Chapter 17

(There is a note in the MSB that says "...chapters 17-21 give miscellaneous appendixes to illustrate the pervasively depraved conditions in the era of the judges."  So that's why these terrible stories are here.  They aren't making the point that whatever they did was fine with God, but that left to themselves, with no leadership at all, things get really bad.  In several places, there is a phrase like "there was no king in Israel, so everyone did as they thought best.  Again, I think this is the Biblical example of where a Libertarian approach to government would always lead.  You cannot just leave people to themselves, because people always drift towards evil.)

There is a  young man named Micah.  He overhears his mother cursing whoever stole the 1100 pieces of silver from her.  Like you would.  Micah confesses that he stole it and gives it back to her.  She is so pleased that she gives 200 pieces of it to the silversmith to make a carved image and a metal image. 

This verse:

3 And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, "I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you." [Jdg 17:3 ESV]

This is how twisted things have become.  She says she is dedicating the restored money to the Lord - but she doesn't take it to Shiloh and give it to the high priest - which would be the correct way to do that.  Instead, she gives it to someone to make an idol, against the 10 Commandments, obviously, unarguably, wrong.  How could their thinking have moved this far away from Moses' teaching in less than 400 years?

Here is that verse I'm always thinking about, though it shows up in other places also.  This describes Israel under the judges:

6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. [Jdg 17:6 ESV]

Perhaps God wanted them to see this.  That with no leadership at all, they would drift away from Him.  But God also told them they didn't really want a king.  Was God after a theocracy, or about a people who would make the right decision all on their own when given the opportunity to do so, in the absence of any human coercion? 

The image is in Micah's house, and he appoints one of his sons - an Ephraimite, not a Levite - to be his personal priest. 

A Levite living in Bethlehem of Judah decides to seek his fortune.  He shows up at Micah's door.  Micah finds out this man is a "real Levite" and hires him as his priest, believing God will now prosper he and his family because of the Levite priest.  These verses:

12 And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest." [Jdg 17:12-13 ESV]

This "Levite" agrees to be a personal priest for Micah's family, with this idol as the central object of worship for the family.  This is a poorly trained, ungodly Levite, and to believe God will bless such a twisted version of His teachings just shows how far things have fallen