Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 17:4
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred [shekels] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
4. two hundred pieces of silver ] Because the whole sum was given to Jehovah it does not follow that the whole was wanted for the image. Elsewhere the founder is a maker of idols, Isa 40:19; Isa 41:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See Jdg 8:27, note; Gen 31:19, note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. A graven image and a molten image] What these images were, we cannot positively say; they were most probably some resemblance of matters belonging to the tabernacle. See below.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; though his mother allowed him to keep it, yet he persisted in his resolution to restore it, that she might dispose of it as she pleased; and did actually restore it, as was said before; and now confirms the former restitution, and therefore is twice said to restore it.
His mother took two hundred shekels of silver; reserving nine hundred shekels, either for the ephod and teraphim, or for other things relating to this worship, or for her own private use; being, it seems, cooled in her first zeal, and willing to have as cheap a religion as she could, as also her son Micah was, Jdg 17:10.
Who made thereof; made them, either first, of that matter; or secondly, for that money.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Yet he restored the money unto his mother,…. Gave it to her a second tithe, not as disapproving her idolatrous intention, as the sequel shows, but being desirous to be entirely free of it, and not have his mind disturbed with it as it had been, and that she might do with it as she thought fit:
and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image, and a molten image; the other nine hundred pieces she kept to herself, repenting of her vow, and being unwilling to part with so much money for such an use; or else they were laid out in an ephod, and teraphim, and what else were thought necessary for the idolatrous worship they were about to set up; though Kimchi is of opinion, that the two hundred shekels were what she gave the founder for making the images, and of the nine hundred the images were made; and indeed the images must be very small ones, if made out of two hundred shekels of silver only; some have thought there was but one image, called both molten and graven; because after the silver was melted, and cast into a mould, it was fashioned with a graving tool, as the golden calf was by Aaron; but they are manifestly distinguished and represented as two, Jud 18:17 and they were in the house of Micah; in an apartment in his house, peculiar for them, as appears by the next verse; here they were put and continued.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(4) Yet.Rather, And.
Two hundred shekels of silver.Bertheau supposes that these two hundred shekels were not apart of the eleven hundred, but the trespass-money of one-fifth, which by the law Micah had to pay for his theft (Lev. 5:24). But apart from the sum not being exact, no such impression is given by the narrative. It is left to be understood that the remaining nine hundred shekels were spent in other parts of the idolatrous worship. (It may be mentioned, by way of passing illustration, that when Sir John Hawle was murdered in Westminster Abbey, the 200 paid in penance by his murderers seem to have been expended upon the purchase of a costly image, which was placed in the Chapel of St. Erasmus.)
Gave them to the founder.An illustration of the folly which Isaiah pursues with such a storm of irony and contempt (Isa. 46:6-13). These peslm were originally of all sorts of materials (e.g., wood, brass, stone, and clay, Dan. 2:33; Dan. 5:23; Deu. 7:5; Deu. 12:3, &c.), but usually of metal (Isa. 40:19; Isa. 44:10, &c.), adorned with plates and chains of precious metal, and embroidered robes (Jer. 10:9; Eze. 16:18, &c.). (See Excursus I.: Calf-Worship. )
EXCURSUS ON NOTES TO JUDGES.
EXCURSUS I.ON Jdg. 17:4. (CALF-WORSHIP.)
IT may be regarded as certain, from the testimony of Scripture itself, that the calf of Aaron and those by which the rebel king
Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan,
Likening his Maker to the grazed ox,
were not idols in the ordinary sense of the word, but were intended as symbols of the one God. The calf-worship was a violation not of the first, but of the second commandment. The main element of the fourfold cherub was certainly an ox, as is clear from the comparison of Eze. 10:14 with Jdg. 1:7-8; and the knowledge of this cherubic emblem was not confined to the Jews, but was spread at least through all Semitic races. That the calf was intended to be an emblem of God seems to be the opinion of Josephus, who in such a matter would represent creditable Jewish traditions (Antt. viii. 8, 4). Aaron in proclaiming the feast at the inauguration of his golden calf distinctly calls it a feast to Jehovah (Exo. 32:5). It was the well-understood purpose of Jeroboam not to introduce a new worship, but to provide a convenient modification of the old; and it appears from 1Ki. 22:16 that the prophets of the calf-worship still regarded themselves, and were regarded, as the prophets of Jehovah; but the fate of Amos is sufficient to show that they must have sanctioned, or at least tolerated, the use of these unauthorised symbols, against which, so far as we are informed, not even Elijah or Elisha ever raised their voices, though the former was so implacable a foe to all idolatry, and the latter lived on terms of close friendship with at least one of the northern kings. (See the article Calf, by the present writer, in Smiths Dictionary of the Bible.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Two hundred shekels Less than one fifth of the eleven hundred shekels. What was done with the remaining nine hundred? They were probably used for making the ephod and teraphim mentioned in Jdg 17:5, and paying the founder who made all the images; for, according to Jdg 17:3, the silver was to be in some way wholly dedicated to the Lord. This mention of the founder, or smelter, indicates the knowledge at this time in Israel of the art of metallurgy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And on his restoring the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the smith, who made of it a graven image and a molten image. And it was in the house of Micah.’
At the mother’s request two hundred pieces of silver were turned into a graven image and a molten image. These were then placed in Micah’s house. It should be noted that she dedicated the silver to Yahweh for the purpose of making these two images. That did not necessarily involve the use of all of it, only what was required. Some further of it may however have been used to make the ephod and teraphim. (Such setting aside of things to Yahweh as ‘Corban’, with the use of part of it retained until death, certainly occurred later – Mar 7:11. It does not necessarily mean that she was cheating God of the remainder of the 1100 pieces).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
It is worthy our notice, that in the midst of this pretended piety, the woman allowed but 200 shekels of silver for this dunghill god to be made of; whereas she had said originally, that she intended the whole eleven hundred. Reader! depend upon it, the same spirit runs through all carnal minds, branching out only in different directions. Some under the government of one corrupt passion, and some under another; but once departed from God, all are out of the way.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 17:4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred [shekels] of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
Ver. 4. Yet he restored the money unto his mother. ] And so disburdened his conscience, which was grated upon by this guilt, worse than the kidneys are by gravel. I myself, saith a reverend divine, a knew one man that had wronged another but of five shillings, and fifty years after could not rest till he had restored it.
And gave them to the founder.
a Mr Burroughs.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
money = silver (Jdg 17:2).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
two hundred: Isa 46:6, Isa 46:7, Jer 10:9, Jer 10:10
Reciprocal: Gen 31:19 – images Exo 32:3 – General Exo 32:4 – These Jdg 18:17 – the graven 2Ch 22:3 – his mother Isa 30:22 – thy graven images of silver Isa 40:19 – General Isa 44:13 – that it may
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 17:4. Yet he restored the money to his mother Though she allowed him to keep it, he persisted in his resolution to restore it, that she might dispose of it as she pleased. His mother took two hundred shekels Reserving nine hundred either for the ephod, or teraphim, or other things relating to this worship.