EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)
(5)
Had an house of gods.—The Hebrew is
Beth Elohim,which may mean equally well “a house of God” (Vulg.,
œdiculam Deo,and so too the LXX.). It is quite clear that Micah did not abandon the worship of God under the names of Jehovah and Elohim, by which He was known to the Israelites. How he coordinated this worship with his grossly idolatrous symbols, or whom those symbols were intended to represent, it is impossible to say. The fact remains that in the Beth-Micah we find “a house of gods”—“whole chapel of idols”—consecrated to Jehovah as a pious act (
Judges 17:2;
Judges 17:5;
Judges 17:13;
Judges 18:6).
An ephod.—No doubt the ephod was nothing more than a gorgeous priestly garment, though possibly it may have been used for oracular purposes. (SeeJudges 8:27.)
And teraphim.—These were Syrian images (Genesis 31:19), the use of which among the Israelites seems to have lasted for a long period, until it was put down by King Josiah in his great reformation (2Kings 23:34;Ezekiel 21:26;Hosea 3:4;Zechariah 10:2). I have entered upon the interesting question of the use of Teraphim in an article on the subject inKitto’s Cyclopœdia.(SeeExcursus II: Teraphim.)
Consecrated.—The curious Hebrew phrase is “filled the hand” (seeExodus 28:41;Exodus 29:24;Leviticus 7:37),i.e.,gave him the office by putting certain offerings in his hands. It is ratherinstalledthan “consecrated.”
EXCURSUS II.—ONJudges 17:5. (TERAPHIM.)
THE Hebrew wordTeraphimis always simply transliterated as in our version, or rendered by “images,” with “teraphim” in the margin, except in1Samuel 15:23,Zechariah 10:2, where it is represented by “idolatry,” “idols.” The singular of the word, “a teraph,” does not occur in Scripture, although it is clear that only one can have been put into David’s bed (1Samuel 19:13-16). The LXX. adopt many different renderings, as does the Vulg., but they all point to idolatrous images or the implements of necromancy, as do the two renderings of the Targums, images and (Hosea 3:4) “announcers.”
1. Teraphim are first mentioned inGenesis 31:19, where Rachel steals her father’s “images,” and successfully hides them from his search under thehiranon which she was sitting—the coarse carpet used to cover the wicker-work pack-saddle of her camel. Josephus supposes that she was actuated by idolatrous reverence; Iben Ezra that she expected oracular guidance from them; others that she stole them because of their intrinsic value. She probably shared the superstitions of her father, and regarded them as sacred (Genesis 30:14;Genesis 31:30), as being the figures of ancestral divinities (Genesis 31:53). It is not impossible that they were among the “strange gods” which Jacob ordered his family to bury under “the sorcerer’s oak”—Allon Meonenim (Judges 9:37). But that Jacob’s right feeling in the matter was not permanent is proved only too clearly by the conduct of Micah (Judges 17:5) and the Danites (Judges 18:3), although, unlike Jeroboam, they could not even plead the poor palliation of political motives.
2. The next definite notice of teraphim occurs in1Samuel 19:13-16, where Michal, in the dark eastern chamber, conceals her husband’s absence by putting the teraphim in his bed, with a bolster of goat’s hair for a pillow. The use of the article shows that even in David’s family the use of the “teraphim” was perfectly well known. Nor can we rely on the vague conjecture of Thenius, that barren women (Rachel and Michal) were especially addicted to their worship, or on that of Michaelis, that Michal may have possessed them unknown to David. The passage seems to show that they had at least some rude resemblance to the human shape, whence Aquila renders the word by protomai (“busts”), which is used of figures like the ancient Hermae. This is not the place to enter into the curious reading of the LXX. on this verse, by which they seem to connect the worship of teraphim with what the ancients called extispicium—i.e., divination by means of the liver of sacrifices, as inEzekiel 21:21. Josephus follows the same reading, and dishonestly suppresses all mention of the teraphim.
3. The next important passage isHosea 3:4, where the primâ facie view of every unbiassed reader would be that the “image” (matsêbah) and the teraphim are mentioned without blame as ordinary adjuncts to religious worship. Hence, perhaps, arose the notion that the teraphim were in some way connected with the Urim and Thummim, which led to the rendering of the word in this passage byδήλοι (LXX., “bright gems”), and byφωτισμούς (“enlightenments,” Aquila), and by “implements of priestly dress” (St. Jerome). This is the theory maintained most unconvincingly, though with great learning, by Spencer in hisDe Legibus Hebrœ-orum,lib. 3, pp. 920-1038.
But if these passages show that even in religious families teraphim were sometimes tolerated as material adjuncts to an Elohistic worship, on the other hand we find them unequivocally condemned by Samuel (1Samuel 15:23), by Josiah (2Kings 23:24), and by the prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 10:2 ); and inEzekiel 21:21 the use of them, is attributed to the heathen Nebuchadnezzar.
The general inference seems to be that the use of the teraphim involved a violation of the second commandment, but that this use of symbols, thismonotheistic idolatry,which is very different from polytheism, arises from a tendency very deeply ingrained in human nature, and which it took many years to eradicate. If centuries elapsed before the Jews were cured of their propensity to worship “other gods,”we can feel no surprise that “image worship” continued to linger among them, in spite of the condemnation of it by the stricter prophets. The calf-worship, the toleration of teraphim and consecrated stones (baetylia) and high places, the offering of incense to the brazen serpent, the glimpses of grave irregularities even in the worship of the sanctuary, show that it was only by centuries of misfortune and a succession of prophets that Israel was at last educated into the spiritual worship of the true God.
The reader will find further remarks on this subject in the article on “Teraphim,” by the present writer, in Kitto’sBiblical Cyclopœdia.
Jdg 17:5.
The man Micah had a house of gods —The Hebrew
בית אלהים,
Beth Elohim,may more properly be translated
a house of God;that is, he had made, or at least intended to make, in his own dwelling, an imitation of the house of God in Shiloh.
And teraphim —A sort of images so called.
And consecrated one of his sons —Because the Levites, in that corrupt state of the church, neglected the exercise of their office, and therefore they were neglected by the people, and others put into their employments.
17:1-6 What is related in this, and the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua: see chap. Jud 20:28. That it might appear how happy the nation was under the Judges, here is showed how unhappy they were when there was no Judge. The love of money made Micah so undutiful to his mother as to rob her, and made her so unkind to her son, as to curse him. Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses. This woman's silver was her god, before it was made into a graven or a molten image. Micah and his mother agreed to turn their money into a god, and set up idol worship in their family. See the cause of this corruption. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and then they soon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
See
Judges 8:27, note;
Genesis 31:19, note.
5. the man Micah had an house of gods—Hebrew, "a house of God"—a domestic chapel, a private religious establishment of his own.
an ephod—(see on [224]Ex 28:6).
teraphim—tutelary gods of the household (see Ge 31:19 and see on [225]Ge 31:26).
consecrated one of his sons who became his priest—The assumption of the priestly office by any one out of the family of Aaron was a direct violation of the divine law (Nu 3:10; 16:17; De 21:5; Heb 5:4).
An house of gods, i.e. an house or place consecrated for the service of God in this manner.
An ephod; an eminent part of the priestly garments,
Exodus 28:4, which, some think, is here put for all of them.
Teraphim; some sort of images so called, of which see
Genesis 31:19Hosea 3:4.
Who became his priest; because the Levites in that corrupt estate of the church neglected the exercise of their office, and therefore were neglected by the people, and others put into their employment. But this kind of priesthood was condemned,
Numbers 16:40 18:2,7.
And the man Micah had an house of gods,.... Having two images in it, besides teraphim, which were a sort of idols; and the Targum is, an house of images, or idols; though it may be rendered "an house of God"; a temple, a place for religious worship:
and made an ephod; a priestly garment, a linen one very probably, not so rich an one with a breastplate to it as the high priest had, which was very costly. Ben Melech interprets it a girdle, and there was a curious girdle of the ephod, with which it was girt; this may be here put for the rest of the priestly garments which Micah provided:
and teraphim; which were a sort of household gods, like the Lares and Penates of the Romans, and by which consultations were made; See Gill onHosea 3:3,Hosea 3:4,Zechariah 10:2 Micah proposed to have an oracle in his house, whereby he might consult the Lord about future things, and not be at the trouble of going to the tabernacle, and consult there by Urim and Thummim; and the same some take the teraphim to be:
and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest; or, "filled the hand" (k) of one of them; that is, with offerings, as Ben Melech interprets it; in which way priests were initiated, and consecrated to their office; seeExodus 28:41 or, as Kimchi expresses it, he offered his offerings by the hand of one of his sons, and appointed him to be a priest, very probably his eldest son.
(k) "et implevit manum", Montanus, V. L.
And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an{c} ephod, and{d} teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.(c) He would serve both God and idols.
(d) By Teraphim some understand certain idols, having the likeness of a man, but others understand by it all manner of things and instruments belonging to those who sought an answer at God's hands, as in Jud 18:5,6.
