Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 18:5
And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
5. Ask counsel of God ] i.e. by means of the ephod or sacred lot. To consult the divine will in this way was one of the special functions of the priesthood; see 1Sa 6:2; 1Sa 14:18 (RVm.), 1Sa 22:10, 1Sa 23:9-12 etc. So long as sacrificial acts were freely performed by laymen, the chief distinction of the priest doubtless lay in his qualification to give an oracle: W. R Smith, OTJC. , p. 292.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The sight of the ephod and teraphim suggested the notion of inquiring of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Ask counsel – of God] As the Danites use the word Elohim here for God, we are necessarily led to believe that they meant the true God; especially as the Levite answers, Jdg 18:6, Before the LORD ( Yehovah) is your way. Though the former word may be sometimes applied to idols, whom their votaries clothed with the attributes of God; yet the latter is never applied but to the true God alone. As the Danites succeeded according to the oracle delivered by the Levite, it is a strong presumption that the worship established by Micah was not of an idolatrous kind. It is really begging the question to assert, as many commentators have done, that the answer was either a trick of the Levite, or suggested by the devil; and that the success of the Danites was merely accidental. This is taking the thing by the worst handle, to support an hypothesis, and to serve a system. See the end of the preceding chapter. Jdg 17:13 (note)
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, to wit, by thine ephod, or teraphim, or images, which they knew he had, Jdg 18:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And they said unto him, ask counsel, we pray thee, of God,…. They did not reprove him for assuming the priestly office, when they knew he was a Levite, such was the corruption of those times, and the great depravity and declensions they were fallen into; nor even for the idolatry he was guilty of, but encourage him in it, and thought they had got a fine opportunity, which they readily laid hold on, to have counsel asked for them of God, about the success of the errand they were sent about; to this they were led at sight of the ephod, which was like that in the tabernacle, and of the teraphim, images which, according to a notion that prevailed, when consulted, foretold future things; whether by God they meant the true God, who they thought would give an answer by these, or Micah’s gods, is not certain; according to the Targum of Jonathan, they meant the true God, which paraphrases it,
“ask of the Word of the Lord:”
that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous or no; whether they should find out a proper place to dwell in, and be able to get possession of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) Ask counsel . . . of God.Doubtless Jonathan showed them the glittering ephod. There were no prophets of whom to inquire, as in 1Ki. 22:5; but their unauthorised inquiry was liable to the strong censure expressed in Isa. 30:1, Hos. 4:12. They might have at least consulted the high priest Phinehas, or some other national representative.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Ask counsel By means of the urim on the ephod which Micah had made for his sanctuary and priest. Jdg 17:5. It was a common custom in Israel thus to inquire of the Lord. Comp. Jdg 1:1; Jdg 20:18 ; 1Sa 23:1; 1Sa 4:9-12.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And they said to him, “Ask counsel, we pray you, of God, that we may know whether our way in which we go will be prosperous.” ’
When they heard what his position was they asked him to make enquiry of God on their behalf whether they would prosper in what they were trying to do. It is noteworthy that they accepted his position without demur. Such was the state of Israel’s response to the covenant and its stipulations at the time. Note also that they spoke of ‘God’. The writer would not use Yahweh because the venture they were on was contrary to the covenant.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 18:5. They said unto him, ask counsel, we pray thee, of God These two verses prove, what we have before observed on the 5th verse of the foregoing chapter, that this sanctuary of Micah was dedicated to the true God, and not to idols. Before the Lord is your way signifies you are under the immediate guidance and protection of the Lord; under his eye: an answer framed, no doubt, by the Levite, as we cannot conceive that he could, in such a case, have any answer from God. Strange folly! to ask direction of idols, when Shiloh was so nigh; and prefer an intruding self-made priest to the anointed of the Lord. Thus still the blind lead the blind, and the people love to have it so.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
And still advancing in iniquity, instead of recommending them to the God of their fathers, to give them the pretended oracle of a god of silver! Was there no God in Israel, that they should enquire of such a contemptible deity?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jdg 18:5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
Ver. 5. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God. ] Videntur non minus leves fuisse quam Levita ille, saith Lavater. These Danites were as wise as this wandering Levite; and hearing of a teraphim, would needs have an oracle.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ask counsel. By the use of the ephod. See Jdg 17:6.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4. Not Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Ask counsel: 1Ki 22:5, 2Ki 16:15, Isa 30:1, Eze 21:21, Hos 4:12, Act 8:10
of God: Jdg 18:14, Jdg 17:5, Jdg 17:13
Reciprocal: Gen 24:14 – thereby Jdg 17:3 – I had wholly