UTN uW Translation Notes:

Judges 17 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

This chapter begins the final section of the book of Judges. In this section, the author describes the atrocities and chaos that characterized the nation in the absence of a godly leader. Many of the judges had been godly leaders who made sure that the people of Israel obeyed Yahweh. But since they were all individuals whom God raised up at specific times, there was not a continuity of godly leadership. As the author says earlier in the book, "when Yahweh raised up for them judges, then Yahweh was with the judge and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all of the days of the judge. … But it happened, at the death of the judge, they turned and acted corruptly more than their fathers, to walk after other gods, to serve them, and to bow down to them. They did not drop any of their deeds or any of their stubborn ways" (2:18–19). So in this section, the author is showing how important and helpful it would have been to have a continuity of godly leadership such as a line of good kings would provide. A godly leader would guide the people in the true worship of Yahweh and ensure justice and righteousness. This was fulfilled partially by David, and it has now been fulfilled definitively by God’s Messianic king, Jesus.In this chapter and the next one, the author describes how idolatry took root in Israel, in the additional territory that the tribe of Dan conquered for itself.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Idols and figures

The law of Moses forbade the Israelites to make any idols. While the instructions Yahweh gave Moses for the tabernacle included making metal figures, the Israelites were not to make any figures that represented gods that they would worship. This practice was common in Canaan, and it shows the influence the Israelites allowed these people to have on them. Micah’s mother should not have had an image made out of silver, and Micah should not have set it up as an idol and gotten a priest to serve at the shrine where he put it. (See: idol)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“an idol and a cast image”

The author speaks of what Micah’s mother had a refiner make from her silver as “an idol and a cast image.” Some interpreters understand this to be two things, while other interpreters understand it to be one thing. Like many languages, Hebrew sometimes expresses a single idea by using two words connected with “and.” If that is what the author is doing here, he means that this was a cast image that served as an idol. In 18:20, he speaks simply of “the idol” apparently to mean the same thing as “an idol and a molded image” in 18:14. That suggests that the phrase “an idol and a cast image” does mean a cast image that served as an idol or an idol that was made by casting an image. In your translation, you may wish to use a phrase such as “a molded idol” as the UST does. (See: figs-hendiadys)