Judges 18 Commentary
The chapter begins with what seems like a disclaimer. The human author seems to reflect on the sad events of these last pages of Judges with an explanation: “In those days Israel had no king.”
The prophetic understanding would be that Israel had no King of kings.
The statement is an enigma because Chapter 17 follows the story of Samson.
Samson was especially conceived and groomed for leadership. Those of us who dream of “superman” status can see what humans can become.
Chapter 17 commences a series of events stemming from an ordinary Israelite home. We have failure in the foundation!
Chapter 18 builds on Chapter 17. We can see how corruption ran through the entire community of God’s people.
We have a priest; we have an ephod; we have men enquiring of the LORD. But don’t be mistaken again. Right behind this priest is Micah’s idol with a host of other gods.
Do we know who people are consulting when they claim to ‘go to the house of God’? You shall know them by their fruit. Right here, the treachery of this money-happy priest, and the conduct of the Danite army tell their own story.
“Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods, and an image overlaid with silver? Now you know what to do.”
When wickedness dethrones and evicts God from your life, then you have no king, (read King); then you become envious of anything looking like a god. You can now see what this priest presided over: Image, household gods, and an illegal ephod.
The fact that the priest delivers what appears like the message from the LORD doesn’t at all mean he is living right, or indeed, he is speaking on behalf of the LORD.
The success of the mission as a result of the priest’s blessing isn’t at all reason good enough to conclude all is well. Today, many priests say a lot of good things wrapped in religious lingo but they are not speaking for the LORD. Behind them are images, household gods, and an illegal ephod. Examine their fruit, and you will tell them apart.
Look at Micah again. The God who can be stolen from you; the God who you need to fight for; the God whose favor only appears with some priest; the God that the Danites threaten to kill Micah for; that God isn’t the Creator, the Almighty God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The chapter closes with a reference to another parallel worship structure that the Danites install. Instead of having one place of worship at Shiloh, with the Ten Commandments housed in the Ark as the most important worship system, the Danites installed the stolen idol with its own system of worship and an illegally instituted priesthood serving before the idol.
The Bible mentions the ‘captivity of the land’. This captivity here may be different from the two famous conquests: The conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by Assyria, and later, the conquest of the Southern Kingdom of Judah by Babylon.
Dan’s idolatry made it disappear in captivity earlier than others. The possibility is that the same could have happened to the Trans-Jordan tribes, as we don’t hear much from them as part of a united Israelite community.
So many things are happening in this book, and it appears the LORD is silent. But somewhere within these Israelite communities are Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. They are residents of Bethlehem. The LORD is at work. The seed of a king is being nurtured.
So the Book of Ruth is appropriately placed next to this book. Again, it is during these times that the LORD would raise Hanna to carry within her womb a prophet in Samuel. He would institute reforms and install the much-needed kingship. The Book of Samuel comes after the Book of Ruth.
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