Judges 17:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

NIV: Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.

NASB: So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah.

CSB: Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house.

NLT: So Micah installed the Levite as his personal priest, and he lived in Micah’s house.

KJV: And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

NKJV: So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah.

Micah is living the goal of so many who want to be "spiritual, but not religious." Or those who like the general idea of religion, but don't appreciate the restrictions and limitations of a particular faith. Micah selected gods and sacred objects from various religions and constructed a shrine in his home. As an Israelite, he has forgotten or openly defied most of the basic commands of Yahweh given through Moses (Exodus 20:1–17).

Now he has hired his own priest, an actual member of the priestly tribe of the Levites (Numbers 3:5–10). Rather than being satisfied with the young man's status as a Levite, however, Micah "ordains" him into his customized religion, which is now complete. He has a system of belief and practice which suits him, even if it's spiritually incoherent. He even has a priest to officiate over it.

The following verse will show that Micah holds no hostility towards the One True God. He's not actively opposing God in the same way as some of Israel's national enemies (Judges 6:31). Instead, he's acting in some combination of ignorance and self-delusion about what God wants from him. Such ignorance is exactly what someone raised as a Levite in Israel should have been able to help with. Instead, the young Levite is also ignorant of God's commands or unwilling to give up a comfortable career to stand on principle. Both attitudes exemplify the careless, selfish spirituality of Israel at the end of the era of the judges (Judges 17:6).

Judges 17:7–13 continues the story of Micah (Judges 17:1–2). He exemplifies Israel's careless, senseless attitude towards God near the end of the era of the judges (Judges 2:16–19). Micah hires a traveling Levite man to be his personal priest. He is convinced that employing an authentic Levite will bring prosperity from the Lord.

A man named Micah overhears his mother speaking a curse on whoever stole a hefty sum of money from her. He confesses that it was him so she attempts to replace her curse with a blessing from God. She has a carved religious object made from the silver for Micah, which he puts in his household shrine full of other idols and relics. A young Levite man comes to Micah's house, and Micah hires him as the personal family priest, convinced God will prosper him because of it. This demonstrates Israel's lack of spiritual commitment during the era of the judges.

Judges 17 marks a new direction for the book. Having completed the stories of the judges themselves, the focus shifts to everyday Israelites. A man confesses to stealing from his mother, and she donates the silver to make an idol. The man puts this in a shrine in his house along with other religious objects. He hires a Levite to be the family priest, which he assumes will guarantee blessings from God. The same priest will willingly leave with a group of raiders from the tribe of Dan (Judges 18). This leads to one the Bible's most disturbing stories, involving an abused woman whose fate sparks a civil war within Israel (Judges 19—20).

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).