Judges 18:15

And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15-18) In these verses we have a graphic description of the whole nefarious proceeding. The five spies, knowing Jonathan, salute him, and inveigle him to the entrance of the court to talk to their six hundred companions. While the chiefs of this little army detain him in conversation, without any show of violence the five slip away unobserved to the alîyah, or upper room, which serves as the chapel, and steal all the essentials of the worship—namely, (1) the ephod; (2) the teraphim; (3) the graven image; (4) the molten image. It is true that in Judges 18:20-30 the massecah is not mentioned; but it may be regarded as belonging to the pesel. It is only when he sees them in actual possession of these that Jonathan asks the alarmed question, “What do ye?”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In these houses - This agrees with what we saw at Judges 18:2-3 that the "house of God" and Jonathan's house were detached from Micah's. There were other houses besides Judges 18:22. The whole settlement was probably called Beth-Micah, contained in one court, and entered by one gate Judges 18:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11-21. there went from thence of the family of the Danites … six hundred men—This was the collective number of the men who were equipped with arms to carry out this expeditionary enterprise, without including the families and furniture of the emigrants (Jud 18:21). Their journey led them through the territory of Judah, and their first halting place was "behind," that is, on the west of Kirjath-jearim, on a spot called afterwards "the camp of Dan." Prosecuting the northern route, they skirted the base of the Ephraimite hills. On approaching the neighborhood of Micah's residence, the spies having given information that a private sanctuary was kept there, the priest of which had rendered them important service when on their exploring expedition, it was unanimously agreed that both he and the furniture of the establishment would be a valuable acquisition to their proposed settlement. A plan of spoliation was immediately formed. While the armed men stood sentinels at the gates, the five spies broke into the chapel, pillaged the images and vestments, and succeeded in bribing the priest also by a tempting offer to transfer his services to their new colony. Taking charge of the ephod, the teraphim, and the graven image, he "went in the midst of the people"—a central position assigned him in the march, perhaps for his personal security; but more probably in imitation of the place appointed for the priests and the ark, in the middle of the congregated tribes, on the marches through the wilderness. This theft presents a curious medley of low morality and strong religious feeling. The Danites exemplified a deep-seated principle of our nature—that men have religious affections, which must have an object on which these may be exercised, while they are often not very discriminating in the choice of the objects. In proportion to the slender influence religion wields over the heart, the greater is the importance attached to external rites; and in the exact observance of these, the conscience is fully satisfied, and seldom or never molested by reflections on the breach of minor morals.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Heb. asked him of peace, i.e. if he were in peace, peace being commonly put for health and prosperity.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they turned thitherward,.... It seems as if the house lay a little out of their way, and therefore they turned on one hand to go unto it:

and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah; for the young man's house was only an apartment of Micah's, and lay very probably next to that in which the images, and oracle were; and they made up to the young man's apartment, rather than to Micah's, because the above things were under his care:

and saluted him; asked him of his welfare in a kind and obliging manner, the rather to ingratiate themselves unto him.

Geneva Study Bible

And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. even unto the house of Micah] A gloss inserted to identify the young Levite’s house with that of Micah; see on Jdg 17:7. LXX. Luc omits the house of the young man the Levite.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Even unto the house, etc. Rather, at Beth-Micah. Judges 18:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Then they turned from the road thither, and went to the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and asked him (the Levite) concerning his health, i.e., saluted him in a friendly manner (see Genesis 43:27; Exodus 18:7, etc.).