Micah, Jonathan, and the Danites

2022-10-06

Judges 16-17 show the backwardness of the days of the judges. After the death of Samson, there is no mention of other judges in the rest of the book. There is a man named Micah who made idols and associated them with the LORD. He made graven images, molten images, something called “teraphim” and an “ephod.” He put all that he had into making idols, a great affront to the Lord. Micah stole silver from his mother to create some of his idols, and his mother cursed over it.

The Levite Jonathan (cf. Judges 18:30), looking for a place to live, met Micah, and the Levite agreed to be his personal cleric to run his shrine: “And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in” (Judges 17:10). Jonathan is like one of those health and wealth grifters while Micah fulfilled his superstition that would lead to good fortune. “Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest” (Judges 17:13).

Meanwhile, the Danites could not take their own inheritance. While on their way to overthrow Laish and settle there, they forcefully took Jonathan and all Micah’s idols. Jonathan was happy to go along, seeing he could be more successful there. “And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people” (Judges 18:19-20).

Jonathan and his sons “ministered” there for generations: “And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land” (Judges 18:30).

The worship of the Lord was replaced with superstition and prosperity gospel. This is what it looked like when “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).

Micah looked for ways he could obligate God to bless him through all his superstition. Jonathan was like a minister looking for that bigger church to pastor or ways to establish himself through his skill in religion. The Danites were much like Micah, but on a tribal level. These elements are familiar to us in our own times.