Worthless Devotion - Judges 17-18

Judges 17-18

Copyright August 12, 2018 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

We have reached a transition point in our study of the book of Judges. Samson was the last of the Judges whom God raised up in the book. The last five chapters tell two more stories (each, in my mind, with two parts.) These two chapters illustrate the depth of depravity or sin into which Israel had fallen. This is summarized in verse 6,

6In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

At the beginning of chapter 18 and at the beginning of 19 we see the same refrain.

Now in those days Israel had no king

The book ends in 21:25 with this refrain,

25In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

These stories are not meant to argue that Israel needs to have a King. They already had one: The Lord. They did not acknowledge Him as King. Everyone was doing their own thing! These chapters reveal what happens when we make our own desires the measure of what we do and don't do. If you will, these accounts serve as a warning to our own land in this time where everyone seems to be doing "what is right in their own eyes."

In these five chapters there is no external foe to overcome. The nation was crumbling from the inside. Their greatest enemy was themselves! In Deuteronomy 12 Israel is told to do three things,

Destroy the Canaanite worship places.

Seek out the one place where the Lord chooses to place his name (which would be the tabernacle in Shiloh).

Third, refrain from making false shrines or places of worship top the Lord

We will see Israel completely ignore all three of these things.

The Corruption of Worship

There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. 2One day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.”

The first thing we are told about Micah is he is a thief. Not just an ordinary thief. he stole from his own mother! This was no misdemeanor theft either! This was a sizeable amount of cash. Apparently, when Micah's mom learned the silver was missing, she uttered a curse on the one who stole it! This curse likely pricked the conscience of Micah.

Micah confessed his crime to his mother (perhaps hoping to avoid the curse). And she commended his honesty in confessing and "counteracted" the curse with a blessing! In essence she rewarded him!

“The Lord bless you for admitting it,” his mother replied. 3He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.”

4So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s house. 5Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest.

There is a little ambiguity in the text. It appears she was dedicating the entire amount to the Lord and then seemed to keep 900 pieces of gold for herself. She made a big grandiose promise and then did not follow through. So, mom offered a curse she took back, and a gift to God which she skimped on.

So, Micah and his mom have an idol made and an ephod (a priestly garment which was used to determine the will of God) and appoint priest. In other words, they create a false god, an alternative place of worship even though Shiloh (where the Ark of God resided was nearby) and appoint a priest of their own choosing. The irony is they don't see the sinfulness of what they are doing. They feel quite satisfied, good, and probably very devout.

They would say they were worshipping the same God as the rest of Israel. Perhaps today they would say they were trying to adopt a more contemporary form of worship. Maybe they were looking for a worship that better "met their needs." But here is the problem with that: the focus of worship is no longer the Lord, it is you, or the consumer. In reality, in your attempt to be more "relevant" you have simply created a new false religion. It is a religion of convenience not of truth. Our attraction in worship is not to be a building, music, speaker or programs. Our delight is to be in the Lord! When our focus turns to anything else we have left true worship and are worshipping an idol!

Micah and his mom are engaged in what is called "syncretism." It is a nice fancy word which simply means a bringing together of various ideas, and in this case various religious ideas. We see this expressed by people who say they are a Christian Buddhist or a Christian Muslim. The truth is, they are neither of these things. There is a buffet of religious ideas and you pick out the ones you like ("and everyone did what was right in their own eyes") and then, for all practical purposes, you create your own designer religion, your own god, and your own way of salvation. It is wrapped in beautiful wrapping paper but . . . what is inside is worthless and make believe.

The Corruption of the Priesthood

7One day a young Levite, who had been living in Bethlehem in Judah, arrived in that area. 8He had left Bethlehem in search of another place to live, and as he traveled, he came to the hill country of Ephraim. He happened to stop at Micah’s house as he was traveling through. 9“Where are you from?” Micah asked him.

He replied, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.”

10“Stay here with me,” Micah said, “and you can be a father and priest to me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, plus a change of clothes and your food.” 11The Levite agreed to this, and the young man became like one of Micah’s sons.

12So Micah installed the Levite as his personal priest, and he lived in Micah’s house. 13“I know the Lord will bless me now,” Micah said, “because I have a Levite serving as my priest.”

On the surface, we may miss some of the significance of this passage. The Levites had a special job. These were the keepers of the tabernacle of God. Aaron, the High Priest was from the tribe of Levi. So, this was a priestly tribe. The Law of Moses allocated 48 cities around Israel to the Levites. Bethlehem was not one of those towns and neither was this town.

This begs the question: why was this priest out wandering around? It appears things had become so "loose" that the priest was actually out looking for work. He is not working where he is supposed to be or doing what he is supposed to do. The way of worship and decorum has been completely abandoned by the people of Israel.

The role of priest which had been "a calling" is now just job. That will become even more evident in the next chapter. When ministry becomes just a job, you see Pastor's change positions regularly so they can "move up the ladder." When ministry becomes a career, Pastor's often distort the message of the Scriptures in order to bring in more people and thus be more "successful" and rise the ladder of success (and money). It is an ever-downward slope.

Chapter 18 begins with the words, "Now in those days Israel had no king." These words alert us to the fact that the descent continues.

And the tribe of Dan was trying to find a place where they could settle, for they had not yet moved into the land assigned to them when the land was divided among the tribes of Israel. (18:2)

Each tribe (there were 12) were given a portion of land by God through Joshua. Their instructions were to go into that land and in God's strength conquer the people living there. Dan however did not follow through. They were intimidated or didn't have enough faith, so now they are wandering.

The tribe of Dan put together a scout party and sent them into the surrounding area. As they embarked on their mission, they stopped to rest at the home of Micah. They noticed his place of worship and recognized the priest to be a genuine Levite. (We don't know how they recognized him. It could have been the accent, he may have been someone they met sometime, or it may have come after a conversation.) They asked the Levite to find out from God whether their journey (to find a new home) would be successful. He answered, "The Lord is watching out for you."

The spies came across a city that is described as carefree, peaceful, wealthy and with fertile ground. Just as importantly, they were isolated. They were prime for conquest. This was land that had already been given to another tribe (Naphtali) but the Danites didn't seem to care. The spies went back home and took an army of 600 to conquer the community. While on their way, the five men returned to the home of Micah. They greeted the Levite and went in and took the idol, the Ephod, the household idols and when the Levite asked what they were doing, they offered him a job being their priest and he took the job! This Levite was motivated by one thing: advancement. He is not serving the Lord, he is only serving himself.

Micah and his neighbors follow the men. When they caught up to the soldiers, the men from Dan seem surprised that Micah has chased them. Listen to the words of Micah,

What do you mean, ‘What’s the matter?’” Micah replied. “You’ve taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!” (18:24)

Keller states it perfectly

In the end, self-made religion will disappoint. Whatever we make into our god—money, power, relationships or even a reduced, man-made version of the biblical God—will not deliver. The person who makes career their god will eventually find their route to blessing blocked by someone who is “too strong”—too able, too well-connected, too “lucky”—for them. The person who makes their image their god will find time an enemy too strong for them to hang onto their youth and good looks. Ultimately, death removes all the false gods we look to for blessing. Micah was blessed in that he discovered the emptiness of his god before he died, when it was not too late.

It is a great reminder that everyone is a worshiper. The only question is, who or what is the thing we look to for ultimate meaning and purpose and blessing? What is the thing about which, if it were taken away from us, we would say: You took my god. What else do I have? Where can I go in life now? I have nothing left. There is only one God who will never be taken away from us. He is the One of whom we can say, with Peter: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). (Keller loc. 2361)

Micah knows he is outnumbered and slinks away into the night. He is a destitute man. The Danites continue to Laish and conquer the city, renaming it Dan.

Then we have a somewhat surprising ending,

Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses, as their priest. This family continued as priests for the tribe of Dan until the Exile. 31So Micah’s carved image was worshiped by the tribe of Dan as long as the Tabernacle of God remained at Shiloh. (18:30-31)

This Levite who was willing to compromise on everything is a descendant of Moses! Dr. D.A. Carson once said, "one generation knows the gospel, the next assumes it, and the third loses it." It is a frightening reality: those who do not maintain a vital faith will drift from that faith.

Application

What are we to learn from all of this? First, we see: It is possible to maintain an outward appearance of devotion while drifting away from the Lord. Micah and his mom felt quite godly in their idolatry. The Levite felt good about "serving the Lord." The people of Dan felt they had a real friend in the priests of the Lord. It seems to have never once dawned on them that they needed to ask the question: "What God are we serving?"

The average person would tell you today that they "believe in God." However, if you were to ask each of these people to define their god they would describe him very differently. they would be gods of their imagination. Not surprisingly these gods would hold to many of the same beliefs as the one who was worshipping them. This is the danger of syncretism. To obey God takes faith and effort. It is far easier to construct a god who agrees with you. That way you don't have to change at all! You suddenly become an example of what a true believer looks like.

You don't have to go far to see this illustrated today. Listen to talk shows on television or awards shows (if you can bear all the ego in the room) for comments like this:

MY GOD isn't like that . . .

I'm a very spiritual person

I believe all religions contain truth (even if most of that truth is contradictory).

I like to think of God like . . .

I know the Bible says it is wrong but I prayed about it . . . (or I have peace about it.) Peace can just as easily come from a dead conscience!

We do not get to define the true and living God! He defines us! God is not the result of a tally of public opinion. we don't have an election to see what kind of God rules over us. God has revealed who He is, what He requires, and how we can be saved. Any deviation from this will begin a process of decay that will trickle down into every relationship.

We learn the power of one. It is easy to wring our hands at the state of things around us. We excuse ourselves by asking, "What can one person do?" Let's go back to the story. How would things have been different if,

Micah's mother had not catered to her son

Micah had truly repented

The Levite stood up for what he was appointed to do. His compromise led many into sin and idolatry.

This, I believe is what Paul was alluding to in 1 Corinthians when we talked about becoming a stumbling block. Jesus warned us that for those who lead a child astray it would be better if they had a pair of cement shoes and were dropped in the ocean.

One person can impact the world positively or negatively. \Winston Churchhill, Thomas Jefferson, Ghandi, Karl Marx, Sgimund Freud and so many others have influenced the world profoundly. Here's the question: Why can't that someone be YOU! If we stand on the truth of God's Word maybe others will be encouraged to do the same. How do we stop the syncretism of the world? God says your job is to fight compromise in your own life. That ripple effect may do more than you think.

All the time Shiloh is nearby. Finally, perhaps the saddest of all of this is the statement that the Danites continued to worship the idols while all the time, the tabernacle (the place that God has appointed for worship) was nearby.

God was not hiding. He was not difficult to find. Yet Micah, the Levites and all who sought to worshipped at a statue. The Lord was near and they turned away. If they were interviewed today that would likely tell you that they had a "new vision" and started this new religion. they may scatter some Bible verses around. Other will hit you on the head with the Bible. When we suffer in life we can try to "fix things," or we can run to Shiloh. We can try to make faith fresh by our new fascination with various guru's and new forms of worship. Such people proclaim they are "spiritual." Unfortunately, no one seems to know what that means. It is just like those who insist they believe in God. But it is not (on further examination) the God of the Bible.

So here is the real question: are you serving the true and living God or a god from the buffet table? Do you dismiss some of God's commands because they do not fit your lifestyle? Are you uncomfortable with some Christian doctrines so you dismiss them and they heresy. Are you motivated by fancy gimmicks or slick programs or are impassioned by the Lord who has sent His Son to save you.

If you feel you can't find God, take heart, He is not hiding from you. Cry out to Him. See how wonderful and beautiful He is. Then without being distracted by those around you (even Christians), keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. He is our delight. He is our wisdom, our reason for laughter and gratitude. Anything else is from the buffet table they will lead people staight to Hell.