Judges 17:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Micah and his mother in a family quarrel. The son robbed his mother. The older woman had saved up 1,100 pieces of silver over a long time, and it is likely she meant to leave it to her son when she died. In the meantime, she enjoyed looking at it and counting it. Her son had a family of children of his own, for he had a son old enough to be a priest (Judges 17:5). He knew where his mother kept her money, thought he needed it more than she did, and could not wait for her death, so he secretly took it for himself.

This does not excuse him, even if parents sometimes fail to give their children what is right, or act in ways that tempt them to wish for their parents’ death. Even then, children are still guilty if they steal from their parents and think everything their parents own is theirs to take by whatever means they can. The mother then cursed the one who had taken her money. It seems she suspected her son, because she cried out so loudly and with such anger that it made his ears ring. See how the love of money harms every close relationship. It made Micah disobedient and ungrateful toward his mother, and it made her harsh and lacking in natural love toward her son if she really did curse him.

When people lose outward things, good people are driven to prayer, but bad people are driven to curses. This woman’s silver was her god before it was ever turned into a carved or metal image. Otherwise, losing it would not have thrown her into such a rage that she forgot all decency and reverence. It is foolish for people, when angry, to throw around curses like a madman throwing firebrands, arrows, and death, because they do not know whom those curses may strike, even among those they love most.

Then Micah and his mother made peace. The son was so frightened by his mother’s curses that he returned the money. He had enough sense left not to keep what he had stolen once his mother sent a curse after it. He could not believe stolen money would profit him without his mother’s blessing, and he did not dare deny the theft when she charged him with it, or keep the money when the rightful owner demanded it. It is best not to do evil at all. But if evil has been done, the next best thing is to undo it through repentance, confession, and restitution. Children should fear having their parents’ prayers against them. A curse without cause does not come to rest, but a deserved curse may still be worth fearing, even if it was spoken in anger and badly.

The mother was so pleased with her son’s repentance that she took back her curses and turned them into a blessing for him: “Blessed be you by the Lord, my son.” When people who have done wrong honestly admit it, they should be praised for their repentance instead of being kept under constant reproach for the mistake they have already confessed.

Then Micah and his mother agreed to turn their money into a god and set up idolatry in their home. This seems to have been the first open turning away of any Israelite from God and his appointed worship after Joshua and the elders who outlived him died. That is why the story is told so fully here. Even though this was only the worship of the true God through an image, which broke the second commandment, it opened the door to the worship of other gods, Baals and sacred groves, which broke the first and greatest commandment.

Notice the mother’s plan. When the silver was returned, she pretended that she had dedicated it to the Lord (Judges 17:3). She may have meant that before it was stolen, in which case she wanted the loss to be understood as a sign that it was a devoted thing, and therefore cursed. Or she may have made a vow after it was stolen, promising that if she got it back, she would give it to God. Then she treated its return as proof that God had honored her vow. “Come,” she told her son, “the money is mine, but you want it. Let it belong to neither of us. We will use it to make an image for religious use.” If she had used it for true worship of God, that would have been a proper way to settle the matter. But as it was, the plan was wicked. This old woman was likely one of those who came out of Egypt, and she wanted the kind of images she had seen there. As she grew old and foolish, she remembered the errors of her youth, and perhaps told her son that this way of worshiping God with images was the old religion she had known.

The son agreed with her. It seems that when she first suggested it, he hesitated, because he knew the second commandment. When she said (Judges 17:3) she meant the silver for him to make an image, he gave it back to his mother, unwilling to help make the idol, and she gave it to the founder, who made it, perhaps blaming him for objecting (Judges 17:4). But once the images were made, Micah, persuaded by his mother, was not only content with them but pleased with them and fond of them. Idolatry has a strange power to charm people, especially when they are backed up by traditions passed down from their parents (1 Peter 1:18; Jeremiah 44:17).

Notice too how the old woman’s greed partly overcame her superstition. She had said the whole 1,100 pieces were dedicated to make the carved and metal images (Judges 17:3), but when the work was done she used much less, only 200 shekels (Judges 17:4). She thought that was enough, though it was still far too much to spend on an image that teaches lies. If it had truly been devoted to God’s honor, he would not have been satisfied with only part of the price. He would have shown his anger against the insult, as he did with Ananias and Sapphira.

Now we see the corruption that was introduced here (Judges 17:5). Micah had a house of gods, or a house of God, as the Septuagint says, because that is what he thought it was. In his mind it was as good as the house at Shiloh, and even better, because it was his own, made by his own ideas, and under his own control. People like to keep religion close and manage it as they please. The Chaldee calls it a house of error, and that is what it really was, a turning away from truth and an opening to deceit. Idolatry is a great fraud, and one of the worst errors there is. In the course of his idolatry, whether he meant it from the start or not, Micah tried to copy and compete with both God’s messages and God’s appointed worship.

He made teraphim, small images that he could consult when needed and from which he expected information, guidance, and predictions.

What the Urim and Thummim were for the prince and the people, these household gods, called teraphim, were meant to be for Micah’s family. But he could not really believe that the true God would approve them or answer through them. So he relied on the sort of spirits the pagans worshiped, hoping they would inspire him and make these objects useful.

In this way, while he still pretended to honor the Lord (Judges 17:3), he had already abandoned God’s appointed way, and these Israelites slipped into open idolatry and demon worship. Micah also set up his own religious system. He made room in his house for a kind of private shrine, provided an ephod, a sacred garment for his priest to wear, in imitation of the tabernacle, and he consecrated one of his sons, likely the oldest, to serve as his priest.

Once he had set up a carved or cast image to represent the thing he worshiped, it is no surprise that a priest of his own choosing, and from his own household, was assigned to manage it. The passage does not mention an altar, sacrifices, or incense offered to these silver gods, but once there was a priest, it is likely that these followed too. Perhaps at first Micah meant only to consult these gods, not actually worship them, like Laban’s household gods, but the start of idolatry is like opening a floodgate. Once the barrier is broken, ruin quickly follows, and idolatry spread here like a disease.

Dr. Lightfoot notes that 1,100 pieces of silver were used here to make an idol, which brought ruin to true religion, especially in the tribe of Dan, as we will soon see. He also notes that Samson, who came from the tribe of Dan, was later betrayed for 1,100 pieces of silver paid by each Philistine ruler. The root cause of this corruption was that there was no king in Israel, no judge or ruler to notice these images, which the nearby people would soon begin to visit, and to order them destroyed.

No one was there to convince Micah of his mistake, restrain him, or punish him. The problem was not dealt with early, so the infection spread. “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” and soon they were doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight. When they had no king to keep order, God’s house was neglected, his priests were ignored, and everything among them fell apart.

This shows what a great blessing good government is, and why we should pray for kings and all in authority, and also give thanks for them (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Under God, nothing does more to support religion in the world than the proper work of these two great offices, civil rule and ministry.