Judges 17.1-13 gives us another picture of what happens when Israel does not follow the Torah, giving rise to the first episode of idolatry after Joshua, and one of the first cases of replacement theology.
v 1…Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim (fruitful) whose name was Micah (“who is like” and is a type of Israel in unbelief).
v 2…And he said to his mother (a type of Israel as a whole), “The eleven hundred pieces of silver (the same price given for the destruction of Samson the Danite in 16.5, is the same price for the destruction of his tribe in later in 18.30 as this story develops) which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me, I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord (Yehovah; reversing the curse and said a blessing over him, without reproving him; she cursed the sin of others, but tolerated the sin in her family).
v 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 (Yehovah) for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return them to you (she will begin to mix the true worship of Yehovah with idolatry; these images were for the use of her son and his family so that they didn’t have to go all the way to Shiloh to worship at the Mishkan).”
v 4…So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to a silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image (Judges 18.17), and they were in the house of Micah (this is forbidden in Exo 20.4).
v 5…And the man Micah had a shrine (house, temple) and he made an ephod and household idols (teraphim; an oracle to replace going to the Mishkan and consulting the Urim v Thummim) and consecrated (filled the hand of) one of his, that he might become his priest (all of this is forbidden in the Torah).
v 6…In those days there was no king in Israel (no supreme ruler or judge to restrain this action, and to punish it, so the idolatry would spread); every man did what was right in his own eyes (which explains MIcah’s idolatry).
v 7…Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah (not the one in Zebulon), of the family of Judah, who was a Levite and he was staying there (of the tribe of Judah through his mother; Bethlehem was not a Levitical city; he was a sojourner and left possibly because the people were not supporting the Levitical system through tithes, etc, and there was no king to enforce it).
v 8…Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he might find a place (to get support); and as he made his journey he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.
v 9…And Micah said, “Where do you come from?” And he said, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in JUdah, and I am going to wherever I may find a place.”
v 10…Micah the said to him, “Dwell with me and be father (teacher) and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance (meals and drink).” So the Levite went in (forgetting he was consecrated to Yehovah only).
v 11…And the Levite agreed to live with the man; and the young man became to him like one of his sons.
v 12…So Micah consecrated the Levite (filled his hand, ordained him into his office), and the young man became his priest (not allowed) and lived in the house of Micah (he is a type of the hireling religious teacher looking for a congregation to support him, not necessarily going where God wants him to go).
v 13…Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord (Yehovah) will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest (this shows the influence of ignorance of the Torah and superstition).”
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