Judges 17:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.”

NIV: Micah asked him, 'Where are you from?' 'I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,' he said, 'and I'm looking for a place to stay.'

NASB: Micah said to him, 'Where do you come from?' And he said to him, 'I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I may find a place.'

CSB: "Where do you come from? " Micah asked him.He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to stay wherever I can find a place."

NLT: Where are you from?' Micah asked him. He replied, 'I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.'

KJV: And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

NKJV: And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.”

A young Levite is wandering the land of Israel, looking for a place to settle (Judges 17:7–8). Because of his tribe, this young man could have been assigned to priestly service to Yahweh in Shiloh. He could have been living in any of the designated Levite cities throughout Israel (Joshua 21). Or, more ambiguously, the law allowed for Levites to settle wherever the Lord led them (Deuteronomy 18:6–8).

This man seems to be still seeking that place. His wandering has brought him to the hill country of Ephraim. There, he comes across the home of Micah (Judges 17:1–5). This was the family introduced in the earlier passage, who managed to break most of the Ten Commandments in short order. Micah asks where the young man is from. He answers that he is unattached, unemployed, and seeking a new place to settle.

Judges 17:7–13 continues the story of Micah (Judges 17:1–2). He exemplifies Israel's careless, senseless attitude towards God near the end of the era of the judges (Judges 2:16–19). Micah hires a traveling Levite man to be his personal priest. He is convinced that employing an authentic Levite will bring prosperity from the Lord.

A man named Micah overhears his mother speaking a curse on whoever stole a hefty sum of money from her. He confesses that it was him so she attempts to replace her curse with a blessing from God. She has a carved religious object made from the silver for Micah, which he puts in his household shrine full of other idols and relics. A young Levite man comes to Micah's house, and Micah hires him as the personal family priest, convinced God will prosper him because of it. This demonstrates Israel's lack of spiritual commitment during the era of the judges.

Judges 17 marks a new direction for the book. Having completed the stories of the judges themselves, the focus shifts to everyday Israelites. A man confesses to stealing from his mother, and she donates the silver to make an idol. The man puts this in a shrine in his house along with other religious objects. He hires a Levite to be the family priest, which he assumes will guarantee blessings from God. The same priest will willingly leave with a group of raiders from the tribe of Dan (Judges 18). This leads to one the Bible's most disturbing stories, involving an abused woman whose fate sparks a civil war within Israel (Judges 19—20).

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).