This study analyzes the character of the Levite in the narrative in Judg. 17–18. Through skillful narrative construction, the text presents a Levite who consistently acts the opposite of how a Levite/priest should behave according to biblical law. The study examines his wandering in search of a residence, his officiating in Micah’s sanctuary, and his dispensing of oracles. Through his consistent reversal of Micah’s duties, the study shows how this character helps create in readers the impression of cultic anarchy and configure the final chapters of the book of Judges as a heated social critique.
AbbaR (1977) Priest and Levites in Deuteronomy. VT27: 257-267.
2.
AllenLC (1976) The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
3.
AlterR (2019) The Art of Bible Translation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
4.
AmitY (1999) The Book of Judges: The Art of Editing. Leiden: Brill.
5.
AmitY (2000) Hidden Polemics in Biblical Narrative. Leiden: Brill.
6.
AmitY (2001) Reading Biblical Narratives: Literary Criticism and the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
7.
BadenJS (2011) The Violent Origins of the Levites: Text and Tradition. In: LeuchterMHuttonJM (eds) Levites and Priests in Biblical History and Tradition. Leiden: Brill, pp. 103-116.
8.
BauerUFW (1998) “Warum nur übertretet ihr SEIN Geheiss!” Eine synchrone Exegese der Anti-Erzählung von Richter 17-18. Bern: Peter Lang.
9.
BeldmanDJH (2017) The Completion of Judges: Strategies of Ending in Judges 17–21. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
10.
BlenkinsoppJ (1995) Sage, Priest, Prophet: Religious and Intellectual Leadership in Ancient Israel. Louisville Westminster John Knox Press.
11.
BoccacciniG (2002) Roots of Rabbinic Judaism. An Intellectual History, from Ezekiel to Daniel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
12.
BolingRG (1975) Judges. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Garden City: Doubleday.
13.
BrayJS (2006) Sacred Dan: religious tradition and cultic practice in Judges 17-18. Sheffield: Bloomsbury Publishing.
14.
CarrDM (2007) The Rise of Torah. In KnoppersGNBernardML (eds) The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
15.
CassutoU (1967) A Commentary on the Book of Exodus. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
16.
ChildsBS (1974) The Book of Exodus. A Critical Theological Commentary. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press.
17.
CliftonBJ (2022) Family and Identity in the Book of Judges. Leiden: Brill.
18.
CodyA (1969) A History of Old Testament Priesthood. Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute Press.
19.
CrossFM (1973) Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
20.
DickM (2016) Tales of Two Cities (in the Second-Century BCE): Jerusalem and Nineveh. JSP26(1): 32-48.
21.
EissfeldO (1934) Einleitung in das Alte Testament unter Einschluß der Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
22.
FriedLS (2009) Did Second Temple High Priests Possess the Urim and Thummim?JHebS7.
23.
GunnewegHJ (1965) Leviten und Priester: Hauptlinien der Traditionsbildung und Geschichte des israelitisch-jüdischen Kultpersonal. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
24.
HuttonJM (2011) The Levitical Diaspora: Modern Perspective on the Levitical Cities Lists (A Review of Opinions). In: LeuchterMHuttonJM (eds) Levites and Priests in Biblical History and Tradition. Leiden: Brill, pp. 45-82.
25.
JeffersA (1996) Magic and Divination in Ancient Palestine and Syria. Leiden: Brill.
26.
JoostenJ (2020) Intertextuality, Pseudoclassicism and Fortschreibung: 2 Chronicles 13:9 and the Chronicler’s use of Source Material. In: MüllerR (ed) Fortgeschriebenes Gotteswort: Studien zu Geschichte, Theologie und Auslegung des Alten Testaments: Festschrift für Christoph Levin zum 70. Geburtstag. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, pp. 381-388.
27.
KleinLR (1989) The Triumph of Irony in the Book of Judges. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
28.
KnopperGNLevinsonBM (2007) How, When, Where, and Why Did the Pentateuch Become the Torah?. In: KnopperGNLevinsonBM (eds) Pentateuch As Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, pp. 1-19.
29.
LasineS (1984) Guest and Host in Judges 19: Lot’s Hospitality in an Inverted World. JSOT29: 37-59.
30.
LasineS (1994) Levite Violence, Sacrifice, and Fratricide in the Bible and Later Revolutionary Rhetoric. In: T. SmithTWallaceM (eds) Curing Violence: Religion and the Thought of René Girard, Sonoma, CA: Polebridge Press, pp. 204-229.
31.
LeuchterM (2010) The Priesthood in Ancient Israel. BTB 40.11: 100-110.
32.
LeuchterM (2017) The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity. New York: Oxford University Press.
33.
MartinJD (1975) The Book of Judges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
34.
MeyersC (2005) Exodus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
35.
McCannJC (2002) Judges. Louisville: John Knox Press.
36.
MooreGF (1985) A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
37.
MosterDZ (2014) The Levite of Judges 17-18. JBL113(4): 729-737.
38.
MuellerA (2001) The Micha Story: A Morality Tale in the Book of Judges. New York: Peter Lang.
39.
NeefHD (2004) Michas Kult und Jahwes Gebot: Jdc 17,1-18, 31. Vom kultischen Pluralismus zur Alleinverehrung JHWHs. ZAW116: 206-222.
40.
NothM (1962) The Background of Judges 17-18. In: AndersonBWHarrelsonW (eds), Israel’s Prophetic Heritage: Essay in Honor of James Muilenburg. New York: Wipf and Stock, pp. 68-85.
41.
PaynterH (2020) Telling Terror in Judges 19: Rape and Reparation for the Levite’s Wife. London: Routledge.
42.
SassonJM (1990) Jonah: A New Translation with Introduction, Commentary, and Interpretation. New York: Doubleday.
43.
SassonJM (2008) Oracle Inquiries in Judges. In: CohenC, et al. (eds) Birkat Shalom. Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday.University Park: Penn State University Press, pp. 149-168.
44.
SouthwoodK (2017) Marriage by Capture in the Book of Judges: An Anthropological Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
45.
SkaJL (2005), Il Libro sigillato e il libro aperto. Bologna: EDB.
46.
SlagerD (2014) How Many Idols Did Micah Have? (Judges 17.1-18.31). The Bible Translator65: 337-348.
47.
SogginJA (1981) Judges: A Commentary. Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press.
48.
TribleP (1985) Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
49.
Van DamC (1997) The Urim and Thummim: A Means of Revelation in Ancient Israel. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
50.
WalshJT (2001) Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative. Collegeville: Liturgical Press.
51.
WebbBG (1987) The Book of the Judges. An Integrated Reading. Sheffield: Sheffield University Press.
52.
WebbBG (2012) The Book of Judges. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
53.
WongGTK (2006) Compositional Strategy of the Book of Judges. An Inductive, Rhetorical Study. Leiden: Brill.
54.
WrightGE (1954) The Levites in Deuteronomy. VT4: 325-330
55.
YeeGA (2007) Ideological Criticism. Judges 17-21 and the Dismembered Body. In: YeeGA (ed) Judges and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, pp. 138-160.
