The Hebrew children still hadn't learned their lesson about idols.
Judges 17:1-5- And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son. And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
This is just one family in Israel. This man and his mother used their money to not only make an idol, but also to make a house to store their false gods in.
Israel decided they could serve both God and idols.
Judges 17:7-13- 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. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
This period of time was filled with not only wars against Israel's enemies, but also wars amongst the different tribes of Israel.
Judges 18:1- In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.
These men from the tribe of Dan were trying to claim their inheritance.
Judges 18:2-6- And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.
The Danites stopped by Micah's house to stay the night, and when they found out that he had a priest, they asked him to pray to God for them. He said that God would help them to gain their inheritance.
So, they went and found that the people they were goingto fight against weren't in any big cities, and they didn't have any powerful friends.
So, they went back to the rest of the told them what they had discovered.
Judges 18:11-21- And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war. And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
These Danites gathered all their people and went to take their land. On the way, they stopped at Micah's house and stole his priest and all his false gods!
How can a god protect you if it can be stolen? It can't! But, the Hebrew people weren't thinking about that.
Judges 18:30-31- And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
The temple of the Lord was in Shiloh. But, the tribe of Dan worshipped this false god the entire time the rest of the tribes of Israel were in the Promised Land. Dan was still considered a tribe of the nation of Israel, but God didn't look at that tribe the same. In fact, when God lists the 12 tribes of Israel in Revelation, He doesn't say Dan. This act of idolatry got the tribe of Dan wiped out of God's list.
There were other tribes that had gotten so wicked that war broke out. The tribe of Benjamin had become such an evil tribe that once when a man stayed the night there, the men of the city murdered his girlfriend.
This started a war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other tribes. When the war ended only 600 men had survived of the tribe of Benjamin.
Judges 21:25- In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
