Introduction
We now come to the third section of the Book of Judges. The first section in Judges 1:0 to Judges 2:0 was introductory to the activity taking place in Canaan after the time of Joshua and described the decline and fall of Israel in relation to the covenant, followed by the statement that God raised up Judges to deliver His people, only for them to decline again. The second section in Judges 3:0 to Judges 16:0 described the rise of twelve judges whom God raised up to deliver Israel, the successes and failures of some of them, but the continued ultimate failure of Israel to be faithful to the covenant.
This third section in Judges 17-21 will now use two incidents in order to demonstrate the parlous state of Israel during this time. Its theme is ‘in those days there was no king in Israel’ (Judges 17:6; Judges 18:1; Judges 19:1; Judges 21:25). This is not to be taken pedantically. It does not just mean that this was before the time when there was a king in Israel, it also makes clear that the situations came about because they ignored Yahweh their true King. They had neither the one nor the other. They ignored and refused to acknowledge He Who was King over them and that was why in the end Yahweh would reluctantly give them an earthly king.
But they had been warned through the examples of Gideon and Abimelech what that would mean for them. The giving of this king was in itself an indication of their failure. God’s ideal for them was that He should be King, and this principle continued and was recognised for some time in that the first kings were called ‘nagid’ (war leader). Thus the writer supported the kingship, but only on the basis that because of the failure of Israel to fully respond to their King they had to make do with second best. It was not God’s ideal. It resulted from men’s faithlessness. Judges was thus an apology for kings in both senses of the word.
This rejection of Yahweh as King is made very apparent in this third section. The two incidents described emphasise that Yahweh’s commandments were being spurned and ignored. The first majors on the breaking of the sixth and ninth commandments, ‘you shall not steal’ and ‘you shall not covet’, the second on the seventh and eighth commandments ‘you shall not murder’ and ‘you shall not commit adultery’. Furthermore in the first incident the apostasy of Israel is emphasised in the setting up of a rival Sanctuary at Laish by the half-tribe of Dan, and that by a direct descendant of Moses!
Judges 17:0 . Micah and the Levite.
This chapter illustrates the rise of idolatry and disobedience to Yahweh in Israel after the death of Joshua. It is illustrated from an incident which occurred in the hill country of Ephraim, where a man, who had stolen a large sum of money from his mother, returned it, on which part of it was sadly converted to an idolatrous use. Two images and a teraphim were made of it, and eventually a Levite appointed to be priest. In the following chapter this priest would then aid the half-tribe of Dan to steal the images from their owner. Thus theft is central to, and emphasised in, the account. The second sad final result is the setting up of a rival Sanctuary to that already in place, in Laish (Dan). It was contrary to the covenant with Yahweh, directly as a result of this theft.
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