And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
We have here an account of Micah's furnishing himself with a Levite for his chaplain, either thinking his son, because the heir of his estate, too good to officiate, or rather, because not of God's tribe, not good enough. Observe, I. What brought this Levite to Micah.
Commenting on Judges 17:7-13
And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah,.... As there were two Bethlehems, one in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15 and another in the tribe of Judah, the place here designed, Judah is added to it, to distinguish it from the other: of the family of Judah: which refers either to the young man, who was by his father's side a Levite, and...
Beth-lehem-judah--so called in contradistinction to a town of the same name in Zebulun (Jos 19:15). of the family--that is, tribe. of Judah--Men of the tribe of Levi might connect themselves, as Aaron did (Exo 6:23), by marriage with another tribe; and this young Levite belonged to the tribe of Judah, by his mother's side, which accounts for his being in Beth-lehem, not one of the Levitical cities.