By the house of Micah. — Literally, with — i.e., lodging in it, as in Genesis 27:43.
They knew the voice of the young man the Levite. — Again the narrative is too much compressed to enable us to fill up its details with any certainty. The youthful Jonathan had lived in Bethlehem. The grandson of Moses could not be wholly unknown. and at this time there was close intercourse between the tribes of Dan and Judah. Possibly, therefore they were personally acquainted with him; nor do they ask (as Micah had done), “Whence cometh thou? They recognised his voice, possibly by some dialectic peculiarity, but more probably by hearing him performing in the upper room his service before the pesel. Cassel renders “voice” by “sound,” and refers it to the bells on the priestly dress, as in Exodus 28:35. We notice that Micah had been reticent about the ephod, &c., perhaps out of suspicion as to their intentions.
Turned in thither. — Not necessarily into the house, but into the room — the oratory (aedicula), or Beth-Elohim (Judges 17:5). It seems to have been a kind of spurious Shiloh.
What makest thou in this place? — The accent of extreme surprise in their queries shows that they knew Jonathan, and did not expect to find a Judæan Levite in Ephraim.