NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT IS NOT EXACTLY LIKE THE RECORDING.
The story of Samson is over. He was the last Judge of Israel, yet Samuel, the author of the Book of Judges, continues with 2 more accounts. Why didn’t Samuel end the Book of Judges once he said Samson had “Judged Israel for 20 years? It appears Samuel wanted to include in the Book of Judges two accounts which explain to us the depths of Israel’s fall, especially highlighting the corruption of the Priesthood. The Torah says the Levitical Priesthood, the line of Aaron, will bear all of the iniquity that happens in the Tabernacle and within the Priesthood.
Numbers 18:1 Yahweh said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your fathers’ house with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
The responsibility to keep the lead tribe of Ephraim and all Israel in line fell directly on the Priesthood’s shoulders. All through the prophets we read about the corruption in the Priesthood which began with Aaron’s own sons, Nadav and Abihu (Leviticus 10).
The 2 accounts at the end of the Book of Judges, one which we will study this time and the other next time, show us why YHVH used the account of Samson’s sin with the harlot of Judges 16:1-3 as a metaphor for the state of Israel during Samson’s time. And in those first 3 scriptures of Judges 16 also came the prophecy of how Yeshua would put a cross on His shoulders to die for this harlot to whom He was married.
The next 2 situations clearly show us what Israel was and further illustrates Israel even today. The only difference between then and now is that Israel knew she was Israel. All 13 tribes knew they were part of Israel. Each individual of each tribe knew they were part of Israel. Today, the difference is that most of Israel – both the physical descendants of Israel and the spiritually grafted in people of Israel – do not know who they are! Ignorance, though, is no excuse as the entire Bible is openly available to everyone. All Israel had been and will be judged again by YHVH and punished for the very things these next 2 situations teach us.
Judges 17:1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
This particular problem comes out of the lead tribe of Ephraim in whose territory sat the Tabernacle at Shiloh. Ephraim was the leader of Israel’s apostacy! We shall see that the Aaronic Priesthood was complicit with it.
Judges 17:2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred 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.” His mother said, “May YHVH bless my son!”
We know of this 1100 pieces of silver except that there were 1100 pieces of silver and they were, apparently, stolen. Micah’s mother had spoken a curse, probably to curse whoever took the silver. This was a lot of money! Micah overheard her cursing of the thief and decided to do something about it. He got her silver back. We do not know how but, since there is no mention of him killing the thief, we must assume that is not what he did.
We might also understand that however he got the silver back, it probably was not done through YHVH’s legal method of taking the thief to the judge in the city gate. If that had been the case, the amount received would have been 1100 pieces of silver plus an additional 20%. It is more likely Micah threatened the thief, even forcibly taking the silver from him.
Now let’s see how not following YHVH’s justice plan is just the first of Micah and his mother’s sins.
Judges 17:3 He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to YHVH from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.”
Micha’s mother dedicated the silver to YHVH, and to prove this to be so, she had a ‘pesel’ image, a molten image, made from of every cent! But wait! She broke this part of the first commandment.
Exo 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
And she also broke the second commandment.
Exo 20:4 “You shall not make for yourselves a graven image, nor an image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, YHVH your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Exo 20:6 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Injustice toward people results in injustice toward YHVH. Injustice toward YHVH results in injustice toward people. Micah and his mother were not only unjust, they were in rebellion! Injustice = rebellion = witchcraft, so Samuel would later say (1 Samuel 15:23).
Two different forbidden images were made.
Judges 17:4 When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a carved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah.
Oh wait, again! Verse 3 leads us to believe Micah’s mother would use ALL of the silver. Now, it’s not all the silver. No. She’s keeping 900 pieces of silver for herself. It doesn’t ALL belong to YHVH!
The silversmith made a ‘pesel’ out of it. Not carved, as in with wood. And he made a poured image, as in molten metal. Two images (Judges 18:14). One was an idol – the pesel’ which is commonly translated as “carved image”. This was a sculpture of “god”. Likely intended to be YHVH, Himself. The other was a ‘massekah’ – just a plain ‘ol image of something YHVH said we are not to make, have, use, acquire, etc.
The Hebrew letter peh (פ or ף) means “mouth”. Literally, this molten metal object, whether it was a fully body or a bust, was intended to be served (worshiped) and bowed to so the worshiper could “hear” the voice of his or her god. In this case, it was so the worshiper to hear the voice of YHVH since Micah’s declared the silver was dedicated to YHVH.
This is not the way to hear YHVH’s voice. We only need an object to help us hear the voice of our god when we have no personal relationship with our god. If we have a personal relationship with YHVH, we will hear His voice in our heart and head. The prophets so often proclaimed that these objects cannot speak! They cannot speak because they cannot hear. But YHVH hears! He hears everything!
Plus, 200 pieces of silver is not that much silver. This was a small, even a tiny object. You know, the golden calf wasn’t all that big in size, either. Worshiping objects was first learned in Egypt by the Israelites and then they just continued the practice against YHVH’s will after they made covenant with Him saying they would not do that.
Ezekiel 23:19 Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.
Acts 7:38 This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,
Acts 7:39 to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
Acts 7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods that will go before us, for as for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ (Nehemiah 9:16-17).
Judges 17:5 The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Micah set up his own religion. Gideon had made an ephod. Here, we encounter the ephod again. An ephod has several meanings one of which is purely an object of worship like the one Gideon had. But here, this ephod is probably a High Priest-like garment because Micah’s son was appointed to rule over the idols in Micah’s house of gods, and the teraphim objects, images of the ancestors of Micah’s household.
Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.
This is the third time Samuel said “there was no king in Israel”, all in the Book of Judges. He was making a point. What was the point? The people had broken their national covenant with YHVH. There was another way for Israel to blessed, though. It was through a proxy, a King, who was obedient to YHVH that Israel might still be able to be blessed. But first, they would have to reject YHVH as their King. We will read about this in the Book of Samuel and learn how and why a King of Israel could cause Israel to be blessed or cause her to be cursed.
Judges 17:7 There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there.
There is a conundrum here because only those from the family of Levi could serve as “Levites”. How can this be explained? Remember, the Levites did not receive any land allotment. Their allotment is YHVH. They were to serve all of the tribes as priests (Numbers 18:20, Deuteronomy 10:9, 18:1-8 Joshus 18:7). So this was a young Levite from Judah’s tribal area. This is not changing the Law so that now those from the Judah can serve as “Levites”.
Here are some more details about this Levite:
Judges 17:8 The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled.
Judges 17:9 Micah said to him, “Where did you come from?” He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.”
Judges 17:10 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in.
Micah’s son was not necessarily doing a bad job as the overseer of Micah’s house of gods. It’s just that to have snagged a REAL Levite was a huge jump up in society. “Oh yeah, the priest of MY house of gods is a REAL Levite! Bet you don’t have one of these! Makes MY house of gods more special than the other guys’.”
Judges 17:11 The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons.
Judges 17:12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
Judges 17:13 Then Micah said, “Now know I that YHVH will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”
See? Having a household token Levite in your house was believed to garner favor with the “main god”, YHVH.
How does this one Levite make the entire line of Aaronic Priests complicit with this situation? The Priesthood has the most responsibility of any group in Israel. If they knew what this young Priest was doing, they should have stopped it. If they did not know what this young Priest was doing, they should have!
By the way, YHVH despises mixed worship of other gods with Him!
Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel…
This is the fourth and final time Samuel will make this statement. The Book of Judges is the explanation of WHY Israel ended up with a human King instead continuing to have YHVH as her King.
Judges 18:1 …In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
This situation happened toward the end of the Book of Joshua. Dan receive its tribal inheritance in chapter 19 of Joshua, just before Joshua’s death (Joshua 19:40-48). So this was fairly early in Israel’s history and here was have this apostacy of idolatry already coming out of the tribe of Ephraim.
Judges 18:2 The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.
Judges 18:3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they went over there, and said to him, “Who brought you here? What do you do in this place? What do you have here?”
How would these Danites have known the voice of this young man? Probably because they were still engaging in worship of YHVH at Shiloh in addition to their idolatry with other gods. This account says he was a young man, so we don’t know his age, but regardless of age, all Levites were probably still showing up at Shiloh regardless of their age. These Danites were acquainted with him.
Judges 18:4 He said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I am become his priest.”
Judges 18:5 They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.”
Judges 18:6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before YHVH.”
This happens in our modern religions of Christianity and Judaism all the time. The people who are involved in idolatry declare whatever they want to declare in YHVH’s name. So look, you’ve been engaging in idolatry, unfaithfulness, against YHVH and so that means you will be blessed. NOT! That is not what Moses said. Unfaithfulness to YHVH leads to destruction. We will see, however, that in this case YHVH did let the Danites fulfill the Genesis 49 prophecy about them.
Judges 18:7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else.
Laish was located at the foot of Mount Hermon in the extreme northern portion of Israelite territory (also known as Leshem in Joshua 19:47). The city was about one hundred miles from Dan’s assigned territory. -IVPBBC commentary. The city was probably still inhabited by the Sidonians but it was within the territory of Manasseh. Let me get nit-picky here. Each tribe was to take FULL control of its territory. Dan had not taken its territory fully from the Philistines (thus we later get the story of Samson), and the Manassehites also had not fully conquered their territory.
You see, when everyone in the body of YHVH does not do what they are supposed to do, we being to have perversion. Why is Dan not listed among the 144,000? Because Dan turned back in the day of battle. How do I know this? Where is the scripture for this? The knowledge of this is here in this account. Instead of Dan taking his own territory, he went to Laish in Manasseh’s territory, where these Danites also “moved” Manasseh’s land boundary.
Deuteronomy 19:14 You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God gives you to possess.
In addition, Dan was as much an idolatrous tribe as Ephraim. Which one was worse? Who knows?
Dan took Laish, renamed it “Dan” and set up idols there.
Judges 18:30 The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image…
We will see what that engraved image was, specifically, in the following scriptures. Also, one of the two golden calves of Jeroboam I was placed in Dan, formerly called Laish.
So Dan could take the city from the Sidonians but they couldn’t defeat the Philistines.
Neither Dan or Ephraim are listed in the 144,000 because both turned back in their days of battle and both were idolatrous more than any of the other tribes.
Specifically, what image did Dan set up in their new city of Dan, formerly known as Laish? Let’s see.
Judges 18:8 They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them, “What do you say?”
Judges 18:9 They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land.
Judges 18:10 When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”
Judges 18:11 The family of the Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, with six hundred men armed with weapons of war.
Judges 18:12 They went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan, to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim.
Not only did Dan take Laish from the Sidonians whom the Manassehites had failed to run out, but now they have taken a city from the Judah’s territory. They are thieves who move boundaries (Deuteronomy 19:14).
Judges 18:13 They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
Judges 18:14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a carved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do.”
Hmmm? Uh, what do you have to do? Leave those things where they are? Oh! Destroy them and call Micah, the Levite and all their families to repentance? Yeaahhh… But wait! Neither of these actions were what these evil Danites were referring at. What were they referring to?
Judges 18:15 They went over there, and came to the house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he was doing.
Judges 18:16 The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.
So get this scenario. Six hundred armed men show up at your door asking, “How are you?” You’re going to think something is up, right?
And by the way, Exodus 12:37 says about 600,000 men came out of Egypt. Just thought I’d throw that in here as part of the patterns YHVH uses. This particular pattern is the pattern of Israel’s idolatry, right? First, the children of Israel with their golden calf and now Dan trying to get their hands on the idolatrous booty.
Judges 18:17 The five men who went to spy out the land went up…
Like the evil spies who spied out the land of Israel, these Danites “spied out” the city of Laish.
Judges 18:17 …and came in there, and took the engraved image [pesel], the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image [massekah]; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.
Judges 18:18 When these went into Micah’s house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
Judges 18:19 They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”
Judges 18:20 The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people.
Yay! This apostate priest got a promotion from one member of the tribe of Ephraim all the way to the WHOLE tribe of Dan!
We already saw how these Israelites treat YHVH, now let’s see how brethren act toward brethren.
Judges 18:21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods before them.
Judges 18:22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan.
Judges 18:23 As they cried to the children of Dan, they turned their faces, and said to Micah, “What ails you, that you come with such a company?”
Judges 18:24 He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’”
Judges 18:25 The children of Dan said to him, “Don’t let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household.”
Judges 18:26 The children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
YHVH let the Danites live up to Jacob’s prophecy.
Genesis 49:17 Dan will be a serpent on the trail, an adder in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward.
Later on, Dan would produce probably the most prophetic Judge of Israel, Samson. We have seen this might have happened during Joshua’s lifetime, at least 300 years before Samson lived.
Samson’s Judgeship was also prophesied by Jacob.
Genesis 49:16 “Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Judges 18:27 They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire.
Judges 18:28 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived in it.
Judges 18:29 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; however the name of the city used to be Laish.
Judges 18:30 The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.
Here is a sad legacy for Moses and his son’s descendants. Jonathan was not literally the son of Gershom. Rather, all these hundreds of years later, Jonathan was a descendant of Gershom. Like Korah, Jonathan thought he should be in charge so the Danites made him and his sons their priests until “the captivity of the land”.
What “captivity of the land”? This is why some scholars think the Book of Judges was written by someone other than Samuel in the time after the Northern Kingdom went into Assyrian captivity. They claim this because their notion of what constituted “captivity” is too short-sighted.
The Philistines put the entirety of Israel into captivity when, during the time of Samuel’s youth, they captured the Ark! We will read how shaken the Israelites were over this. High Priest Eli’s son, Phinehas, was lost in the battle with the Philistines. His wife went into labor when she heard the Ark had been taken and her husband killed, and she declared, “the glory has departed from Israel; for God’s ark has been taken.”
The Book of Judges was written by Samuel. The “day of the captivity of the land” in Samuel’s time was the day the Ark left Israel.
Judges 18:31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was in Shiloh.
The idolatry is what ties Dan and Ephraim together in their fate of not being included in the 144,000. The idolatry and lack of military support for the 300+ years in which the Tabernacle sat in Ephraim’s territory in Shiloh is another reason for YHVH to move His House out of there. And then we read about Ephraim turning back in the day of battle in Psalm 78:9.
Have you noticed how fiercely idolators protect their idols but they are weak in protecting Israel? If have not noticed, please notice now.
Samuel has made his first point about the corruption and apostacy of Israel at that time. We will get his second point next time when he shows us not only how the Levitical Priesthood and the people treated Him, but how they treated each other.
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