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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
17:1-21:25 The Depths of Israel's Apostasy. The book of Judges closes with two sections (chs. 17-18 and 19-21) characterized by the statements, "In those days there was no king in Israel" (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) and, "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (17:6; 21:25). Whereas chs. 2-16 describe external threats to Israel, chs. 17-21 describe internal threats to religious worship and tribal unity. The most sordid and tragic stories in the book are found here, for the ultimate depths of Israel's apostasy have now been reached. The message is that if Israel had had a godly king functioning as a king should (Deut. 17:18-20), things would have been better.
17:1-18:31 Religious Corruption. The first concluding section (cf. note on 17:1-21:25) depicts Micah's establishment of his own private shrine, featuring an attendant priest, and tells of the Danites' migration, during which they took Micah's priest and the symbols of his shrine away from him.
17:1-6 Religious Corruption of a Household. These verses depict a thieving son and an unusually forgiving mother who commit apostasy together.
17:3-4 a carved image. Such images are mentioned in the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:4). They were normally carved from wood or chiseled out of rock but sometimes made from a mold (cf. Isa. 40:19; 44:10). a metal image. Cf. 2 Kings 17:16. Micah's mother approved of his making these images, showing how God's people sometimes are tempted to mix elements of true worship with practices unacceptable to God. This is another consequence of the Israelites' lack of good leadership. The house of Micah was a compound consisting of multiple housing units for travelers and relatives (cf. Judg. 18:2). Similar complexes, including two or more attached houses, have been uncovered by excavations at Ai and Khirbet Raddana.
17:5 a shrine. Lit., "a house of God." This was a perversion of the true sanctuary where worship was to take place (cf. "the house of God" at Shiloh in 18:31). Micah also made an ephod (cf. 8:27) and various household gods (cf. Gen. 31:19); these are later condemned as idolatry (1 Sam. 15:23). Micah further violated the Mosaic law by appointing his own son as his private priest, an office meant not for private but for public service. Furthermore, he was not descended from Aaron (as the priests were supposed to be), nor was he even a Levite (cf. Ex. 28:1; 40:12-15; Num. 16:39-40; 17:8).
17:6 no king in Israel. See Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background (cf. 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). right in his own eyes (cf. 21:25). The verse is an editorial comment on the nation's apostasy. People were doing whatever they wanted, as opposed to what was right in the Lord's eyes (cf. 14:3).
17:7-13 Religious Corruption of a Levite. Micah meets a Levite and lures him into serving as a private priest by offering him a fine salary and a safe house.
17:9 Levite of Bethlehem. This Levite had been living as a sojourner, a resident alien, in Judah. The Levites did not have their own tribal territory, but they had
18:1-31 Religious Corruption of a Tribe. A band of treacherous men from the tribe of Dan offer the Levite (see note on 17:9) more money and prestige to be their priest, so he joins them. A whole tribe now sins like Micah's family did.
18:1 no king in Israel. See Introduction: Purpose, Occasion, and Background (cf. 17:6; 19:1; 21:25). Dan was seeking . . . an inheritance. The Danites had been unable to settle in their allotted territory (Josh. 19:40-47), as they had failed to capture it earlier (Judg. 1:34-35).
18:2-4 Zorah . . . Eshtaol. These towns were located in the Judean lowlands approximately
18:5-6 Their request, regarding whether the journey . . . will succeed, echoes the language of Joshua, where the "prosperous way" is defined in terms of devotion to God's word (Josh. 1:8). Given the highly negative tone of Judges 17-21 and future events in this particular narrative (18:30), it is difficult to take seriously their desire to inquire of God. The statement, under the eye of the Lord, captures the ambiguity of the priest's response. The future actions of the Danites may have been seen by God, but that does not mean that they were approved by God.
18:7 Laish was located about
18:12 Kiriath-jearim, a chief city of the Gibeonites (Josh. 9:17), was located approximately
18:14-20 ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image. Micah's collection of cultic objects was quite impressive (cf. 17:3-5). Rather than offering condemnation, the Danites took the cultic objects for themselves. a father and a priest. The Danites' words to the Levite were the same as Micah's earlier (17:10). The Danites' offer of more money and prestige, and the Levite's acceptance, are further indications of the period's apostasy. Their plundering of another tribe (18:18, 21) fulfills Jacob's prediction that Dan would deal viciously with others, like a serpent or a viper (Gen. 49:17).
18:21 As the Danites fled, they placed what they had stolen in front of them, with the warriors behind, as protection against pursuit from Micah's household or neighbors.
18:30-31 The Levite's name is revealed for the first time (Jonathan), as well as his lineage--apostasy has even infected the house of Moses. Captivity of the land could refer to the Babylonian captivity (), or, since Dan is in the north, to the Assyrian captivity of (or even earlier, when Dan passed into Assyrian control). In any case, the Danites' priest and his descendants served in that role for centuries, and only exile ended the arrangement. Shiloh was destroyed at the end of the period of the judges, (cf. Ps. 78:60; Jer. 7:12, 14; 26:6).
