Judges · chapter 17 of 21
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Judges 17 tells how Micah, a man of the hill country of Ephraim, returns to his mother eleven hundred pieces of silver he had stolen from her. She dedicates part of it to make an image, and Micah sets up a shrine with an ephod, household gods and his son as priest. He then hires a young Levite from Bethlehem and believes the Lord will prosper him because he has a Levite.
Judges 17 begins the final appendix of the book, which runs to chapter 21 and no longer tells of judges. These are stories from the time when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. They show how far Israel had drifted from the Lord, even in its religion, with no need for outside enemies.
A man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah tells his mother that he took the eleven hundred pieces of silver over which she had uttered a curse, and returns them. She blesses him in the Lord's name and says she had dedicated that silver to the Lord to make a carved image and a metal image. Micah gives the money back to her, and she gives two hundred pieces to a silversmith, who makes an idol that is placed in Micah's house.
Micah has a shrine, makes an ephod and some household gods, and consecrates one of his sons as his priest. The text stresses the cause: in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who was staying there as a sojourner, leaves his town looking for a place to settle and arrives at Micah's house. Micah offers him to stay as his father and priest, with ten pieces of silver a year, clothing and food. The Levite agrees and becomes like one of his sons. Micah consecrates him and says with satisfaction that now he knows the Lord will prosper him, since he has a Levite as his priest.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The text explains that there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. This refrain, repeated in the appendix, sums up the problem: each person is his own authority and does not submit to God's law.
The mother says she dedicates the silver to the Lord to make an image, mixing the Lord's name with an idol. Sincere devotion that is misdirected can become idolatry.
Micah offers the Levite to be his father and priest in exchange for silver, clothing and food. The priestly role is treated like a job, and faith is reduced to a business.
Micah concludes that the Lord will prosper him because he has a Levite as his priest. It is a superstitious confidence: he believes the Levite title is enough to secure blessing, without obeying the Lord.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Eleven hundred pieces of silver. — Judges 17:2
Answer: Two hundred. — Judges 17:4
Answer: An ephod and household gods, and he consecrated one of his sons as priest. — Judges 17:5
Answer: That there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. — Judges 17:6
Answer: Bethlehem in Judah. — Judges 17:7
Answer: Ten pieces of silver, clothing and food. — Judges 17:10
Judges 17 shows how a religion tailored to each person ends up empty. Micah uses the Lord's name, a Levite and a shrine of his own, but arranges everything to his taste. In a small group we can ask whether we are following what God says in his Word or adapting faith to what suits us.
It also warns against the idea that certain symbols or people guarantee blessing. God is not bought with a hired priest. Blessing comes from obeying him and living under his authority, something the church finds truly only in Christ, the King that Israel was still waiting for.
Judges 17 leaves Micah satisfied with his shrine and his Levite. In Judges 18, the tribe of Dan, which is seeking territory, will arrive at his house, and the story of the shrine and the Levite will take an unexpected turn.
It is the narrator's verdict on the era: without a king or an authority that obeyed God's law, people decided by their own judgment. The book does not present this as freedom but as the source of religious and moral corruption.
The ephod was a priestly garment that was sometimes used to seek God's guidance, and household gods were figures associated with protecting the home. That Micah had them in his shrine shows he mixed worship of the Lord with practices the law forbade.
Levites were to serve at the sanctuary God established, not at a private shrine with images. The Levite also accepted a salary and the offer to be a family's priest, which shows his own spiritual weakening.