Judges 17:1  [Time passes, 😇. The focus of Israel's story moves to] the Ephraim {Double-Fruit} hills. There lives a man named Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah}.
| Idolatry Comes To Israel Though Micah's Mom | Judges 17:2  [One day] Micah confesses to his mother, “[Remember that] 1100 shekels of silver somebody stole from you—the money you cursed, and [ragged] my ears about? Look: I have your silver. I took it.” Micah's mom answers [with joy], “[I pray] YHVH blesses you [for your honesty], my son!”
Judges 17:3 So Micah restores the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother. His mother says, “I promised YHVH that [if I ever found that stolen silver,] I'd entrust it all to my son, to make a carved sculpture [overlaid with] poured [molten silver]. So now I'm entrusting [the money] back to you.”
Perhaps this lady simply wanted to make artwork to commemorate Biblical events, say, a statue of Moses, similar to Michaelangelo's David.
Or maybe this lady is like the Roman Catholics, who think that using statues to focus worship is a good idea. It's not, because it turns into idolatry. | Micah's Mom Forges A Giant Silver Idol-God | Judges 17:4 But Micah just gives the money back to his Mom. So his mother takes 200 shekels of [her] silver. She gives them to the [local] metalworker. He fashions the [silver] into a carved idol and a poured sculpture. Somehow these [statues] wind up in Micah's house.
Judges 17:5 This guy Micah [owns] a [private] “temple of Elohim.” He forges an ephod [vest like ancient high-priest Aaron's]. He [sculpts some more] homemade ‘gods.’ [Then] he consecrates one of his sons [to serve as] his own private ‘priest.’ | Micah Hires A Priest For His Temple Business | Judges 17:7  One day, up [to Micah's private temple] walks a young Levite [priest] from Bethlehem {Bread-House} in Judaea. The man lodges with [Micah].
Judges 17:8  (This [ex-priest] abandoned [consecrated ministry in] the city of Bethlehem {Bread-House} (in Judaea) to travel wherever he could find a place [of employment for private gain]. So, on his journey, he arrives in the Ephraim {Double-Fruit} Hills. He walks up to Micah's [occult] shrine.) Judges 17:9  So Micah asks the traveler, “Where are you coming from?” The traveler answers, “I'm a Levite from Bethlehem {Bread-House} (in Judaea). I'm planning to sleep wherever I can find [lodging].” Judges 17:10  So Micah answers the traveler, “Stay with me. Be a father-figure and a priest for me. I'll give you 10 shekels of silver every year, and a suit of apparel, and your food.” So the Levite moves into [Micah's unholy shrine]. Judges 17:11 The Levite happily lives with this guy [Micah]. The young [priest] becomes like one of Micah's sons. Judges 17:12  So Micah consecrates the Levite. The young man becomes Micah's [personal] priest. He lives in Micah's [doomed] shrine. Judges 17:13 Then Micah imagines, “Now I know [that] YHVH will do me good, seeing I have a Levite as my [personal] priest.”Judges 18:2  So the leaders of Dan appoint 5 of their mightiest tribal sons in the land [they're squatting in:] (Zorah {Wasp} [and] Eshtaol {Prayer}) to spy out the [nearby] country, to search it [for an area to conquer by brute military force]. [The leaders] say to [the spies], “Go, search the land.” [So Dan's spies ride out north.] They reach the Ephraim {Double-Fruit} hills. There they spend the night [in sight of] Micah's [occult] shrine. | Micah's False Priest Blesses Dan's Kill-Spies | Judges 18:3  [The next day Dan's spies ride toward] Micah's temple. The [spies] hear and recognize the voice of [Micah's] young Levite [‘priest’]. So the [spies] turn in there. They ask [the fallen preacher], “Who brought you here? How much [money] do you make here? What are you getting out of [working here]?”
Worldly people want to know how much money you make. Money is all they care about. The jerks rate people by the brutal term: ‘net-worth’.Judges 18:4  [The corrupt pastor] answers [Dan's spies], “ Micah pays me [wages] for [preaching and praying as he directs]. He hired me. I'm his [private] minister.”
Most pastors, preachers and priests are paid servants of moneyed-interests. The clergyman works for the church's real leaders: bankers, lawyers and politicians.Judges 18:13 From [Dan's-camp the invaders] gallop [~20 miles] north into the Ephraim {Double-Fruit} hills, toward Micah's [self-serving personal] shrine. Judges 18:15  So, 😇, [the invaders] whip [their war-horses] around. They [speed back] to Micah's shrine. The [aggressors] salute [the fallen] Levite false-priest who [staffs] the shrine.
The aggressors always salute the false religionist, while they kill the true prophets of YAH.Judges 18:17  The 5 [spies] (who'd initially ridden out to search [Lion] land) storm up. They invade [Micah's shrine]. They steal [his] carved-idol, and the ephod-vest, and the teraphim-idols, and the molten statue. Meanwhile, the [powerless] priest stands in the entrance-gate surrounded by the 600 men strapped with weapons of war [pointed at his head].Judges 18:18 As the [spies] barge into Micah's [evil] shrine, and fetch the carved image, the ephod-vest, and the seraphim [idols], and the poured-metal sculpture, the priest challenges the [soldiers], “What do you [brutes think] you're doing?!” Judges 18:20 So the [amoral] priest's heart [sings] with joy, as he [blesses the invaders’ theft of Micah's] ephod-vest, teraphim-idols, and carved idol. [The grinning priest rides north] in the middle of [Dan's invading militia].
False religious leaders love being in the employ of evil military power. Mankind's religio-military conspiracy against YHVH is the central story of the history of planet earth. It's the daily business of churches, synagogues, mosques and temples surrounding your house.Judges 18:21  So the [invading militia] about-face. They [march away from Micah's shrine]. They parade [the bad priest's] children and cattle and goods in front of their [host, to bless and disguise their invasion force]. | Micah Fails To Arrest The Murder-Militia | Judges 18:22  [The invaders' war-horses sprint away. The militia marches to] a good distance away from Micah's shrine. The men from the houses near Micah's shrine amass together. They overtake Dan's [militia].
False religion is a front for brute military murderousness.Judges 18:23 [Micah's townspeople] scream at Dan's [militia, “Stop, thieves!”] The soldiers turn their faces to scream at Micah, “What's your problem, attacking us with [your] mob?” Judges 18:24 Micah [yells], “You stole the idol-gods I made! [You kidnapped] my priest. Then [you] ran away [with him]! [You've left] me with nothing! And you ask, ‘What's MY problem??!’ What's YOUR problem!?”Judges 18:25 [The Danites cock their crossbows. They point their sharp iron arrows at Micah's head. Micah trembles. He sweats bullets. He cries.] Dan's [militia leader] growls at [Micah], “Don't let my men hear [another peep] from your voice. Or these angry soldiers will attack you and kill you and everybody in your family.”Judges 18:26  So Dan's [evil militia] rides [north up] the road. Micah sees that they're too strong for him. So he turns [south]. He weeps. He staggers back to his [empty] shrine.
As in Revelation, the beast (humanity) uses the whore (religion) to gain strength. Then the beast turns and rips the whore apart. | Danites Massacre The Pacifist Farm-Dwellers | Judges 18:27 So [Dan's militia] takes the occult treasures which Micah forged. The [brutes steal] Micah's former employee, the [fake] priest. [The militia] arrives at Laish {Lion-Land}. [They stare down on its] quiet, peaceful populace. [Dan's militia] strikes the [farmers] with the ‘bite’ of the sword. [Dan's soldiers] burn the [farmers'] city with fire!
#5221 nakah = strike or cast out. This genocide is part of why the tribe of Dan is cursed. So Dan does not appear in the list of the 144000 holy people in the book of the Revelation.Judges 18:30 There Dan's brats erect [Micah's] carved idol. [Beneath it,] JAHnathan {JAH's-Gift} (a descendant of Moses' son Gershom {Refugee}) and his sons [play] priests to the [evil] tribe of Dan until the day the [people of north Israel's] land go into slavery. Judges 18:31 [In defiance of the authority of YHVH and of the other tribes of Israel, Dan's rogue priests] erect for themselves the graven idol-image Micah previously forged. [They leave] it [proudly standing] there [in Lion-land] the whole time the [authentic] temple of [YHVH] the Eloah functions in Shiloh {Tranquil}. Judges 19:18  The priest answers, “We're traveling [north] from Bethlehem {Bread-House} (in Judaea). [Tomorrow we'll ride east] along-side the Ephraim {Double-Fruit} hills, where I'm from. I [lived in] Bethlehem. But I'm now going to [work at Micah's private] shrine of YHVH. But nobody [here has] invited me into their house [to eat and sleep tonight].”
The man replies, [“Pleased to meet ya'. I'm Joe. I'm also] from the Double-Fruit hills. [I'm] just staying here [in Gibeah {Flower-Hills} until the harvest ends. I can't wait to get away from these perverted] Benjamites.”
The priest is whoring himself out to the highest religious bidder, instead of going to work at the tabernacle of Moses in Shiloh. | A Prophet Makes His Fellow Punch His Face | 1st Kings 20:35  Immediately the word of YHVH [comes upon Micah, a] 2nd-generation prophet-man [who sees Ahab make this forbidden league with Syria]. [Micah] says to his fellow [prophet], “Punch me [in the face]. Quick!” But the [other prophet refuses to] punch [Micah].
Sometimes the word of YHVH tells you to do strange stuff. Josephus identifies this prophet as MicaYah (Micah).1st Kings 20:36  Then the prophet [Micah] prophesies to his [non-violent] fellow, “Because you disobeyed the voice of YHVH, see [your future]: as soon as you leave me, a lion kills you.” So as soon as [the non-violent prophet] leaves, a lion finds him. It kills him!1st Kings 20:37  Then [the prophet Micah] finds another man. [Micah] says, “Punch me [in the nose]. Quick!” So the man punches the [prophet Micah] so hard [that blood busts out all over them both]! | Prophet Busts Ahab For Colluding With Pagans | 1st Kings 20:38  So the prophet [Micah stumbles off, bleeding]. He waits for king [Ahab] on the road. [Micah] disguises [himself]. [He rubs] ashes on his [bleeding] face.
Ashes neutralize acid, and help with wound and burn care.1st Kings 20:39  [Evil] king [Ahab] passes by. [Micah the prophet] cries, “King! [I] your servant [ran] out into the middle of the battle. Then an [officer] ran up. He brought a [prisoner of war] to me. [The officer] barked, ‘Guard this [captive]. If he's missing for any reason, then [I]'ll take your life for his, or you'll pay a talent [66 pounds] of silver.’
1 talent of silver = 1 nice new car.1st Kings 20:40 —Then as [I] your servant busied myself here and there, [the prisoner] escaped.” [North] Israel’s king [Ahab] replies to [the prophet Micah], “ [Pay or die.] Your own lips decreed your sentence.” 1st Kings 20:41  [Micah] quickly [scrubs] the ashes from his face. So [wicked] king [Ahab] of [north] Israel recognizes [Micah] as one of [YAH's] prophets. 1st Kings 20:42 Then [the prophet Micah] says to [king Ahab], “YHVH decrees, ‘You let a condemned [war-criminal] slip out of your hand. So your life will pay for his life. Your people [will also pay]: [the dictator's evil] minions [will infest Israel via your commercial alliance with pagan Syria].’”1st Chronicles 5:5  [Shimei] [fathers] Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah}, who [fathers] ReaiYah {YAH-Sees}, who [fathers] Baal {Lord}.1st Chronicles 8:34 JAHnathan {JAH's-Gift} [fathers] Merib-Baal {Baal-Grappler}. Then Merib-Baal fathers Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah}.1st Chronicles 8:35 Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah} [fathers] these sons: Pithon {Expander}, Melech {King}, Tarea {Earth} and Ahaz {Possessor}.1st Chronicles 9:15  [Other returning Levites include] Bakbakkar {Searcher}, Heresh {Crafty}, and Galal {Great}, and MattanYah {Gift-Of-Yah} the son of Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah}, the son of Zichri {Memorable}, the son of Asaph {Gatherer};1st Chronicles 9:40 JAHnathan {JAH's-Gift} fathers Merib-Baal {Baal-Grappler}. Merib-Baal fathers Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah}.1st Chronicles 9:41 Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah} [fathers] these sons: Pithon {Expander}, Melech {King}, Tahrea {Earth} and Ahaz {Possessor}.2nd Chronicles 34:20  So king [Josiah] issues the [following] order to: HilkiYah {YAH's-Inheritance}, AhiKam {Rising-Brother} the son of Shaphan {Secret-Keeper}, Abdon {Worker} the son of Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah}, Shaphan the scribe, and royal servant AsaiYah {YAH-Made}:JeremiYAH 26:18  “ [Back] in the days of Judea's king HezekiYah {Strength-From-YAH}, [the] prophet Micah {Who-Is-Like-Yah} from Morasheth {Captured-Town} spoke to all the people of Judea. [Micah] warned, “YHVH-Commander-Of-Armies forewarns, ‘[Soldiers] advance to plow Zion like a field. Jerusalem [is soon to collapse into] heaps [of rubble]. The temple-hill ends up a mere shrine in a thicket [of thorn bushes]!’JeremiYAH 26:19 —Did Judea's king HezekiYah {Strength-From-YAH} or any of Judaea's [people] ever put [Micah] to death? Didn't [Micah] fear YHVH? [Micah] begged YHVH until YHVH reversed his decree to smash [Judea]! [Every time we kill a true prophet,] we draw massive destruction on our own lives! | | | | | | | | |
