The narrative of Micah's Idol, recounted in Judges (chapters 17 and 18) concerns the Tribe of Dan, their conquest of Laish, and the sanctuary that was subsequently created there. [1] Micah makes a teraphim and other objects of piety, which are later installed at the founding of Dan city.
The narrative, as it stands in Judges 17, states that a man named Micah, who lived in the region of the Tribe of Ephraim, possibly at Bethel, [2] had stolen 1100 silver shekels from his mother, but when his mother cursed about it he returned them. The mother then consecrated the money to Yahweh for the purpose of creating a carved image and silver idol, and she gave 200 shekels to a silversmith who made them into a carved image and an idol. These were placed in a shrine in Micah's house, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and installed one of his sons as a priest. A young Levite, from Bethlehem in Judah, who lived near Micah (some translations render the underlying Hebrew term as sojourning, though it literally means resident alien) and was wandering the land, passed Micah's house, and so Micah asked him to be his priest, in return for 10 silver shekels a year, clothes, and food, to which the Levite agreed.
The Tribe of Dan, who at this time were without territory, sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol, representative of their clans, to scout out the land. In the text, when the scouts chanced upon Micah's house, they spent the night; when they chanced upon Micah's house, they recognised the Levite's voice (Biblical scholars believe this refers to recognition of his dialect or to priestly intonation [3] [ page needed ]), and asked him what he was doing there, so he explained. Upon return to the rest of the tribe of Dan, the scouts told them about Laish, an unmilitarised town in fertile land that was similar to the Sidonians', but was unallied as Sidon was far away. The Tribe of Dan consequently sent 600 warriors to attack Laish, and during their journey passed Micah's house, which the five scouts then told them about.
The five scouts then went into Micah's house, and stole the idol, ephod, teraphim, and carved image, and took them out of the house, while the 600 warriors were standing at the gate. The priest asked them what they were doing, but was persuaded to go with them as then he could be the priest of a whole tribe rather than just a house. When Micah discovered what had happened, he gathered his neighbours together and set off in pursuit of the warriors. When he reached them he was threatened with violence, so, realising he was outnumbered, gave up the pursuit and returned home empty-handed.
The warriors eventually reached Laish, which they put to the sword and burnt to the ground. The Tribe of Dan then rebuilt the town, named it Dan, installed the idols, and made Jonathan the son of Gershom, and his descendants, the priest. This is presumably the Levite who has featured in the story, but his name had been withheld. [4] Gershom and his sons were priests until the captivity of the land and the idols remained in use as long as the house of God was at Shiloh . Scholars think that the captivity of the land refers to the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel by Tiglath-pileser III in 733/732 BCE, and that the house of God was at Shiloh refers to the time of Hezekiah's religious reform; [4] an alternative possibility, however, supported by a minority of scholars, is that time of captivity of the land is a typographic error and should read time of captivity of the ark, referring to the battle of Eben-Ezer, and the Philistine capture of the Ark, and that the ceasing of the house of God being in Shiloh refers to this also. [5]
The text has many doublets; [3] [ page needed ] Laish is described as peaceful, unmilitarised, and impractically allied to just the Sidonians in both and 18:7 and 18:27–28; it is stated that Israel had no king in both 17:6 and 18:1; the Levite begins to live with Micah in 17:11 and in 17:12. The text seemingly has contradictions. [3] [ page needed ] In 17:7 the Levite is a young man who lived in the neighborhood of Micah, while in the following verse he is a wandering Levite; in 18:19 the priest voluntarily goes with them, in 18:27 he is taken; in 18:30 the idols are used until the captivity of the land but in 18:31 it is until the house of God ceased to be in Shiloh. [6] Critical scholars thus believe that the text probably was formed from two earlier spliced together narratives; the majority view being that the one of these spliced together narratives was Judges 17:1, 17:5, 17:8–11a, 17:12a, 17:13, 18:1, parts of 18:2, 18:3b, 18:4b–6, 18:8–10, parts of 18:11, 18:12, parts of 18:13, 18:14, 18:16, 18:18a, 18:19–29, and 18:31, and that the remaining verses are the other narrative. [6]
Unsplicing these narratives, one finds that in the first narrative,
In the second narrative,
In addition, the first four verses (17:1–4) use a different form of the name Micah than the remainder of the text. Scholars think these verses have been subject to scribal corruption and are misplaced from their original order. The original order is probably that the mother first consecrated the silver to Yahweh, and only then did the son own up to the theft — the consecration of the silver likely being a ploy by the mother to get the son to own up to the theft (particularly as she only puts a fraction to the purpose it was consecrated for). [3] [ page needed ]
There is some debate between textual scholars as to the provenance of each narrative; among those who subscribe to Hexateuch-like theories there is even uncertainty as to whether the first narrative should be considered Elohist (or Elohist-like) or Jahwist (or Jahwist-like), and the origin of the second narrative is even more debated. [6] Some archaeologists have suggested that the story might preserve memories of the destruction of a stratum at the site dated to c. 1000 BCE. [7] Textual scholars believe that the whole narrative is ultimately designed as a slur on the sanctuary at Dan, which became a significant sanctuary in the Kingdom of Israel, by a writer or writers who were opposed to the presence of idols there. It is notable that everyone except the people of Laish is portrayed negatively — Micah is a thief (at least in the second narrative), his mother consecrates 1100 shekels but only gives 200 of them for the purpose to which they were consecrated (again in the second narrative), the mother has molten and graven idols created (second narrative) - which violates the Mitzvot against this, [3] [ page needed ] the Tribe of Dan steal the idols, the Levite is disloyal (in the first narrative), and Dan brutally conquer and destroy the peaceful and unmilitarised city of Laish (in the first narrative).
Micah is variously identified in rabbinic literature; some Rabbis consider him to be identical with Sheba son of Bichri and others with Nebat, the father of Jeroboam. [8] The rabbinical sources thus regard Micah as an appellation, and give it an etymology (not supported by modern linguists) where it means the crushed one, in reference to a haggadah narrative concerning the Biblical story of bricks without straw in the Moses cycle. In the haggadah narrative, the Israelites were so desperate to complete the task of making bricks, and simultaneously unable to do so, that they felt compelled to put their children in the brickwork where the bricks were lacking; Moses rescued one child, namely Micah, already crushed by the bricks above him, and restored him to life and health. [9]
Classical rabbinical sources all report that Micah was among The Exodus, but some rabbinical sources state that it was believed that Micah took the idol with him from Egypt, [10] while others argue that he only took the silver from which the idol was made. [11] There is also a tradition that it was Micah who caused the golden calf to be made; in this tradition, Moses retrieved Joseph's coffin from the Nile by throwing a splinter with the words come up ox (comparing Joseph to an ox) into the river in the wilderness, and Micah retrieved the splinter after this, and threw it into the fire which Aaron had cast the gold into, causing a golden calf to come out. [12]
Despite his clear idolatry, Micah was not treated as a completely negative figure, and was highly praised for his hospitality; in one rabbinical narrative, God prevents angels from casting down Micah's idol simply because of Micah's kindness. [13]
Louis Ginzberg's classic The Legends of the Jews further mentions that Micah's mother was none other than Delilah, and that the Philistines bribed her with the 1,100 shekels for Samson's secret.
According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran.
The pidyon haben or redemption of the first-born son is a mitzvah in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is "redeemed" by use of silver coins. Interpretations differ in what the firstborn son is to be redeemed from, ranging from being redeemed from their firstborn status, which was stigmatized after the Ten Plagues, or their obligation to serve as a priest.
Judah was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth of the six sons of Jacob and Leah and the founder of the Tribe of Judah of the Israelites. By extension, he is indirectly the eponym of the Kingdom of Judah, the land of Judea, and the word Jew.
Levi was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi and the great-grandfather of Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Certain religious and political functions were reserved for the Levites.
According to the Bible, Gershom was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name means "a stranger there" in Hebrew,, which the text argues was a reference to Moses' flight from Egypt. Biblical scholars regard the name as being essentially the same as Gershon and in the Book of Chronicles the progenitor of one of the principal Levite clans is sometimes identified as Gershom, sometimes as Gershon.
Dan is an ancient city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, described as the northernmost city of the Kingdom of Israel, and belonging to the tribe of Dan.
An ephod was a type of apron, which according to the Hebrew Bible, was worn by the Jewish high priest the kohen gadol, an artifact and an object to be revered in ancient Israelite culture, and was closely connected with oracular practices and priestly ritual.
According to the Book of Genesis, Dan was the first of the two sons of Jacob and Bilhah. His mother, Bilhah, was Rachel's handmaid, who becomes one of Jacob's concubines. In the Biblical account, he is the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Dan. He was the father of Hushim, according to Gen 46:23. Samson was a descendant of Dan.
Teraphim is a Hebrew word from the Bible, found only in the plural, of uncertain etymology. Despite being plural, teraphim may refer to singular objects. Teraphim is explained in classical rabbinical literature as meaning 'disgraceful things', but this is dismissed by modern etymologists. Many English versions of the Bible translate the word as 'idols', or 'household god(s)'; its exact meaning is more specific than this, but unknown precisely.
Bemidbar, BeMidbar, B'midbar, Bamidbar, or Bamidbor, is the 34th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Numbers. The parashah tells of the census and the priests' duties. It constitutes Numbers 1:1–4:20. The parashah is made up of 7,393 Hebrew letters, 1,823 Hebrew words, 159 verses, and 263 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews generally read it in May or early June.
Ahijah the Shilonite was a Levite prophet of Shiloh in the days of Solomon, as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's First Books of Kings. Ahijah foretold to Jeroboam that he would become king.
Jonathan is a figure appearing in the account of Micah's Idol in the Book of Judges, in which he is appointed as the priest of a shrine; since the shrine contained an ephod and teraphim, Jonathan is referred to as an idol-worshipper by traditional Judaism. The text identifies Jonathan as the son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, but there is a scribal oddity in that the verse presents the name of Manasseh as מנשה, with the "נ" superscripted, which does not occur elsewhere in the Bible; the correct reading may be Moses, and Rashi and other sages suspected as much, arguing that the name was changed to Manasseh to avoid scandalising Moses. Indeed, Gershom, Jonathan's father's name, was also the name of a son of Moses.
Allusions in Jewish rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
In Judaism, the instructions of the priests are the rulings and teachings of the priests that are addressed to the Jewish people. Numerous Biblical passages attest to the role of the priests in teaching Torah to the people and in issuing judgment. Later rabbinic statements elaborate on these roles. However, the priest's religious authority is not automatic: even a bastard who is a scholar takes precedence over an ignorant high priest.
The episode of the Levite's concubine, also known as the Benjamite War, is a biblical narrative in Judges 19–21. It concerns a Levite from Ephraim and his concubine, who travel through the Benjamite city of Gibeah and are assailed by a mob, who wish to gang-rape the Levite. He turns his concubine over to the crowd, and they rape her until she collapses. After she dies from her ill treatment, the Levite dismembers her body and presents the remains to the other tribes of Israel. Outraged by the incident, the tribes swear that none shall give his daughter to the Benjamites for marriage, and launch a war which nearly wipes out the tribe, leaving only 600 surviving men. However, the punitive expedition is overcome by remorse, fearing that it will cause the extinction of an entire tribe. To ensure the survival of the Benjamite tribe while still complying with their oath, the Levites pillage and massacre the city of Jabesh-Gilead, none of whose residents partook in the war or in the vow, and capture its 400 maidens as wives for the Benjamites. The 200 men still lacking women are subtly allowed to abduct the maidens dancing at Shiloh.
Judges 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other eleven tribes of Israel, belonging to a section comprising Judges 17 to 21.
Judges 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the activities of Micah of Ephraim. belonging to a section comprising Judges 17 to 21.
Judges 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records the activities of the tribe of Dan, and belongs to a section comprising Judges 17 to 21.
Joshua 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in the 7th century BCE. This chapter records the further allotment of land for the tribes of Israel, especially the tribes of Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and Dan, as well as Joshua's Inheritance, a part of a section comprising Joshua 13:1–21:45 about the Israelites allotting the land of Canaan.
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