Judges 17:3

Jdg 17:3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred [shekels] of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

Ver. 3. And when he had restored.] Restore your ill-gotten goods, saith father Latimer, or else you will cough in hell, and the devil will laugh at you.

I had wholly dedicated the silver.] Many women are very superstitious. In the Papacy, sundry crosses graven in the pavements of their churches, have indulgences annexed for every time they are kissed: which is so often done, by the women especially, that hard marble is worn with it. {a}

To make a graven image.] To despite the Lord with seeming honours. A good intention here excused not. Men that would be approved in Christ, as Apelles was, {Rom 16:10} must "come to the light" of God’s word, "that it may be made manifest that their deeds are wrought in God." {Joh 3:21}

{a} Spec. Europ.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 17:3. I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord — The meaning seems to be, that when she had lost the money, she vowed, that if she recovered it, she would dedicate it to the Lord, and her superstitious ignorance made her conceive that she could do this in no better way than in laying it out in images of some kind to be made use of in his worship. In the Hebrew here, the word for Lord is Jehovah, the incommunicable name of the true God, whereby it is apparent that neither she nor her son intended to forsake the true God, but only to worship him by an image, which also the Israelites designed to do when they made the calf in the wilderness, (Exo 32:1,) and Jeroboam afterward. Hence this Micah rejoiced when he had got a priest of the Lord’s appointment. Their error lay in worshipping God according to their own fancies, and not as he had commanded. But this chapter and the following show that the Israelites were at this time fallen into a most deplorable and shameful ignorance of God and his law. For my son — For the benefit of thyself and family; that you need not be continually going to Shiloh to worship, but may do it at home. Therefore I will restore it unto thee — To dispose of it, as I say, in making an image.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Contrary to the commandment of God and true religion practiced under Joshua, they forsook the Lord and fell to idolatry.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

a graven image and a molten image--The one carved from a block of wood or stone, to be plated over with silver; the other, a figure formed of the solid metal cast into a mould. It is observable, however, that only two hundred shekels were given to the founder. Probably the expense of making two such figures of silver, with their appurtenances (pedestals, bases, &c.), might easily cost, in those days, two hundred shekels, which (at 2 shillings, 4 pence each, is about 23 pounds) would be a sum not adequate to the formation of large statues [TAYLOR, Fragments].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. I had wholly dedicated] From this it appears that Micah's mother, though she made a superstitious use of the money, had no idolatrous design, for she expressly says she had dedicated it ליהוה layhovah, to Jehovah; and this appears to have been the reason why she poured imprecations on him who had taken it.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) I had wholly dedicated the silver.—Literally, Consecrating, I consecrated—either, “I have now consecrated it” as a thanksgiving for its restoration, or “I had done so before it was stolen.”

For my son—i.e., for your benefit.

To make a graven image and a molten image.—Whether in the universal decadence of religion, the people, untaught by a careless priesthood, had become ignorant of the second commandment, or whether she justified her conduct by the same considerations which have been used even in the Christian Church in favour of image-worship, we cannot tell. The word used for a graven image is pesel, and for a molten image is massecah. They are the very words used in the curse against idolaters in Deu_27:15. Some suppose the two words to be used by Hendiadys (like “cups and gold” for “golden cups” ) to describe one silver image adorned with sculptured ornament. All that is clear is that the pesel is the more prominent, but the details are left quite vague. It is therefore impossible to determine whether the graven and molten image consisted of one or of two silver “calves,” like that of the wilderness, and those afterwards set up by Jeroboam at Dan and Bethel. This, however, was a form which the violation of the second commandment was constantly liable to take, and it probably involved much less blame than other violations of it—not, as is often stated, because the Israelites had become familiar with the worship of Apis and Mnevis in Egypt, but because the calf was a recognised cherubic emblem, and had consequently been deliberately sanctioned in the symbolism of the Temple. (See Exo_20:4; Exo_20:23; Exo_32:4-5; 1Ki_7:25, &c.) Some suppose that the massecah was the pedestal of the pesel, and that it was too heavy for the Danites to carry away, since it is not mentioned among the things which they seized.

Now therefore I will restore it unto thee.—Rather, for thee—in which case “I will restore it” may possibly mean “use it for its original purpose for thy advantage.” If not, a slight correction would give us the much simpler reading of the Syriac, “restore it to me.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. from my hand for my son] LXX. cod. A and Luc. reads from my hand alone, with a slight change in the Hebr.; i.e. the mother alone, the rightful owner, could carry out the vow; so Moore, Lagrange. But the emphasis on alone is not particularly required, and the text may be retained. Following the rearrangement above, the mother, not suspecting who the culprit is, consecrates her money for the benefit of her son.

a graven image and a molten image] According to etymology the one (pesel) was carved out of stone or wood, the other (massçkah) cast in metal; elsewhere both are named together to denote idols of any kind (Deu_27:15, Isa_42:17); and in usage the etymological distinction was not always observed, a pesel, for example, could be cast in gold and silver (Isa_40:19; Isa_44:10). In the present narrative the two words are combined, as though two images were meant; but Jdg_17:4 end and Jdg_18:20 refer to only one pesel in Micah’s house, the one which was afterwards set up at Dan, Jdg_18:30-31. Probably, therefore, we must take and a molten image as an explanatory addition inserted here and in Jdg_17:4, Jdg_18:14; Jdg_18:17-18 by a scribe who thought that the silver and the founder in Jdg_17:4 necessarily implied a massçkah.

The pesel here must have been an image of Jehovah, for it was made of silver which had been consecrated to Him; and the writer, so far from expressing an objection to the thing, records the making of it as a pious act. Throughout the early period images were used in the worship of Jehovah. Golden bull-calves symbolized Jehovah at Dan and Beth-el, 1Ki_12:28, cf. Exo_32:4; the prohibition of molten gods (massçkah) in the ancient code Exo_34:17 J may be aimed at these. It was not till the viiith century that the prophets began to oppose the use of images (Hos_10:5; Hos_10:8; Hos_13:2, Amo_8:14); and in agreement with the prophets, the Decalogue forbids an image (pesel) of any kind, Exo_20:4 E = Deu_5:8. But while images of Jehovah existed in the various local shrines, we hear of none at Shiloh (Jdg_18:31) and Jerusalem, where the ark was kept; these sanctuaries had a different character, and probably maintained a higher type of worship.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother,.... The whole sum, having embezzled none of it:

his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand, for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; this she had done either before it was stolen, and it troubled her the more, and caused her the rather to curse the man that had taken it; or after it was stolen, that if it should be recovered again she would appropriate it to such an use; so Abarbinel; and by the Lord, or Jehovah, she doubtless meant the true God; for she had no intention to forsake him, but to worship him in and by these images, and which she designed for the use of her son and his family, that they might not go so far as Shiloh to worship at the tabernacle there:

therefore I will restore it unto thee; for that use, and so gave him the money again, to be laid out in images, or to make images of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Such a superstitious and unlawful mode of worshipping Yahweh is quite of a piece with Jdg 8:27; Jdg 11:31; 1Ki 12:28, etc. It argues but slight acquaintance with the Ten Commandments, which, from the ignorance of reading and writing, were probably not familiar to the Israelites in those unsettled times. The mother intimates that the consecration of the silver was for the benefit of her son and his house, not for her own selfish advantage: and that she adheres to her original design of consecrating this silver for her son’s benefit.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

God. Hebrew pesel umaseca. The word thing, would perhaps be as well substituted, as (Haydock) all are not convinced that the woman was guilty of idolatry. (Cajetan) --- The same figure might be both graven and molten. The image was first carved, and then covered with plates of gold, &c., in the more ancient times. (Calmet) --- There might be two figures made by Michas. (Salien) --- The Theraphim denote "images which foretel what is to happen." (Rabbins; Tirinus) --- But this is not always the case. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Lord; in the Hebrew it is Jehovah, the incommunicable name of God; whereby it is apparent that neither she nor her son intended to forsake the true God or his worship; as appears from his rejoicing when he had got a priest of the Lord’s appointment, of the tribe of Levi, Jdg 17:13; but only to worship God by an image; which also it is apparent that both the Israelites, Exo 32:1, &c., and Jeroboam afterwards, designed to do.

For my son; either, first, For the honour and benefit of thyself and family; that you need not be continually going to Shiloh to worship, but may do it as well at home by these images. Or, secondly, That thou mayst cause these things to be made; to which end she restored all the money to him, as it here follows.

A graven image and a molten image; many think this was but one image, partly graven, and partly molten. But it seems more probable that they were two distinct images, because they are so plainly distinguished, Jdg 18:17,18, where also some other words come between them. It is true, the graven image alone is mentioned, Jdg 18:20,30,31, not exclusively to the other, as appears from what is said just before; but by a common synecdoche, whereby one is put for all, especially where that one is esteemed the chief.

I will restore it unto thee to dispose of, as I say.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. I had wholly dedicated — Rather, I have wholly dedicated. Her purpose to sanctify the silver unto the Lord seems to have originated with the pleasure with which she received it from the hand of her son.

Graven image and a molten image — The former was carved out of either metal or wood, the latter cast or poured; but the difference of form or make between the two is hard to determine. Keil conjectures that the graven image was an image of a bull, like the golden calf at Sinai. But these images were not meant for idols to be worshipped, though they naturally led to idolatry. They seem to have been looked upon as household or tutelary gods, not to be worshipped as gods, yet to be reverenced as talismans. This act of Micah and his mother was, however, a coming nearer to idolatry than the act of Gideon in setting up his famous ephod in Ophrah, and yet this home idolatry of Micah may have been a consequence of Gideon’s wrong example. Compare note on Jdg_8:27.

Now therefore I will restore — Rather, and now I restore it to thee, that is, for the purpose of making images to place in Micah’s house of gods. Jdg_17:5.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I had wholly dedicated. It is not clear whether the words are to be rendered as in the A.V, had dedicated, expressing the dedication of them before they were stolen, or whether they merely express her present purpose so to dedicate them. But the A.V makes very good sense. Her former purpose had been that the money should be given for her son"s benefit to make his house a house of gods. Now that he had confessed, she resumed her purpose. Now therefore I restore it unto thee that is, in the shape of the graven and molten images, as it follows in the next verse. The narrative gives a curious example of the semi-idolatry of the times. A graven image and a molten image. There is a good deal of difficulty in assigning the exact meaning of the two words here used, and their relation to one another in the worship to which they belong. The molten image (massechah), however, seems to be pretty certainly the metal, here the silver, image of a calf, the form which the corrupt worship of Jehovah took from the time when Aaron made the molten calf Exo_32:4, called there egel massechah, a molten calf) to the time when Jeroboam set up the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. (1Ki_12:28, 1Ki_12:29) And that massechah means something molten is certain both from its etymology (nasach, to pour) and from what Aaron said in Exo_32:24: "I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf." Here too Micah"s mother gives the silver to the founder, i.e. to the fuser of metals. The pesel, or graven image, on the other hand, is something hewn or graven, whether in wood or stone, and sometimes overlaid with gold and silver. (Deu_7:25) One might have thought, from the language of ver. 4, and from the mention of the pesel alone in Jud_1:18:30, 31, that only one image is here intended, which was graven with the chisel after it was cast, as Aaron"s calf seems to have been. But in Jud_1:18:17, 18 they are mentioned separately, with the ephod and teraphim named between them, so that they must be distinct. From the above passages the pesel or graven image would seem to have been the most important object, and the difficulty is to assign the true relation of the massechah or molten image to it. Hengstenberg thinks the massechah was a pedestal on which the pesel stood, and that the ephod was the robe with which the pesel was clothed, and that the teraphim were certain tokens or emblems attached to the ephod which gave oracular answers. But this is not much more than guess-work. Berthean considers the ephod, here as elsewhere, to be the priest"s garment, put on when performing the most solemn services, and specially when seeking an answer from God. And he thinks that the massechah formed a part of the ornament of the ephod, because in Jud_1:18:18 the Hebrew has "the pesel of the ephod." The teraphin he thinks are idols, a kind of Dii minores associated with the worship of Jehovah in this impure worship. But there does not seem to be any means at present of arriving at any certainty. The massechah might be a rich gold or silver overlaying of the wooden image, possibly movable, or it might be the separate image of a calf supposed to belong, as it were, to the pesel, and to symbolise the attributes of the Godhead.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord - In the Hebrew it is, Jehovah, the incommunicable name of God. Whereby it is apparent, that neither she, nor her son, intended to forsake the true God; as appears from his rejoicing when he had got a priest of the Lord's appointment, but only to worship God by an image; which also both the Israelites, Exod. xxxii, 1, &c. and Jeroboam afterwards, designed to do. For my son - For the benefit of thyself and family; that you need not be continually going to Shiloh to worship, but may do it at home. To thee - To dispose of, as I say.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

1,100 pieces

"one thousand one hundred" (See: Numbers)

set apart

This means to dedicate something to a specific purpose. AT: "dedicate" (See: Idiom)

cast metal

metal that has been melted and poured into a mold to form a special shape

I restore it to you

"I give it back to you"

two hundred pieces of silver

"200 pieces of silver" (See: Numbers)

they were placed in the house of Micah

The word "they" refers to the metal figures. This may be stated in active form. AT: "Micah placed them in his house" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

restore

silver

Yahweh

son

works

house

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

He returned the eleven hundred silver pieces to his mother. He verbalized his intent to return it to her, hence, wherever it was, it reverted to her possession.

I expressly consecrated the silver, from my hand to my son's. I resolved to deliver it from my hand to yours for the purpose of making an image and a molten figure. Give it to me now, so that I may return it from my hand to you. Some say that this woman was Delilah, since Scripture specifies eleven hundred pieces of silver. However, they are in error, as Michah preceded Shimshon by many years. But the episodes are juxtaposed because of the corrupt silver, which was of equal value in each of the incidents. The silver inflicted injury in both cases.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.