Judges 17:1-2
The name Micah means, "Who is like Yahweh?" This reflects the foundational faith of Micah's parents. The Mountains of Ephraim were central to Israel, near the middle from north to south as well as east to west. Another city in the mountains of Ephraim was Shilo, the home of the tabernacle and the central place of worship from Joshua through the Samuel.
The scene opens with Micah and his mother. He confesses to be the one who stole 1100 shekels of silver from his mother. This money was probably her dowry, money set back as her care and provision should she become widowed. This is a significant amount of money and was probably not just a big deal in the home but around the town. We'll see in verse ten that ten shekels was a decent annual wage. There was thief in their midst!
What made this little thief change his mind? He may have been afraid of the curse she placed on it. He heard her curse the money. This was invoking God to intervene, to not allow anyone to be blessed by the money and return it to her. Mom reverses her curse by invoking God to bless her son who returned the money. Never mind he was a little thief! This is interesting and telling as we get hints that there is a problem in this home.
Judges 17:3-4
He gave mom back her 1100 shekels. It appears that part of invoking the Lord, she dedicated the shekels 'wholly' to Him. This was presumably to impress the Lord and get him to act on her behalf. It appears to have worked from her perspective. Then we find the silver was dedicated to the Lord for her son to make an idol.
The Israelites were adopting many of the practices of the Canaanite neighbors. They carved idols out of wood, molded them or overlaid them with precious metals. Once the idol was created, they had a 'mouth opening' ceremony. Through some incantation or religious activity, the god they pursued would supposedly manifest itself in the idol. Then they would fall down before it.
Isaiah captures the insanity of idolatry in a concise fashion in chapter 44. He shows the craftsman at work, sawing and cutting and building. Of the wood he gathered:
He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
"Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire."
17 And the rest of it he makes into a god,
His carved image.
He falls down before it and worships it,
Prays to it and says,
"Deliver me, for you are my god!" (Isaiah 44:16-17)
The unspoken question of Isaiah is, how do you tell the difference the wood you burn to roast your food and that which will be your god? What if you burn the wrong half of the wood? In reality, Isaiah is suggesting there is no difference because there is no god.
Mom is then shown giving 200 shekels to the silversmith to make a carved image and molded image. The idols were then placed in the house of Micah. Some thoughts come to mind:
- If one god isn't good enough, is two going to be enough? Is there a limit?
- Mom blessed her son by Yahweh. Did she think these idols were representative of Him? Or was she worshiping other gods.
- She dedicated 1100 and gave 200. Now we know where her son got the idea to be a thief. She's not just an idolater. She's cheap and robbed God.
There's so much that quickly takes a wrong turn we are kind of rocked back on our heels. What kind of family is this?
Judges 17:5-6
Micah made his own shrine and apparently had priestly aspirations so he made him an ephod. The ephod the high priest wore at the tabernacled had the Urim and Thummim used to determine the will of God. Many of these household gods were of deceased family members. There was a weird combination of ancestor worship and necromancy that found its way into the culture.
If all this wasn't bad enough, Micah drew his sons into this disaster, exposing them and teaching them worship that is worthless at best but damaging in that they thought they were worshiping Yahweh the right way. Micah may have been setting up his home as a worship center, a place to worship and seek God's will. He, as high priest could divine God's will and his son would serve as priest. This stands in stark contrast to the Mosaic law and the tabernacle that was Shiloh, just a few miles away.
This apostasy is explained in verse six as the result of not having a king. The writer believes they were missing spiritual leadership so everyone did what they thought was right. We asked, "What was wrong with Micah and his mother?" They were an example of what had become normal in the culture at that time.
Judges 17:7-13
A young man who is a Levite from Judah comes on the scene and is staying there. It appears he was looking for his place in the world. Micah makes an offer for this young Levite's employment. Priests at the temple lived from God's provision through the offerings and sacrifices. There was no stipend given to them. This is quite an offer for this man. This was quite the upgrade to his operation, to have a real Levite.
Even if we can make allowance for Micah's ignorance of how Yahweh was supposed to be worshiped, this serves as another marker in the culture showing us how bad things were. The Levite should know that there is a prescribed place and way to worship the Lord. He should have recognized this operation was idolatry and apostasy. The man, coming from Bethlehem, is an embarrassment to the heritage of Bethlehem. He is an anti-Christ to which Jesus, the High Priest and King of the House of David, born of Bethlehem will make this man a forgotten character of a dark time.
We should note that we don't know whether the intentions of Micah or this Levite were to worship the true and living God or some other gods. But, rest assured, they get no marks for good intentions. Doing what's right in our own eyes leads us to thinking our good intentions impress God. They don't.
© 2015, 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
Facebook