Skip to content Spiritual Apostasy in Judges 17 & 18 May 8 · 14 min ...more
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No King in Israel: Micah's Idolatrous Shrine 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. It's early, but we're gonna get a jump on our reading for today as we look at Judges chapters, 17 and 18, verse 6 of chapter 17. In those days, there was no king0:22 in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now the remaining 5 chapters that we're gonna look at here in the book of Judges, they kind of break with the somewhat chronological order of the0:34 account of Israel that we've been reading in the first 16 chapters. Now what we're gonna have is really a random collection of episodes that further emphasizes the spiritual apostasy,0:45 the, moral and political anarchy that was prevalent during this period of Israel's history. But as we're gonna see, this was not limited just to the book of Judges. We're gonna see this in the other historical books.0:57 We we see this pattern and and if honestly, if we were to pause and consider what is happening in the world today in our country, we see this pattern. Spiritual compromise1:09 leads to moral corruption, which ends in political and cultural chaos with everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. We call it lawlessness. And there there's not a political1:21 solution for this problem. Yes. It politics are affected by it, and politics affects the environment, but at its core, what we see here is a spiritual issue, same thing1:33 today. Alright. Let's start with, verse 1, chapter 17. Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim whose name was Micah, and he had, he said to his mother, the1:44 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from you and on which you put a curse even saying in my ears, here is the silver with me, I took it.1:56 Here is the silver with me, I took it. His mother said, may you be blessed by the lord my son. So here, this guy is confessing to taking this money from his mother. And his mother said to him, may you be blessed by the2:08 lord, my son. So when he had returned the 1100 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 a2:20 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, gave them to the silversmith,2:32 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, and2:44 he consecrated 1 of his sons who became his priest. Bizarre is the only way I can describe what we just read. A son steals money from his mother. She apparently suspects2:55 the son, speaks a curse upon whomever took it. Apparently fearful of the curse, the son returns the money. The mother then speaks a blessing of the Lord, Jehovah,3:08 that is the word used there, over the son. Then she says she had dedicated it to the Lord for her son to carve an image from it. So he, takes it and he3:19 establishes a family temple. So let me just ask, what in these first 5 verses is in line with God's instruction for the people of Israel, for3:31 his people? Well, let me give you a hint. Nothing. And it only progresses further in the wrong direction as we continue to read this account. So how can these people, chosen3:43 by and blessed by god, led from bondage into a land of prosperity, so quickly depart from the words and the ways of god? I mean, it had been repeated to them over and over, and they had3:55 seen the downside of disobeying god. Look at verse 6, chapter 17. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. This freestyle,4:08 syncretic faith is the result of everyone just doing what he thought was right. I tell you what, that certainly sounds familiar. This happened because there was no leadership.4:19 God set the standard, and the role of leaders, whether it was in the home, the church, the community, was to uphold the standard and measure everything according to the truth of4:31 god. And that still stands today. And I'll I'll expand on that in a moment. We get to chapter 18 and we look at the description of the city of Laish that the tribe of Dan scouts out4:43 and eventually attacks, which we first read about back in Joshua. But next, a Levite looking for a job, stumbles upon Micah's place, and Micah hires him as his4:55 personal priest to oversee his graven images. As I told you, it only gets more bizarre. Verse 10, Micah said to him, dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you 10 shekels of5:07 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 1 of his sons to him. Now to add to our understanding5:19 of the depth of Israel's rejection of god's word and the the the spiritual chaos that we were witnessing that they they saw as normal, which, you know, a lot of the the lawlessness that we've seen5:31 today and the cultural chaos that we're seeing, although there's glimpses of of hope we see when people push back to, like, this transgender ideology that was taking the country5:43 by storm. This chaos, it becomes normal, and we see this here. That that they just there was nothing shocking to them. And we're gonna5:55 see in this next chapter this in particular, but I wanna point this out. This Levite's name that we're talking about here is Jonathan. He was the son of Gershom, the6:07 son of Moses. So this wayward Levi that is hired as a personal priest to oversee these idols was the grandson of Moses.6:19 Now we we see no evidence that Micah inquires about the Levite's background, whether or not he was committed to the Lord, but, of course, for Micah's purpose, faithfulness to God6:31 and his word shouldn't probably didn't matter at all. As Matthew Henry writes this, he says, quote, no marvel if those who can make anything serve for a god can6:43 also make anything serve for a priest. If you can if you can make, an idol out of whatever, then it doesn't matter who you hire to serve as a priest. When a man sets the standard for 1, he6:55 can set the standard for the other. If we depart from the word of God, the truth of God's word, then it doesn't really matter who's leading spiritually. Now we we look at this and we say, how foolish7:07 can they be? You know what? I've been in a number of churches that operate in a very similar manner today. Not not a lot. Some. You have people whose, you know, great grandpappy started the church that7:19 they're in, and so by heritage, not by spiritual maturity, they govern the church. They hire the pastors, and they control what the pastors preach. You know, they're really no different than Micah.7:31 And the pastors that submit to that ungodly, dominion are no different than this Levite who will read was nothing more than a7:43 for profit priest, a hireling. Now let's go to, let's let's go to the next chapter. Pick up on the Danites push to capture Laish. Now we readDanites Steal Priest and Idols for Laish 7:55 where they they send 5 spies and, and and they stop by Micah's house on their way to spy out Laish. They they saw the Levite and inquire of8:07 him to the success of their their journey. They didn't, they didn't seek the lord as before they started. You know, what and you have to ask a question, what about the lots that they cast? And this is we're8:19 looking at the Danites as they're moving up north. They cast these lots before the the, the door of the tabernacle of of Shiloh. And in fact, in order to8:31 get to where Micah was, they had to pass by Shiloh, but there's no record that they stopped there and inquired of god, probably because the area they wanted, was not given to them, and they knew that.8:43 They had failed to take what had been given to them, and they were now operating outside the covenant, the promise of god. And remember, the allocation of the land was made, as I mentioned, at the door of the8:54 Tabernacle of Shiloh. It's a a little hard to inquire, if God will bless your efforts when you're headed in the opposite direction that he gave you. I mean, this is an old9:06 testament example of what Paul wrote to Timothy in second Timothy chapter 4 verse 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears,9:17 they will heap up for themselves teachers. So they go here and, here are their observations of Leish. Alright? Verse, 7 of chapter 18. So 5 men departed9:29 and went to Laysh. 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.9:41 They were far from the Cydonians, and they had no ties with anyone. So, you know, how did they miss this? I mean, really, Laish is a picture of Israel, ill governed, ill guarded, and therefore vulnerable. No9:53 rulers who upheld morality and justice that put evildoers to shame. They were distracted and not concerned with their own security. So they take word back to the brethren and they gave, them the10:04 intel on the land, And they were excited, and they headed out. But along the way, they stopped again at Micah's house, verse 18 of chapter 18. When these went into10:16 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? That was Jonathan. And they said to him, be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth10:27 and come with us. Be a father and a priest to us. It is better for you to be a priest to the household of 1 man or to a priest of a tribe and a family in Israel. So the priest's heart was glad.10:39 Bigger job. And he took the ephod and the household idols in the carved image and took his place among the people. So then Micah comes after them to retrieve his idols.10:50 And the Danites threatened to kill him, and he realizes he is outnumbered and he turns back. So don't so don't miss this. Alright? This is how how the moral and spiritual chaos had enveloped11:02 into the such that they saw it as normal. The Danites, they're seeking the blessing of god, but they're rejecting the word and the ways of god. So in their so called pursuit of god, they break the eighth commandment11:14 of stealing so that they can break the second commandment of worshiping a carved image. On top of that, they're confronted with their theft and they threatened to break the sixth commandment, murder.11:27 Look. This is how I mean, this is just the the the the, again, the the chaos that ensues once they depart from the word of god. Now there is more as they go into Laish and set up11:39 these carved images and they make the grandson of Moses their priest. So how do you get to such a state of spiritual apostasy? Now granted, it doesn't happen overnight, but it doesConsequences of Apostasy and Call to Truth 11:50 happen over a generation if there are no leaders who will follow the instructions of scripture and teach their children who god is, what he has done for them, and what he requires of them.12:03 The result of such of such apostasy, the results are tragic. As we'll see in the tribe of Dan, it actually becomes the center of apostasy after the division of the12:15 kingdom after Solomon's time and remains as such until they are carried off into captivity by the Assyrians. But we see the patterns established right here as they12:26 departed from the truth and the ways of god. Father, we thank you for your word and the warnings that we find in this. This is somewhat difficult to walk our way through just because it is so12:38 crazy. It's hard to to put all the pieces together. But, lord, it all it's spiritual apostasy. It's turning away from your truth and and making a lie12:50 normal. Lord, I pray that our hearts would remain sensitive to your word and to the truth that, lord, the holy spirit that we have would convict us when we deviate from the13:02 truth and keep us on the path of righteousness. And we pray for the holy spirit on this journey to to help us see the principles here and how they apply to our lives in this world in which we live. May our13:14 hearts be ever sensitive to the truth of your word. For by your word, your truth, Lord, we are sanctified. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, and13:25 until next time, keep standing on the word.13:31 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan, available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you13:43 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 No King in Israel: Micah's Idolatrous Shrine7:46 Danites Steal Priest and Idols for Laish11:43 Consequences of Apostasy and Call to Truth93.9K followers
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