Judges 18:14

THE DANITES ROB THEIR BENEFACTOR; MICAH

"Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and a teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. And they turned aside thither, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. And the six hundred men girt with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girt with weapons of war. And when these went into Micah's house, and fetched the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thy 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 to be 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."

This remarkable description of the outrageous robbery of Micah is its own commentary. The intimidating presence of six hundred armed men at the gate of Micah's compound, the bold raid of the five spies to carry off the sacred loot, the timid question of the young man the Levite, the order of six hundred armed men for him to keep his mouth shut, their offer to him of permanent employment as their priest, the evident fact that Micah was not present, being perhaps in the fields with his men, or, if aware of what was happening afraid to interfere, and the departure of the six hundred armed men, carrying away not only all the sacred articles of Micah's shrine, but the happy young priest also, who was delighted with his "promotion"! - what a thumbnail picture we have here of the whole raid!

The fact that Micah himself was a gross impenitent sinner does not mitigate the unscrupulous transgression by the Danites of all the laws of hospitality and brotherhood as exhibited in this selfish looting of Micah's illegal shrine.

It is significant that in this account, there does indeed seem to be both a graven image and a molten image, which might be explained by the supposition that, in the meanwhile, Micah's mother had deceased, leaving all of that silver to Micah, and that he had completed what was probably the original plan of making two images, not merely one.

"And the priest took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people" (Judges 18:20). Judges 18:17-18 declare that the religious items were taken by the five former spies, but the statement here that the priest "took them" does not contradict that. The five took them from Micah's house of gods, and the priest took them from the Danites when he accepted their invitation to go with them as their priest.