(19) Straw and provender.--Comp. Genesis 24:25-32. All that the Levite asked was shelter. He would provide for all his own wants. Thy servants.--The ordinary language of Eastern obsequiousness. Verse 19. - Yet there is both straw, etc., i.e. he only wanted shelter, he had all his provisions with him, it was but little that he asked for, and yet no man would take him in. 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.Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses,.... Straw to litter them with, and provender to feed them with, which he had brought with him on them:and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thine handmaid; meaning himself and his concubine; there were enough for them both, which were packed up, and carried by the asses: and for the young man which is with thy servants; the supplement, which is, seems quite needless, and even impertinent; for as yet the young man, by whom he means his servant, was not as yet in company with the servants of the old man; but the sense is, that there was not only provisions with him for himself, and his wife, and also for his servant, but even enough for the servants of the old man, whether maid or manservants: there is no want of anything; and therefore none needed to be shy of taking them in, since they should not be burdensome to any upon any account; all they wanted was a lodging. |