Judges 17:5

And the man Micah had an house of gods,.... Having two images in it, besides teraphim, which were a sort of idols; and the Targum is, an house of images, or idols; though it may be rendered "an house

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.

An house of gods, i.e. an house or place consecrated for the service of God in this manner. An ephod; an eminent part of the priestly garments, , which, some think, is here put for all of them. Teraphim; some sort of images so called, of which see . Who became his priest; because the Levites in that corrupt estate of the church neglected the exercise of their office, and therefore were neglected by the people, and others put into their employment. But this kind of priesthood was condemned, 18:2,7.

Judges 17:5 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.Ver. 5. And the man Micah had an house of gods.] Aediculam sacram. The devil is ειδωλοχαρης, saith Synesius, a great promoter of idolatry. His champion Julian was by the Christians merrily called Idolian. And teraphim,] i.e., Seraphims and cherubims, saith Hugo: but it seemeth rather to signifiy certain statues, whereby the devil gave answers or oracles.

(5) Had an house of gods.—The Hebrew is Beth Elohim, which may mean equally well “a house of God” (Vulg., �diculam Deo, and so too the LXX.). It is quite clear that Micah did not abandon the worship of God under the names of Jehovah and Elohim, by which He was known to the Israelites. How he coordinated this worship with his grossly idolatrous symbols, or whom those symbols were intended to represent, it is impossible to say. The fact remains that in the Beth-Micah we find “a house of gods”—“whole chapel of idols”—consecrated to Jehovah as a pious act (Judges 17:2; Judges 17:5; Judges 17:13; Judges 18:6). An ephod.—No doubt the ephod was nothing more than a gorgeous priestly garment, though possibly it may have been used for oracular purposes. (See Judges 8:27.) And teraphim.—These were Syrian images (Genesis 31:19), the use of which among the Israelites seems to have lasted for a long period, until it was put down by King Josiah in his great reformation (2 Kings 23:34; Ezekiel 21:26; Hosea 3:4; Zechariah 10:2). I have entered upon the interesting question of the use of Teraphim in an article on the subject in Kitto’s Cyclop�dia. (See Excursus II: Teraphim.) Consecrated.—The curious Hebrew phrase is “filled the hand” (see Exodus 28:41; Exodus 29:24; Leviticus 7:37), i.e., gave him the office by putting certain offerings in his hands. It is rather installed than “consecrated.” II.—ON Judges 17:5. (.) THE Hebrew word Teraphim is always simply transliterated as in our version, or rendered by “images,” with “teraphim” in the margin, except in 1 Samuel 15:23, Zechariah 10:2, where it is represented by “idolatry,” “idols.” The singular of the word, “a teraph,” does not occur in Scripture, although it is clear that only one can have been put into David’s bed (1 Samuel 19:13-16). The LXX. adopt many different renderings, as does the Vulg., but they all point to idolatrous images or the implements of necromancy, as do the two renderings of the Targums, images and (Hosea 3:4) “announcers.” 1. Teraphim are first mentioned in Genesis 31:19, where Rachel steals her father’s “images,” and successfully hides them from his search under the hiran on which she was sitting—the coarse carpet used to cover the wicker-work pack-saddle of her camel. Josephus supposes that she was actuated by idolatrous reverence; Iben Ezra that she expected oracular guidance from them; others that she stole them because of their intrinsic value. She probably shared the superstitions of her father, and regarded them as sacred (Genesis 30:14; Genesis 31:30), as being the figures of ancestral divinities (Genesis 31:53). It is not impossible that they were among the “strange gods” which Jacob ordered his family to bury under “the sorcerer’s oak”—Allon Meonenim (Judges 9:37). But that Jacob’s right feeling in the matter was not permanent is proved only too clearly by the conduct of Micah (Judges 17:5) and the Danites (Judges 18:3), although, unlike Jeroboam, they could not even plead the poor palliation of political motives. 2.

Verse 5. The man Micah had a house of gods] בית אלהים beith Elohim should, I think, be translated house or temple of God; for it is very likely that both the mother and the son intended no more than a private or domestic chapel, in which they proposed to set up the worship of the true God. Made an ephod] Perhaps the whole of this case may be stated thus: Micah built a house of God - a chapel in imitation of the sanctuary; he made a graven image representing the ark, a molten image to represent the mercy-seat, teraphim to represent the cherubim above the mercy-seat, and an ephod in imitation of the sacerdotal garments; and he consecrated one of his sons to be priest. Thus gross idolatry was not the crime of Micah; he only set up in his own house an epitome of the Divine worship as performed at Shiloh. What the teraphim were, See Clarke on Genesis 31:19; for the ephod, See Clarke on Exodus 25:7; and for the sacerdotal vestments in general, See Clarke on Exodus 28:4, c. Who became his priest.] כהן cohen, which the Targum translates chumera. The word כהן cohen is the common name in Hebrew for a priest of the true God but sometimes it is applied to idolatrous priests. When it is to be understood in the former sense, the Targum renders it cahen; when in the latter, it uses the word כומרא chumera, by which it always understands an idolatrous priest. But that this was not a case of idolatry, and that the true God was worshipped here, is evident from the word Jehovah being used, Judges 17:4, and oracular answers being given at this house, as we see from Judges 18:6 &c.

5. had an house of gods] But according to his lights Micah was a zealous worshipper of Jehovah; so follow Marg. had an house of God, i.e. a private shrine. The narrative hardly permits the identification of Micah’s beth-elohim with Beth-el, as has been proposed; nor does it intend to brand his shrine, and the sanctuary at Dan, as idolatrous foundations. an ephod and teraphim] Instruments for consulting the divine oracle; 1 Samuel 23:9-12, Zechariah 10:2. In Hosea 3:4 they are mentioned, together with sacrifice and pillar, in a way which suggests that they were to be found in public sanctuaries. Such was the case with the ephod, Judges 8:27 note; but the terâphim as a rule seem to have been household sacra, perhaps images shaped in human form (Genesis 31:19; Genesis 31:34 f.; 1 Samuel 19:13; 1 Samuel 19:16), associated with superstitious practices such as divination and witchcraft, and therefore discountenanced by the higher religion; Genesis 35:2; Genesis 35:4 E; 1 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 23:24; Ezekiel 21:21[60]. The archaic miniature idols, generally figures of Ashtoreth, which have been unearthed at Taanach and Gezer, are supposed to have been terâphim, but without much probability. See the illustrations in Vincent, Canaan, pp. 153 ff.; Driver, [60] The Jerusalem Targum on Genesis 31:19 thus explains what the terâphim were: ‘they kill a first-born male and cut off his head, and salt it in salt and spices, and write spells on a leaf of gold which they place under the tongue, and set it up on the wall, and it speaks with them.’ This barbarous magic must actually have existed in popular practice.Schweich Lectures, p. 57. Gressmann, Eschatologie, p. 345 n., accepts the view that if the ephod was the mantle, the terâphim were the masks of the sacred image; the priest put them on to deliver an oracle, and was then supposed to be invested with the power of the Deity. But this does not seem to explain the private, domestic use of the terâphim. The etymology and meaning of the word are unknown; it occurs only in the plural, even when referring to a single object (e.g. 1 Samuel 19:13; 1 Samuel 19:16); see Gesenius-Kautzsch, Hebr. Gram.28, §124 h, Meyer, Die Israeliten, p. 212. and consecrated one of his sons] Judges 17:12, installed lit. filled the hand of. The idiom probably originated from the custom of filling the hands of a candidate for the priestly office with choice portions of the sacrifice, if we may suppose that the ceremonial enjoined in P was based upon traditional usage; Exodus 29:22-25, Leviticus 8:25-28; cf. 2 Chronicles 13:9, 1 Kings 13:33. In Ezekiel 43:26 the phrase has become entirely conventionalized, and is applied to the altar (lit. fill ye its hand). An exact equivalent was used in Assyrian for conferring a dignity on a person, e.g. the god Ashur ‘filled his hand with a matchless kingdom,’ KB. i. p. 191. The verse throws a valuable light on the religious practice of the period.

5. House of gods — Or, a house of God, a sanctuary after the model of that at Shiloh. He would have a tabernacle of his own. An ephod — Probably after the fashion of Gideon’s. See on Judges 8:27.