With Part I of Micah’s saga, thanks to his mother, he came to possess a graven image of the Lord. Judges’ Chapter 17, continues Micah’s tale.
Micah was reported to have a house of idolatry. There, he made ephods [religious garments] and icons. He even installed one of his sons to be his priest. [note: Micah, in Judges, was not identified as a member of the Levite tribe. Thus, his son arguably was not qualified to hold the position. Levites, in Israelite time, were treated differently than other tribes; they had different rights as far as property. Further, both Moses and Aaron were Levites.]
One day, a young Levite came to Micah’s house. Micah, after meeting the young man, invited him to his personal “father and a priest” Judges 17:10. Micah felt that the Lord would be good to him based upon his actions.
Some time after this arrangement, members of the tribe of Dan-Danites- came and encountered Micah’s Levite Priest. They made inquiry of him and he gave them a positive response. Eventually, the Danites went on a military expedition and essentially captured the village where Micah lived. The Danites went to Micah’s house and stole his graven image and other idols. After that, they made an offer to the Levite Priest, “[c]ome with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?” Judges 17:20 The priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people. Judge 17.
It was later reported that the Danites rebuilt a city and “[t]here the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. Judges 17:31 They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh. Judges 17.
In essense, while much meshugah activity took place in Part I of Micah’s tale, Part II brought an exponential level of meshugah. A non-Levite became a priest, a Levite became a personal priest which possessed a graven image and idols, the Danites, beyond stealing the graven image and other idols, took the priest and set up their own an area of worship. Eventually, they had a decendent of Moses in charge of it! Finally, all this over the top activity took place during a time when Shiloh was a legitimate place of worship as the Ark of the Covenant was present there!
Within a Ten Commandments’ framework, while we can discuss the nature of the graven image and the theft of the idols, there is more important issue of influence. The story reflects upon how a household interaction between mother and son involving questionably immoral activity metasticized to corrupt an entire Israelite tribe. In doing so, to the reader’s shock, even Moses’ legacy is implicated; Moses’ decendents falling within the trap of localized worship involving a graven image and idolatry is simply hard to stomach.
Thus, Micah’s tale is about an individual’s potentiality to corrupt an entire society. It is the cautionary tale of the need to educate entire populations. Unlike the Book of Judges, the leadership in both the Torah and the Book of Joshua presented the commandments to the entire population. In this period of loose confederation of tribes, it appears that this Finally, Micah’s tale serve as commentary concerning the centralization of places of sacrifice.
Be well!!
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