Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 18:3

"When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned aside thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what doest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?" — Judges 18:3 (ASV)

By the house of Micah.— Literally, with — that is, lodging in it, as in Genesis 27:43.

They knew the voice of the young man the Levite.—Again the narrative is too much compressed to enable us to fill up its details with any certainty. The youthful Jonathan had lived in Bethlehem. The grandson of Moses could not be wholly unknown, and at this time there was close intercourse between the tribes of Dan and Judah.

Possibly, therefore, they were personally acquainted with him; nor do they ask (as Micah had done), Whence comest thou? They recognized his voice, possibly by some dialectic peculiarity, but more probably by hearing him performing in the upper room his service before the pesel.

Cassel renders “voice” by “sound,” and refers it to the bells on the priestly dress, as in Exodus 28:35. We notice that Micah had been reticent about the ephod, etc., perhaps out of suspicion as to their intentions.

Turned in thither. —Not necessarily into the house, but into the room—the oratory (aedicula), or Beth-Elohim (Judges 17:5). It seems to have been a kind of spurious Shiloh.

What makest thou in this place? —The accent of extreme surprise in their queries shows that they knew Jonathan, and did not expect to find a Judean Levite in Ephraim.