Lives of Scripture

Jonathan, a young Levite from Bethlehem, appears anonymously through most of Judges 17 before being named at the chapter's close. Wandering in search of a place to live, he was hired by a man named Micah in the hill country of Ephraim to serve as personal priest for a household shrine Micah had built, complete with a carved image and household idols made partly from silver Micah had stolen from his own mother (Judges 17:1-13). Micah considered securing a Levite priest a guarantee of God's blessing -- itself a distortion of true worship in an era when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (17:6). Later, warriors from the tribe of Dan, searching for territory to settle, passed through, recognized Jonathan's voice, and asked him to inquire of God on their behalf; when they returned with an armed company to seize Micah's idols and priestly garments, they invited Jonathan along, asking, "Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?" Jonathan agreed and went with them (18:1-20). Micah pursued in protest but was overpowered and returned home. The Danites installed Micah's idol at their new city of Dan, and Jonathan and his descendants served as priests there -- in direct rivalry with the LORD's tabernacle worship -- "until the day of the captivity of the land" (18:27-31).