The last thing we heard about this Levite was that he was a young man
(Judges 17:7). Now he is being called upon to play a fatherly role of spiritual authority and care. Father
is a title of honour, comparable to the identifying of Deborah as a mother
in Israel (Judges 5:7). And during the time of the kings it functioned as an honorific title for the prophets (2 Kings 6:21; Judges 8:9; Judges 13:14).1 That it is here being applied to this young Levite is yet another sign of a topsy-turvy world! This Levite is not in any position to be a father to Micah!
10 And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in.