World English Bible · The judges
Judges 17
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There was a man of the hill country of , whose name was . He said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered , and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it." His mother said, "May my son!" He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, "I most certainly dedicate the silver to from my hand for my son, to make a and a molten . Now therefore I will restore it to you." When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a and a molten out of it. It was in the house of . The man had a house of gods, and he made an , and teraphim, and one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. There was a young man out of Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a ; and he lived there. The man departed out of the city, out of Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of , to the house of , as he traveled. 9 said to him, "Where did you come from?" He said to him, "I am a of Judah, and I am looking for a place to live." said to him, " with me, and be to me a and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food." So the went in. 11The was content to with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. the , and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of . Then said, "Now I know that will do good to me, since I have a as my priest."
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The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.