IN THE NEXT EPISODE, A YOUNG LEVITE TRAVELING from Bethlehem in Judah finds his way northward to Micah’s house. He has been living (lit., sojourning) in Bethlehem. Why is a young Levite living in Bethlehem in Judah? Bethlehem is not a Levitical town in Judah (Josh 21:9–16). Moreover, Judges 18:30 states that this Levite is a descendant of Gershom, the son of Moses (Exod 2:22; 6:18–20), which means that he is a member of the Kohathite clan of the Levites, who were allotted ten towns in Ephraim, Dan, and Cisjordanian Manasseh (Josh 21:5, 20–26). Thus this Levite should not have been living in
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