New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Judges 17
2
He said to his mother, "Someone took 28 pounds of silver from you. I heard you call down a curse because of it. I have the silver with me. I'm the one who took it." Then his mother said, "My son, may the Lord bless you!"
Reference
3
He gave the 28 pounds of silver back to his mother. She said to him, "I'm taking an oath and setting my silver apart to the Lord. My son, I want you to use part of it for a statue of a god that is made out of wood or stone and covered with silver. Use the rest of it to have another statue made out of silver. That's why I'll give the silver back to you."
Reference
4
He gave the silver back to his mother. She gave five pounds of it to a skilled worker who made things out of silver. He used the silver for the two statues. They were put in Micah's house.
5
That same Micah had a small temple. He made a sacred linen apron and some statues of gods. He prepared one of his sons to serve as his priest.
Reference
Creation
Judges 8:27
Judges 18:24
Parallel theme
Genesis 31:19
Judges 18:14
Exodus 29:9
Exodus 28:15
Hosea 3:4
References God
Genesis 31:30
6
In those days Israel didn't have a king. The people did anything they thought was right.
Reference
Kingdom
Judges 21:25
Judges 18:1
Judges 19:1
Parallel theme
Deuteronomy 12:8
Proverbs 14:12
Proverbs 12:15
Proverbs 16:2
Psalm 12:4
Ecclesiastes 11:9
7
A young Levite had been living in land that belonged to the tribe of Judah. He was from Bethlehem in Judah.
Reference
8
He left that town to look for some other place to stay. On his way he came to Micah's house. It was in the hill country of Ephraim.
9
Micah asked him, "Where are you from?" "I'm a Levite," he said. "I'm from Bethlehem in Judah. I'm looking for a place to stay."
10
Then Micah said to him, "Live with me. Be my father and priest. I'll give you four ounces of silver a year. I'll also give you clothes and food."
11
So the Levite agreed to live with him. The young man was just like a son to Micah.
12
Then Micah prepared the Levite to serve as his priest. He lived in Micah's house.
Reference
Parallel theme
Judges 18:30
13
Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me. This Levite has become my priest."
Summary of Judges 17
Judges chapter 17 introduces a new thread in the book that goes less about battles and more about the moral condition of Israel. It narrates the events around a man Micah, his mother, a home-made idol, and a young Levite who became private priest for Micah. Hence, the chapter depicts the Israelites’ ability to misuse the Lord’s name and make their forms of worship.
The chapter starts with mentioning a man from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name is Micah. He told his mother that the eleven hundred pieces of silver that were stolen from her were in his possession, and he admitted that he stole them.
His mother blessed him in the name of the Lord and was glad that he had brought some silver back. She gave two hundred pieces of silver to a silversmith and asked him to make her a graven image and a molten image. Micah brought them to his house and made a house of gods.
He also made an ephod and other religious artifacts and put one of his sons as their priest. Micah has made an idol and built his own system of worshiping what he thought was God. But he did not follow the procedures prescribed by the Lord. Instead of bringing sacrifices to the Tabernacle and having the priest perform rituals on the animals offered by him, he made his household gods and sacrificed to them according to his desires.
At the same time, the tribe of Dan was still searching for a land to live in. There was no indication of what would happen to them when they would reach a suitable place to settle. That information was missing but would be revealed in the following chapter. A young man from Bethlehemjudah, being one of the sons of Judah, went out from his home in search of a better place to live.
While passing through the hill country of Ephraim, he came to Micah’s house. Micah asked him what he intended to do, and he replied that he wanted to seek a resting-place.
Micah convinced him to stay and made him his priest. He promised to give him a yearly stipend, clothes, food, and a house to live in. The young Levite agreed to become his priest and stayed in his house.
Micah was glad that he had found a Levite to be his private priest and said, “Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.” Micah had wrong notions about the Levitical priests in general. He thought that just by having one of them as his priest, he would be guaranteed God’s blessings.
The chapter depicts Levites as people who have no problem serving people like Micah in exchange for money. The Levite did not confront Micah over his ungodly practices or question his right to make images of gods and set up a shrine. Instead, he was willing to accept him as a benefactor and obey his orders as if he was God.
Therefore, there are several contradictions in this chapter. Micah’s mother says that she dedicates the silver to the Lord, but she buys an idol with it. Micah claims to worship the Lord but does not take the idols and the shrine in his house to the Tabernacle. He makes his own religious items and sacrifices to them, although his ancestors had been warned by Joshua not to do so.
Finally, Micah hires a Levite to be his priest when he should have gone to the Tabernacle and made sacrifices there before the priests. The Levite is willing to accept the job as if Micah’s private priest. In short, Micah has created a set of rituals for his household gods. Thus, he sacrifices to them instead of going to the Tabernacle and buying animals to offer as sacrifices to the Lord.
Judges chapter 17 does not conclude with a battle but rather with a story of a home where religion was not separated from human practices. Micah claimed to believe in the Lord and that he had faith that the Lord would bless him. But he did not follow the principles of true worship as set by Him. He believed that making images of gods and setting up his shrine would please the Lord, but those practices prohibited him from following the prescribed ways of worship.
Micah is an example of an Israelite who did not follow the instructions of God but thought that he could dictate his terms and conditions for worship. He was probably not an ignoramus about the Lord’s requirements for Israelites. He might have known that the Lord did not allow any images to be made of Him and that sacrifices of animals had to be performed in the tabernacle by the Aaronic priests. But Micah did not care about those regulations. The presence of a Levite in his house only made his practices seem more holy than they actually were.
Judges chapter 17 gives a clear picture of the Israelites’ moral state at the time. It sets the stage for the last few chapters of the book of Judges. The main theme of these chapters is that Israel had lost its spiritual leadership and internal cohesion. The Israelites had lost sight of the fact that their relationship with the Lord was more important than anything else. Therefore, they had turned to their human leaders – Levites – to help them reconnect with God. In addition to losing spiritual leadership, the Israelites had lost a collective identity.
This chapter also brings out the importance of such objects as the ephod and idols. They would become significant in the story of the tribe of Dan in the following chapter. The events in this chapter paved the way for a long tradition of Israelites abusing their Levitical priests. Micah’s shrine was a microcosm of the bigger problem that was going to affect the whole nation of Israel. The ephod and idols that Micah made were the catalysts that led to the fall of the whole nation of Israel into a deep-rooted system of lying, stealing, and violence.
The chapter provides a glimpse of the Israelites’ moral state without going into details about any foreign invasion. It shows that they had become corrupt internally and incapable of separating their moral values from those of the Lord. Their idolatry had taken a different turn – from making household idols to setting up shrines with their private priests. The events of this chapter demonstrate how Israel’s corruption and impiety paved the way for the Philistines’ conquest of Israel and the subsequent exile of many Israelites in foreign lands.
The chapter starts with mentioning a man from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name is Micah. He told his mother that the eleven hundred pieces of silver that were stolen from her were in his possession, and he admitted that he stole them.
His mother blessed him in the name of the Lord and was glad that he had brought some silver back. She gave two hundred pieces of silver to a silversmith and asked him to make her a graven image and a molten image. Micah brought them to his house and made a house of gods.
He also made an ephod and other religious artifacts and put one of his sons as their priest. Micah has made an idol and built his own system of worshiping what he thought was God. But he did not follow the procedures prescribed by the Lord. Instead of bringing sacrifices to the Tabernacle and having the priest perform rituals on the animals offered by him, he made his household gods and sacrificed to them according to his desires.
At the same time, the tribe of Dan was still searching for a land to live in. There was no indication of what would happen to them when they would reach a suitable place to settle. That information was missing but would be revealed in the following chapter. A young man from Bethlehemjudah, being one of the sons of Judah, went out from his home in search of a better place to live.
While passing through the hill country of Ephraim, he came to Micah’s house. Micah asked him what he intended to do, and he replied that he wanted to seek a resting-place.
Micah convinced him to stay and made him his priest. He promised to give him a yearly stipend, clothes, food, and a house to live in. The young Levite agreed to become his priest and stayed in his house.
Micah was glad that he had found a Levite to be his private priest and said, “Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.” Micah had wrong notions about the Levitical priests in general. He thought that just by having one of them as his priest, he would be guaranteed God’s blessings.
The chapter depicts Levites as people who have no problem serving people like Micah in exchange for money. The Levite did not confront Micah over his ungodly practices or question his right to make images of gods and set up a shrine. Instead, he was willing to accept him as a benefactor and obey his orders as if he was God.
Therefore, there are several contradictions in this chapter. Micah’s mother says that she dedicates the silver to the Lord, but she buys an idol with it. Micah claims to worship the Lord but does not take the idols and the shrine in his house to the Tabernacle. He makes his own religious items and sacrifices to them, although his ancestors had been warned by Joshua not to do so.
Finally, Micah hires a Levite to be his priest when he should have gone to the Tabernacle and made sacrifices there before the priests. The Levite is willing to accept the job as if Micah’s private priest. In short, Micah has created a set of rituals for his household gods. Thus, he sacrifices to them instead of going to the Tabernacle and buying animals to offer as sacrifices to the Lord.
Judges chapter 17 does not conclude with a battle but rather with a story of a home where religion was not separated from human practices. Micah claimed to believe in the Lord and that he had faith that the Lord would bless him. But he did not follow the principles of true worship as set by Him. He believed that making images of gods and setting up his shrine would please the Lord, but those practices prohibited him from following the prescribed ways of worship.
Micah is an example of an Israelite who did not follow the instructions of God but thought that he could dictate his terms and conditions for worship. He was probably not an ignoramus about the Lord’s requirements for Israelites. He might have known that the Lord did not allow any images to be made of Him and that sacrifices of animals had to be performed in the tabernacle by the Aaronic priests. But Micah did not care about those regulations. The presence of a Levite in his house only made his practices seem more holy than they actually were.
Judges chapter 17 gives a clear picture of the Israelites’ moral state at the time. It sets the stage for the last few chapters of the book of Judges. The main theme of these chapters is that Israel had lost its spiritual leadership and internal cohesion. The Israelites had lost sight of the fact that their relationship with the Lord was more important than anything else. Therefore, they had turned to their human leaders – Levites – to help them reconnect with God. In addition to losing spiritual leadership, the Israelites had lost a collective identity.
This chapter also brings out the importance of such objects as the ephod and idols. They would become significant in the story of the tribe of Dan in the following chapter. The events in this chapter paved the way for a long tradition of Israelites abusing their Levitical priests. Micah’s shrine was a microcosm of the bigger problem that was going to affect the whole nation of Israel. The ephod and idols that Micah made were the catalysts that led to the fall of the whole nation of Israel into a deep-rooted system of lying, stealing, and violence.
The chapter provides a glimpse of the Israelites’ moral state without going into details about any foreign invasion. It shows that they had become corrupt internally and incapable of separating their moral values from those of the Lord. Their idolatry had taken a different turn – from making household idols to setting up shrines with their private priests. The events of this chapter demonstrate how Israel’s corruption and impiety paved the way for the Philistines’ conquest of Israel and the subsequent exile of many Israelites in foreign lands.