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Fellowship Around the Table
The Book of Judges: Micah’s Idols and Tribal Chaos w/ Eric Johnson (Part 7 of 9)
What happens when a society loses its moral compass and everyone acts solely in their own interest? Join us as we navigate the turbulent waters of Judges chapters 17 and 18 with Eric Johnson. We'll start by dissecting the recurring phrase, "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." This statement paints a vivid picture of the chaotic and tribal era, characterized by local conflicts and a lack of centralized leadership. We'll contrast this disarray with the later, more unified reigns of Saul and David, shedding light on the lawlessness and individualism that marked this period in Israel's history.
Then, we dive into the intriguing narrative of Micah and his idols, where a Levite's questionable priesthood sparks a series of dramatic events. We'll explore Micah's misguided attempts at legitimacy and the tribe of Dan's opportunistic actions, culminating in a tense confrontation over stolen idols and a priest. As we unravel these stories, themes of idolatry and societal dynamics come to the forefront, offering fresh insights into this overlooked part of the Bible. Don't miss this enriching discussion that bridges ancient text and contemporary relevance!
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Speaker 2:Welcome back to another week of Fellowship Around the Table, where we endeavor to have great conversations about life, faith and the Bible. We are in week seven with Eric Johnson in the Book of Judges. Hello, all right, eric. Where are we heading today?
Speaker 1:We are going to jump ahead in the book again, but once again most likely back in time. I cover chapter 17 and 18. It's kind of the second of the two kind of sorted little stories that you get at the end of the book that kind of set the scene for how things have been going in Israel during this period.
Speaker 2:Right, and earlier in our series we did this as well, starting at the end of the book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we talked about the Levite and his concubine, which is kind of the more famous and also the grimmer of the two stories Right. This time we're going to talk about the story that I think probably gets the least discussion in the book of Judges. Just because it's a weird story, it's kind of hard to figure out what to do with it, so we'll see what we can make of it today.
Speaker 2:And the way the book's structured, is this almost like an addendum. Feel Like it's not chronological necessarily right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's kind of talk about that. So the first verse I want to talk about is actually 17.6, which is it starts off a kind of recurring theme that's repeated over these last few chapters, and the verse is in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. So the phrase in those days there was no king in Israel is repeated four times in the last five chapters of the book. You get it in 17.6, you get it at the beginning of chapter 18, you get it at the beginning of chapter 19, and you get a repetition of the whole thing at the end of the book in chapter 21. It's in those days Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Wow, and so if you look at it, it starts off in those days. So how I would read that is, we're done with the chronological recounting and now we're just talking about how things were in those days.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Because those days are the days that we've been talking about the whole time, the whole period of the Judges.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And so we're kind of summarizing that within those days there was no king in Israel, and then here's what it was like during that period.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:And then the rest of that verse you have. There was no king in Israel. We've seen that there's kind of two ways to look at that. So we know obviously there's no central governmental structure We've talked about. It's very tribal, the conflicts are very local and you have conflict between the tribes. Sometimes the time of the kings has not come yet. You get to Saul and David later on, starting in 1 Samuel.
Speaker 2:Because we've seen multiple times basically civil wars, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and at least you know you can say a lot about Saul, but there were not a lot of civil wars during.
Speaker 2:Saul's time he did unite the people Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So we've kind of talked about two of the three parts of the verse you have. In those days, you have, there was no king in israel. There's kind of a second way to look at that and if you remember, back in the story of gideon, the israelites wanted to make gideon a king after they were delivered and gideon said no, you're not going to make me a king, god is your king, yeah, but they don't act like god is their king. No, they don't do that very well at all. And so you kind of have the aspect where there's no human king and there's no centralizing human government, but there's also, to some extent, no divine king. Obviously, god is in charge of what's going on, but they don't act like he is. They don't respect his authority yeah, they don't submit to that.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I know that phrase is very popular in terms of amongst Christians and those that know the Bible that every man did what was right in his own eyes, and I do think most of the time when we read that and hear that, we think of the moral component of that.
Speaker 2:Like people were doing whatever they wanted, sinful, and all that. But there is a component, like you're saying, like a civil thing, like they didn't have a lot of structure, like governing structure. I mean it was somewhat set up in the law and they should have. The Levites and that whole system were a part of that.
Speaker 1:But you can tell through these stories so, going back to the story of the Levite and his concubine, I mean, the men of Gibeah would not have done what they did if they thought there would be consequences, right. So there's. There's no, you know, local sheriff coming to haul them off to jail after, right, after committing horrible crimes. And then, yeah, we kind of started talking about the third part there, which is everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The thing I like to do, which is maybe a little bit dicey in terms of how the original language plays out, but the thing I like to do with that specific translation, is cut it off before the last four words and read the whole verse again. Okay, so say, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right. That sounds pretty good.
Speaker 2:That sounds pretty good.
Speaker 1:But the trick there is the in his own eyes part yeah. And I've been told by someone who knows Hebrew better than I do, which is at all, that the word right there does not necessarily mean morally right, okay, it just means more. You know, the NIV translation of that, for instance, is everyone did as he saw fit, yeah, and that's I'm sure he's correct about. That. I have no you instance is everyone did as he saw fit, yeah, and that's I'm sure he's correct about that I have no grounds for contradicting the person I've spoken with who knows Hebrew better than I do.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, if you look up other instances of that word in the Old Testament the Hebrew word, which I think, is yashar, you can find it seven times in the book of Deuteronomy, and five of them are in the same phrase, which I'm going to pull as an example from Deuteronomy 6.18. Okay, so this is Moses talking to the Israelites before they enter the promised land, and he says and you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you and that you may go in and take position of the good land that the Lord swore to give your fathers. And so, instead of doing what's right in your own eyes, what they're supposed to do is do what's right in God's eyes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I'm going to label your translation there, where you cut off the last four verses. Listen to this In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did as he saw fit. That's the libertarian version of the Bible. Yeah, it's the libertarian paradise. Yeah, that sure looks good on paper.
Speaker 1:All right. So these last five chapters, I think, are basically an exploration of what it's like when there's no king and everyone does what's right in his own eyes. Okay, so we're going to jump back and quickly cover the first five verses of the chapter and we're going to get an introduction to a man named Micah, and the first thing we find out about him is that he stole a bunch of money from his mom, which is not a great look. So he says 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. And so he gives the money back. And his mother says I'm going to dedicate this to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a metal image. That's a bad start. That's a bad start.
Speaker 2:They're not supposed to do that, no.
Speaker 1:That's the second commandment, right. And so he gives the money back. She makes the carved image and the metal image, puts it in his house and he has a shrine and household gods and he ordains one of his sons as a priest. This is not off to a great start, no? So then we get the.
Speaker 1:In those days there was no king. There was a young man of Bethlehem and Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And he departed from the town of Bethlehem and 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. Micah asks him where he's from. He says I'm a Levite, I'm from Bethlehem, and he says, well, hey, I get a cool promotion and I get paid and this is great. So he sets up shop and Micah it says in verse 12, micah ordained the Levite and the young man became his priest and he was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said now I know that the Lord will prosper me because I have a Levite as a priest.
Speaker 2:End of chapter.
Speaker 1:End of chapter. So what do you make of what's going on so far?
Speaker 2:I mean, compared to everything else we read, it feels pretty benign, right, but it also is people just did what they saw fit in their own eyes. I mean, it's just a great story.
Speaker 1:example of that right, definitely and especially in this case, we have someone who should know better. Right, like the Levites, are dedicated to God's service as their entire tribe.
Speaker 2:Not all of them are on the lines of the priests, right, they couldn't just be a priest, they had to be a line of Aaron, order of Aaron. But this guy took a promotion from an Ephraimite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just some random guy. He just stopped by his house and was like hey, I'm going to make you a priest. And the Levite doesn't say who are you to make me a priest? He says cool, that sounds great.
Speaker 2:Well, he made his son a priest.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Whatever that is.
Speaker 1:But Micah. Meanwhile, micah takes this as an endorsement from God because he knows what the Levites are, he knows what they're supposed to be doing. Yeah, he thinks, well, if a Levi's working for me, what everything I'm doing must be fine? Yeah, so there's probably some kind of message in there that I'm not, that I haven't quite brought out in terms of how you should behave if you work in ministry, because there's a line between engaging with the world and engaging in the practices of the world that you have to kind of tread there. The Levite is not doing a good job here.
Speaker 2:Oh, I like that that line is not as simple as some would like to make it. No, not at all Interesting. So what else I mean is that your kind of take on the story that it's here so far.
Speaker 1:We'll get to kind of my overall angle on it a little later.
Speaker 1:So we'll get into chapter 18, which kind of doesn't seem like it's continuing the story, but it actually is Okay. So we start off the chapter. In those days there was no king in Israel. Still kind of in the same vein, we're telling stories of the same kind. Yeah, 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.
Speaker 1:Now, if you go back and look at chapter one, you remember we had had all the failures of the different tribes to take over their land, and in particular I think the Danites failed harder than everyone else. So they just were completely kept out of their land entirely. And so they're scrambling around trying to find some place to end up. Yeah, so they pick out five guys and send them around to kind of scout things out. And those five guys show up in the hill country of Ephraim and they stay at Micah's house.
Speaker 1:They asked the Levite what's going on and he tells them you know, this guy hired me to be his priest. And look at, look at these cool idols we have here. And then they say well, since you're a Levite, inquire of God as to whether our journey will be successful. And the priest said to them go in peace. The journey on which you goes under the eye of the Lord. We don't see him actually inquire of God. He just says, yeah, you guys are fine, don't worry about it. Again, I'm not entirely sure how much to read in there. Maybe he did inquire of God and we don't see it, but I'm kind of skeptical.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know. Given what else we've seen this guy doing, I'm kind of doubtful that he actually did what he said he did there. So, starting in verse 7, the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security after the man 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. And so they head back home, they circle around with the rest of the Danites. We can beat up these guys. They're quiet and peaceful and they don't really have any allies, and so we can take them. And so they muster up, they gather 600 armed men and head out north and on the way they pass through the whole country of Ephraim again and run into the house of Micah.
Speaker 1:And so, in verse 14, the five men who had gone on to scout the country 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, which is kind of a leading statement. Like, think about what we should do about that. But it's like we wouldn't have brought it up if we didn't have some ideas of what you should do about that Right? So they turned aside. They came to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and asked him about his welfare.
Speaker 1:Now, the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate and 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, which you know, fair enough, he's one guy, he's not going to probably take on 600 guys. 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? And they said to him keep quiet, put your hand on your mouth and come with us to be a father and priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man or to be a? He took the ephod, the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people. So it's less fair now.
Speaker 1:I think yeah right, I'm just getting promoted all over the place, all right. So they turn and departed, they take off. Micah finds out what's happened and he kind of musters up a posse of his neighbors and they head out to overtake the people of Dan and, starting in verse 23,. And 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? And 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? What do you make of that reaction? Let me ask you this way what do we know from what we've seen in the story? So what does Micah have left?
Speaker 2:I mean, he wouldn't His house.
Speaker 1:I can think of four things.
Speaker 2:His house Okay.
Speaker 1:He has sons yeah, one of whom he had multiple sons, one of whom he made a priest Okay. He has a mother who likes him enough to forgive him for stealing a bunch of money from her, and he apparently has neighbors who care about him enough to muster up a posse and go after guys who stole a bunch of stuff from him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good point.
Speaker 1:He's not too bad off, yeah, but the reaction is the telling thing here, I think. First of all, he says you take my gods that I made, which is just a stupid phrase, right.
Speaker 2:I mean the gods.
Speaker 1:I made Like one of my favorite things going through the Old Testament prophets is so many of them just make fun of the concept of idols so brutally. They really do make fun of the concept of idols, so brutally, they really do.
Speaker 1:It's like I think it's Isaiah who says something along the lines of like you cut down a tree, yeah, you take half of it and you burn it to cook bread, and you take the other half and you carve it into something and you call it a god. This is stupid. This is stupid. This is obviously stupid. Yeah.
Speaker 2:This story also just makes reminds me of Laban.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just reminds me of Laban, when Rachel takes some of those idols and they chase after her. Huh, interesting.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so you take the gods that I made, you take the priest and you go away. What do I have left? That is an overreaction. Yeah, that is a very severe overreaction. It's a telling one. So I'm going to verge into a personal anecdote here. We'll see if I can tell this properly.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's late 2016. The Cubs are in the playoffs. Okay, they have won the National League pennant. It's the first time they've won the National League pennant in 71 years. Wow, they're in the World Series. They're playing the team that was then known as the Cleveland Indians. The Indians have gone up three games to one.
Speaker 1:The Cubs rally and take games five and six, so they force a game seven. Game seven is going great. The leadoff batter for the Cubs hits a home run. They're ahead the whole game. As of the eighth inning, they're ahead six to three. Their closer, who they traded one of their best prospects for, is on the mound. This should be a done deal.
Speaker 1:And then the closer gives up three runs, including giving up a two-run homer to tie the game to a guy who hadn't hit a home run in three months. And at that point I'm sitting there on the couch as a Cubs fan watching this and saying, well, they're going to blow this game. Everyone's going to talk. You know, the Cubs blew their best chance ever to win a world series. They haven't won one since 1908 and the off season is going to be miserable. Everyone's going to be making fun of the Cubs the whole time and I'm real close to that point of saying the Cubs are going to blow this game. What do I have left? Like when you have that reaction to something in your life that's an idol in your own life.
Speaker 2:Wow, when it causes that much emotion, like that kind of strong reaction, and then you make what is an absurd statement that there's nothing, there's right, I have nothing left, I got nothing.
Speaker 1:Because this baseball team that I'm that I like, but I'm not affiliated with at all is going to lose this baseball game. I have nothing left.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because this baseball team that I like but I'm not affiliated with at all is going to lose this baseball game.
Speaker 1:I have nothing left. Yeah, like that's absurd. It's absurd, I felt it, I've said it, but yeah, I mean, that's how we are as people. It's very easy to slip into that, it is All right.
Speaker 1:So you see Micah's overreaction and then the people of Dan respond and say 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.
Speaker 1:I kind of like the way they phrase this, because it sounds like they're concerned that some random people who are passing by are going to become angry at what he's saying and attack him, as opposed to the guys who he's arguing with, who are armed, who happen to be the people who are talking. It won't be us, it's just some angry fellows who might just happen upon you, kind of trying to separate themselves from responsibility of the thing that they're threatening to do to him. Basically, so yeah, then the people of Dan just take off and Micah sees oh yeah, there's 600 armed men here. I don't have 600 armed men. He just turns around and goes oh, so the people of Dan head off north. They come to Laish, who are people, quiet and unsuspecting, and strike them with the edge of the sword and burn the city with fire and they take over the city. They rename it Dan after their ancestor. Dan Not maybe the most clever naming things.
Speaker 1:And they live there the rest of the time and you hear about that city repeatedly in the Old Testament. You hear all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba. So this is the furthest north point in.
Speaker 2:Israel at this point.
Speaker 1:And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So we finally get the identity of the Levite as kind of the twist ending at the end of the story. Right, this is Moses' grandson. You want to talk about someone who should know better?
Speaker 2:Wow Okay, about someone who should know better. Wow, okay. So the sons of dan set up for themselves the graven image. And jonathan, the son of what? What did you say that? Kershom?
Speaker 1:kershom, the son of depending on your translation, it may say manasseh yeah, I got manasseh yeah, I've. I've heard that some of the versions like not the current translation, but some of of the the scrolls in the ancient Hebrew may have been modified to protect Moses' reputation something along those lines. But yeah, the ESV at least has Moses as the, as the grandfather there.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's more of the Hebrew rather than I mean. Is Moses an Egyptian name? I can't remember who named him.
Speaker 1:I don't know he was. He was named by Pharaoh's daughter, but I don't know if it's a. Hebrew name or an Egyptian name?
Speaker 2:Okay, he was named by Pharaoh's daughter, but I don't know if it's a Hebrew name or an Egyptian name. Okay, fascinating, that's wild.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and that's kind of one of the two things also I think, that places in the chronology. If it's Moses' grandson, then it's pretty early on in the process of things in this book, because we go through four or five generations in the book and Moses' grandson is probably alive during the first one. Yeah, there is some thought that, you know, son of does not always mean son of in the Bible. Sure, jesus is called the son of David. He's not actually the biological son of David, he's a distant descendant of David. But the other thought is that the Danites if this is late in the chronology the Danites have been homeless for a very long time.
Speaker 1:And that is unlikely to be something that they would put up with for 200 years. Good point.
Speaker 2:And it says until the day of the captivity of the land.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's an interesting one. It clearly refers to some time of suffering on the part of the Israelites. It's probably not the actual exile, right, because that would be 500 plus years later, and the book of Joseph was most likely written before that. It could be a note that was appended later by you know, a later scribe, or it could be some other time of suffering that predates the exile. You always have to read these things in the context in which the person who's writing the book would write it, but you don't always know who is writing this part or when they're writing it. So, yeah, it doesn't go into more detail there, and so I'm not going to try and put an exact marker on when I think that took place. I could mean a couple of different things there. Yep, okay, so that's the story of Micah and the Danites and the idols. There's two reasons I like to do this now. One is that I like to save Samson for last, and the other is that Samson himself is a Danite. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:I'm looking forward to it Me too. I'll see you all next week.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining fellowship around the table. If you would like to learn more, go to FBC Tulsaorg.
