I have just read the most nonsensical story yet. I’ve read and reread it a dozen times, and it still makes no sense.

Micah steals twenty-eight pounds of silver from his mother, but returns it to her. In gratitude to the Lord, she uses five pounds of it to make an idol to pray to. Then Micah made some more household gods, and a robe, and made his son a house-priest. Later, a Levite comes by, and Micah hires him to be his private priest.

In the meanwhile, the Danite army is wandering around the neighborhood, looking for an unprotected town to invade. They hear the Levite singing, and make him an offer he can’t refuse. So the Levite steals the idols and the robe, and leaves with the Danites. Micah gets a posse and tracks them down, but the Danites point out their larger army, and Micah slinks back home.

The Danites go on to invade Laish, rebuild it the way they like it, and install Micah’s idols for themselves.

And the point of this story is… what? There is no point. It’s uninteresting, has no moral, and has about a dozen different instances of breaking the Commandments, yet no one is punished. I’m beginning to doubt that this book really has a message.

Next: Judges 19-21