Judges 17-18
Notes
Transcript
In his well-known poem “The Second Coming,” the Irish poet William Butler Yeats describes the collapse of civilization in vivid and frightening imagery. Each time I read the poem, I feel chilled within; and then I give thanks that I know the One who is coming.
“Things fall apart,” writes Yeats; “the center cannot hold.”
The closing chapters of the Book of Judges echo that theme: “the center cannot hold.” The nation that once marched triumphantly through Canaan to the glory of God now disintegrates morally and politically and brings disgrace to His name. But what else can you expect when there is “no king in Israel” and the people are flouting the laws of God?
The events described in chapters 17–21 took place earlier in the period of the Judges, probably before the forty-year rule of the Philistines. The movements of the tribe of Dan would have been difficult and the war against Benjamin impossible if the Philistines had been in charge at that time. The writer departed from historical chronology and put these events together as an “appendix” to the book to show how wicked the people had become. In three major areas of life, things were falling apart: the home, the ministry, and society.
1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.
2 He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you place a curse on—here’s the silver. I took it.” Then his mother said, “My son, may you be blessed by the Lord!”
3 He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son’s benefit to make a carved image and a silver idol. I will give it back to you.”
4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image and a silver idol, and it was in Micah’s house.
5 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him.
God has established three institutions in society: the home, human government, and the worshiping community. When God wedded Adam to Eve in the garden, He laid the foundation for the social institutions humanity would build. When that foundation crumbles, society begins to fall apart. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3)
The name Micah means “Who is like Jehovah?” but the man certainly didn’t live to honor the Lord. He had a family (Jdg. 17:5), although nothing is said about his wife; and we get the impression that his mother lived with him and that she was wealthy. The “extended family” was normal in Israel.
Somebody stole 1,100 shekels of silver from Grandmother, and she pronounced a curse on the thief, not knowing that she was cursing her own son. It was the fear of the curse, not the fear of the Lord, that motivated the son to confess his crime and restore the money. Then Grandmother joyfully neutralized the curse by blessing her son. In gratitude for the return of her money, she dedicated part of the silver to the Lord and made an idol out of it. Her son added the new idol to his “god collection” in his house, a “shrine” cared for by one of his sons whom Micah had consecrated as priest.
Have you ever seen a family more spiritually and morally confused than this one? They managed to break almost all the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1–17) and yet not feel the least bit guilty before the Lord! In fact, they thought they were serving the Lord by the bizarre things they did!
The son didn’t honor his mother; instead, he stole from her and then lied about it. First, he coveted the silver, and then he took it. (According to Col. 3:5, covetousness is idolatry.) Then he lied about the whole enterprise until the curse scared him into confessing. Thus he broke the fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth commandments; and he broke the first and second commandments by having a shrine of false gods in his home. According to Proverbs 30:8–9, when he stole the silver, he broke the third commandment and took the name of the Lord in vain. Breaking seven of the Ten Commandments without leaving your own home is quite an achievement!
The man’s mother broke the first two commandments by making an idol and encouraging her son to maintain a private “shrine” in his home. According to Deuteronomy 12:1–14, there was to be but one place of worship in Israel; and the people were not permitted to have their own private shrines. Furthermore, Micah’s mother didn’t really deal with her son’s sins; his character certainly didn’t improve by the way she handled the matter. But she was a corrupt person herself, so what else could he expect?
Micah not only had a private shrine, but also he ordained his own son to serve as priest. Certainly Micah knew that the Lord had appointed the family of Aaron to be the only priests in Israel; and if anybody outside Aaron’s family served as priests, they were to be killed (Num. 3:10).
Because Micah and his family didn’t submit to the authority of God’s Word, their home was a place of religious and moral confusion. But their home was a good deal like many homes today where money is the god the family worships, where children steal from their parents and lie about what they do, where family honor is unknown, and where the true God is unwanted. Television provides all the “images” the family will ever want to “worship,” and few worry about “thus saith the Lord.”
Godly homes are the foundation for a just and happy society.
7 There was a young man, a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who was staying within the clan of Judah.
8 The man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. On his way he came to Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim.
9 “Where do you come from?” Micah asked him. He answered him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I’m going to stay wherever I can find a place.”
10 Micah replied, “Stay with me and be my father and priest, and I will give you four ounces of silver a year, along with your clothing and provisions.” So the Levite went in
11 and agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.
12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house.
13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, because a Levite has become my priest.”
Not only did God establish the home and instruct parents how to raise their children (Deut. 6), but also He instituted spiritual leadership in the worshiping community. Under the Old Covenant, the tabernacle and then the temple were the center of the community, and the Aaronic priesthood supervised both. Under the New Covenant, the church of Jesus Christ is the temple of God (Eph. 2:19–22); and the Holy Spirit calls and equips ministers to serve Him and His people (1 Cor. 12–14; Eph. 4:1–16). In His Word, God told the Old Testament priests what they were supposed to do; and in His Word today, the Holy Spirit guides His church and explains its order and its ministry.
A young Levite named Jonathan (18:30) had been living in Bethlehem of Judah, which was not one of the cities assigned to the priests and Levites (Josh. 21; Num. 35). He was probably there because the people of Israel weren’t supporting the tabernacle and its ministry with their tithes and offerings as God commanded them to do (Num. 18:21–32; Deut. 14:28–29; 26:12–15). Why live in one of the levitical cities if you’re going to starve? When God’s people grow indifferent to spiritual things, one of the first evidences of their apathy is a decline in their giving to the work of the Lord; as a result, everybody suffers.
Instead of seeking the mind of the Lord, Jonathan set out to find a place to live and work, even if it meant abandoning his calling as a servant of God. The nation was at a low ebb spiritually and he could have done something to help bring the people back to God. He was only one man, but that’s all God needs to begin a great work that can make a difference in the history of a nation. Instead of being available to God, Jonathan was agreeable only to men; and he eventually found himself a comfortable home and job with Micah.
If Jonathan is typical of God’s servants in that period of history, then it’s no wonder the nation of Israel was confused and corrupt. He had no appreciation for his high calling as a Levite, a chosen servant of God. Not only were the Levites to assist the priests in their ministries (Num. 3:6–13; 8:17–18), but also they were to teach the Law to the people (Neh. 8:7–9; 2 Chron. 17:7–9; 35:3) and be involved in the sacred music and the praises of Israel (1 Chron. 23:28–32; Ezra 3:10). Jonathan gave all that up for comfort and security in the home of an idolater.
Jonathan’s ministry, however, wasn’t a spiritual ministry at all. To begin with, he was a hireling and not a true shepherd (Jdg. 18:4; John 10:12–13). He didn’t serve the true and living God; he worked for Micah and his idols. Jonathan wasn’t a spokesperson for the Lord; he gave people just the message they wanted to hear (Jdg. 18:6). When he was offered a place involving more money, more people, and more prestige, he took it immediately and gave thanks for it (v. 19). And then he assisted his new employers in stealing his former employer’s gods!
Whenever the church has a “hireling ministry,” it can’t enjoy the blessing of God. The church needs true and faithful shepherds who work for the Lord, not for personal gain, and who will stay with the flock to feed them and protect them. True shepherds don’t see their work as a “career” and run off to a “better job” when the opportunity comes. They stay where God puts them and don’t move until He sends them.
True shepherds receive their calling and authority from God, not from people (Gal. 1:6ff); and they honor the true God, not the idols that people make. It must grieve the Lord today to see people worshiping the idols of ministerial “success,” statistics, buildings, and reputation. In today’s “consumer society,” self-appointed preachers and “prophets” have no problem getting a following and peddling their religious wares to a church that acts more like a Hollywood fan club than a holy people of God. And to make it worse, these hirelings will call what’s happening “the blessing of God.” Jonathans and Micahs will always find each other because they need each other.
The sad part of the story is that Micah now thought he had the favor of God because a genuine levitical priest was serving as his private chaplain. Micah practiced a false religion and worshiped false gods (with Jehovah thrown in for good measure), and all the while he rested on the false confidence that God was blessing him! Little did he know that the day would come when his priest and his gods would be taken from him and nothing would be left of his religion.
3. Confusion in society (Jdg. 18:1–31)
1 In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the Danite tribe was looking for territory to occupy. Up to that time no territory had been captured by them among the tribes of Israel.
2 So the Danites sent out five brave men from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to scout out the land and explore it. They told them, “Go and explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the home of Micah and spent the night there.
3 While they were near Micah’s home, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. So they went over to him and asked, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is keeping you here?”
4 He told them, “This is what Micah has done for me: He has hired me, and I became his priest.”
5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God for us to determine if we will have a successful journey.”
6 The priest told them, “Go in peace. The Lord is watching over the journey you are going on.”
7 The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people who were there were living securely, in the same way as the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. They were far from the Sidonians, having no alliance with anyone.
God should have been the king in Israel and His Word the law that governed society, but the people preferred to “do their own thing.” If the people had forsaken their idols, and if the elders of Israel had consulted God’s Law and obeyed it for God’s glory, Israel could have been governed successfully. Instead, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (21:25), and the result was a society filled with competition and confusion.
Consider the sins of the tribe of Dan as they sought to better their situation in the nation of Israel.
The tribe of Dan descended from Jacob’s fifth son, born of Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah (Gen. 30:1–6). Though not a large tribe (Num. 1:39), it was given choice territory when the tribal boundaries were assigned (Josh. 19:40–48). The Danites, however, weren’t able to defeat and dispossess the enemy (Jdg. 1:34), thus they decided to go north and relocate. Most of the other tribes were able to conquer the enemy, dispossessed them, and claim their land, but the Danites coveted somebody else’s land instead and took it in a violent manner.
The Lord had assigned the tribal allotments under the direction of Joshua, with the help of Eleazar the high priest and the elders from the tribes (Josh. 19:51). As He did with the nations (Acts 17:26), so He did with the tribes: God put each tribe just where He wanted it. For the tribe of Dan to reject God’s assigned territory and covet another place was to oppose His divine will.
But isn’t that what causes most of the trouble in our society today? Instead of submitting to God’s will, people want what somebody else has; and they’ll do almost anything to get it (James 4:1–3). The corruption that’s in this world is fed by “evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4, NIV). Whether it’s producing pornography, selling dope, or promoting gambling, money-hungry people cater to human desires and end up making money and destroying lives. Thanks to the power of modern media, especially television, the advertising industry creates in people appetites for all sorts of exciting products, services, and experiences. Therefore, people go out and spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need to impress people who don’t really care; but this is the cycle that keeps business going.
The elders of Israel should have put a stop to the men of Dan as they abandoned God’s assigned place and headed north to kill innocent people and steal their land. But covetousness is strong; and once people get an appetite for “something more,” it’s difficult to control them.
Ungodly counsel (vv. 3–6). It was Jonathan’s dialect that attracted the attention of the five spies, because he didn’t speak quite like a man from Ephraim. When they asked what a levitical priest was doing in a private home in Ephraim—a very good question, by the way (1 Kings 19:9, 13)—he told them the truth: He was hired to do the job! Since somebody else was paying the bill, the spies thought it was permissible to get “spiritual counsel” from Jonathan, and he told them what they wanted to hear.
If the tribe of Dan had really wanted God’s counsel, they could have consulted with the high priest. But they were actually rejecting God’s counsel by refusing to remain in the land He had assigned to them. Therefore, it wasn’t likely God would have revealed anything to them (John 7:17).
Breaking and entering, robbery and intimidation (vv. 14–26).
On their way to capture Laish, the people of Dan paused at Micah’s house in Ephraim. The spies told the men that Micah had a wonderful collection of gods, hinting, of course, that the collection would be valuable to them as they traveled, warred, and established their new home. While the armed men stood at the gate of the city, the five spies, who knew Jonathan, invaded the shrine and stole the gods.
When the five men, with their religious loot, arrived back at the city gate, the priest was shocked to see what they had done. But the Danites silenced him by hiring him; and since he was a hireling, Jonathan was ready for a better offer. The Danites not only broke into Micah’s shrine and stole his gods, but they also stole his chaplain. Not a bad day’s work!
The Danites put the women and children in the front since that was the safest place, because any attacks would come from the rear. By the time the Danites had traveled some distance away, Micah discovered that his shrine was out of business, having neither gods nor priest; so he called his neighbors together, and they pursued the invaders. After all, a man must protect his gods!
22 After they were some distance from Micah’s house, the men who were in the houses near it were mustered and caught up with the Danites.
23 They called to the Danites, who turned to face them, and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you mustered the men?”
24 He said, “You took the gods I had made and the priest, and went away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ ”
It was useless. Since the Danites outnumbered him and were too strong for him, Micah and his neighbors had to turn around and go home defeated. Micah’s sad question “What else do I have?” (v. 24, NIV) reveals the folly and the tragedy of religion without the true and living God. Idolaters worship gods they can carry, but Christians worship a God who carries them (Isa. 46:1–7).
27 After they had taken the gods Micah had made and the priest that belonged to him, they went to Laish, to a quiet and unsuspecting people. They killed them with their swords and burned the city.
28 There was no one to rescue them because it was far from Sidon and they had no alliance with anyone. It was in a valley that belonged to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it.
29 They named the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel. The city was formerly named Laish.
30 The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land.
31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image that he had made, and it was there as long as the house of God was in Shiloh.
With 600 armed men, plus their women and children (Jdg. 18:21), they marched north and captured Laish, killing all the inhabitants and burning the city. Then they rebuilt it and proudly called it Dan, after the name of the founder of their tribe. Unfortunately, what Jacob prophesied about the tribe of Dan came true
17 Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.
The tribe of Dan was the first tribe in Israel to officially adopt an idolatrous system of religion. Even though there was a house of God in Shiloh, they preferred their images and idols. Years later, when the kingdom divided, Jeroboam I of Israel would set up golden calves in Dan and Beersheba and encourage the whole nation to turn away from the true and living God (1 Kings 12:25–33).
The account of Micah, Jonathan, and the Danites is more than a story from ancient history. It’s a revelation of the wickedness of the human heart and the hopelessness of human society without God.
Our modern world has substituted idols for the true and living God and has devised its own humanistic religion, complete with “priests”—the experts who tell us that the Bible is wrong but their way is right.
But neither their idols nor their priests have any power against the violence of the human heart.
When Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of the United States, he called a “White House Conference on Children and Youth,” hoping to find solutions to the juvenile delinquency problem that was then plaguing the nation. I was supposed to attend that conference but couldn’t go because of family obligations.
However, a friend of mine from Youth for Christ International attended and gave this report (I paraphrase): “I sat in the room for hours, listening to psychologists and educators and criminologists talk about teenagers and how to help them, and I got sick of it. Finally, I asked for the floor and told them of our experiences in Youth for Christ, how delinquents had been changed by the power of the Gospel. The room became very quiet, and then people got embarrassed and began to clear their throats and shuffle papers. The chairman thanked me for my words and immediately moved to the next item on the agenda. Then it hit me: they didn’t want to hear!”
But whether they want it or not, the world must be told that Jesus Christ died for lost sinners, and that the power of Christ can transform hearts, homes, churches, and society if people will only trust Him.
Are you available?
Next Week Judges 19-21
Next Week Judges 19-21