Study Desk

There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.

He said to his mother, "The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you utter a curse about—here, I have the silver with me. I took it. So now I return it to you."^[a] Then his mother said, "My son, you are blessed by the Lord !"^(a)

He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I personally consecrate^(b) the silver to the Lord for my son's benefit to make a carved image overlaid with silver."^[b]

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image overlaid with silver,^[c] and it was in Micah's house.

This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols,^(c) and installed one of his sons to be his priest.

In those days there was no king in Israel;^(d) everyone did whatever he wanted.^[d]

There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who resided within the clan of Judah.^(e)

The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah's home in the hill country of Ephraim.

"Where do you come from?" Micah asked him. He answered him, "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I'm going to settle wherever I can find a place."

Micah replied,^[e] "Stay with me and be my father^(f) and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions." So the Levite went in

and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.

Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest^(g) and lived in Micah's house.

Then Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest."

In those days, there was no king in Israel,^(a) and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel.

So the Danites sent out five brave men^(b) from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol,^(c) to scout^(d) out the land and explore it. They told them, "Go and explore the land." They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there.

While they were near Micah's home, they recognized the speech of the young Levite. So they went over to him and asked, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is keeping you here?"

He told them what Micah had done for him and that he had hired him as his priest.

Then they said to him, "Please inquire of God so we will know if we will have a successful journey."

The priest told them, "Go in peace. The Lord is watching over the journey you are going on."

The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people who were there were living securely, in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking^[a] in the land and no oppressive ruler. They were far from the Sidonians, having no alliance with anyone.^[b]

When the men went back to their clans at Zorah and Eshtaol, their people asked them, "What did you find out?"

They answered, "Come on, let's go up against them, for we have seen the land, and it is very good. Why wait? Don't hesitate to go and invade and take possession of the land!

When you get there, you will come to an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, for God has handed it over to you. It is a place where nothing on earth is lacking."^(e)

Six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol armed with weapons of war.

They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim^(f) in Judah. This is why the place is called the Camp of Dan^[c] to this day; it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

From there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and arrived at Micah's house.

The five men who had gone to scout out the land of Laish told their brothers, "Did you know that there are an ephod, household gods, and a carved image overlaid with silver^[d] in these houses? Now think about what you should do."

So they detoured there and went to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah and greeted him.

The 600 Danite men were standing by the entrance of the gate, armed with their weapons of war.

Then the five men who had gone to scout out the land went in and took the carved image overlaid with silver,^[e] the ephod, and the household idols, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

When they entered Micah's house and took the carved image overlaid with silver,^[f] the ephod, and the household idols, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

They told him, "Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut.^[g](g) Come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or for you to be a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?"

So the priest was pleased and took his ephod, household idols, and carved image, and went with the people.

They prepared to leave, putting their small children, livestock, and possessions in front of them.

After they were some distance from Micah's house, the men who were in the houses near it mobilized and caught up with the Danites.

They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, "What's the matter with you that you mobilized the men?"

He said, "You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What's the matter with you?'"

The Danites said to him, "Don't raise your voice against us, or angry men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives."

The Danites went on their way, and Micah turned to go back home, because he saw that they were stronger than he was.

After they had taken the gods Micah had made and the priest that belonged to him, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people. They killed them with their swords and burned down the city.^(h)

There was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in a valley that belonged to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it.

They named the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel. The city was formerly named Laish.

The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses,^[h] and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land.⁽ⁱ⁾

So they set up for themselves Micah's carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.

In those days, when there was no king in Israel,^(a) a Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine.

But she was unfaithful to^[a] him and left him for her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for a period of four months.

Then her husband got up and went after her to speak kindly to her^[b](b) and bring her back. He had his servant with him and a pair of donkeys. So she brought him to her father's house, and when the girl's father saw him, he gladly welcomed him.

His father-in-law, the girl's father, detained him, and he stayed with him for three days. They ate, drank, and spent the nights there.

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "Have something to eat to keep up your strength^(c) and then you can go."

So they sat down and the two of them ate and drank together. Then the girl's father said to the man, "Please agree to stay overnight and enjoy yourself."^(d)

The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed and spent the night there again.

He got up early in the morning of the fifth day to leave, but the girl's father said to him, "Please keep up your strength." So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.

The man got up to go with his concubine and his servant, when his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, "Look, night is coming. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, enjoy yourself, then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey and go home."

But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up, departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem^(e)). The man had his two saddled donkeys and his concubine with him.

When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant^(f) said to his master, "Please, why not^[c] let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here?"

But his master replied to him, "We will not stop at a foreign city where there are no Israelites. Let's move on to Gibeah."^(g)

"Come on," he said,^[d] "let's try to reach one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah."

So they continued on their journey, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin.

They stopped^[e] to go in and spend the night in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one took them into their home to spend the night.

In the evening, an old man came in from his work in the field. He was from the hill country of Ephraim^(h) but was residing in Gibeah, and the men of that place were Benjaminites.

When he looked up and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, "Where are you going, and where do you come from?"

He answered him, "We're traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I'm going to the house of the Lord .^[f] No one has taken me into his home,

although we have both straw and feed for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, your female servant, and the young man with your servant.^[g] There is nothing we lack."

"Peace to you," said the old man. "I'll take care of everything you need. Only don't spend the night in the square."

So he brought him to his house and fed the donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.⁽ⁱ⁾

While they were enjoying themselves, all of a sudden, perverted men of the city^(j) surrounded the house and beat on the door. They said to the old man who was the owner of the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him!"

The owner of the house went out and said to them, "No, don't do this evil, my brothers. After all, this man has come into my house. Don't do this horrible thing.^(k)

Here, let me bring out my virgin daughter^(l) and the man's concubine now. Use them^(m) and do whatever you want^[h] to them. But don't do this horrible thing to this man."

But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and took her outside to them. They raped^[i] her and abused her all night until morning. At daybreak they let her go.

Early that morning, the woman made her way back, and as it was getting light, she collapsed at the doorway of the man's house where her master was.

When her master got up in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to leave on his journey, there was the woman, his concubine, collapsed near the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold.

"Get up," he told her. "Let's go." But there was no response.⁽ⁿ⁾ So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

When he entered his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her into 12 pieces, limb by limb, and then sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

Everyone who saw it said, "Nothing like this has ever happened or has been seen since the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt to this day.^[j] Think it over, discuss it, and speak up!"

All the Israelites from Dan to Beer-sheba^(a) and from the land of Gilead came out, and the community assembled as one body before the Lord at Mizpah.^(b)

The leaders^(c) of all the people and of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of God's people: 400,000 armed foot soldiers.

The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites asked, "Tell us, how did this outrage occur?"

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: "I went to Gibeah in Benjamin with my concubine to spend the night.

Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died.

Then I took my concubine and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout Israel's territory, because they committed a horrible shame^(d) in Israel.

Look, all of you are Israelites. Give your judgment and verdict here and now."

Then all the people stood united and said, "None of us will go to his tent or return to his house.

Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go against it by lot.

We will take 10 men out of every 100 from all the tribes of Israel, and 100 out of every 1,000, and 1,000 out of every 10,000 to get provisions for the people when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for all the horror they did in Israel."

So all the men of Israel gathered united against the city.