Judges 17--Micah and the Levite

Judges 17
English Standard Version

Micah and the Levite
17 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 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.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.” 3 And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” 4 So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” 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. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

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The story starts off with a son that steals 1,100 pieces of silver from his mother (the same price that each of the lord of the Philistines just paid to Delilah, though this cannot be about that money, as they all just died by the hand of Samson).  The son confesses to the theft and admits to his mother that he still had the money and offers to return it to her.  She is so happy the her son has confessed to the theft that she says she is dedicating the money to the LORD, but then says that she wants the silver taken to the silversmith so that he can make an idol from it.  How far gone of the Israelites that a son would steal from his mother and that a mother would take that sum of money and say she was dedicating it to the LORD only to have an idol made from the silver?

It seems that there was a man named Micah who happily had a shrine in his house for the ephod and the idol that was made, and he fancied himself high priest of the shrine and ordained his sons to be priests in service of the household gods that were there.  The author now makes the summary statement that I've been using for the entire book, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6).

One of the Levites that lived among the tribe of Judah in Bethlehem was travelling and when he came to the hill country of Ephraim, he came upon the house of Micah.  When Micah asked the Levite where he had come from he told him he was a Levite from Bethlehem who was sojourning (he was homeless and wandering).  Micah offered him a place to stay and offered him both money and clothing in exchange for his services as a priest in his shrine.  This Levite had already left the town and ministry that he was assigned to, and it seems that he was willing to abandon his station (whatever is was) that the LORD had assigned to him, for each Levite had a specific role and duty by clan, but only the sons of Aaron were to serve as priests and none of the Levites were to ever serve as priests to the false gods (yet this is not the first time we will see this happen in the history of Israel).  This Levite was responsible for teaching the people the Law and showing them how to live a holy life that was set apart unto the LORD, but instead he is now serving self, money and other gods in direct violation of Law of the LORD.  Micah now assumes that because he has a Levite as a priest that the LORD will have to bless him.

Next time we will see the sin of the tribe of Dan--just one of the times that they will be taken by idolatry.  This chapter and the next are to explain to us the creation of the city named Dan (named after the son of Israel from which the tribe of Dan came from) and how it would be a stronghold of idolatry, and there was no judge in Israel this time to put an end to it and there was no king in Israel yet to do anything about it.  One day soon, that will all change and there will be a king in Israel that will help to turn the hearts of the people back towards the LORD and to punish those who turn to idols.