And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
A man of mount Ephraim - i:e., the mountainous parts of Ephraim. This and the other narratives that follow form a miscellaneous collection, or appendix to the Book of Judges, belonging to a period when the Hebrew nation was in a greatly disordered and corrupt state. This episode of Micah is connected with Judges 1:34, and it relates to his foundation of a small sanctuary of his own, a miniature representative of the Shiloh tabernacle, which he stocked with images modelled probably in imitation of the ark and cherubim. Micah and his mother were sincere in their intention to honour God. But their faith was blended with a sad amount of ignorance and delusion. The divisive course they pursued, as well as the will-worship they practiced, subjected the perpetrators to the penalty of death.