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Discussions Prophets and Writings

Judges 17-18 — Mikhayahu, Mikhah & Moshe’s wayward grandson

Micah makes a graven image and finds a Levite to officiate worship of the graven image. The Danites come to Ephraim and to Micah’s house and ask for God’s blessing on their endeavor to the North to make war. The Danites later take Micah and the worship items as well as their entire households and emigrated North.

Micah makes a graven image and finds a Levite to officiate worship of the graven image. The Danites come to Ephraim and to Micah’s house and ask for God’s blessing on their endeavor to the North to make war. The Danites later take Micah and the worship items as well as their entire households and emigrated North.

Judges 17-18 map

Food for thought from the recorded discussion

Yereboam (Jereboam) was not the one who introduced idolatry into what later became known as the northern tribes of Israel. Even Micah and his priest weren’t the first.

Why were the Danites moving?

The story follows the ephod and idols, why? Why were they made in the first place?

What is the significance of the phrase, “there was no king in Israel”?

How and why did the Danites recognize the priest’s voice? Who is this priest? Why did the Danites want him?

We don’t when this story actually takes place. The Danite army seems small in comparison to the arresting party (not army) coming for Samson in the previous chapters. It seems out of place compared to the next chapter as well.

What does a judge do? What does a king do?

Why did Micah return the silver in Judges 17:2? What kind of person are we dealing with in Micah?

In the first 4 verses, his name is spelt as Micahyehu? Later, starting with Judges 17:5, it’s spelled as Micah. The scribes took God’s name out of his name because Micahyehu abandoned his God.

What was Micah’s one redeeming quality? He returned the money to his mother twice because he did not want to be responsible for making the idols himself. His mother was the one who made the image, not Micah. Micah’s mother commissioned the work, not Micah himself.

Now we hear of a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah. Isn’t Bethelem in Benjamin? There were two Bethlehems in this time, one in the territory of Judah and one in the tribe of Benjamin. Bethlehem is a border town similar to Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., in the United States.

Why does the Levite leave? Was this a good thing or a bad thing? What did the Levites do as they traveled through the Land?

Did Micah know who the Levite was? What did Micah do when the Levite came? What job did Micah give the Levite? Whose position did the Levite replace?

Did the Levite correct Micah’s practice? Why not?

The Danites want to leave the territory that God had given them and wanted to find another territory so they send an expedition to see what they might find to the North of the other tribes.

The Danites recognize the young Levite’s voice? How and why?

The Danites asked the Levite to inquire of Elohim to find out whether God would bless their scouting expedition to Laish. Elohim is a more generic name for God, the Levite responds by saying that he will invoke the name of Yahweh for them, which is the personal name of God.

They go up to Laish and return to Danite territory to gather up some of the familes. They stop back at Micah’s house again for a different purpose the second time around.

What do the Danites offer the Levite? Why does the Levite accept this offer?

What were the Danites expecting? Where were the Danite women and children? Who would attack the Danites from the rear?

How did the Danites respond when Micah caught up with them? What does it mean when the Danites say, “Don’t let your voice be heard among us.”

The end of Judges 18 reveals the identity of this Levite. Who was he? Why was his forefather’s name misspelled in Judges 18:30? How long did the family of this Levite serve (Judges 18:31)?

Reader: Jeff. Speaker: Daniel Agee.