Ministries
Resources
1There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2And he said to his mother, "The 1,100 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." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by the LORD." 3And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, "I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you." 4So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. 5And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest. 6In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
The stories of Judges 17-21 close out the book with a grotesque portrait of Israel in religious and social disarray. The downward spiral of gradual decline ends with almost total degeneration of the covenant people. Idols are worshiped, priests are hired for monetary gain, defenseless and unsuspecting foreigners are ruthlessly massacred, strangers mistreated. An Israelite woman is raped to death by Israelites. Men, women, and children are murdered. Young women are kidnapped by the hundreds and forced into marriage by their kidnappers. But the catalogue of horrendous crimes has been pulled together and shaped to provide a fitting conclusion to the work. Chapters 17-18 focus on the religious degradation of Israel, whereas chapters 19-21 deal with social and moral breakdown. This two-part conclusion corresponds to the two-part introduction to the Book (1:1-2:5 – social degeneration; 2:6-3:6 – religious degeneration).
The state of the union at the end of the period of the judges begins with a certain Micah. His name ("Who is like Yah?") implies that no idol or image can ever compare with Yahweh. But the young man attempts to do what his name denies is possible. He will try to capture God in an image and manipulate him for his own personal gain.
Chaos and confusion rule supreme in this family. Dear Micah steals from his own mother 1,100 pieces of silver (an enormous sum!). He does not seem to care about his mother's curse against anyone who would steal the treasure. Now, in a fanciful flight of remorse Micah returns the silver to his mother. Mother, in turn, does not rebuke her son, but pronounces a hearty Lord's blessing on her little darling. Happy with the outcome of the matter, mom then consecrates the silver to Yahweh to "make an idol of cast metal" (17:3). But only 200 of the 1,100 pieces of silver go into the production of the idol for Micah as a reward. We will never know what happened to the remaining 900 pieces.
The reader senses the total absence of accountability and responsibility in this family affair. Religion is hideously twisted and distorted. In the world of Micah and his mom curses and blessings lie dangerously close together, and the one can turn into the other with the flip of a silver coin. Consecration to the Lord becomes idolatry; vows of offering are only partially fulfilled. All the same, the scene ends with a nice personal shrine, a shiny new silver idol, ephod, teraphim, and Micah's son playing the role of the priest. Then comes the evaluative statement of 17:6: "In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes." The statement forms the refrain of the book's conclusion, as it resurfaces verbatim in 21:25, while shortened versions in 18:1 and 19:1 help to draw a straight line from 17:6 to 21:25.
The absurdly distorted scene in Micah's home may almost seem comical. But the story reveals the sad truth that Israel has lost its knowledge of God. The words from 2:7-10 come to mind: "…They did not know Yahweh or the work that he had done for Israel." The change did not happen overnight. It was a very gradual process, like a ship without anchor almost unnoticeably drifting out of the bay into the open sea. We too are not beyond the danger of drifting. If today Christ makes no difference in my life, then the ship is already drifting. The good thing is, we can talk to the Lord about how we are doing, and he will help us see what we need to know—about him and about us.
The author of these devotionals, the Rev. Martin Emmrich, is an ordained OPC minister (Westminster OPC, Corvallis, Oregon) as well as the author of Pneumatological Concepts in the Epistle to the Hebrews, a book on the teaching of Hebrews on the Holy Spirit. We are happy to make these devotionals on Ecclesiastes and other passages of Scripture available to you.
© 2025 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
