Introduction and Context
OK, you can turn in your Bibles to Judges chapter 17. I mentioned to Rebecca on the way out from the car, this is an interesting chapter, which In the book of Judges, that is saying something. It's a very interesting book, very intriguing all the way through. These last few chapters, 17 to 21, are sort of like appendices to the book.
I do not believe that these events or these things described follow the judgeship of Samson. More than likely, they precede the actual institution of the judges. Biblical authors don't always write strictly chronologically. They write thematically and theologically.
I think what's going on here in 17 to 21 is a bit of a look or a glimpse into Israel's life in this period or in this time, just coming up to the judges. Gil says that it probably happened after the death of Joshua and prior to the institution of Othniel in the judgeship. And basically, as I said, these are appendices. There are two.
There's two units that go together. 17 and 18 demonstrate the religious apostasy illustrated primarily by the tribe of Dan. And then chapters 19 to 21 demonstrate moral degeneracy, illustrated primarily by the tribe of Benjamin. Because there's a lot going on in these chapters, instead of going 17 and 18 tonight, We'll just do 17, then God willing pick up 18 next week, and then see how we do with 19 to 21. So that's sort of the structure from here on out. 17 and 18 go together.
You'll see that 17 is background and information necessary for a proper understanding of 18, and then the same thing with 19, 20, and 21. So I'll just pick up reading in 17 at verse 1.
Scripture Reading: Judges 17–18
Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim. whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, the 1,100 shekels of silver that were taken from you and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears, here is the silver with me. I took it. His mother said, may you be blessed by the Lord, my son.
So when he had returned the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a molded image. Now, therefore, I will return it to you. Thus, he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith.
And he made it into a carved image and a molded image. And they were in the house of Micah. The man Micah had a shrine and made an ephod and household idols, and he consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. In those days, there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah. He was a Levite and was staying there. The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place.
Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed. And Micah said to him, where do you come from? So he said to him, I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay. Micah said to him, dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.
So the Levite went in. Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons to him. So Micah consecrated the Levite and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, now I know that the Lord will be good to me since I have a Levite as priest.
We won't look at 18 tonight, but I do want to read it so you'll see the flow here. In those days, there was no king in Israel. And in those days, the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in. for until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtoel, to spy out the land and search it.
They said to them, Go, search the land. So they went to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. While they were at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside and said to him, Who brought you here?
What are you doing in this place? What do you have here? He said to them, Thus and so Micah did for me. He has hired me, and I have become his priest.
So they said to him, please inquire of God that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous. And the priest said to them, go in peace. The presence of the Lord will be with you, or the presence of the Lord be with you on your way. So the five men departed and went to Laish.
They saw the people who were there, how they dwelt safely in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything. They were far from the Sidonians and they had no ties with anyone. Then the spies came back to their brethren at Zorah and Eshtoel, and their brethren said to them, What is your report?
So they said, Arise, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good. Would you do nothing? Do not hesitate to go, and enter to possess the land. When you go, you will come to a secure people in a large land, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.
And 600 men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtael, armed with weapons of war. Then they went up and encamped in Kirjath-Jerim in Judah. Therefore, they call that place Mahana-Dan to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath-Jerim.
And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah. Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, do you know that there are in these houses in Ephod household idols, a carved image and a molded image? Now therefore consider what you should do. So they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite man, to the house of Micah, and greeted him.
The 600 men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priests stood at the entrance of the gate with the 600 men who were armed with weapons of war.
When these went into Micah's house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priests said to them, what are you doing? And they said to him, be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth and come with us. Be a father and a priest to us.
Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? So the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people. Then they turned and departed and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them. When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan.
And they called out to the children of Dan. So they turned around and said to Micah, what ails you that you have gathered such a company? So he said, you have taken away my gods, which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have?
How can you say to me what ails you? And the children of Dan said to him, do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry men fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household. Then the children of Dan went their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure.
And they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon. And they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob.
So they built the city and dwelt there. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan, their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish. Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image.
And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up for themselves Micah's carved image, which he made all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. Amen.
Introduction
So obviously, there's a lot going on in chapters 17 and 18. I hope just through the reading, you see why 17 is essential for understanding 18, because the Danites come and take Micah's stuff. Just a couple of introductory quotes. Daniel Block says, the introductory, now there was a man.
You look at chapter 17, verse 1. The pattern and the structure are different. Remember, in chapters 1, verse 1 to 3.6, we have introduction. Specifically, 2.6 to 3.6 sets forth the thematic overview of the book. 3.7 to 16.31 is the book of the deliverers, and there's a recurring formula that's used, not always exactly the same, but pretty much the same.
There's a statement of the fact that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Then the Lord sent an oppressor to get them or to bring them under subjugation, and then the people of Israel cry out, and then God sends a deliverer. Well, that's absent now. We have, now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim.
So Bloch says, the introductory, now there was a man, hints at a new focus. In the following chapters, the narrator will offer the reader a series of glimpses at how ordinary Israelites fared in the dark days of the judges. The effect will be to confirm the picture of a pervasively and increasingly canonized society. That is precisely what we see in 17 and 18, again, with reference to their religious apostasy, and 19 to 21 with reference to their moral or ethical degeneracy.
Davis indicates that this section, 17 to 21, shows or highlights the confusion of a depraved people. And he says, the writer changes his style in order to portray the confusion of a depraved people. He will do this by displaying both Israel's confusion and her depravity. In two narratives, he will hold the mirror in front of Israel, as if to say, here you are, Israel, making your own gods and destroying your own people.
Here is Israel wallowing in her own religious and moral mess. Here the problem is not the enemy without, but the cancer within. So it's not the foreign oppressors that's the problem in 17 to 21. It is the internal corruption that Israel finds herself in. and there are three sections in the entirety of 17 and 18.
The first is corruption in Micah's household, chapter 17 verses 1 to 6. Secondly, we'll look at the corruption of the Levitical priesthood in 17, 7 to 13. And then chapter 18 is taken up with the corruption of the tribe of Dan. So you see the gradation there.
You have the family, you have the priesthood, and you have an entire tribe. The author is indicating that this corruption and apostasy was widespread. In fact, after highlighting Micah in chapter 17, verses 1 to 5, There is that statement in verse 6. In those days there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. It's not just Micah that's the problem. The fact that the Levitical priest, at least in chapter 17, is not mentioned by name, again, probably indicates the reality that it wasn't just one renegade priest within the whole construct of the priesthood, but rather the entirety of the priesthood was corrupt at this particular juncture, this particular time in Israel's history.
Corruption in Micah's Household
So let's look at, first of all, the corruption of Micah's household. And I want to consider three things here. First, the facade of true religion. Secondly, the presence of apostasy.
And thirdly, the theological commentary given to us by the narrator. When you read through 17 and 18, there's not a specific scene, or a specific statement, other than what we find in verse 6, and again in verse 1 of chapter 18. This was wicked in the sight of the Lord, or they did evil in the sight of the Lord. But there's so many things that the author does to highlight their evil, their wickedness, their depravity, and their wretchedness.
So we'll look at the façade, the presence, and the theological commentary.
The Facade of True Religion
Note first the façade of true religion. There is at least an expression of piety in the name of Micah himself. You'll know the name Micah from the minor prophet Micah. There and here, the name means, who is like Yahweh?
Who is like Yahweh? This is a good name to give to an Israelite in any generation. Remember that in Micah chapter 7, he makes a play on his own name, asks the question, who is like you, O Lord? Pardoning iniquity.
So this is an expression of piety through the name of this particular man. Notice, secondly, there is a confession of sin on the part of Micah. Verse 2, he said to his mother, the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears, here is the silver with me, I took it. He took his mother's money. 1,100 shekels isn't chump change.
Chump change would be more like the 10 shekels that he pays to the priest. 10 shekels and a shirt, along with his sustenance. That's what he pays to the priest. 1,100 shekels is a lot of dough. Remember, this is what was given to Delilah by each of the five lords of the Philistines. Some have speculated that this is Delilah.
That's probably not the case. But anyways, Micah took this money from his mother, but he confesses his sin. Notice thirdly that he returns the money to her, according to verse 3. His mother said, May you be blessed by the Lord, my son.
Notice the capital L, capital O, capital R, and B. We see that there. We see that in verse 4 also. This is Yahweh.
She is speaking of the Covenant Lord. So he returns the money according to verse 3. So when he had returned the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to Yahweh for my son. And then notice the money is actually consecrated to the Lord.
Again, these are all things that on the surface look good. I mean, they're doing things in the name of Yahweh. They are confessing sinners, at least he is. He is returning money.
She is taking this 1,100 shekels that she says is dedicated to Yahweh. Though it is interesting, she only spends 200 shekels on Yahweh. We don't know where the other 900 shekels actually go. When it comes time to actually make these molded images, she spends chump change.
She doesn't spend a lot to make the trinkets that are going to represent the incomparable God. You see the irony here. Micah means, who is like the Lord? Well, what we find as we proceed in the narrative, who is like the Lord but these trinkets and these things that Micah has constructed together and put into his house.
So there is a facade going on here in terms of biblical religion. The end of verse 13, then Micah said, now I know that the Lord, again, The name of the Covenant God. It's interesting, the narrator never uses the name Lord. He never uses Yahweh.
He only reports that they say that. Some speculate that the narrator doesn't even want to mention Yahweh as he's reporting such things. If you're reading the New King James, you'll notice at the end of chapter 18, I read Moses rather than Manasseh. You look at your marginal reading, it's probably Moses.
The narrator, the rabbis, a particular rabbi in the 1100s said they did not want to put Moses in the text and connect him to this kind of depravity that is going on among the tribe of the Danites. They did not want to link Moses to such apostasy going on. We'll look at that, God willing, next week. But what we see here is at least the surface appearance of biblical religion. of grace to minister in his house of God.
The Presence of Apostasy
Notice, secondly, the presence of apostasy. We're met, first of all, with the absence of piety. I mean, he steals 1,100 shekels from his mother. That violates two principles in the Ten Commandments.
You're not supposed to steal, and you're supposed to honor your mother. She's probably an older lady because he's got adult sons. And so she's an old lady with probably not a lot of possessions. He takes the 1,100 shekels from her.
Note the motive behind the return of the money. Look at it verse 2. The 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from you and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears, here is the silver with me, seems to indicate that he's more concerned about this curse that has been put on him rather than doing the right thing. And it's quite intriguing that here he is concerned about this curse that his mother puts on him and he gives no concern whatsoever to the curse of God Most High.
Remember the book of blessings and cursings at the end of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 27, at verse 15, we read this, Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsmen, and sets it up in secret. What is unfortunate about this particular passage is that I think it is all too true of many of us in the church today. We can operate and proceed and move about thinking that we actually have the favor of God, thinking that we're actually courting His goodness and His kindness.
I mean, this is what Micah says in verse 13. After he gets the genuine, official, blood-having Levite, he says, now the Lord's gonna bless me. Well, Micah, obedience is the path to blessing in God's kingdom. When you make a shrine in your house, he literally has a house of God, which is contrasted with the house of God that is at Shiloh at the end of chapter 18.
When you throw together your own place of worship, and you proceed in this sort of a manner, you cannot assume that you are gaining the blessing of God. He doesn't want mom's curse, but he doesn't think twice about God's curse. This is truly ironic. Davis says, hence, even though his mother's curse can be evaded or countered, which it is, because when he returns the loot to her, what does she do?
She then blesses him. All that matters to her is that she has her money back. She wants to counterdict that particular curse because it turns out that it's upon her boy. So she says in verse 3, may you be blessed by Yahweh my son.
So Davis says, hence, even though his mother's curse can be evaded or countered, Micah and the Danites rest under a divine curse which cannot be retracted and under a threat that will in no way be neutralized. If we evade the curse of men, the curse of Yahweh is greater. Micah is living proof that it is possible to be set on a course of religious faith and or ministry which exudes success in every respect and yet to rest under the curse of God's judgment. This is a terrifying passage.
Everybody's happy in their religion and yet they are under the very curse of God most high. Thirdly, the money is not given to the priests who are operating in Shiloh. Chapter 18, verse 31 is key. So they set up for themselves Micah's carved image, which he made all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
Remember that in the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 12, it was specifically commanded there would be a central sanctuary for worship. God did not want Israelites wandering off and worshiping wherever they wanted, wherever they hankered after it. Remember this was a big deal in Joshua 22. Remember when the eastern tribes crossed the River Jordan to go back to their particular land?
What did they do? They erected an altar. When the Western tribes got wind of that, they armed up, crossed the river, and were going to kill the Eastern tribes. Until the men in the East said, wait a minute, we're not worshiping here, we're not sacrificing here, we have only placed this here to be a witness that we are part of Israel.
We don't want you all in the West to forget about us. That appeased the people in the West. They didn't kill them. But you see, they didn't allow for anybody to throw up an altar wherever they wanted.
Because you see, the issue is, when we do that, it typically doesn't end well. When we make our own house of God, when we hire our own priesthood, When we construct our own trinkets, this is all contrary to what God the Lord commands and demands. And so what is happening here is that mom takes the shekels and instead of giving it to the house of God, which is at Shiloh, we have a competitor. We have a house of God in Micah's place.
And this is wrong. Notice, mom violates the second commandment, verses three and four. So when he had returned the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son. That's good right there, isn't it?
Don't you want a mother like that? She's not the mother of the year, at least in Israel. Notice what happens. To make a carved image and a molded image.
Now therefore I will return it to you. Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith and he made it into a carved image. and a molded image and they were in the house of Micah. This is terrible.
No matter how many times you say this is unto Yahweh, when you have a molded image and a carved image, it is not unto Yahweh. You do not help in the worship of God by taking Canaanite practices and making them your own. The particular sin here is idolatry, but it's also what's called syncretism. Syncretism is when we take a bit of this, and a bit of that, and a bit of this, and we meld it all together to have one acceptable way of worship.
So they are worshiping, at least professedly, Yahweh of Israel, but they are doing it in a decidedly Canaanite manner with their trinkets and with these articles of religion. So Mom violates the second commandment. Notice verse 5, there is the existence of a cult shrine. Then the man Micah had a shrine, or he had a house of God, and he made an ephod and household idols. and he consecrated one of his sons who became his priest.
So he not only has this shrine, but he manufactures idols. He understands the necessity for priesthood, so in the absence of a Levitical priest, he takes one of his sons and he lays the whammy on him so that now son can minister professively unto the Lord. You see, the author is telling us that this is bad. This is horrible.
This is the Israel of God. These are the people who received the Ten Commandments. These are the people who are prohibited from fashioning for themselves an idol. These are the people who have a particular tribe that is dedicated to priesthood.
These are the people that are to have a centralized sanctuary. These are the people that are to be absolutely different than the way that the Canaanites go about worship. Everything we read in this chapter ought to make us hang our mouths open and just lament for the wickedness that is going on in this particular instance. It is syncretism, attempting to worship Yahweh with Canaanite practices.
The name of Micah is turned on its head, the incomparable God of heaven and earth, is now reduced to these little things. He had made an ephod and household idols, or teraphim, and he consecrated one of his sons who became high priest. Davis says, I suggest the writer places these two sanctuaries, the false and the true, over against one another. There is the true house of God at Shiloh, and then there is Micah's collection of cultic tinker toys.
That is precisely what's going on in the passage. And then he installs, as I've already mentioned, an unauthorized priest. Now, obviously, even he wasn't comfortable with this. He makes his own shrine.
He makes his own idols. He makes his own priest. But when a Levite comes along, he says, good. Even his own conscience couldn't get around the bastardized worship that he had instituted under the guise of Yahwehism.
Theological Commentary: No King in Israel
Now note the theological commentary, verse 6. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. I've already mentioned that appears again in chapter 18 at verse 1.
Notice in chapter 19, verse 1. And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel. It doesn't say everyone did what was right in their own eyes, but it's a reminder of the current situation. And then again at chapter 21 and verse 25, we see that emphasis.
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now, we didn't see that language used in the previous section. From 3.7, to 1631.
It never says there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. But that convention or that idea is used repeatedly. So what we find in the latter section, at least in terms of the written chronology, does not differ from the previous section. Every time it says in the previous section that Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, that is exactly what we find here in the latter section. to do what is right in our own eyes is to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord.
It runs counter to what the Pentateuch enjoins. What are we supposed to do according to Moses in Exodus chapter 15 and littered throughout the book of Deuteronomy? One sample text, Deuteronomy 618. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you.
You see, the author is telling us that everything that was commanded to them, they're not doing it. They have thrown out the idea of a central sanctuary. They have thrown out the Second Commandment. They have thrown out the Fifth Commandment.
They have thrown out the Eighth Commandment. When we get to the next section, they've thrown out the Sixth Commandment. They've thrown out the Seventh Commandment. Every commandment has been dashed to the ground, and these people are corrupt, perverse, and morally depraved before Almighty God.
In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Sounds somewhat similar to what we face today. We don't like stricture.
We don't like regulation. We don't like people telling us what to do. Not even talking about in the civil or political realm, talking within the Church of Jesus Christ. Now, there's two ways to take the statement in verse 6.
There's the pro-monarchy view. Pro means for. Monarchy means kingdom. The pro-monarchy view says in those days there was no king.
The implication is a good king, right? Because the bad kings in Israel would help the people do what was evil, right? So the idea here is there was no good king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. When there is no one in charge, when there is not the exercise of restraint, when there is not godly regulation imposed, then people are going to sin.
The Westminster Larger Catechism tells us, with reference to Christ and his function toward the Church, Christ executes the office of a king in calling out of the world a people to himself and giving them officers, laws, and censures by which he visibly governs them. In other words, the kingdom of Christ, or the church of Christ, which is that visible representation of the kingdom on earth, is ruled by Jesus such that something like this shouldn't happen. It shouldn't be the case that the church functions as if there were no king. The Catechism goes on to say, in bestowing saving grace upon his elect, rewarding their obedience and correcting them for their sins, preserving and supporting them under all their temptations and sufferings, restraining and overcoming all their enemies, and powerfully ordering all things for his own glory and their good. and also in taking vengeance on the rest who know not God and obey not the gospel." So the idea here is that in the absence of a godly king, the people will run amok.
Or, there's the non-pro-monarchy view. Because when you get to the monarchy, there is wholesale wickedness and corruption in the North. You never have a good king in the North. You have a few littered in the South.
So the alternate interpretation is, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. They were so wicked, and so polluted, and so vile, they didn't need the monarchy to help them to pursue their depravity. I kind of side with the first view that it is a pro-monarchy statement that there is a blessing and a benefit when there is a godly king who sits upon the throne to restrain and to hopefully hedge in and to deal with the sorts of wickedness that a people left to themselves will engage in.
You see, structure and authority and regulation according to the word of God is not bad. Now, there's an abuse. And there is a wretchedness about it when men are tyrants, but when men operate and function under God the way they're appointed to function under God, it is a blessing. These are good things, and we ought not to discount them.
So in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Again, it's not just Micah. Make sure you don't fall prey to that. Micah's the exception to the rule.
Everybody's living. Everybody's functioning. Everybody's going to the centralized sanctuary. Everybody's going to Shiloh.
They're all bringing their sacrifices in tow. They are not making for themselves idols. They're not ordaining men to the priesthood that they have no authorized to do. It's just Micah that's this renegade man in the mountains of Ephraim.
No, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Corruption of the Levitical Priesthood
Now notice, secondly, the corruption of the priesthood. The Introduction of the Levite, verses 7 and 8. Now, there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah. He was a Levite and was staying there.
The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Again, that's just odd. Why is he wandering around trying to find a place? There's some things here that we hopefully will wonder about as we read through it.
The man departed from the city of Bethlehem and Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed. So we have a young man, Bethlehem Judah, and he was a Levite. Now notice his meeting with Micah.
Verse 9, Micah said to him, where do you come from? So he said to him, I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay. Micah's probably thrilled at this point. A real live Levite, right?
I got a Levite. Certainly God is in this. And you must see the providence of God in the passage, don't you? I mean, these just haphazardly happen?
No. I mean, when we get to chapter 18, isn't it intriguing that these spies come, or that these Danites come to Micah's house? They know this Levite. He's a Levite they actually knew.
I mean, God is at work behind the scenes to be sure, but probably doing something absolutely contrary to what they're thinking. Again, this is what I think is most scary about this passage is when people move and live and have their being. When they've got some glaring sin in their life, they've got some issue they're not dealing with, they've got some religious apostasy, or they've got some moral failing, and they're not dealing with it. And because things are going well, they assume that God's blessing is upon them.
And so that's really not a big deal, that area of my life. Something we ought to cause, or ought to cause some examination. Am I being blessed by God because I'm being faithful? Or am I being blessed by God because he is doing something I'm not sure of at this particular point?
So notice, Mike is probably doing one of these numbers. Son, take off your garments, we got a real live Levite. It's almost like hillbilly religion out here. What's happening in these mountains of Ephraim?
Are they swinging snakes around, too? What's going on here? I mean, this just ought not to be. This is the covenant community.
This is the Israel of God. This is a people that is to be regulated by the Word of God. And if it is the sense, or it is the case, that 17 to 21 precede Othniel, Then after Joshua dies and the elders die, look how quickly things go to bad. Very, very bad.
We're not talking about a few little things in this particular area. We saw it in Gideon. Gideon and the city where Gideon hailed from had their own sanctuary. They had their own shrine.
They had their own form of worship. All along the way, we are seeing that these people are not exercising fidelity. So that whenever God does reach down and deliver them, he ought to get the praise, the glory, the honor, and the adoration. It's not because they're worthy.
It's because God is gracious and God is merciful in this whole situation. So he seeks a place. Micah said to him, where do you come from? Micah said at verse 10, dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me.
Kind of an interesting thing that goes on here. He's a young man. Micah wants him to be a father. And then Micah treats him like one of his sons.
Kind of an interesting play going on. Micah's always in control of this whole situation. The priest is simply a lucky charm. The priest is simply a rabbit's foot.
The priest is a holy horseshoe. All that the priest is there for is to make sure that Micah gets his. I know that sounds crass, I know that may sound unkind, but that is precisely how we ought to understand verse 13. Micah is not in this for the glory of Yahweh, Micah is in this for the good that Yahweh will do to him.
He sounds like the consumer types that we face in evangelicalism today. People who try God. They tried prayer. They tried religion.
But they concluded that it didn't work. They still have cancer. They still have wayward children. They still have empty bank accounts, which indicates they were never in it for God.
They were in it for their wayward children. They were in it for cancer healing. And they were in it for full bank accounts. Why are we in this?
Hopefully it is for the glory of God. And that any blessing that does flow our way is a corollary. It's a benefit. It's a boon.
But we are in this first and foremost because we love God. We want to honor God. So Micah makes a deal with this man. Verse 10, dwell with me, be a father and a priest to me.
And I will give you 10 shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance. I mean, this is just Paris Reedhead. Mark Hall told me about this man many years ago. Was it Paris Reedhead?
I think so. Mark told me about this sermon. called 10 shekels and a shirt. And I think you can find the sermon. I remember listening to it years ago.
I can't remember a word about it now. But it's on there, and it's based on this text, whatever he got from 10 shekels and a shirt. But they're making a deal. Be my priest, and I'll give you 10 shekels and a shirt and your sustenance.
This priest sounds a bit like a prostitute. You say, well, he's got to eat. Yeah, he does have to eat. And as far as he's concerned, this is a good deal until something comes along that's better.
What happens when the Danites come and take everything in Micah's house? They appeal to the priest and say, wouldn't it be more beneficial for you to minister to a whole tribe than one household? Sounds good to me. Off the Levite goes.
He's like a whore. And as offensive as that may sound, that is precisely how the man is acting. He gets his ten shekels, he gets his shirt, and he gets his sustenance. Verse 10, at the end, so the Levite went in.
Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
Unauthorized Consecration of the Levite
Now notice the consecration of verse 12. So Micah consecrated the Levite. This is just not good. This would be akin to going online, clicking get your ordination papers, and we'll send them to you.
We'll send you a reply, a do not reply email, and you print that out and frame it and hang it on your wall, and you are now a legitimate minister of the gospel. That's what this is. This is a dot-com transaction. This is not legit.
It's not of God. It is simply a means by which Micah is putting a formalistic structure in place so that he can get God to give him good stuff. That is the essence. Verse 12, so Micah consecrated the Levite.
And the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, now I know that the Lord will be good to me since I have a Levite as priest." So that is what I would call his heretical implication.
Micah's Heretical Implication
And we'll wind it down at this point. The shrine was established, the idols were in place, and the priest was ministering. Everything is in order. Everything is in place.
We've got the structure. Therefore, God will bless us. Notice the degree of folly involved here. Daniel Bloch says it this way. aware of the tradition that gave the Levites a monopoly on the priesthood in Israel, Micah assumes that now that he has engaged a member of this clan, he has automatic access to the resources of heaven.
You'll see this in 1 Samuel chapter 4. They take the Ark of the Covenant and they march it out like it's a holy horseshoe. As long as the Ark of the Covenant is with us, we will be protected. Do you know what God does?
God destroys the Israelites involved in that combat and has the Ark of the Covenant captured by the Philistines. When we put our trust in a piece of hardware, rather than in the living and true God, it is misplaced, it is misdirected. Block goes on to say, surely Yahweh will be impressed by his adoption of a more orthodox approach to religious affairs. What is Micah thinking?
Now that I've got a genuine Levite, the blessings will flow. But isn't there a bit of Micah in everybody? Now that I've done this, let the blessings flow. It certainly evidences where our hearts are at times if we get down to this nitty-gritty.
The narrator is laying him on the table and opening him up for all of us to see. I think it would be good for us to examine our hearts and say, is there a little bit of mica in my soul? Do I think that if I put in three hours a week of Bible reading, if I put in three hours a week of prayer meeting, or praying, praying, praying, if I put in three hours a week of church attendance, do I then just get to hold out my hand and let the blessings flow? Is that what I'm about?
Is that what dictates? Or am I genuinely involved with seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness? Is it God or what God gives? Is it Christ or is it stuff?
Is it the blessing of being in communion with him or all of the benefits that he gives us in this temporal world? Locke continues. Surely, I'll read that section again, surely Yahweh will be impressed by his adoption of a more orthodox approach to religious affairs. But he is totally oblivious to the fact that this approach, specifically his capitalization on the presence of a Levite to manipulate the deity, is fundamentally pagan.
This is akin to putting the quarter in and pulling the handle and waiting for the blessings to pop out. He says, the Levite is nothing more than a good luck charm. That is a problem in Israel.
Application
Now notice, by way of conclusion, application, personal reflection, There is a danger that persists that I think flows from this text. The first is the folly of idolatry. You say, well, I don't have an ephod. I don't have a carved image.
I certainly don't have a shrine in my house. The Apostle John, when he ends the first epistle that he writes, ends on what seems to be a very negative note. I mean, John is writing so that you may know that you have everlasting life. It is upbeat.
It is positive. He emphasizes truth. He emphasizes righteousness. He emphasizes obedience.
Several times in the epistle, he highlights the glory and the magnificence of Christ. Certainly, he would end with a grace to you and a peace. Certainly, he would end with a benediction or a good word. Certainly, the way that John ends is not the way that we might think he would end.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. Interesting way for an apostle in the New Testament to end an epistle. No, we may not have ephods, and no, we may not have teraphim, you may not go home tonight and open your closet door and bow to the little idol that you call Yahweh, but there are idols that persist that we need to guard our hearts against.
We need to resist the allure, we need to resist the temptation. A second thing that I think flows from Judges 17 is the persistence of syncretism. Again, the idea that we're going to take a means, a method, a strategy by which we will impress God so that he will bless us. There are several that we might consider.
Formalism. If as long as we have our ducks in a row, as long as we have our service at 11, as long as we have our hymns and we have our prayer, and as long as we have our sermon, we can expect that God is going to cause blessing to flow. Well, we don't engage in those things in some empty, ritualistic way. I hope that every one of you, prior to Sunday morning worship, prays that God will send the Holy Spirit.
We don't just want the structure, as important as structure is. I don't think it honors God if we come in here at 1118 and just kind of sit around and do whatever we feel led to do. That doesn't honor Him. God is a God of order.
He is a God of decency. This was one of the problems in the Corinthian church. They were going nuts, and so Paul says, don't go nuts. Your God is a God of order.
So while we don't come in here willy-nilly, we don't come in here without a structure, it is not only the structure that secures the blessing. It is not just the liturgy, a reformed approach to worship. We must have God. There must be an Isaiah 64-1 sort of a prayer on a Sunday morning, or on a Saturday night, or sometime prior to our arrival in this place.
O Lord, rend the heavens, and come down. We cannot trust in our forms. We don't get rid of them, but we pray to God to bless, to come in the midst of those things. Another thing that is connected to or similar to this formalism is sort of a formula-ism.
I think we see this in the health-wealth-prosperity faction. We do this, we say this, we chant this, and God delivers blessing. Well, God is not the formula. He is not an algorithm.
We don't activate him by putting in the right numbers. We don't turn the crank and out come blessings. That whole approach is fundamentally flawed. Then there is that syncretism, which is more subjective or mystical.
It is that hankering after God in the way that I choose. It is that mica spirit. I am going to construct my own shrine. I am going to construct my own idols.
I'm going to fetch my own priest. And I'm going to do it this way because nobody can tell me otherwise. Subjective mysticism. As long as we want it bad enough and do enough to get it, we will surely be blessed.
You ever met that? Or you ever come across it? But their intentions are so good. Yeah, but their method or their lack of biblical fidelity is so wrong.
You mean to tell me that God just blesses because you really want it? That's not the God of the Bible. God does bless faithfulness. God bless obedience to his word.
But just because someone really wants something doesn't mean the heavens are going to open and the blessings are going to rain down. Davis makes this comment. He says, this false religion also appears in the form of what I shall call subjectivism, that whole idea that it's about me. I think this is probably where the church is most typically to err in this sort of an approach.
Subjectivism. He says, the Danites sanctuary stands over against the legitimate house of God at Shiloh. No need to bother going to Shiloh now, right? Where's Dan?
Dan's way up north, isn't it? That's why we say from Dan to Beersheba. That's the A to Z in Israel. When you hear a sermon, you say, the man went from Dan to Beersheba, just means that a lot of ground was covered, right?
So why would Dan spend all that effort to go to Shiloh when they can get God where they're at? Now the first king in the northern kingdom reckoned that way too. Remember, Jeroboam made a couple of calves and said, look, this is Yahweh. This is your God.
This is who brought you out of Egypt. Why? Because he didn't want the people going to Jerusalem, because then they would have stayed with the Judahites. This was a means by which Jeroboam separated them from the unity of Israel.
Idolatry does not bring cohesion, it brings confusion. So anyways, the Danite sanctuary stands over against the legitimate house of God at Shiloh. No need to go to Shiloh now. Dan is its own little Israel.
The Danites now have their own little convenience store shrine nearby where they can control it. They can worship as they please. Does this not parallel the contemporary model, even in the church, that worship is actually a very individual affair, a matter of sheer personal preference and, like your true toothbrush, a very personal thing? You've met them, right?
How come you don't go to church? Well, I worship God in my own way. I don't need the strictures of religion. In fact, I hate religion, and Jesus hates religion.
This is being preached out there. Jesus hates religion. That's interesting, because Jesus founded a religion. Why would he hate it?
Why would he despise something that he himself sanctions? But this is the mindset, isn't it? I don't need church. I don't need hymns books.
I don't need Bibles. I just have this relationship with God. That's where we're at, brethren. I think there's a lot more judges in the 21st century than we always see.
He says, does this not parallel the contemporary model, even in the church, that worship is actually a very individual affair, a matter of sheer personal preference, and like your toothbrush, a very personal thing? He says, to declare that faith, worship, and religion are rather regulated by royal revelation and subject to sovereign prescriptions sounds like a novel idea. Surely contemporary Danites tell us God is not so picky. But you see, he is.
Because the New Testament makes commands. The New Testament makes demands. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of son. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another.
Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. All these things are not suggestions so that a people gathered together might hanker for God in that particular way, but the church is regulated by divine commandment. We are not privileged to be like the Danites and do what is right in our own eyes. Let us learn the lesson from Judges 17 that what Micah did and what this Levite did were corruptions and indicated the religious apostasy that was extant in Israel at this particular time.
And let us praise God. that we have a king at the right hand of the father who does restrain our wickedness and corruption, who does forgive our iniquity and our transgression, and who has promised to build his church, and that the gates of hell itself shall not prevail against it. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for these lessons that I hope that we'll internalize, and I hope and pray, God, that you will protect us from in this local church. Give us grace to love the truth of Holy Scripture. Give us grace to be faithful to you, our God. Give us grace to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, and then know that all these other things will be added to us.
I pray that you'd go with us now, that you'd watch over us, Again, we pray for all of our brothers and sisters in our local church that you would look with favor upon them, grant physical health and strength to each and every one, and grant spiritual health and strength to each and every one. And we ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.