Judges 17-18

Verse 1 And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.

Verse 2 And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.

There is little in my mind that this son and his mother are very earnest and sincere in their plans, but both are wrong because they are not following the directions of God. Regardless of how honest and sincere we are in our religious pursuits, they will come to no good if we do not follow the clear directions God has given us in his holy word.

Here the son is a thief, but he does confess. He faces no consequences to his evil actions, however. It would appear he has "reformed" because of his confession, but he does not seek God’s counsel, as his later actions prove.

Verse 3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.

The mother gives the money back to her son, completely forgetting she had dedicated it to the Lord.

Verse 4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.

The son then gave the money back to his mother, who took 200 shekels of the money (instead of giving the whole 1100 shekels) to the founder who made them a god in direct opposition to the clear command of God.

It might have been common practice to make graven images, but it should not be the practice of Godly people. Genesis 31:19 declares that Laban had graven images in his house, which were stolen by Rachel. And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s.

Verse 5 And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

House of gods – a house with at least two idols in it. It is supposed to be a place of worship, but it is false worship.

Ephod – this is a priestly garment, probably made as close to the ephod described by Moses as possible, but probably not of the same quality and not as expensive. It was probably linen and had the breastplate on it. It was as wrong for Micah to make this ephod as it was for him to make everything else. He was supposed to worship at Shiloh, but instead fixed his own house of worship near his home.

Teraphim – an idol, a sort of household god, which had some magical qualities. Consultations are supposed to made to the Teraphim for various questions. Any desire to know future events, or to determine solutions to questions was supposed to be made at the house of God in Shiloh by Urim and Thummim.

It is error to make anyone but a son of Levi a priest.

Numbers 3:10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

Numbers 16:17 And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.

Deuteronomy 21:5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:

Hebrews 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

So there are a lot of "religious" things here that are all wrong. It all looks good, but there is no truth at all to any of it.

It is sad when people do not know what God commands or what God expects. They will face the consequences of their error, however honest they are in that error. We must pray that God will show himself strong on our behalf and that we will continually find his instructions in his Word, and that we will obey what he tells us.

Verse 6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

A most deplorable condition – no man was appointed to hold any other person to any standard – there was no punishment for any crime. There was no standard of right or wrong proclaimed.

Verse 7 And there was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.

Men of the tribe of Levi might connect themselves, as Aaron did in Exodus 6:23, by marriage with another tribe; and this young Levite belonged to the tribe of Judah, by his mother’s side, which accounts for his being in Bethlehem, not one of the Levitical cities.

Verse 8 And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.

Here is a Levite, who should be settled as to his life work in serving and honoring God Almighty, but instead takes to wandering about seeking whatever he could find. The Levites have been given a place of service when they received the particular city they were to dwell in. They should not have been moving about from place to place, but they should remain where God put them. This shows his utter lack of responsibility toward God, and his family, and his raising to be a Levite. He is willing to settle anywhere he can make a living, not because he has sought the will of God, or God’s purpose for his life. He is trusting what is before him, not what he has prayerfully sought.

Verse 9 And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

Micah was "religious" and wanted "religion", but he did not know enough of the Bible or of God’s requirements to realize a wayward priest when he saw one. Instead he saw an opportunity to have what he considered to be religious and to be seen as religious in the community in which he lived.

Verse 10 And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.

Micah offers this man a job as spiritual father and a priest to his household. Micah has everything he thinks he needs to be a really spiritually person. He has a house of gods in his house, with all the accompanying idols and fixtures of worship properly designed for the tabernacle.

Micah will pay the man ten shekels of silver a year, which seems to be a pretty good sum, considering the idol his mother had made for him cost 200 shekels of silver. He would also get room and board, plus clothing. A fair salary, so the man would need nothing else, and would have no occasion to seek another position anywhere.

Verse 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.

The relationship between the Levite and Micah as very close. It is possible to have a close religious relationship with people while being very far from God and his commands. It is possible to have unity in churches without God being there, or without God putting his approval on it. It is possible to have unity and be against God in every thing. Do not go by how you feel, go by what God word says.

Verse 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.

It was as wrong for Micah to consecrate the Levite as it was for him to have a house of God, and idols. Many things can be done, and be done with ceremony, but that does not mean God approves, or accepts what is done.

It is possible for people to be "baptized" and satisfied with their "baptism" when God is not within 1000 miles of it.

It is possible for a "church" to ordain ministers when God is not within 1000 miles of it.

It is very possible for people to do many things and be completely and wholly satisfied with what they are doing, yet God be completely displeased with it.

We must be very careful to do what God says, not what we think.

Verse 13 Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

Micah is trusting what he has done to force God to do him good. Micah has consecrated one of his sons (which is wrong) and consecrated the Levite, (which is also wrong), therefore he feels he has earned the right for God’s blessings.

This is trusting works instead of grace. Catholics give lip service to the word "grace" stating we can earn grace by the good works we do. This is exactly what Micah has done. He has no more earned grace than any person earns grace by their "good works". We must remember there is none good, no not one. Grace is what God gives to complete sinners, sinners who have no good about them at all. We should not sin so we can get grace – we must stay away from sin and live holy lives, but all this is by the grace of God – even the knowledge of our wickedness and God’s graciousness toward us is by the grace of God.

Micah has satisfied his conscience, but God is not satisfied with any of Micah’s works.

Verse 1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

Judges 1:34 states, And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: There was plenty of land for the Danites, but the land had not been conquered as God stated. There was plenty of power on the part of God, but the Danites had not used the power God gave to them, therefore they did not have a place of their own. Others had moved into the land the Danites were supposed to have, and had actually moved them out of their land.

Verse 2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

Evidently the Danites have finally figured out they must do something to get the land God promised them, so they sent these five men from their coasts to spy out the land. When the men come to the house of Micah, they stop, probably because it is a good place to rest and evidently, according to the verse 3, they know the young man Micah has hired as his priest.

Verse 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

The Bible does not say where the five men of Dan knew Micah’s priest from, just that they knew his voice. They ask the young man how he came to be in this place.

Verse 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

The young man answered truthfully.

Verse 5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

Here is a very amazing thing. They desire the young man to ask counsel of God for them. They do not think it strange that Micah has this house of gods in his house, nor do they think it strange concerning the ephod or teraphim he has made, not do they think it strange he has consecrated his son and this wayward Levite as his priests. They are so depraved in their own religion, they do not recognize false religion when they see it.

The Danites probably would not have asked counsel of God at all if they had not happened on this young man, and Micah’s house of gods. A study of the towns between Zorah and Eshtaol reveals they had to travel past Shiloh, where they could have inquired of God, if they had wanted, or thought of it. They seem to have a higher opinion of Micah’s priest than the priest of God.

All of this goes to show the low spiritual condition of the people. They thought nothing of Micah having a priest that was, in their eyes at least, equal to, or greater than the priests of God. They thought absolutely nothing of the house of gods Micah had established, and did not consider that God would not like it. They liked it and that was good enough.

Verse 6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.