Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Second Part of the Book
This is the second part of the book, in which, after the deeds of Samson and the Judges, certain other histories that occurred at the same time are added — namely: chapter XVII, the wicked idolatry in the tribe of Ephraim; chapter XVIII, the expedition of the Danites and the capture of the city of Laish, and their fall into idolatry; chapter XIX, the outrage of the tribe of Benjamin; chapter XX, the destruction of the same; chapter XXI, the restoration of the same.
The author wished to narrate these in their order beforehand and to relegate the long narrative of the following five chapters to the end of the book. So Lyranus, Abulensis, Salianus, the Carthusian, and others.
Synopsis of the Chapter
The mother of Micah gives two hundred silver pieces for making an idol; therefore Micah made an Ephod and Teraphim, and made one of his sons a priest. Then, at verse 7, receiving a wandering Levite into his house, he appointed him priest of his idol.
Vulgate Text: Judges 17:1-13
1. There was at that time a certain man from Mount Ephraim named Micah, 2. who said to his mother: The eleven hundred silver pieces that you had set apart for yourself, and about which you swore in my hearing — behold, I have them, and they are with me. And she answered: Blessed be my son by the Lord. 3. He therefore returned them to his mother, who had said to him: I have consecrated and vowed this silver to the Lord, that my son may receive it from my hand and make a graven image and a molten image; and now I give it to you. 4. He therefore returned them to his mother, who took two hundred silver pieces and gave them to a silversmith to make from them a graven image and a molten image, which was in the house of Micah. 5. He also set apart a small shrine in it for God, and made an ephod and teraphim, that is, a priestly garment and idols; and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he became his priest. 6. In those days there was no king in Israel, but each one did what seemed right to him. 7. There was also another young man from Bethlehem of Judah, from his kinship, and he was himself a Levite and lived there. 8. He left the city of Bethlehem and wished to sojourn wherever he might find it convenient. And when he had come to Mount Ephraim on his journey and turned aside briefly to the house of Micah, 9. he was asked by him where he had come from. He answered: I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah, and I am going to live wherever I can and find it useful for me. 10. And Micah said: Stay with me and be a father and priest to me, and I will give you ten silver pieces per year, and a double suit of clothes, and what is necessary for sustenance. 11. He agreed and stayed with the man, and was to him as one of his sons. 12. And Micah filled his hand, and had the young man as priest with him. 13. Now I know, he said, that God will be good to me, since I have a priest of Levitical descent.
Verse 1: A Man from Mount Ephraim Named Micah
"At that time" — that is, when the events recorded in this Book of Judges took place, which were the primary subject matter of this book.
One may ask when the events recounted in the following chapters occurred. Serarius, Question XIV, answers that they occurred shortly after the death of Samson, before Eli succeeded him, as they are placed here. But others commonly think they occurred before the time of the Judges, shortly after the death of Joshua, while Caleb was still living, and the elders who were his contemporaries — as is gathered from chapter XX, 27, where it is said these things happened during the lifetime of Phinehas the High Priest, who was the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron, and nearly contemporary with Joshua. And at chapter XVIII, 30, a priest Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Moses, is said to have been consecrated. And from the fact that Jerusalem had not yet been conquered by the Hebrews at that time, although it is recorded as conquered at Judges I, 8, as is clear from chapter XIX, 11. So Abulensis, Questions I and XVI; Lyranus; Masius on Joshua chapter XIX, 47; Ribera on Hosea chapter X; and others. The Rabbis disagree among themselves. For some think these things happened while Joshua was still alive but languishing with old age and not resisting the idolaters; others, like Rashi and Seder Olam, place these events under Othniel; others under Ehud, the second Judge. But it is more correct that these things happened shortly before Othniel — namely, shortly after the death of Caleb and the Elders, who according to Joshua, last chapter, verse 31, are said to have lived a long time after Joshua, that is, fifteen years, or according to Salianus, seventeen. For had they lived, they would not have permitted public idolatry to be introduced into Israel. Hence under them Israel is said to have served God; but when they died, idolatry crept in, whose origin and introduction is described here. On account of which God immediately sent against Israel Cushan, king of Mesopotamia, to afflict them. Whence Israel, afflicted and repentant, returned from idols to God, and God sent Othniel, the first Judge, who freed them from the servitude of Cushan, as was said at chapter III, verse 8. Moreover, the Danites sought new territories in Laish, chapter XVIII, because they were being pressed by the Amorites in the mountains, while the tribe of Judah under Caleb and the other tribes had defeated their Canaanites, as was narrated at chapter I, 34. Hence Josephus, Book V of Antiquities, chapter 11, after the death of Joshua and the wars of Caleb, and the peace made by the other tribes with the Canaanites, immediately subjoined this expedition of the Danites against Laish. Therefore the history of the following five chapters should, in strict chronological order, have been placed before chapter two — that is, immediately before verse 35 of chapter one. So Salianus and others, who also press the point that it is said here that there was then no king, that is, no Judge and Prince, and therefore everyone did as he pleased.
Abulensis objects: These things happened before Jerusalem was conquered by the Hebrews, as is clear from chapter XIX, verse 11. But Jerusalem was conquered while Caleb was still alive, indeed by Caleb himself, as I said at chapter I, verse 8; therefore these things happened before the death of Caleb. I respond that Jerusalem was indeed conquered by Caleb, but shortly afterward was retaken by the Jebusites; just as other cities conquered by Joshua were again occupied by the Canaanites, as also Gaza, Ekron, and Ashkelon by the Philistines, as is clear from chapter XVIII. I will add another response at chapter XIX, verse 11.
This Micah seems to be indicated by Sulpicius in the Chronicle, when after Samson he places a Judge named Simmichar, as if he had heard from some Hebrew Shemo Michah, that is, "whose name is Micah." And the successor of Samson in Cedrenus could also be connected here — Scamanes, or rather Schamanes, or Schamades. For shamam in Hebrew means to devastate and desolate, and shamad means to destroy and overthrow. And what greater and more pernicious devastator, desolator, destroyer, and overthrower of the Israelites than one who draws them away from their true faith and drags them to idols?
But both are mistaken; for Micah was not a Judge, but rather an enemy of God's people; nor did anyone succeed Samson other than Eli.
Verse 2: The Eleven Hundred Silver Pieces
"Which you had set apart for yourself" — that is, which you had put aside for future needs, necessities, or opportunities that might arise. The Hebrew reads, "which were taken from you"; which Vatablus, Pagninus, Arias, Cajetan and others interpret as: which had been stolen from you. Better our translator renders: which you had received to set apart — that is, which you had separated for yourself.
"YOU SWORE" — that is, by swearing you vowed to use them to fabricate an idol. Second, "you swore" — that is, you pronounced dire curses against whoever had stolen the eleven hundred silver pieces from you. Third, and more plainly, "you swore" — that is, you adjured me that if I knew anything about these silver pieces you had lost, I should tell you. The case is this: This woman had set aside eleven hundred silver pieces for future use. She found that they had been found and taken — indeed, as many already cited maintain, her son Micah had stolen them. The mother, not finding her silver pieces, adjured her son to say whether he knew anything about them. The son frankly confessed that he had found them, taken them, and had them. Whereupon the mother, praising his truthfulness, said:
Blessed Be My Son by the Lord
This mother was a widow and an old woman, having a grandson who was a priest, and together with her son Micah she was superstitious and addicted to the worship of idols. Some Rabbis assert, or rather fabricate, that she was Delilah, who contributed the eleven hundred silver pieces she had received from the Philistines for the betrayal of Samson to the fabrication of an idol. But these events occurred long before Samson and Delilah, as I have said.
BLESSED BE MY SON BY THE LORD.
By "the Lord" she understands God — not the true God of Israel, but a false and fictitious one, for whom she soon prepared an idol, as follows. For in her understanding this was Jehovah, as the Hebrew reads. For the name Jehovah is given not only to the true God, but also to a false one — that is, the one whom idolaters regard and worship as their God, and therefore call Jehovah, meaning the true God, as is clear from many passages of Scripture. Unless one were to say that this woman simultaneously worshipped the true God of Israel and the idol of the nations, as the Cutheans or Samaritans did, III Kings XVII. Or that she made her idol in honor of the true God, as a lesser god — in practice joining God to a demon and wishing to honor God through the worship of a demon: which was a crass and blasphemous error, but what I said first is more true. Behold, the origin of idolatry in Israel was a woman. So all heresies either began with women or were propagated by them, as I showed from St. Jerome at II Timothy chapter III, verse 6.
Verse 3: I Have Consecrated This Silver to the Lord
That is, either to my god Baal, or Ashtoreth, etc., so that I might have a statue or idol cast or carved for him from this silver. So the Greeks and Romans worshipped Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, and set up many idols for them, in which they worshipped and consulted them, as I showed at Baruch VI.
AND LET HIM MAKE A GRAVEN IMAGE AND A MOLTEN IMAGE.
Abulensis thinks the graven image is the same as the molten image. Others more correctly distinguish them, and think that from this silver two idols were made: one cast by the art of smelting, the other fashioned by carving; and therefore the first is called "molten" and the second "graven," for these two are distinguished at chapter XVIII, verse 18.
AND NOW I GIVE IT TO YOU.
"I give" — that is, I will soon give, as is clear from the Hebrew. The mother, in order to entice and compel her son to return the 1,100 silver pieces that he had found and taken away, asserts that she had vowed them to the Lord, but in such a way that she herself would hand them over to her son, who would see to it that the idol she had vowed would be made. But the mother, having received all the silver pieces back from her son, spent only two hundred on fabricating the idol and kept all the rest for herself. Hence the son Micah had an Ephod — that is, priestly garments and other idols — made from his own resources. So Arias.
Verse 5: He Made an Ephod and Teraphim
That is, a priestly garment and idols. For by "Ephod," that is, the shoulder-piece with the Breastplate, as the chief priestly garment, all the others are signified. "Teraphim" however were idols. Hence Aquila translates it as figures or figurations: now in these figures or figurations understand various works fashioned by carving or casting, just as the work of the Cherubim is called in Hebrew "variegated" and "variously depicted." So St. Jerome, Epistle to Marcella on the Ephod and Teraphim, volume III. Furthermore, the Septuagint translates Teraphim now as idols, now as cenotaphs, now as graven things, now as manifest things, now as things that speak oracles; the Chaldean, at Genesis XXXI, translates it as Silmanaia, and here as Demain, that is, images and likenesses. The Teraphim were therefore domestic idols, which people worshipped at home and consulted as oracles about secret or future things — what the Romans called Penates and Lares, the household gods. Hear what Lampridius writes about Alexander Severus: "If there were opportunity — that is, if he had not slept with his wife — in the morning hours he would perform religious rites in his Lararium (in which he had divine Emperors, but only the best and choicest, and holier souls, among whom were Apollonius, and, as the writer of his times says, Christ, Abraham, and Orpheus, and gods of this kind, and portraits of his ancestors)."
Arias, Cajetan, Oleaster, and the Rabbis add that the "Teraphim" were images of human beings made for the purpose of receiving the influence of higher powers or the heavens, and thus of pronouncing future events. Hear Rabbi Eleazar: "Why are they called Hatteraphim? Because they would bring a firstborn man and slaughter him, and cut off his head, and season it with salt and spice, and inscribe upon a gold plate the name of a certain unclean spirit. They placed that name under his tongue and set him in a wall, and before him they would light lamps and worship him; and he would address them" — by whispering. Elias cites this in Thisbi, and Lyranus. But these things are uncertain and inconsistent with the passages of Scripture.
Moreover, they are called Teraphim as if Seraphim. For the Chaldeans convert the Hebrew letter 's' into 't.' Or, as Rabbi Eleazar says, Teraphim are called shameful, foul, putrid images, as idolatrous images are; because teraph in Chaldean means to rot and to bring disgrace. Hence beth hatturpa is "house of turpitude," and from this comes the Latin turpe (shameful) and turpitudo (turpitude). See what I said at length about the Teraphim at Hosea III, 4.
Further, Pseudo-Philo asserts that the Teraphim of Micah were not one but many idols, through which various oracles were given for various inquiries. Hear him: "He made for himself images of three boys and calves, and a lion, an eagle, a dragon, and a dove. And it happened that all who were seduced came to him, and if someone wished to inquire about a wife, they would inquire through the dove; if about sons, through the images of boys. Those who inquired about riches would do so through the figure of the eagle. Those who inquired about strength would consult through the image of the lion. If about boys and girls, they would inquire through the figures of calves; and if about length of days, they would inquire through the image of the dragon. And his iniquity was manifold, and his irreligion was cunning." But these things are uncertain; for this Philo, who wrote the Biblical Antiquities, is Pseudo-Philo, and contains many uncertain and fabulous things.
He Filled the Hand of One of His Sons
That is, Micah consecrated one of his sons, for example, his firstborn (for to him formerly belonged the right of the priesthood), as priest of the idol he had made. For "to fill the hand" of someone, in Hebrew idiom, means to consecrate him as priest: for this was done by filling his hands with gifts and sacrificial victims, and with the anointing of oil, as I said at Numbers III, 3.
Verse 7: A Young Man from Bethlehem of Judah
That is, his father was from the tribe of Levi, but his mother from the tribe of Judah: for Hebrews, especially Levites, were able to take a wife from another tribe. Now this Levite was Jonathan, grandson of Moses through his father Gershom, as we will hear at chapter XVIII, verse 30. Both Micah and the Levite sinned gravely — the Levite because he allowed himself to be consecrated as priest by the profane Micah (for Levites were merely ministers of the priests, as deacons are now), and that for an idol. But poverty drove him to this, and the hope of sustenance and honor promised him by Micah. Hence follows:
Verse 10: Be a Father and Priest to Me
For a priest was called "Father" out of reverence; for he was to the laity like a spiritual father — that is, the caretaker, instructor, director, and overseer of their sacred rites and salvation. In a similar way, teachers are fathers to their students, senators to citizens, elders to the young, princes to the commonwealth, counselors to princes, superiors to religious, confessors to penitents, and preachers to the people. Hence St. Augustine, or rather Gennadius, in the Book on the Customs of the Church, chapter XXXI: "These fathers," he says, "not only most holy in their morals but also most excellent in divine learning and eminent in all things, consult without any pride those whom they call their sons, with great authority on their part in commanding, and great willingness on the part of those in obeying."
A Double Suit of Clothes
The Chaldean and the Septuagint render it: a pair of garments; the Hebrew: a set of garments — that is, two garments, which he would use in turn: one for summer, the other for winter; or one for ordinary days, the other for feasts; or one for the house, the other for public. So the Rabbis, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others.
Verse 12: He Had the Young Man as Priest
That is, he appointed that Levite from verse 7, who was a puer (a young man), as priest and kept him with him. This is clear from the Hebrew.
Verse 13: God Will Be Good to Me
On the contrary, God will curse you: first, because you have made an idol; second, because you have enticed a Levite into idolatry with your money; third, because you are the fountain and origin of idolatry in Israel, which will last for many ages; fourth, because you, being a layman from the tribe of Ephraim, have dared to consecrate a Levite as priest. See how many sacrileges there are!
Yet from this learn how great was the esteem and reverence for the Levitical and Ecclesiastical state in ancient times. See St. Chrysostom, Homily 18 on the Acts of the Apostles, where he urges the faithful to support a priest at home, for thus God would bless them in both temporal and spiritual goods.
Truly Tertullian, Book of Prescriptions, chapter XLI: "The ordinations," he says (of heretics), "are rash, frivolous, inconstant, etc. Heretics promote our apostates, that they may bind them by honor, since they cannot by truth. Nowhere is advancement easier than in the camp of rebels, where merely being there is a merit." And St. Jerome, Book VI, on Isaiah chapter XVI: "False doctrine does everything for gain."
From this learn also how great was the reverence for priests even among idolaters. Hear what Alexander Guagninus writes about the fierce and barbarous Tartars in his work on Tartary: "The supreme priest is called Seiid, who is held in such authority and reverence among the Tartars that kings go to meet him as he arrives, and standing, they extend their hands to him as he sits on his horse, and bowing their heads they kiss his hand — and this is permitted only to kings themselves. Dukes, however, kiss not his hand but his knees. Nobles kiss his feet; and commoners merely touch his garments or horse with their hands."