Things Are Happening at Micah’s House

Judges 17 (CSB)

1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you place a curse on—here’s the silver. I took it.” Then his mother said, “My son, may you be blessed by the Lord!” 3 He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image and a silver idol. I will give it back to you.” 4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image and a silver idol, and it was in Micah’s house. 5 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.

I love how the author jumps into the story without giving us any back story.

What is this woman’s name? Where did the 1100 pieces of silver come from? When did this theft take place etc.?

What is interesting is that 1100 pieces of sliver is the same amount given to Delilah by each of the rulers to help capture Samson. Could she be related to Delilah somehow? Who knows and it is really not important.

What is important is that 1100 pieces of silver is a large sum of money - a piece or a shekel and 10 shekels is what someone would make in about a year - so the amount missing would be equal to 110 years worth of income.

I don’t know about you but if someone took 110 years worth of income from me I would probably have something bad to say about them and so did this woman - she “cursed” them.

They firmly believed in curses - both the Jews and the pagan nations believed there was power in the tongue and based on Scripture there is some truth to God honoring what they called a “curse”.

Well Micah heard the curse and is scared him so he turned himself in to momma and she gave him a blessing to override the curse.

Her reaction is another example of having a desire to honor God but still mixing in the pagan or worldly beliefs and actions.

After getting the sliver back she decided to consecrate it to the Lord however her desire to make an idol was diametrically opposed to God’s command and made Micah’s mother liable to God’s curse.

The original amount was about 28 pounds - she took 5 pounds (200 shekels) to make the idol.

Micah took the idol, built a shrine and made one of his sons a “priest”- all of which go against God’s law and will.

Thus this passage ends with the author reminding us that “everyone did what seemed right to them.”

7 There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who was staying within the clan of Judah. 8 The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim. 9 “Where do you come from?” Micah asked him. He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to stay wherever I can find a place.” 10 Micah replied, “Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in 11 and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons. 12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”

A Levite found his way to Micah’s house - ironically a Levite is the one who is supposed to be set apart for the job of priest and leading worship of God.

According to Moses the people of Israel are supposed to support the Levites but during their many times of persecution when the people turned away from God it appears they didn’t.

This is most likely why the Levite was traveling and why he agreed to be the house priest - There is something amiss with this Levite but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Micah armed with a Levite and a mix of idols mistakenly thought God would somehow bless him.

Judges 18 (CSB)

1 In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the Danites sent out five brave men from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout out the land and explore it. They told them, “Go and explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there. 3 While they were near Micah’s home, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. So they went over to him and asked, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is keeping you here?” 4 He told them, “This is what Micah has done for me: He has hired me, and I became his priest.” 5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God for us to determine if we will have a successful journey.” 6 The priest told them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over the journey you are going on.” 7 The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people who were there were living securely, in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. They were far from the Sidonians, having no alliance with anyone. 8 When the men went back to their relatives at Zorah and Eshtaol, their relatives asked them, “What did you find out?” 9 They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why wait? Don’t hesitate to go and invade and take possession of the land! 10 When you get there, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has handed it over to you. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking.”

We are continuously reminded that no one was in charge in Israel so the people did their own thing.

For this reason some from the tribe of Dan are out looking for a new land to inhabit. This shows a lock of faith in the Lord who originally gave them their land.

The tribe sent out spies to survey the land.

As they were close they recognized an accent coming from the house of Micah as someone from Judea.

They inquired about where he came from, what he was doing there and why he was still there. Giving testimony to what Micah has done for him and his current position.

Assuming the Levite’s ability as a priest them spies ask if their journey would be successful - the answer was yes.

There is a parallel with the spies sent my Moses in this story. Here the spies give a very optimistic report about taking the land (unlike the spies sent by Moses).

11 Six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol armed with weapons of war. 12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. This is why the place is still called the Camp of Dan today; it is west of Kiriath-jearim. 13 From there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and arrived at Micah’s house.

The first questions would be - why only 600 Danites went to battle?

Where they the fighting part of a larger migrating group or has all the fighting taken its toll on the tribe of Dan and this about all there is?

14 The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, “Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image and a silver idol in these houses? Now think about what you should do.” 15 So they detoured there and went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him. 16 The six hundred Danite men were standing by the entrance of the city gate, armed with their weapons of war. 17 Then the five men who had gone to scout out the land went in and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the silver idol, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the city gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 18 When they entered Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the silver idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 They told him, “Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut. Come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or for you to be a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” 20 So the priest was pleased and took the ephod, household idols, and carved image, and went with the people.

On their way to take the land the men decide to stop at Micah’s house to do some “shopping”.

The main group stood out by the gate while the 5 spies went to the house to the idols and the ephod - most idols and the ephod were made with gems and/or precious metals like gold and silver = wealth.

The priest offered very little protest and the men basically made him and offer he couldn’t refuse.

His motives as priest were definitely not God focused - they offered him more money and prestige to be priest over a “nation” instead of a house and well, he accepted.

The way the people of Dan treated Micah and the city illustrates Jacobs prediction in

Genesis 49:17 CSB

17 Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.

21 They prepared to leave, putting their dependents, livestock, and possessions in front of them. 22 After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses near it were mustered and caught up with the Danites. 23 They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you mustered the men?” 24 He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ ” 25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” 26 The Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were stronger than he was.

Good strategy keeping the fighting men between the family and the potential threat that could be coming after you.

Once Micah discovered the theft he called on his neighbors to go after the thieves.

The Danites pretend not to have a clue as to why Micah would be coming after them.

Micah leveled his charge and he had a right to be upset but it did not scare the Danites.

As a matter of fact they basically threaten him by saying “don’t yell at us or we might get angry and kill you and your family.”

Realizing he was out manned Micah turned and went home.

The irony here is that Micah originally stole the silver from his mother - she put a curse on whomever took it - he tried to repent and she tried to lift the curse by replacing it with a blessing - Micah then committed several infractions against the Law of God - now he has lost everything… I wonder what the original curse was?

27 After they had taken the gods Micah had made and the priest that belonged to him, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people. They killed them with their swords and burned the city. 28 There was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in a valley that belonged to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 They named the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel. The city was formerly named Laish. 30 The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

The went north and took the city of Laish whose people were not expecting a fight and were quickly defeated and the city destroyed.

They rebuilt and set up a new place - remember not in the place God originally had given them - and they named the city Dan.

We find out that the Levite was named Jonathan but as I mentioned earlier their is an issue with him… he is not really a Levite priest.

Johnathan was a descendant of Moses NOT Aaron and the priests were to come through the descendants of Aaron.

Verse 31 basically tells us that the people worshiped as they desired because Isreal had no king and Jerusalem had not sanctuary to unify the people.