Through the Bible – Day 90

₁Micah belonged to the Ephraim tribe and lived in the hill country. ₂One day he told his mother, “Do you remember those eleven hundred pieces of silver that were stolen from you? I was there when you put a curse on whoever stole them. Well, I'm the one who did it.”

His mother answered, “I pray that the LORD will bless you, my son.”

_3-4Micah returned the silver to his mother, and she said, “I give this silver to the LORD, so my son can use it to make an idol.” Turning to her son, she said, “Micah, now the silver belongs to you.”

But Micah handed it back to his mother. She took two hundred pieces of the silver and gave them to a silver worker, who made them into an idol. They kept the idol in Micah's house. ₅He had a shrine for worshipping God there at his home, and he had made some idols and a sacred priestly apron. Micah chose one of his own sons to be the priest for his shrine.

₆This was before kings ruled Israel, so all the Israelites did whatever they thought was right.

_7-8One day a young Levite came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim. He had been staying with one of the clans of Judah in Bethlehem, but he had left Bethlehem to find a new place to live where he could be a priest.

₉“Where are you from?” Micah asked.

“I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” the man answered, “and I'm on my way to find a new place to live.”

₁₀Micah said, “Why don't you stay here with me? You can be my priest and tell me what God wants me to do. Every year I'll give you ten pieces of silver and one complete set of clothes, and I'll provide all your food.”

The young man went for a walk, _11-12then he agreed to stay with Micah and be his priest. He lived in Micah's house, and Micah treated him like one of his own sons. ₁₃Micah said, “I have a Levite as my own priest. Now I know that the LORD will be kind to me.”

₁These things happened before kings ruled Israel.

About this time, the tribe of Dan was looking for a place to live. The other tribes had land, but the people of Dan did not really have any to call their own. ₂The tribe chose five warriors to represent their clans and told them, “Go and find some land where we can live.”

The warriors left the area of Zorah and Eshtaol and went into the hill country of Ephraim. One night they stayed at Micah's house, ₃because they heard the young Levite talking, and they knew from his accent that he was from the south. They asked him, “What are you doing here? Who brought you here?”

₄The Levite replied, “Micah hired me as his priest.” Then he told them how well Micah had treated him.

₅“Please talk to God for us,” the men said. “Ask God if we will be successful in what we are trying to do.”

₆“Don't worry,” answered the priest. “The LORD is pleased with what you are doing.”

₇The five men left and went to the town of Laish, whose people were from Sidon, but Sidon was too far away to protect them. Even though their town had no walls, the people thought they were safe from attack. So they had not asked anyone else for protection, which meant that the tribe of Dan could easily take over Laish.

₈The five men went back to Zorah and Eshtaol, where their relatives asked, “Did you find any land?”

_9-10“Let's go!” the five men said. “We saw some very good land with enough room for all of us, and it has everything we will ever need. What are you waiting for? Let's attack and take it. You'll find that the people think they're safe, but God is giving the land to us.”

₁₁Six hundred men from the tribe of Dan strapped on their weapons and left Zorah and Eshtaol with their families. ₁₂One night they camped near Kiriath-Jearim in the territory of Judah, and that's why the place just west of Kiriath-Jearim is still known as Dan's Camp. ₁₃Then they went into the hill country of Ephraim.

When they came close to Micah's house, ₁₄the five men who had been spies asked the other warriors, “Did you know that someone in this village has several idols and a sacred priestly apron? What do you think we should do about it?”

_15-18The six hundred warriors left the road and went to the house on Micah's property where the young Levite priest lived. They stood at the gate and greeted the priest. Meanwhile, the five men who had been there before went into Micah's house and took the sacred priestly apron and the idols.

“Hey!” the priest shouted. “What do you think you're doing?”

₁₉“Quiet!” the men said. “Keep your mouth shut and listen. Why don't you come with us and be our priest, so you can tell us what God wants us to do? You could stay here and be a priest for one man's family, but wouldn't you rather be the priest for a clan or even a whole tribe of Israel?”

₂₀The priest really liked that idea. So he took the apron and the idols and joined the others ₂₁from the tribe of Dan. Then they turned and left, after putting their children, their cattle, and the rest of their other possessions in front.

₂₂They had travelled for some time, before Micah asked his neighbours to help him get his things back. He and his men caught up with the people of Dan ₂₃and shouted for them to stop.

They turned to face him and asked, “What's wrong? Why did you bring all these men?”

₂₄Micah answered, “You know what's wrong. You stole the gods I made, and you took my priest. I don't have anything left.”

₂₅“We don't want to hear any more about it,” the people of Dan said. “And if you make us angry, you'll only get yourself and your family killed.” ₂₆After saying this, they turned and left.

Micah realized there was no way he could win a fight with them, and so he went back home.

_27-28The tribe of Dan took Micah's priest and the things Micah had made, and headed for Laish, which was in a valley controlled by the town of Beth-Rehob. Laish was defenceless, because it had no walls and was too far from Sidon for the Sidonians to help defend it. The leaders of Laish had not even asked nearby towns to help them in case of an attack.

The warriors from Dan made a surprise attack on Laish, killing everyone and burning it down. Then they rebuilt the town and settled there themselves. ₂₉But they named it Dan, after one of Israel's sons, who was the ancestor of their tribe.

_30-31Even though the place of worship was in Shiloh, the people of Dan set up the idol Micah had made. They worshipped the idol, and the Levite was their priest. His name was Jonathan, and he was a descendant of Gershom the son of Moses. His descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan, until the people of Israel were taken away as prisoners by their enemies.

₁Before kings ruled Israel, a Levite was living deep in the hill country of the Ephraim tribe. He married a woman from Bethlehem in Judah, ₂but she was unfaithful and went back to live with her family in Bethlehem.

Four months later ₃her husband decided to try and talk her into coming back. So he went to Bethlehem, taking along a servant and two donkeys. He talked with his wife, and she invited him into her family's home. Her father was glad to see him ₄and did not want him to leave. So the man stayed three days, eating and drinking with his father-in-law.

₅When everyone got up on the fourth day, the Levite started getting ready to go home. But his father-in-law said, “Don't leave until you have a bite to eat. You'll need strength for your journey.”

₆The two men sat down together and ate a big meal. “Come on,” the man's father-in-law said. “Stay tonight and have a good time.”

₇The Levite tried to leave, but his father-in-law insisted, and he spent one more night. ₈On the fifth day, the man got up early to leave, but his wife's father said, “You need to keep up your strength! Why don't you leave straight after lunch?” So the two of them started eating.

₉Finally, the Levite got up from the meal, so he and his wife and servant could leave. “Look,” his father-in-law said, “it's already late afternoon, and if you leave now, you won't get very far before dark. Stay with us one more night and enjoy yourself. Then you can get up early tomorrow morning and start home.”

₁₀But the Levite decided not to spend the night there again. He had the saddles put on his two donkeys, then he and his wife and servant travelled as far as Jebus, which is now called Jerusalem. ₁₁It was beginning to get dark, and the man's servant said, “Let's stop and spend the night in this town where the Jebusites live.”

₁₂“No,” the Levite answered. “They aren't Israelites, and I refuse to spend the night there. We'll stop for the night at Gibeah, ₁₃because we can make it to Gibeah or perhaps even to Ramah before dark.”

₁₄They walked on and reached Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin just after sunset. ₁₅They left the road and went into Gibeah. But the Levite couldn't find a house where anyone would let them spend the night, and they sat down in the open area just inside the town gates.

₁₆Soon an old man came in through the gates on his way home from working in the fields. Most of the people who lived in Gibeah belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, but this man was originally from the hill country of Ephraim. ₁₇He noticed that the Levite was just in town to spend the night. “Where are you going?” the old man asked. “Where did you come from?”

₁₈“We've come from Bethlehem in Judah,” the Levite answered. “We went there on a visit. Now we're going to the place where the LORD is worshipped, and later we will return to our home in the hill country of Ephraim. But no one here will let us spend the night in their home. ₁₉We brought food for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves, so we don't need anything except a place to sleep.”

₂₀The old man said, “You are welcome to spend the night in my home and to be my guest, but don't stay out here!”

₂₁The old man brought them into his house and fed their donkeys. Then he and his guests washed their feet and began eating and drinking. ₂₂They were having a good time, when some worthless men of that town surrounded the house and started banging on the door and shouting, “A man came to your house tonight. Send him out, so we can have sex with him!”

₂₃The old man went outside and said, “My friends, please don't commit such a horrible crime against a man who is a guest in my house. ₂₄Let me send out my daughter instead. She's a virgin. And I'll even send out the man's wife. You can rape them or do whatever else you want, but please don't do such a horrible thing to this man.”

₂₅The men refused to listen, so the Levite grabbed his wife and shoved her outside. The men raped her and abused her all night long. Finally, they let her go just before sunrise, ₂₆and it was almost daybreak when she went back to the house where her husband was staying. She collapsed at the door and lay there until sunrise.

₂₇About that time, her husband woke up and got ready to leave. He opened the door and went outside, where he found his wife lying at the door with her hands on the doorstep. ₂₈“Get up!” he said. “It's time to leave.”

But his wife didn't move.

He lifted her body on to his donkey and left. ₂₉When he got home, he took a butcher's knife and cut her body into twelve pieces. Then he told some messengers, “Take one piece to each tribe of Israel ₃₀and ask everyone if anything like this has ever happened since Israel left Egypt. Tell them to think about it, talk it over, and tell us what should be done.”

Everyone who saw a piece of the body said, “This is horrible! Nothing like this has ever happened since the day Israel left Egypt.”

₁One Sabbath when Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields, the disciples picked some wheat. They rubbed the husks off with their hands and started eating the grain.

₂Some Pharisees said, “Why are you picking grain on the Sabbath? You're not supposed to do that!”

₃Jesus answered, “Surely you have read what David did when he and his followers were hungry. ₄He went into the house of God and took the sacred loaves of bread that only priests were supposed to eat. He not only ate some himself, but even gave some to his followers.”

₅Jesus finished by saying, “The Son of Man is Lord over the Sabbath.”

₆On another Sabbath Jesus was teaching in a Jewish meeting place, and a man with a crippled right hand was there. ₇Some Pharisees and teachers of the Law of Moses kept watching Jesus to see if he would heal the man. They did this because they wanted to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong.

₈Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he told the man to stand up where everyone could see him. And the man stood up. ₉Then Jesus asked, “On the Sabbath should we do good deeds or evil deeds? Should we save someone's life or destroy it?”

₁₀After he had looked around at everyone, he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his bad hand became completely well.

₁₁The teachers and the Pharisees were furious and started saying to each other, “What can we do about Jesus?”

₁₂About that time Jesus went off to a mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night there. ₁₃The next morning he called his disciples together and chose twelve of them to be his apostles. ₁₄One was Simon, and Jesus named him Peter. Another was Andrew, Peter's brother. There were also James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ₁₅Matthew, Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus. The rest of the apostles were Simon, known as the Eager One, ₁₆Jude, who was the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.

₁₇Jesus and his apostles went down from the mountain and came to some flat, level ground. Many other disciples were there to meet him. Large crowds of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon were there too. ₁₈These people had come to listen to Jesus and to be healed of their diseases. All who were troubled by evil spirits were also healed. ₁₉Everyone was trying to touch Jesus, because power was going out from him and healing them all.