The final five chapters of the Tanakh book of
Judges are almost always ignored by Christians and Jews alike because the picture
of early Israelite society in Palestine contrasts with popular conception
fomented by centuries of propaganda to the contrary, including the innumerable
retcons to the material which was the foundation for the current canonical
Torah.
The passages here, Judges chapters
17-18, are taken from the World English Bible©, which is in the Public
Domain.
This blog entry is the story of Micah the
Ephraimite, which strikes down a number of Jewish, Samaritan, and Christian
claims in the rest of the heavily retconned Tanakh.
First is the idea of Israel’s perpetual
monotheism having existed since its beginning; the stories clearly show a
polytheistic society. The shrine
referred to as a “house of gods” is a clear giveway on that regard.
Second is the idea that Israelites have
always been idoloclastic, with both graven and molten images, presumably of
Yahweh, playing a prominent role, as well as the “teraphim” cult figurines
thought to have been used well into the Hellenistic era.
Third is the idea of a hereditary Aaronic
priesthood existing from Israel’s earliest days, given that Micah consecrates
first his own son then the itinerate Levite as his own priest. He even made an ephod for them to use.
Fourth is the idea that Levites came from a
separate tribe. The Levite in the story
is specifically identified as being of the tribe of Judah, from Bethlehem, in
fact.
Fifth is the ideas of Israelite unity and
righteousness, the antagonists of Judges 18 being from the tribes of Dan
attacking Micah and robbing him of both his Levite priest and religious
artifacts, though they leave him the molten image. Afterwards, they are portrayed as carrying
out a genocide against the humans of Laish, not because of the wickedness of
the latter or an order from Yahweh, but merely because they want their land.
17 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 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.”
His mother said, “May Yahweh bless my son!”
3 He restored the eleven hundred
pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly
dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I
will restore it to you.”
4 When he restored the money to his
mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a
silversmith, who made an engraved
image and a molten image
out of it. It was in the house of Micah.
5 The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an
ephod, and teraphim,[a]and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In
those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone
did that which was right in his own eyes.
7 There
was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a
Levite; and he lived there. 8 The man departed
out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place,
and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he
traveled. 9 Micah said to him, “Where did you come
from?”
He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking
for a place to live.” 10 Micah said to him, “Dwell
with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of
silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in. 11 The
Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one
of his sons. 12 Micah
consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the
house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now know I that Yahweh will do good to me,
since I have a Levite as my priest.”
18 In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought
an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen
to them among the tribes of Israel. 2 The children
of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor,
from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!”
They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of
Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were by the
house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they turned
aside there, and said to him, “Who brought you here? What do you do in this
place? What do you have here?”
4 He said to them, “Thus and thus has
Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I am become his priest.”
5 They said to him, “Please ask
counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be
prosperous.”
6 The priest said to them, “Go in
peace. Your way in which you go is before Yahweh.”
7 Then the five men departed, and
came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in
the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land,
possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were
far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else. 8 They
came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them,
“What do you say?”
9 They said, “Arise, and let us go up
against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to
possess the land. 10 When you go, you will come to
an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your
hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”
11 The family of the Danites set out
from Zorah and Eshtaol, with six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 12 They
went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah. Therefore
they called that place Mahaneh Dan, to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath
Jearim. 13 They passed from there to the hill
country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14 Then the five men who went to spy
out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, “Do you know
that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim,[a] and an engraved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to
do.” 15 They turned aside there, and came to the
house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he
was doing. 16 The six hundred men armed with their
weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the
gate. 17 The five men who went to spy out the land
went up, and came in there, and took the engraved
image, the ephod, the
teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest
stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons
of war.
18 When these went into Micah’s
house, and took the engraved image,
the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to
them, “What are you doing?”
19 They said to him, “Hold your
peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a
priest. Is it better for you to be
priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in
Israel?”
20 The priest’s heart was glad, and
he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with
the people. 21 So they turned and departed, and
put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods before them. 22 When
they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses
near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. 23 As
they cried to the children of Dan, they turned their faces, and said to Micah,
“What ails you, that you come with such a company?”
24 He said, “You have taken away my
gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How
can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’”
25 The children of Dan said to him,
“Don’t let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and
you lose your life, with the lives of your household.”
26 The children of Dan went their
way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went
back to his house. 27 They took that which Micah
had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and
unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the
city with fire. 28 There was no deliverer, because
it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in
the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They
built the city, and lived in it. 29 They called
the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to
Israel; however the name of the city used to be Laish. 30 The
children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son
of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the
Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So
they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved
image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was
in Shiloh.
No comments:
Post a Comment