Judges 17 is the seventeenth
chapter of the
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...
in the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
or the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet
Samuel
Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...
,
[Gilad, Elon]
Who Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophets?
''Haaretz'', June 25, 2015. Summary: The paean to King Josiah and exalted descriptions of the ancient Israelite empires beg the thought that he and his scribes lie behind the Deuteronomistic History. but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans in the books of Deuteronomy to
2 Kings
The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...
, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king
Josiah
Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical s ...
in 7th century BCE.
[ This chapter records the activities of ]Micah
Micah (; ) is a given name.
Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and means "Who is like God?" The name is sometimes found with Theophoric name, theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in ''Jah, Yah'' and in ''Y ...
of Ephraim. belonging to a section comprising Judges 17 to 21.
Text
This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
. It is divided into 13 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
are of the Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis
The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...
(895), Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the ...
(10th century), and Codex Leningradensis
The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...
(1008).
Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek
Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...
known as the Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
(originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus
The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...
(B; B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus
The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...
(A; A; 5th century).
Analysis
Double Introduction and Double Conclusion
Chapters 17 to 21 contain the "Double Conclusion" of the Book of Judges and form a type of inclusio
In biblical studies, inclusio is a literary device based on a concentric principle, also known as bracketing or an envelope structure, which consists of creating a frame by placing similar material at the beginning and end of a section, although w ...
together with their counterpart, the "Double Introduction", in chapters 1 to 3:6 as in the following structure of the whole book:
:A. Foreign wars of subjugation with the ''ḥērem'' being applied (1:1–2:5)
::B. Difficulties with foreign religious idols (2:6–3:6)
::: Main part: the "cycles" section(3:7–16:31)
::B'. Difficulties with domestic religious idols (17:1–18:31)
:A'. Domestic wars with the ''ḥērem'' being applied (19:1–21:25)
There are similar parallels between the double introduction and the double conclusion as the following:
The entire double conclusion is connected by the four-time repetition of a unique statement: twice in full at the beginning and the end of the double conclusion and twice in the center of the section as follows:
: A. In those days there was no king…
::Every man did what right in his own eyes (17:6)
:::B. In those days there was no king… (18:1)
:::B'. In those days there was no king… (19:1)
: A'. In those days there was no king…
::Every man did what right in his own eyes (21:25)
It also contains internal links:
:Conclusion 1 (17:1–18:31): A Levite in Judah moving to the hill country of Ephraim and then on to Dan.
:Conclusion 2 (19:1–21:25): A Levite in Ephraim looking for his concubine in Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
in Judah.
Both sections end with a reference to Shiloh.
The Bethlehem Trilogy
Three sections of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) — Judges 17– 18, Judges 19
Judges 19 is the nineteenth 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,Gilad, ElonWho Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prop ...
– 21, Ruth 1
Ruth 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, part of the Ketuvim ("Writings"). This chapter contains the story of how Elimelech, Ruth's father-in-law, driven by famine, moved in ...
– 4 — form a trilogy with a link to the city Bethlehem of Judah and characterized by the repetitive unique statement:
:"''In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes''"
:(Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25; cf. Ruth 1:1)
as in the following chart:
The founding myth of Dan
Chapters 17–18 record a Danite founding myth that gives insight into Israelite early religious lives, and the ideology of war as background to the establishment of Dan as a city. Reading the entire section in the light of Deuteronomy 12:1–13:1, there are several thematic elements and concerns in common, although Judges 17:1–18:31 usually portrays them antithetically.
Micah's idols (17:1–6)
The section starts with a confession of a guilty son named Micah, who had stolen his mother's money, but now returned it to her. The mother was not angry, but instead praised God for her son's remorse and asked him to dedicate the money to YHWH by making a "a carved statue" (Hebrew: ''pesel'') and "a cast metal icon" (Hebrew ''massemka''), which were used as symbols of a deity's indwelling presence (cf. Micah's words to the Danites in Judges 18:24). Micah completed his private shrine with a 'divinatory ephod
An ephod ( he, אֵפוֹד ''ʾēfōḏ''; or ) 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 ...
' (cf Gideon's in Judges 8:27) and teraphim
Teraphim ( he, תְּרָף ''tərāf''; plural: he, תְּרָפִים ''tərāfīm'') is a Hebrew word from the Bible, found only in the plural, of uncertain etymology. Despite being plural, ''Teraphim'' may refer to singular objects, using the ...
(cf. Genesis 31:30, 34-5), then installed one of his own sons to serve as priest.
Verse 2
:''And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it."''
:''And his mother said, "May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!"''
*"Eleven hundred shekels of silver": About 28 pounds, or 13 kilograms. This is exactly the amount of money offered to Delilah
Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label=Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved b ...
to betray Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
from ''each'' of the five Philistine lord's (Judges 16:5). There is no support that Delilah could be Micah's mother (different nation, different time period), so the phrase "1100 shekels of silver" serves only as a literary link between the two stories.
Micah and the Levite (17:7–13)
This section shows the venerable status of Levites in Israel (cf. 1 Samuel 1:1; 1 Chronicles 6
1 Chronicles 6 is the sixth chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by m ...
:26), so the presence of a levitical priest would lend a special recognition to a shrine, 'granting its owner prestige and divine blessing'.
Verses 7–8
:''And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.''
:'' And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehemjudah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.''[ ]NKJV
The New King James Version (NKJV) is an English translation of the Bible. The complete NKJV Bible was published in 1982 by Thomas Nelson, now HarperCollins. The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being "scrupulously faithful to the origin ...
*"Out of Bethlehemjudah": Among the cities of Judah, Bethlehem is not a Levitical town (Joshua 21:9–16), and Judges 18:30 states that this Levite is actually a descendant of Gershom, the son of Moses (Exodus 2:22; 6:18–20), so he is a member of the Kohathite clan, which are allotted ten towns from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, of the tribe of Dan and of the (cis-Jordan) half-tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 21:5, 20–26). Therefore, this Levite should not have been living in Bethlehem in Judah and probably did not get enough support, so he had to find a place somewhere else.
See also
*Related Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
parts: Judges 18
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,Gilad, ElonWho Really Wrote the Biblical Books of Kings and the Prophe ...
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
* Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
translations:
*
Shoftim - Judges - Chapter 17 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org
* Christianity">Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...