Judges 17:6

In those days there was no king in Israel,.... That is, no supreme magistrate, judge, or ruler, Joshua being dead and Caleb also, and the elders contemporary with them; for what the Samaritan

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

No king, i.e. no judge to govern and control them. The word king being here used largely for a supreme magistrate; as . God raised up judges to rule and deliver the people when he saw fit; and at other times for their sins he suffered them to be without them, and such a time this was; and therefore they ran into that idolatry from which the judges usually kept them, as appears by that solemn and oft-repeated passage in this book, that after the death of such or such a judge the people forsook the Lord, and turned to idols. That which was right in his own eyes, i.e. not what pleased God, but what best suited his own fancy or lusts.

Judges 17:6 In those days [there was] no king in Israel, [but] every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.Ver. 6. In those days there was no king in Israel,] i.e., No ordinary supreme magistrate: hence this idolatry and the following outrages. Of the two, tyranny or ochlocraty, that rule of rascality, is better than anarchy. It is noted as a just wonder, that "the grasshoppers have no king, yet go they forth in bands": for the body of the commonwealth which lacked a chief ruler, is like the body of Polyphemus, without an eye. Ulysses, asking what kind of kingdom the Cyclopes had, was answered by Silenus, Nομαδες, ακουειουδειςουδενος, they wander at pleasure, and do what they want without control. The inhabitants of Brazil are said to be sine fide, sine rege, sine lege, without religion, law, or government, and must therefore needs be miserable. Look what a ship is without a steersman, a flock without a shepherd, a house without the father of the family, or a school without a schoolmaster; such is a state without a supreme government. This when none would take upon them, the prophet showeth that confusion followed, and men became as fishes, devouring one another. But every man did that which was right in his own eyes.] So they did in the interregnums at Rome, and do still in Turkey, to the great disturbance of the public welfare. Stobaeus telleth us, that by the Persian law, there was at the death of their king a five days’ lawless liberty proclaimed, to the end that, by the want of good government for such a time, people might be made to know the worth of it, and so might prize it the better ever after. Orat., xlii.

(6) In those days there was no king.—This shows that these narratives were written, or more probably edited, in the days of the monarchy. (See Judges 18:1; Judges 19:1; Judges 21:25.) Did that which was right in his own eyes.—The notice is added to show why there was no authoritative interference of prince or ruler to prevent idolatrous or lawless proceedings. (Deuteronomy 12:8 : “Ye shall not do after all the things which we do here this day, every man what is right in his own eyes.”)

Verse 6. There was no king in Israel] The word מלך melech, which generally means king, is sometimes taken for a supreme governor, judge, magistrate, or ruler of any kind; (see Genesis 36:31, and Deuteronomy 33:5); and it is likely it should be so understood here. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.] He was his own governor, and what he did he said was right; and, by his cunning and strength, defended his conduct. When a man's own will, passions, and caprice, are to be made the rule of law, society is in a most perilous and ruinous state. Civil government is of God; and without it the earth must soon be desolated. There was a time when there was no king in England; and that was, in general, a time of scandal to religion, and oppression to men.

In those days ... - This phrase, indicating distinctly that the writer lived after the establishment of the kingly government in Israel, is unique to the author of these last five chapters.

6. No king — This verse seems here, as everywhere, to explain the irregularities and evils of the age.