth in this chapter: secondly, How it came to be introduced in... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Judges 17:1-13

17:1-21:25 TRIBAL DISORDER WITHIN ISRAELThe writer of the book has now finished his account of the activity of the judges. To this he adds an appendix consisting of two stories (not necessarily placed in their correct chronological position in the book) that illustrate the disorder that existed in Israel during that period. The nation had no central government and people in the various tribes did as they pleased (see 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). The stories record important changes that occurred... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Judges 17:1

mount = hill country of Ephraim, where Joshua dwelt and was buried (Joshua 24:30 ). read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Judges 17:1

THE SO-CALLED "APPENDIX" OF THE BOOK OF JUDGES;ALLEGED EXAMPLES PROVING THAT ISRAEL "NEEDED" A KING (Judges 17-21)We reject the designation of these last five chapters of Judges as "an appendix added to Judges by a later hand." There is NO break in the text, and nothing except the theories of critics supports such a view.The reason why some critics (as Dalglish did, for example) attempt to date these last five chapters in "a period following the fall of the Northern Israel at a time after 734... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Judges 17:1

CHAP. XVII. Micah, an Ephraimite, restores the money which he had taken from his mother; from which she commands a graven image to be made; Micah hires a Levite to be his priest. Before Christ 1426. Judges 17:1. And there was a man of mount Ephraim— The second part of the book of Judges begins here; containing an account of several transactions in and about the time of the judges, which the sacred historian omitted in their proper order, that he might not interrupt the thread of a narrative... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Judges 17:1

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 Judges 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... read more