Judges 17:1-13
Q.1. In what way did the mother of Micah fail him? How were they both sincere, yet wrong? How does the record explain the behaviour of people in those days? – (Jdgs.17:1-6)
Micah had stolen his mother’s substantial savings of one thousand, one hundred pieces of silver (the amount offered by the Philistine chiefs to Delilah to betray and defeat Samson – Jdgs.16:5). When he confessed to stealing the silver, she responded – Blessed be my son by the Lord (Jdgs.17:2). This would send the wrong message to Micah about stealing (c.f. Dt.5:19). To further flout the Ten Commandments, she then had the silver crafted into a molten image – … his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah (Jdgs.17:4 c.f. Dt.5:8-10). They were probably sincere in their desire to worship but were completely misguided. The recorder commented – In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes (Jdgs.17:6). In time, their idolatry would bring sin and shame on the nation.
Q.2. Was the Levite qualified to serve God? What was behind his journey? How was he recruited by Micah? How did Micah treat the Levite? What was behind his actions? – (Jdgs.17:7-13)
The Levites served on rotation. They were located in the Cities of Refuge, plus another forty-two cities, totalling forty eight cities throughout the Promised Land (Num.35:1-8). After conquering the Promised Land Joshua, with Eleazar, the priest, set up the tabernacle in Ephraim at Shiloh in a central location. It stayed there until the ministry of the prophet Samuel (Josh.18:1 c.f. 1 Sam.1:3). The Levite from Bethlehem in Judah was qualified to serve as a priest (Jdgs.17:7). However, he was unsettled and hoping to advance himself. He ended up in the hill country of Ephraim (Jdgs.17:8-9). There Micah made him an offer that was hard to refuse – … Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance (Jdgs.17:10). Micah then treated him like a son and consecrated him to serve – an action he was not authorised to make (Jdgs.17:11-12). With his own personal priest, Micah mistakenly believed – … Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest (Jdgs.17:13). He had set up his own religion – which he had devised in his own heart (1 Kgs.12:33 c.f. 2 Chron.11:14-15).