Judges Part 4 (Nasb) (15 Judges Then, 2 Are In 1 Samuel)

Micah’s Idolatry (This is not the Micah with a book named after him in the Old Testament.), being independent

17 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse [a]in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.”

According to Judges 17:10, ten shekels was a decent day's wage. So 1100 shekels would have been 110 day's worth of pay, so about 3+ months wage.

And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord.” 3 He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return [b]them to you.” 4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made [c]them into a graven image and a molten image, and [d]they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a [e]shrine and he made an ephod and [f]household idols and [g]consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. THERE WAS NOT GOOD LEADERSHIP.

7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was [h]staying there. 8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to [i]stay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to [j]stay wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 So Micah [k]consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and [l]lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”

Footnotes

Judges 17:2 Lit and also spoke it in my ears

Judges 17:3 Lit it

Judges 17:4 Lit it

Judges 17:4 Lit it was

Judges 17:5 Lit house of gods

Judges 17:5 Heb teraphim

Judges 17:5 Lit filled the hand of

Judges 17:7 Or sojourning

Judges 17:8 Or sojourn

Judges 17:9 Or sojourn

Judges 17:12 Lit filled the hand of

Judges 17:12 Lit was

Danites Seek Territory

18 In those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day [a]an inheritance had not [b]been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, [c]valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” 4 He said to them, “Thus and so has Micah done to me, and he has hired me and I have become his priest.” 5 They said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going [d]has the Lord’s approval.” PRAYERFULLY OURS IS TOO.

7 Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were in it living in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no [e]ruler humiliating them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. 8 When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” 9 They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you [f]sit still? Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land. 10 When you enter, you will come to a secure people with a spacious land; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.”