Judges 17:3

"He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May the LORD bless my son!”"

Key Reflection

The young man, after admitting to his mother that he had possession of the silver she had cursed, received her blessing. This scenario underscores the cultural practices and beliefs around curses in ancient Israel; the act of speaking a curse aloud was believed to bring it into effect, making the recovered silver not just a material gain but also a spiritual affirmation of divine favor. The mother’s unexpected response reflects both her recognition that the curse had been lifted through the silver's return and her trust in God's blessing, despite previous distress over its loss.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Such a superstitious and unlawful mode of worshipping Yahweh is quite of a piece withJudges 8:27;Judges 11:31;1 Kings 12:28, etc. It argues but slight acquaintance with the Ten Commandments, which, from the ignorance of reading and writing, were probably not familiar to the Israelites in those unsettled times. The mother intimates that the consecration of the silver was for the benefit of her son and his house, not for her own selfish advantage: and that she adheres to her original design of consecrating this silver for her son’s benefit.

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