Verse 13:[1] Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
[Now I know that God will bless me, etc.] Now I know that I am going to be blessed before the Lord (Vatablus). Now God, says he, will increase my substance: indeed, many were going to come to these sacred rites, and he was going to be a sharer in all the oblations; and thus this wretch thinks profit to be piety (Martyr). God will bless, etc. O most false hope! O most brutish confidence! Certainly the contrary is rather to be dreaded. For the sins here were most grievous: 1. idolatry; 2. the invitation of this young man to this; 3. the threefold violation of the priesthood. For, 1. a Levite that was not of the stock of Aaron was not competent for the priesthood. 2. An Ephraimite was not able to consecrate a priest. 3. The transfer of the priesthood to the worship of idols. So that it might seem strange that Moncæius in Concerning the Golden Calf 1:19 wrote that the Ephod and the Teraphim were the cause of Micah’s more prosperous fortune and profit. Nay indeed, what, except Divine vengeance and the most grievous punishments, was able to be owed to Micah? But the clear beginning of this we have in the following chapter (Serarius). Micah expects prosperity, not from the true God, but from the very idol that he had set up for worship, and for which he had initiated this priesthood (Bonfrerius).
Now know I, etc.: I am assured God will bless me. So blind and grossly partial he was in his judgment, to think that one right circumstance would answer for all his substantial errors, in making and worshipping images against God’s express command, in worshipping God in a forbidden place, and in that he, being an Ephraimite, presumed to make a priest, etc.
[1] Hebrew: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מִיכָ֔ה עַתָּ֣ה יָדַ֔עְתִּי כִּֽי־יֵיטִ֥יב יְהוָ֖ה לִ֑י כִּ֧י הָיָה־לִ֛י הַלֵּוִ֖י לְכֹהֵֽן׃
Thomas Manton's "A Description of True Circumcision": 'Man is a proud creature, and would fain establish his own righteousness, and have somewhat wherein to glory in himself, Romans 10:3. A russet coat of our own is better than a silken garment that is borrowed of another: Luke 18:9, "Christ spake this parable against those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous." There is such a disposition in men, that if by any means they can hold up a pretence of righteousness of their own, will not pray, and wait, and consecrate, and devote themselves to God, that they may attain his righteousness, if they have anything to plead, if they have a partial righteousness, if they be not t…
Archibald Hall's Gospel Worship: 'Beware of carnal security. Nothing is more hurtful than security and indolence, and yet nothing is more common among Christians. We cannot be enough on our guard against its advances, because they are extremely insinuating and plausible. There is no duty more frequently recommended in the book of God, than watchfulness. To affect our minds with just apprehensions of its nature, and with a proper attention to the obligation and practice of it, our Lord spake many parables: but, instead of observing these, how naturally do we imitate Micah, who said, "Now know I the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest," Judges 17:13. But when he was saying tha…
Matthew Henry: 'Micah's satisfaction in this (Judges 17:13): Now know I that the Lord will do me good (that is, he hoped that his new establishment would gain reputation among his neighbours, which would turn to his advantage, for he would share in the profit of his altar; or, rather, he hoped that God would countenance and bless him in all he put his hand unto) because I have a Levite to be my priest. 1. He thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images that he had so opportunely sent a Levite to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands tha…
Hebrew: Simple exercise today.