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Judges 17
7Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9And Micah said to him, "Where do you come from?" And he said to him, "I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place." 10And Micah said to him, "Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living." And the Levite went in. 11And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest."
Judges 18
1In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. 2So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, "Go and explore the land." And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?" 4And he said to them, "This is how Micah dealt with me: he has hired me, and I have become his priest." 5And they said to him, "Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed." 6And the priest said to them, "Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the LORD."
7Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8And when they came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, "What do you report?" 9They said, "Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. 10As soon as you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth."
11So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, 12and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim. 13And they passed on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, "Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do." 15And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him about his welfare. 16Now the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. 18And when these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?" 19And they said to him, "Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?" 20And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.
21So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the goods in front of them. 22When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. 23And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, "What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?" 24And he said, "You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, 'What is the matter with you?'" 25And the people of Dan said to him, "Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household." 26Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.
27But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.
In the process of time Micah sells the clan's clerical services to a wandering Levite. His theology of manipulation and superstition tells him that God will prosper him, "because I have a Levite as priest" (17:13).
The narrative action shifts to the tribe of Dan. Dan was one among several tribes who, according to Judges 1, had failed to conquer their land completely. Now they had even been chased off of their allotted portion. Like the lonely Levite, the tribe is aimlessly wandering about in search of real estate. The prospect of conquering the unsuspecting village of Laish is more than promising, but before their attack on Laish, Dan secures the services of the Levite priest. When Micah protests against the abduction of his officiant and the idols of his shrine, the 600 warriors advance a convincing argument: "Say one more word, and we will kill you!" (18:25). The motto and philosophy of the tribe is the survival of the fittest.
As the attack on Laish commences, we are reminded of the holy war accounts of the book of Joshua. Parallels are seen in the sending of spies, the oracular blessing to conquer, and the gaining of valuable information about the inhabitants. But the assault on Laish is in reality nothing but murder and brutal seizure of property by a group of bandits and thugs. First of all, this was not the land that Yahweh had given to Israel. Laish lay outside of the boundaries of the divine allotment. Moreover, the oracle of the Levite is a travesty, and the conquest itself turns the pattern of holy war on its head. The paradigm used to involve an emphasis on Israel's weakness, the enemies' strength, and the Lord granting victory (cf. Num. 13:27-33; Josh. 6:1, 16, 20; 10:1-11; 11:1-5). Here an idyllic, pastoral scene of unarmed and unsuspecting villagers is violently disrupted when one fine morning 600 mercenaries ride into town to satisfy their greed for wealth and power. Israel has become shameless.
What is most shocking about this text is that sin succeeds. The agenda that the Levite priest and the tribe of Dan set for themselves is being achieved. The Levite moves up in the religious pecking order, from serving a small clan to being the spiritual leader of a whole tribe, and the Danites take full advantage of the weak and vulnerable. This sends a solemn warning to our churches in the 21st century. Success is not necessarily a sign of God's blessing or that we "must be doing something right." It may in fact be the opposite, for God does not stifle every corrupt scheme of the human heart. The principle applies to the church, but also to us as individuals.
Jesus once asked the question, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you?" (Luke 6:46). He followed his searching question with a parable about someone who dug deep and built his house on a rock. It stood the test of time. Another person built a structure on shallow ground without any foundation, and "great was the ruin of that house." Judges 17-18 reflects the ruin of Israel building a house on the shallow ground of deception, idolatry, greed, hypocrisy, and power. Lately, what have we been building our house on? The wonderful thing about the gospel of Christ is that it offers the answer to all forms of trouble, and a new beginning to those who take God at his Word. For just as God raised Jesus from the dead, so he can raise us from the darkest of times and circumstances, and assure us of his mercy which endures forever.
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.
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