Bible Commentaries
Judges 17

Verses 1-25

XXI

MICAH AND THE DANITES, OUTRAGE OF THE MEN OF GIBEAH, AND THE NATIONAL WAR AGAINST BENJAMIN

Judges 17-21

What can you say of this whole section?

Ans. – (1) It, like the book of Ruth, is an appendix to the book of Judges without regard to time order as to preceding events.

(2) While there are four distinct episodes, namely (a) the case of Micah, (b) the Danite migration, (c) the outrage at Gibeah, (d) the war of the other tribes against Benjamin, yet they go in pairs; the story of Micah is merged into the Danite migration and the outrage of Gibeah results in the war against Benjamin.

2. Show how one expression characterizes all four of the episodes and would serve for a text illustrated by each of the four stories in historical order.

Ans. – The text is, "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." First episode, Judges 17:6; second episode, Judges 18:1; third episode, Judges 19:1; fourth episode, Judges 21:25.

3. What the bearing of this text on a late date of the composition of the book?

Ans. – If the reference be to an earthly king, as usually supposed, it would only indicate that the book was compiled from tribal and national documents and edited by Samuel after the establishment of the monarchy, which theory is supported by many identical passages in parts of Joshua, Judges, and I Samuel. But if the reference be to Jehovah as King, then it proves nothing as to later authorship.

4. What the probability of its reference to Jehovah as King?

Ans. – (1) The whole book is written to show a series of rejections of the theocracy that they might follow their own bent, some one way and some another (Judges 2:11).

(2) Every one of the four instances of its use is introduced in a connection to emphasize a forsaking of Jehovah as a King, plainly marking insubordination against his royal authority. Its first use immediately follows and expounds Micah’s establishing an independent "house of gods" with an independent ephod and images and priesthood, Judges 17:5-6. Its second use introduces the rebellion of Dan in leaving the lot assigned to him by Jehovah and setting up at Laish a rival house of worship with images and independent priesthood, Judges 18:1. Its third use introduces a story of wickedness against Jehovah equaling the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, Judges 19:1; Judges 19:22-26. Its fourth use does not occur in Judges 20:1-18, Judges 26-28, where the people seek Jehovah for counsel, but is reserved as a comment on the irreligious dancing of Shiloh’s daughters and the crafty expedient of supplying wives to the male remnants of Benjamin without appeal to Jehovah Judges 21:16-25.

(3) This series of the rejections of Jehovah as King culminated in demanding an earthly king, 1 Samuel 8:1-7.

(4) When they did get an earthly king there was no tendency to check them in doing what was right in their own eyes, instead of in Jehovah’s eyes, but only increased it. See case of Solomon, 1 Kings 11:1-4; Jeroboam, 1 Kings 12:26-33; Ahab, 1 Kings 16:30-34, and many others. Hence there would be no relevancy in saying, "every man did that which was right in his own sight," because there was no earthly king in Israel. The "doing what was right in his own sight" does not apply to everything but is limited in its four contextual uses to sins of rebellion against Jehovah’s kingly authority, and what earthly kings promoted rather than checked.

5. But is not late authorship clearly established by the declaration that Dan’s rival house of worship was continued by Jonathan and his sons as priests "until the day of the captivity of the land"?

Ans. – It entirely depends upon what captivity is meant. It could not mean the Babylonian captivity of Judah, for long before that event the ten tribes, including Dan, had been led into captivity so perpetual they are called the lost tribes. It could not mean the captivity of the ten tribes by Sennacherib, for long before that event Jeroboam, the founder of the northern kingdom, had established at Dan a different worship. It could not have persisted during the times of David and Solomon when all recognized the central place of worship at Jerusalem. It could not have referred to any date beyond the period of the judges, because the duration of this rival Danite worship is limited in the very verse following the time the house of God was at Shiloh, Judges 18:31. So that "the captivity" referred to must have been the Philistian captivity in the days of Elithe judge, when the ark was captured, 1 Samuel 4:3-18, and quite to the point the Hebrew text of 1 Samuel 4:21-22, replaces the phrase "captivity of the land" by "captivity of the glory of the Lord."

6. What the first episode?

Ans. – The sin of Micah in establishing in his family a "house of gods," with image worship and an independent priesthood.

7. State the case in detail to show Jehovah was not recognized as King in Israel.

Ans. – (1) A son stole 1,100 shekels of silver from his mother, violating Jehovah’s Fifth and Eighth Commandments, afterwards confessing and restoring.

(2) The mother (a) usurped Jehovah’s prerogative in cursing the unknown thief; (b) she either lied in saying she had "wholly dedicated it to Jehovah" or) like Ananias and Sapphira, robbed God in keeping back more than four-fifths; (c) she violated the Second Commandment in making images for worship; (d) the son established in his family a rival house to Shiloh; (e) he first violated the law of the priesthood by setting apart his own sons as priests; (f) he substituted a stray Levite, out of a job, and not of the house of Aaron.

8. What the second episode?

Ana. – The Danites, through cowardice failing to capture from strong enemies the land allotted them by Jehovah, sent out spies to find good land where the inhabitants were weak and peaceful. The spies on their way discover Micah’s private "house of God" and inquire of its false priest rather than of Jehovah at Shiloh, whether they will prosper in their intent. The subservient priest assures them it will come out all right. They come to a part of the territory allotted to another tribe and find a quiet, unwarlike community remote from the capital and power of their nation. The spies return with a glowing report of the good land, the helplessness of the inhabitants, and the little prospect of interference from their nation. An army is dispatched forthwith, which on the way over bids Micah for his recreant priest who, preferring to represent a tribe rather than a family, not only breaks his contract by slipping away, but helps to steal all Micah’s gods and paraphernalia of worship. Then the bereft Micah follows with his piteous remonstrance: "Ye have taken away my gods which I have made, and the priest, and gone away, and what have I more! And then mock me by saying, What aileth thee?" The grim response of the Danites reminds me of the ungrateful wolf’s reply to the crane in Aesop’s fable: "Count it reward enough that you have safely withdrawn your neck from a wolf’s throat." So Micah returned empty-handed to reflect on the rewards of hospitality, the sanctity of contracts, the wisdom of investing good shekels in the manufacture of gods, and the ingratitude of God’s people in forsaking their Maker. But the imperturbable Danites, like Gallio, caring for none of these things, went marching on, and like a stealthy band of Comanches, swooped down upon the unsuspecting community, blotted it off the map and set up their rival to the house of God in Shiloh and went into tribal idolatry.

9. How does the incident prove ancestor Jacob a prophet?

Ans. – "Dan shall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels so that his rider falleth backward."

10. Wherein did the Mormons show their appreciation of the prophecy and its fulfilment?

Ans. – By naming their terrible secret organization which perpetrated the Mountain Meadows Massacre, "the Danites."

11. Who was this shabby, subservient Levite and how did later Jews seek to hide his identity?

Ans. – His name was Jonathan, a grandson of Moses. See Standard Revision of Judges 18:30, and compare with common version "Manasseh" instead of Moses. The Jews in the Targum and Septuagint changed Moses to Manasseh, unwilling to tarnish the name of the great ancestor. But Manasseh had no son named Gershom while Moses did, as the genealogies show. It is not unusual for even sons of great men, much less grandsons, to degenerate and "peter out."

12. What prophecy of Moses is also fulfilled in the incident ?

Ans. – "And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp, that leapeth forth from Bashan." And it was from the mountains of Bashan that this "cub lion" leaped upon the hapless village of Laish in the valley below.

13. Why is the tribe of Dan omitted in the catalogue of tribes in Revelation 7:4-8?

Ans. – Probably because Dan migrated to Laish and there set up a rival worship.

13a. What event introduces the episode of the Benjaminites?

Ans. – The horrible outrage perpetrated by the men of Gibeah, a city of Benjamin, Judges 19.

14. What do you gather from the first of this story?

Ans. – (1) That the relation between a man and his concubine was a legal one counted here as marriage.

(2) It was the woman who sinned and the man who forgave.

(3) The instant reconciliation when he went after her and the insistent hospitality and welcome of the father-in-law.

(4) The Levite’s loyalty to Israel in refusing to lodge in the city of the Jebusites when by a little more travel he could reach a city of his own nation.

(5) The inhospitality of the men of Gibeah who would have suffered one of their nation to remain in the street all night, contrasted with the generous welcome to strangers extended by the sojourning Ephraimite.

15. What the moral condition of the city as disclosed by the horrible outrage?

Ans. – It was as Sodom in the days of Lot. Compare Genesis 19:1-11, with Judges 19:22-27.

16. The Common Version and the Vulgate (Latin) make a certain Hebrew word of Judges 19:22, and other Old Testament passages, a proper name, as, "certain sons of Belial," which the Canterbury Revision renders "certain base fellows" – which is right?

Ans. – The author is much inclined to favor the Common Version here and in 1 Samuel 2:12. It is true that the Hebrew word etymologically means "base, reckless, lawless." And it is also true that the Hebrew idiom "son of," "daughter of," "man of" does not imply a person when associated with "Belial." Yet the atrocious and unnatural crime against Jehovah here and in some other cases implies a devilish origin. Particularly is this true when associated with idolatrous worship. It is certainly so interpreted in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 10:27; 1 Corinthians 10:20-22, and 2 Corinthians 6:15-18. It was on account of these awful associations, being a part and practice of the religious worship of the Canaanite gods, as later of Greek and Roman gods, that idolatry was made a capital offense under the theocracy. When Milton, therefore, in Paradise Lost, makes Belial a person, a demon, it is not a case of poetic personification, but is the expression of a profound philosophical truth as well as scriptural truth in both Testaments. The ghastly, beastly, obscene, and loathsome debaucheries of heathen worship would never have been counted religion except under the promptings of the devil.

17. What steps did the wronged and horrified Levite take to make this local crime a national affair?

Ans. – He divided the murdered woman’s body into twelve parts and sent one part to each tribe with the story of the wrong.

18. What impression was made by this horrible method of accusation?

Ans. – "And it was so that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak," Judges 19:30.

19. Was he justified in making it a national affair?

Ans. – Yes, otherwise the whole nation would have perished. Compare the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Compare the solemn declarations of Jehovah that on account of such abominations the measure of the iniquity of the Canaanites was so full that that very "land was ready to spew them out of its mouth." Read carefully the solemn charge to the nation in Deuteronomy 13:12-18, and the awful judgment of God on Eli because he merely admonished but did not restrain his sons for so corrupting Jehovah’s worship, 1 Samuel 2:12; 1 Samuel 2:17; 1 Samuel 2:22-25; 1 Samuel 3:11-14.

20. What the result of the Levite’s ghastly method of accusation?

Ans. – The whole nation was at once aroused. The public conscience was quickened and they assembled before the Lord at Mizpah to learn and do his will, and they strictly followed the direction of his oracle. Four hundred thousand warriors assembled as executors of God’s judgment.

21. Show how this was no mob action stirred by an impulse of sudden passion.

Ans. – (1) They assembled under all the forms of law.

(2) They carefully examined the simple testimony of the Levite (Judges 20:4-9), its very simplicity constituting its power.

(3) They deliberated gravely.

(4) They submitted every step proposed to God’s oracle.

(5) They sent messengers through all the tribe of Benjamin, giving notification of the crime, and giving opportunity for the tribe to clear itself by surrendering the criminals to justice according to the law of Jehovah.

22. What awful comment on the moral condition of Benjamin?

Ans. – The whole tribe deliberately sided with the adulterous murderers and determined to protect them.

23. How was Israel taught the awful solemnity of acting as executors of Jehovah’s will?

Ans. – They were humiliated by two disastrous defeats, losing 40,000 men in two battles, 14,000 more than Benjamin’s whole army. After each defeat they carried the case again to the Lord, with fastings, weeping, and sacrifices, which indicated their consciousness of their own sins.

24. What the result of the third battle?

Ans. – The tribe of Benjamin was almost blotted out. They were surrounded, driven hither and thither with relentless pursuit and desperate battle. First 18,000, then 5,000, then 2,000, i.e., 25,000 out of Benjamin’s veterans perished on the battlefield and still Israel pursued, devoting to sweeping destruction city after city, men, women, children and cattle, until only 600 fugitives remained, who sheltered in the rocks of the wilderness four months.

25. What evidence that Israel fought not with malice against Benjamin?

Ans. – (1) Their weeping cry before Jehovah: "Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother?" (2) After the victory they come again before the Lord in tears: "O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?" (Judges 21:3). There is no exultation. They mourn more over fallen Benjamin than over the thousands of their own dead. As this was a national assembly to accomplish a purgation by which alone the nation could be saved, what oaths had been sworn before Jehovah?

Ans. – (1) That no man of the eleven tribes should give his daughter as a wife to a man of Benjamin.

(2) That whosoever would not come up before the Lord in the crusade for national salvation should be put to death.

27. What was their dilemma in view of the first oath and how were they preserved from it by the second oath?

Ans. – By the first oath the 600 fugitives were barred from marriage and the tribe would have utterly perished, but by investigation they found that the city of Jabesh-Gilead had refused to obey the national oath and in virtue of the second oath was doomed. A detachment of 12,000 men smote it to destruction, reserving 400 virgins to be the wives of the two-thirds of the 600.

28. What expedient was adopted to provide wives for the remaining two hundred?

Ans. – In Judges 21:19-23, the expedient is set forth by which, without technical violation of the oath, the 200 managed, at the suggestion of the elders, to capture a wife apiece from the dancing daughters of Shiloh.

29. What legend of early Rome is something similar?

Ans. – The Romans captured the Sabine women at a festival. See Roman History, by Myers, pp. 58-59.

30. How is it alluded to in Scott’s lvanhoe?

Ans. – DeBracy plots to carry off Rowena. Fitzurse said, "What on earth dost thou purpose by this absurd disguise at a moment so urgent?"

DeBracy replied: "To get me a wife after the manner of the tribe of Benjamin."

31. Why is one left-handed called a Benjaminite?

Ans. – Because the men of the tribe of Benjamin were left-handed.

32. What prophecy by Jacob fits the Benjaminites of this story?

Ans. – "Benjamin is wolf that raveneth: In the morning he shall devour the prey. And at even he shall divide the spoil." Genesis 49:27.

33. Who was the high priest through whom Jehovah makes known his will in the story of Benjamin, and what proof does the fact afford that the two stories of Dan and Benjamin occurred in the early period of the judges?

Ans. – Phinehas was high priest (Judges 20:28) who is referred to in Numbers 25:7 and Joshua 22:13; Joshua 22:30. These last passages refer to an early period of the judges.