References (19)
[The Book of Judges ends with two separate stories ( and ). Both begin in the same way: "And it came to pass" (Hebr. vajehi), see . Each story contains a statement: "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what he thought was right" ( and ). The first part is also repeated in and and frames this entire morally dark period in Israel's history. Here we understand that it is not an earthly king who is referred to; the people had rejected the Lord as their king, see . No chronological order is given, but some observations can be made:
In the first story in chapters 17-18, there are details that connect to the seventh judge, Samson (1,100 pieces of silver, see ; and his hometown of Zorah, see ; ). Samson is the crescendo of the betrayal that the Danites began earlier when they abandoned Joshua's mission and moved north. The event probably takes place before Samson is a judge.
In the second story in chapters 19-21, the only person named is the priest Phinehas, whose father is Eleazar, who was a contemporary of Joshua (; ). This links the story to the time just after the entry into the land.
Even in a chiastic pattern, which is often found in this book, it would be natural for the story to go back in time in this way, with first a story that provides the background to Samson, and then the time just at the entry into Joshua's time.] [The first story recounts how Moses' own grandchildren and descendants set up an entire system of idolatry in Dan. The story has seven episodes, the last three of which are related and become increasingly worse. The first household god is set up by an individual, while the second is set up by an entire tribe!]
And it came to pass that there was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was
Micah (Hebr. Michajho) [meaning: 'Who is like Yahweh?'].
[The hill country of Ephraim stretched from Bethel, north of Jerusalem, up to the plain of Jezreel. Here lay Shiloh, where the tabernacle stood. The name Micah is spelled Michajho in verses 1 and 4, later in and the rest of the chapter the shorter Hebrew form Micha is used. Both names mean "Who is like Yahweh?" The story mentions 1,100 pieces of silver, the same amount that each of the Philistine kings offered Delilah to betray Samson, see .] And he gave the silver back to his mother. And his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave them to the smith, and he made an idol and a cast image, and it was in the house of Micah (Hebr. Michajhos). [The woman does not seem to see any problem with breaking God's commandment in ; ; . There is a similarity here with Ananias and Sapphira, see .]
And the man Micah (Hebr. Michah; meaning: "who is like God") had a house of God, and he made an ephod [priestly garment, see ] and [some] household gods (figurines – Hebr. teraphim), and he ordained (had his hand filled) one of his own sons, who became his priest.
[Filling a hand is part of the ritual performed to set someone apart as a priest. See also ; ; ; . Mic.'s mother does not reappear in the story, and many questions remain. Where is Micha's father? What did the woman do with the remaining 900 silver coins?]
And the man left the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he could find. [The phrase is ambiguous; was he looking for food, a place to settle, a job, or a place that God would show him?] And he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to Mic.'s house, to shape his path. [The last phrase is also unusual.]
Mic. asked him, "Where are you from?"
He replied, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I can find (a place to stay)."
And Micah (Hebr. Micha) said to him, "Stay with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver for each month, and fine clothing, and your sustenance (your survival – Hebr. michja)." And the Levite went (in to him).
And Micah ordained the Levite (filled his hand), and the young man became a priest to him, and he was in Mic.'s house.
And Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord (Yahweh) will do good to me, since I have a Levite as a priest."
And the sons of Dan sent from their families five men from among them, men who were soldiers, from Zorah [Samson's birthplace and the place where he was also buried, see ; ] and from Eshtaol [it was in the area between these cities in the Lowlands that the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon Samson, see ] to search (scout, spy on) the land and to explore it, and they said to them, "Go and explore the land."
And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Mic., and lodged there.
They were in Mic.'s house and they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite [], and they went aside there and said to him, "Who brought you here? And what are you doing here? And what do you have here?"
[The fact that they recognized the Levite's voice may have had something to do with the fact that he came from their area on the border between Dan and Judah. Perhaps they knew him personally, or perhaps they heard him speaking their own dialect.]
And he said to them, "Such and such has Micah done for me, and he has hired me, and I am a priest to him."
And they passed from there through the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Mic.
And they went aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, Mic.'s house, and asked him about his shalom (how he was, if all was well).
And they entered Mic.'s house and took the image, the ephod, and the household gods (Hebr. teraphim) and the cast image. And the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"
They were far from Mic.'s house, and the men who were in the houses that were near Mic.'s house cried out and caught up with the sons of Dan.
And they called out to the sons of Dan, and they turned (their faces) toward them and said to Micah "What [is missing] to you, that you are crying out?"
Then the children of Dan continued on their way. And when Micah saw that they were stronger than he, he returned to his house.
And they [the Danites] took what Micah had made and the priest he had, and came to Laish, to a people [who] were at ease and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.
And they set up the carved image that Micah had made, [during] the entire time that the house of God (Elohim) was in Shiloh.
[The Levite introduced in is now named. It comes as a shock to the reader that this idolatrous Levite is the grandson of Moses through his eldest son Gershon, see . The rabbinical writers considered it so degrading that Moses' name should be mentioned in connection with such despicable behavior that they added the letter Nun after the first letter Mem, so that the Hebr. mosheh became manasheh. Many Hebrew manuscripts have Nun written above the name between the first two letters. The Greek translation Septuagint and also the Latin Vulgate have Moses. The problem of syncretism (religious mixing) had affected the entire people, including Moses' family. The earlier comment that already in the first generation after entering the land, people abandoned their faith in the Lord () is now confirmed.]
