Judges 17:8
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. 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.
The man was a young Levite who left his home at Bethlehem-judah to find another place to stay, and in his traveling northward he came to the hill country of Ephraim and lodged at the house of Micah. His arrival begins the account of how Micah secured a true Levite as priest for his household shrine with its molten images, a rival sanctuary to God's appointed worship. That lodging led on to the Danites finding Micah's idols and hired priest and carrying them north to set up idolatrous worship at Dan. The incident belongs to the pitiful record of backsliding and awful idolatry in Judges 17 to 21, which brought disgrace and punishment and shows that turning from God cannot be done with impunity and is never excused. Set against God's long-suffering goodness and effort to restore His people, it shows Israel's perversity amid demoralizing surroundings, where idolatry was made to appear acceptable by joining it to the ordinances of true religion, and where the evasive heart justifies transgression instead of confessing it.
Narrative Setting and History
The verse records a young Levite leaving his home in Bethlehem-judah for an unknown reason to find a place to stay, traveling north to the hill country of Mount Ephraim and lodging at Micah's house as he journeyed. This seemingly minor arrival begins the account of how a Levite came to serve Micah's household shrine. In the days of the judges Micah's house was a rival sanctuary.
That house held a household shrine with molten images, and by the Levite's journeying there Micah obtained a true Levite as priest for them, so that even idolatry was made to appear acceptable to God when joined to the ordinances of true religion. Placed on the route of the Levite who had left Bethlehem-judah seeking somewhere to stay, this setting in Mount Ephraim explains how the Danites later encountered Micah's idols and hired priest and carried them north to establish idolatrous worship at Dan. Judges 17 is cited as evidence in connection with Ephraim's omission from the tribal list and Joseph's inclusion in its place.
The verse belongs to chapters 17 to 21, which record events that occurred in the early part of the history of the judges, while the real story of the book ends with chapter 16. The closing part of Judges thus stands earlier in time than chapters 11 to 16. Those final chapters show the low state into which Israel had fallen before Samuel's call as a prophet. The latter part of Judges recording Israel's constant lapsing into idolatry is read with Judges 2 and 17-19 in lessons covering Judges 1-21, and with Judges 17:1 and Judges 18:1,31 shows the book was written about the time there was a king in Israel by Samuel or Nathan.
Backsliding and Its Warning
The closing chapters in Judges 17 to 21 are a pitiful record of backsliding that brings disgrace and punishment, a condition still seen today, and there is never excuse for sin. The latter part of the book is one of two stories of awful idolatry that give a sad record of transgressions and constant lapsing into idolatry, showing that backsliding cannot be done with impunity.
Judges 3 to 17 together form one composite record of backsliding from God followed by suffering, oppression, captivity and servitude, then returning to God with forgiveness and deliverance. That record sets perversity and unbelief against long-suffering goodness and effort to restore, lived out amid awful moral surroundings and the demoralizing influences of the tribes permitted to remain in the land of promise. The latter part of Judges tells two stories of awful idolatry that set forth the sad record of transgressions, constant lapsing into idolatry, and effort to restore from it.
The journey to the house of Micah belongs to the account of Dan's early departure from God into idolatry, a lesson about the danger of turning from God. By that journey Micah obtained a true Levite as priest for his molten images, so that even idolatry was made to appear acceptable to God when joined to the ordinances of true religion. This exemplifies the evasive nature of the human heart that justifies transgression instead of confessing it.