Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 18:17
And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, [and] came in thither, [and] took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men [that were] appointed with weapons of war.
17. and came in molten image ] Again, the clumsy and irregular construction as well as the contents of the clause shew that it is not original; a doublet from Jdg 18:18; lit. they came in thither, they took; the RV. inserts and twice.
and the priest with the six hundred ] The text seems to say that, while the spies went up to Micah’s house, the priest and the 600 armed men stood at the entrance of the village. In Jdg 18:18-19, however, the priest is not at the entrance of the village, but at the door of the house; with the six hundred etc. should rather be and the six hundred men girt with weapons of war , an unfinished sentence without a verb. It is impossible to recover the original form of the text here. The general sense intended may be this: while the 600 warriors stood at the entrance of the village, the five spies went up to Micah’s house, were confronted by the priest, and, silencing his expostulations, plundered the sanctuary.
by the entering of the gate ] Always of the gate of a city (e.g. Jdg 9:35; Jdg 9:44, Jos 8:29; Jos 20:4 etc.), not the door of a house. The use of the expression here implies at least a group of houses, such as a farm, or a village.
The LXX. cod. B has a brief equivalent for Jdg 18:17, ‘and the five men who went to spy out the land went up, ( Jdg 18:18) and entered into Micaiah’s house, and the priest was standing [there]; and they fetched’ etc. It is doubtful, however, whether this can be taken to represent the original text.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The five went back to Micahs chapel (Micahs house, Jdg 18:18) and took the ephod, teraphim, etc., and brought them to the gate where the priest was talking to the 600 men.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Come in thither, to wit, into the house, and that part of it where those things were.
In the entering of the gate; whither they had drawn him forth that they might without noise or hinderance take them away.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the five men that went out to spy the land went up and came thither,…. They first came to Micah’s house, and saluted the young man, and after that salutation told him there was such a number of their brethren at the gate of the city, very probably, who would be glad to see him; and the young man being desirous also of seeing them, and paying his respects to them, went with them thither, and after they had introduced him, left him discoursing with them, and then returned to his apartment:
and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and brought them away with them; and from hence it appears plainly that there were two images, the one graven, and the other molten, since they are so manifestly distinguished, and the ephod and teraphim are spoken of between them:
and the priest stood in the entering of the gate, with the six hundred men that were appointed with the weapons of war; who kept him in talk, while the five men went and stole the above things.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Then the five spies went up, sc., into Micah’s house of God, which must therefore have been in an upper room of the building (see 2Ki 23:12; Jer 19:13), and took the image, ephod, etc., whilst the priest stood before the door with the 600 armed men. With the words the narrative passes from the aorist or historical tense into the perfect. “The perfects do not denote the coming and taking on the part of the five men as a continuation of the previous account, but place the coming and taking in the same sphere of time as that to which the following clause, ‘and the priest stood,’ etc., belongs” ( Bertheau). But in order to explain what appears very surprising, viz., that the priest should have stood before the gate whilst his house of God was being robbed, the course which the affair took is explained more clearly afterwards in Jdg 18:18, Jdg 18:19, in the form of a circumstantial clause. Consequently the verbs in these verses ought to be rendered as pluperfects, and the different clauses comprised in one period, Jdg 18:18 forming the protasis, and Jdg 18:19 the apodosis. “ Namely, when those (five) men had come into Micah’s house, and had taken the image of the ephod, etc., and the priest had said to them, What are ye doing? they had said to him, Be silent, lay thy hand upon thy mouth and go with us, and become a father and priest to us (see Jdg 17:10). Is it better to be a priest to the house of a single man, or to a tribe and family in Israel? ” The combination (the ephod-pesel), i.e., the image belonging to the ephod, may be explained on the ground, that the use of the ephod as a means of ascertaining the will of God presupposes the existence of an image of Jehovah, and does not prove that the ephod served as a covering for the Pesel . The priest put on the ephod when he was about to inquire of God. The in the second question is different from , and signifies “or rather” (see Gen 24:55), indicating an improvement upon the first question (see Ewald, 352, a.). Consequently it is not a sign of a later usage of speech, as Bertheau supposes. The word (unto a family) serves as a more minute definition or limitation of (to a tribe).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
17. Went up, and came in thither That is, in Micah’s sanctuary. The images, etc., seem to have been kept in an upper chamber. Comp. 2Ki 23:12; Jer 19:13.
The priest stood in the gate Having saluted him, (Jdg 18:15,) the six hundred detained him at the door while the five spies brought out the sacred images and the ephod.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And the five men who went out to spy the land went up and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, and the priest stood in the entering of the gate, with the six hundred men who were armed with the weapons of war.’
The five men then went up to the house of God and entered it and stole the ephod, the teraphim, the graven image and the molten image. Meanwhile the priest stood at the gate with the six hundred. The five men had taken him and introduced him to the leaders of the six hundred and they had detained him there talking. He probably thought that the five were going up to worship or to thank God for his good oracle.
It is significant that the Danites do not appear to have had their own means of worship. This would confirm that they used the central sanctuary. But now they were going north, outside the promised land, and felt that they would need their own sanctuary. This would seem to confirm that, while non-orthodox, these religious objects of Micah’s were compatible with Yahwism.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 18:17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, [and] came in thither, [and] took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men [that were] appointed with weapons of war.
Ver. 17. And took the graven image, &c. ] Not out of any hatred of idolatry – as neither did Cambyses when he destroyed the Egyptian idols, nor Dionysius when he spoiled the temple of Jupiter – but to set up those monuments elsewhere, in case they should prosper in their expedition.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
five men: Jdg 18:2, Jdg 18:14
the graven: Jdg 6:31, Jdg 17:4, Jdg 17:5, Exo 32:20, 1Sa 4:11, 1Sa 6:2-9, 2Ki 19:18, 2Ki 19:19, Isa 46:1, Isa 46:2, Isa 46:7
Reciprocal: Jos 2:1 – to spy secretly Jdg 8:27 – an ephod 1Sa 19:13 – an image 2Ki 23:24 – images Isa 41:7 – goldsmith Hos 3:4 – without teraphim
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 18:17-19. The five men came in thither Into the house and that part of it where the things were. The priest stood in the gate Whither they had drawn him forth, that they might without noise or hinderance take the things away. And these went into Micahs house Namely, the five men, to whom when they were fetching out the image, &c., the priest said, What do ye? And they said, Lay thy hand upon thy mouth That is, be silent. A priest unto a tribe and a family A tribe or family.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18:17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, [and] came in thither, [and] took the {g} graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men [that were] appointed with weapons of war.
(g) Superstition blinded them so that they thought God’s power was in the idols, and that they would have good success because of them, though they took them away by robbery and violence.