The Thief and the Levite

Good Morning, I have a story to tell you today and it’s the story of a young man named Micah. Micah by all accounts had everything you could possible want. He was young, rich, owned a house, and had a family. However, Micah had a problem. Micah had a small character flaw that he allowed to fester until ultimately it controlled him. You see Micah was greedy, now you might say well he already rich so what exactly is the problem. Well the problem is that Micah was so controlled by his greed that he couldn’t help himself and he felt compelled to steal in order to increase his wealth, and the person he chose to steal from was his mom. That’s right Micah stole 1,100 shekels of silver from his own mother. Now I don’t know about you but a shekel of silver doesn’t mean that much to me so I have no idea of how much money that is, but the story gives us a reference point to go off. You see later in the story we are told that 10 shekels of silver was considered an acceptable salary for 1 year of work. 10 shekels for 1 years worth of work and he stole 1,100 shekels. For comparison sake if we the average income for a year in the United State which is about $60,000 then Micah stole the equivalent of $66,000,000. Now i don’t care how rich you if someone steals that amount of money from you, I guarantee that you will be upset about this.

That is exactly what his mother felt like. She was so upset about this that she wanted God to punish the person who had stolen from her and so issued a curse in the name of the Lord to punish the guilty one. Now Micah hears about this curse she brought down upon the thief and he is terrified. He suddenly found something more powerful than his greed. He want’s no part of this curse so he decides to return the silver to his mother in attempt to avoid the curse. His mother upon receiving the silver back and realizes that she has a problem. The person who was going to face the consequence of her curse was her own son, and she didn’t want to happen. She loved her son and was now trying to find a solution of how to avoid the curse falling on her own son. Side Note: This is a great example of why the Bible teaches us that we should not curse people.

Grab your Bibles and we will see what her solution to this problem is. Judges 17:1-6 “Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred 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.” And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!” So, when he had returned the eleven hundred 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 two hundred 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.”

Well that was certain a choice they could make, but not one I would recommend. I mean you could have gone and confessed your sins to the priest and done the required sacrifice for your sin, but instead they decided to make up for the fact that Micah broke God’s law about stealing, by breaking more of God’s law. It is quite the elaborate set up they came up with in order to try and protect themselves from the consequence of their sin. When you try to cover up your sin it only leads to more sin. Building a graven image, making a shrine, making an ephod, making household idols, and consecrating one of his sons to be a priest. Micah does all of this to avoid God’s punishment for his sin and what is the result he commits more sin. Also, another side note did you notice that his mother said all the silver was to be dedicated to the Lord, and yet when how much did they spend on this. Even if this was an acceptable course to take which it isn’t they are still not fulling the vow they took to dedicate all to God.

Verse 6 has such an interesting statement which get’s repeated throughout the rest of the book of Judges “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” What is so fascinating about this is that at this time there was supposed to be a king in Israel. God was supposed to be their King and and they were meant to do what was right in His eyes not what was right in our own eyes. The Bible strictly warns us against doing what is right in our own eyes Proverbs 3:7 “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil” and Isaiah 5:21 “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” The Bible warns us against relying on our strength do what is right but instead we are called to rely on the Lord to guide our paths.

Let’s continue reading Micah’s story through the end of Judges 17 “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!”

I will say this about Micah. He does appear to be sincere, but sincerity is it not combined with the truth found in God’s Word will get you nowhere. Every person in this chapter is guilty of sin, we could theoretically say that the Levite should bear the greatest because he was supposed to know better. We going to continue with the story but keep that Levite in mind because he will be important going forward.

The now shifts in Judges 18 to the tribe of Dan who wandering the land looking for a place to dwell. Now the Bible scholars among you will know that all the tribes of Israel were granted land in which to dwell, but because the people of Dan were unfaithful to God and didn’t keep his commands they didn’t get the territory that was allotted to them. They sent spies out to try and find land in which to settle and spies come to Micah house and interesting thing happens. The Bible that they recognized the voice of the young Levite. This should set alarms bells in your head why do these people recognize the voice of a random Levite? This a hint that the Bible is giving us that this Levite is more important than you might first assume.

The Danites then inquire as to whether their mission we be successful which should tell you a lot concerning the spiritual state of Israel at this time. The men of Dan are on a sinful mission they met with a sinful Levite to inquire of a righteous God if their mission will be successful. Then the sinful Levite sends the sinning men out with God’s blessing. The Danites choose to go attack the city of Laish with 600 men to take their inheritance by force. Now you might be wondering why do they choose to go up and fight Laish for their inheritance instead of fighting for the land that was allotted to them by Joshua. That is a great question that the Bible doesn’t really answer. However, we can suppose that they thought it would be easier to take Laish as opposed to getting their inheritance and they didn’t trust God to give them the victory.

Let’s jump back into the Bible to read what happens next. Judges 18:14 “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 an 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 six hundred 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 priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred 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 priest 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?’”

First let’s talk about this Levite. The text says that his heart was glad and it was glad because he was filled with mercenary ambition. He didn’t care about Micah he only cared about the pay and status that would receive by becoming the priest of a whole tribe instead of a mere family. Also Micah was foolish because he put his faith in a priest who could be taken away from him. Actually strike that it’s not that the Levite was taken away he left the moment he had a better offer. However, unlike Micah we have a Great High Priest who can never be taken away from us. A High priest whose heart isn’t filled with ambition but with love for us.

As for Micah there is some incredible irony in this turn of events. He goes out to rescue his gods. I wonder if he ever saw the foolishness in trusting in gods that he has to protect. His false gods didn’t bring him any lasting good. Brother’s and sister’s we will either be serving gods of our own making who can’t protect themselves or we will serve the one True God who doesn’t need us to rescue Him, but instead rescues us.

The Danites refused to give up the Idols have stolen to Micah so he retreats and then Danites go out and conquer Laish and then rename to Dan which becomes the most prominent city in Northern Israel. Our story concludes in verses 30 and 31 like this: “Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, 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.”

What a story. To think that all this came about from one theft. One cherished sin in the life of Micah started a chain of events that led to the establishment of organized idolatry within the land of Israel. You now have an entire tribe of Israel worshiping an idol that was made from money that was supposed dedicated to God. There is a sense of irony in that last verse in that at Shiloh the house of God is there and God is waiting for His people to come to Him while the Danites set up their own false worship that ends up leading to their own destruction. Now what about you. It’s so easy to look at see the sin in others we are masters at that. Now you are probably not bowing down to idols or stealing of millions of dollars at least I hope so, but how often are we examining our own lives honestly and are being truthful with ourselves about that one habit that we have that we know is wrong. With Micah it was his greed that lead to his downfall. Ellen White says in the book Patriarchs and Prophets that “It is a perilous thing to allow an unchristian trait to live in the heart. One cherished sin will, little by little, debase the character, bringing all its nobler powers into subjection to the evil desire.” However, we don’t have to be trapped in our sins because the same God who was in Shiloh is with us here today, and he says to us “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with to rescue and save you, declares the Lord. I will save you from the hands of the wicked and deliver you from the grasp of the cruel.” May we all have this testimony of how God has saved us.