Joshua, Judges, and Postmodernism

Maintaining a Solid Faith in Shifting Times – Lesson 10

DateSubjectKey Texts______

May 16“Whatever” and “Everyone Did What Was Right in

His Own Eyes”Judges 17-18

Micah’s Idol, and the Migration of the Danites

  1. Understanding Judges 17-21 within the Book of Judges
  1. This section contains no “deliverers” or “judges” and as such:
  2. Serves as an “epilogue” to the series of Judges, much in the way that Judges 1 – 2 serves as an “introduction” to the book.
  3. Forms a picture of how people in Israel lived during the period of the Judges
  4. Comes at the end of the book to show the results of the disintegration of Israel as a result of their faithlessness and that of their leaders or “judges”, the last of which being Samson: terror and violence
  5. Continues to illustrate the consequences of faithlessness, and “live without a purpose or direction”, doing what is right in your own eyes:
  6. “In those days Israel had no king” (17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25)
  7. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (17:6, 21:25)
  8. Play on Samson wanting what was “good in his eyes” (Hebrew Text of 14:3 and 14:7)
  9. Repetition of “Israel had no king” possibly foreshadows the coming of the Monarchy within the whole of the Joshua-Kings historical cycle.
  10. The episodes in Judges 17-21 are drawn up along the lines of the North/South split that would eventually characterize Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom of Israel
  11. Dan and Ephraim in the North, associated with Bethel (story in Judges 17-18)
  12. Benjamin in Judah in the South, associated with Jerusalem (story in Judges 19-21)
  13. Episodes referring to the South, Benjamin and Judah, or the cities of Gibeah and Jerusalem respectively (see Judges 19:9-14) are set up along the lines of Saul / David, which give a taste of the difference between Saul and David in the Monarchy to come (Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin and was “changed” at Gibeah – I Samuel 9:1-2, and 10:5)
  14. Contains a number of thematic links with the book of Judges as a whole:
  15. Illustrates the problem with Idolatry announced in Judges 2:1-5, and gives an expanded picture of the “evil” that the Israelites did in worshipping other Gods. For example, the story of Micah’s Idol builds on the theme of Gideon’s last days where the people worshipped the ephod he made.
  16. Works out an example of the continued settlement of the land begun in Judges 1, with the migration of the tribe of Dan, looking for their place of settlement (Judges 18:1)

Joshua, Judges, and Postmodernism

Maintaining a Solid Faith in Shifting Times

(page 2)

  1. Micah’s Idol
  1. Background and Framing of the Stories:
  2. Both tribes had difficulty settling, although for different reasons
  3. Danites: Judges 1:24 and Judges 18:1-2
  4. Benjamites: The civil war of “Israel” against the “Benjamites” over what had been done to the Levite’s concubine (Judges 20)
  5. Issues surrounding Levites:
  6. In the case of the Danites, the Levite was “for hire”
  7. In the case of the Bejaminite-Israel conflict, the issue of justice for the abuse of his concubine was initiated and perpetuated by a Levite.
  8. Repetitive refrain of “In those days Israel had no king”.
  9. A statement about Israel completely straying from the notion YHWH as king of his kingdom set forth in Exodus 19:6, and Deuteronomy 33:1-5. The episodes in Judges 17-21 illustrate Israel’s Canaanization and Israel’s abandonment of YHWH as king!
  10. Canaanization of region, symbolized by Micah’s idol
  11. Canaanization of morality, symbolized by the treatment of the Levite’s concubine.
  12. Illustrates the point that private “apostacy” leads to national “apostacy”
  13. Samson’s private relationship with the woman of Timnah led to a national conflict with the Philistines
  14. Micah’s private idol led to the establishment of a Canaanite shrine in Dan
  15. The rape of a Levites concubine led to civil war in Israel
  16. Micah’s name:
  17. His full name means, “Who is Like YHWH?” Thus, we are invited to consider that the nation had strayed to the point of “NO ONE!”
  18. Consider that Micah stole from his mother an amount equal to what each of the Philistines gave Delilah in the previous story. The question has been raised whether or not Delilah was Micah’s mother.
  1. Canaanization (corruption) of Israel’s devotion to YHWH: illustrates “doing what is right in your own eyes”. There is no challenge to the “sincerity” of the worship, only a view of how Canaanite the religion of YHWH had become.
  2. The “piety” expressed in Micah’s name is offset by the lack of devotion to YHWH with which he acts: he steals, and does not honor his mother
  3. Micah’s motive for returning the money to his mother is more out of the fear of the “curse”, than remorse for what he did
  4. The mother “consecrates” the stolen silver to YHWH by giving it back to her son, not the priests

Joshua, Judges, and Postmodernism

Maintaining a Solid Faith in Shifting Times

(page 3)

  1. What happened to the rest of the money? Only 200 shekels were given to make the “image”, where were the other 900 that were “dedicated to YHWH”?
  2. The making of an “image” is in direct contradiction to the Ten Commandments about not making a graven image. The two words that refer to the image (17:3, carved image and a cast idol) refer to the way in which Canaanites made idols:
  3. Carved image: hewing and cutting an image
  4. Cast Idol: Melting down precious metals, and overlaying the mixture onto the sculpted idol.
  5. Micah has his own “house of God” (17:5), or shrine, in violation of Deuteronomy 12 that stipulates that the Israelites should worship at the place that YHWH would specify. Gideon did the same thing with the ephod he made.
  6. Micah has made his own additions to the idol, which are referred to as “an ephod” and “some idols”, or “terapim” in Hebrew.
  7. Ephod: likely a garment for the idol (as in Gideon’s story)
  8. Terapim: Zechariah 2:10, seems to indicate a connection between the terapim and “diviners” who prophecy through visions and dreams. This seems to be a practice imported to worship of YHWH from Canaanite sources (see 18:5)
  9. The installation of one of Micah’s own “priests” is a direct challenge to the Aaronic priestly line.
  10. The phrase in English “installed one of his sons as a priest” is literally “filled the hands of one of his sons to be a priest”, which is an expression of conveying authority.
  11. The expression “filled the hands” has a double meaning with the fact that the priest was supported by Micah. His opportunism is seen when he forsakes Micah for a better offer: Judges 18:19.
  1. The “young Levite” (Judges 17:6-13)
  2. A “na’ar”, which means a young man or a boy, and younger than the age at which those under Aaron could serve (see Numbers 4)
  3. Plays the ironic role of being “a father” and serving as “a priest”, yet at the same time being treated like “a son” by Micah (Judges 17:11)
  4. Indication of the “insecurity” of developing one’s own religion. Micah had the idols and the shrines, but still needed someone to be a “father and a priest”. Also an indicator of forsaking YHWH as father and provider.

Joshua, Judges, and Postmodernism

Maintaining a Solid Faith in Shifting Times

(page 4)

  1. The Migration of the Danites (Judges 18)
  1. In the larger corpus of Joshua-Kings, this story probably serves as a prelude to the worship center in the Northern Kingdom (in Dan) that rivaled Jerusalem, and that was known for its pagan influence upon Israel (see I Kings 12:25-33)
  2. The story punctuates the establishment of Dan in the northern part of the promised land. Beth Rehob (Judges 18:28) is linked to the region of Aramea in 2 Samuel 8:3-8.
  3. The story functions as a direct challenge to the teachings in Deuteronomy about how worship, the priesthood, and community life should function.
  4. The section raises the timeless issues of “ambition” and “opportunism” in service to God.
  5. Judges 18:19: Is it better to serve just one house, or is it better to serve a tribe and clan in Israel?
  6. Today, we might ask, is it better to serve in a well known mega-church rather a small church that no one knows about?
  7. Is violence justified on the part of the Danites in conquering Laish, and establishing Dan, given the disposition of the Sidonians? The Danites seem to be driven to find a place to live without any expressed reliance upon YHWH. Their conquering of Laish is described as a human achievement without any reliance upon God.
  8. Question for us is how much of what we call “kingdom work” is done as our own achievements, or how much of it is truly the result of “trusting God”?