כי is used because the reason of the performance of the symbolical action lies in its signification. Concerning ישב, see the remarks on ver. 3; compare, moreover. Lament, i. 1: "How does the city sit solitary that was full of people! she has become as a widow."--The question is, whether, by the religious objects here mentioned, such only are to be understood as belonged to the worship of the idols, or such also as belonged to the worship of Jehovah. The following furnishes the reply. The מצבה only [Pg 283]can be considered as belonging exclusively to the idolatrous worship. Such pillars always occur only as being consecrated to the idols--especially to Baal. It cannot be proved in any way that, contrary to the express command in Lev. xxvi. 1, Deut. xvi. 22, they were, in the kingdom of Israel, consecrated to the Lord also; compare 2 Kings iii. 2, xvii. 10, x. 26-28. On the other hand, among the objects mentioned, there is also one, the אפוד, the mantle for the shoulders of the high priest, on which the Urim and Thummim were placed, which must be considered as belonging exclusively to the worship of Jehovah; at least there is not the smallest trace to be found that it was part of any idolatrous worship. It is true that _Gesenius_, in the _Thesaurus_, p. 135, gives _s. v._ אפוד, under 2, the signification _statua_, _simulacrum idoli_, and, besides the passages under consideration, refers to Jud. viii. 27, xvii. 5, xviii. 14, 17. But one requires only to examine these passages a little more minutely, to be convinced that the metamorphosis of Jehovah into an idol is as little justified as the changing of the mantle into a statue. From the personal character of Gideon, who was so zealous for the Lord against the idols, we cannot at all think of idolatry in Jud. viii. 27. In the _Dissertations on the Genuineness of the Pentateuch_, vol. ii. p. 80, it has been proved that the Ephod of Gideon was a precious imitation of that of the high priest. In chap. xvii. 5, we need only to consider these words: "And the man Micah had an house of God, and made an Ephod and Teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, and he became a priest to him." Afterwards, Micah took a _Levite_ for a priest. But for what reason should he have been better suited for that purpose than any other man? The answer is given in ver. 13: "Then said Micah, Now I know that Jehovah will do me good, for the Levite has become a priest to me." The ignorant man knows after all thus much, that the Levites alone are the only legitimate servants of Jehovah, and he rejoices, therefore, that he had now remedied the former irregularity. Jud. xviii. 14 does not require any particular illustration, for it is the same Ephod which is spoken of in that passage; but we must still direct attention to vers. 5 and 6 of that chapter. "Then they (the Danites) said unto him (the Levite), Ask God, we pray thee, in order that we may know whether our way in which we go shall be prosperous.