This brings us to the end of the judges but not the end of the book, from now on the book takes a slightly different slant. We come to a period of confusion and anarchy, spiritual and moral decline. We move in on a man named Micah, not be confused with the prophet of the same name, and his idolatry and the consequences of it.
Micah admits to having stolen silver from his mother (v2). Obviously, she had suffered the theft and did not know who had done it and had put a curse on it. We are not told what caused Micah to suddenly confess this unless he was afraid of the curse. Nevertheless, maybe his conscience was pricked, or maybe he mellowed with age and became ready to confess.
Have you, have I, taken something from someone? It must be owned up to and confessed. So long as we have unconfessed sin we shall never be blessed. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart The LORD will not hear me”.
Upon his confession, his mother informed him that the silver had been dedicated to The LORD for her son to make an idol (v3). He returned the silver and she handed it over to a silversmith to fashion the idol. (v4)
We have a confused woman and a cursed gift. In fact, the family seems to be somewhat strange, unstable and ungodly. The mother had lied in that she had put a curse on it when she had dedicated it to The LORD, or, she had put a curse on it, or maybe the thief, but on its return and discovering it was her son who had stolen it, as an afterthought said she had dedicated it to The LORD. It is clear that whatever the situation, the silver is accursed because The LORD certainly didn’t want an idol making – this was the people’s recurring problem in that once a godly leader had died, they reverted to their evil worship of idols. This family seems typical of the people throughout the book and elsewhere in the life of the Israelites who soon forgot about God and resorted to idol worship.
There was sufficient silver to make an image and an idol and these were placed in the house of Micah who also had a veritable little heathen temple there with not only an image, an idol, but an ephod and other household idols (v5) (these were called ‘Teraphim’ – little images kept in Eastern households for private consultations and worship) – idolatry and superstition often in favour with Hebrews although denounced.
An example of such denunciation is found in Zechariah 10:2 “For the idols’ speak’ delusion (and that word ‘speak’ must mean ‘give impression’ or ‘indicate’ for idols are dumb and cannot speak). The diviners envision lies and tell false dreams, they comfort in vain, therefore, the people wend their way like sheep, they are in trouble because they have no shepherd.”
Micah consecrated one of his sons as his priest (v5). The appointment of anyone who was not of Aaron’s family line to be a priest was a direct violation of God’s law. (Numbers 3:10)
There was no judge nor king (v6) so everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. The land was in chaos, the people were leaderless, sheep without a shepherd. Each one doing his own thing – not only in everyday things of life but also in spiritual things. How could they forget their great God so easily, you may ask? When we take a little time to reflect on that question it doesn’t take much to come to realize that we are just as fickle for people in our day and generation soon forget God just as easily as they did.
God has done great things for our own land. It was God who made Britain ‘Great’, but man soon forgets and worships the creature rather than the creator. We have not changed! The writer of Ecclesiastes (1:9) quite rightly penned, “There is nothing new under the sun.”
There are some striking thoughts in David Gardner’s book – The Trumpet Sounds for Britain, which I read in the 1980’s. He talks about Britain’s rise to a position of world power and that it can be traced directly to the time of the Evangelical Revival. God raised her to that position. The greatest and most inspiring testimony is the one engraved in marble just inside the north doors of Westminster Abbey on the memorial to William Pitt – ‘During whose administration, and in the reigns of George II and III, Divine Providence exalted Great Britain to a height of prosperity and glory unknown to any former age.’ It was that period which coincided exactly with the Great Awakening under the preaching of Whitfield and Wesley. As a result of that revival of Christianity, England became a missionary-hearted country thus causing an impact throughout the world. The British themselves became known the world over as ‘the people of The Book’ (Bible) and saying that ‘an Englishman’s word is to be trusted, is his bond’ became known the world over. God mightily intervened in our history and those foundations were in danger of disappearing.
There are great parallels in this book of Judges to the state of our nation today, we have turned away from God and in the words of Judges 2:10 “A generation has grown up who do not know The LORD or what He has done….” We have forgotten Him and thrown His goodness back in His face.
Back to Micah – “In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did that which was right in his own eyes.” (v6) No leadership, good or bad, anarchy. A young Levite from Bethlehem (v7) was hitch-hiking around the mountains of Ephraim, staying where he could find a place, arrived on Micah’s doorstep. (v8) Micah couldn’t believe his luck – just what he wanted, a Levite the tribe of priests. He has his idol-packed shrine, all he needed now was a proper priest. What a coincidence, one right on his doorstep and, what’s more, looking for a job and somewhere to stay! Micah offers him the job with accommodation thrown in. (v10). Micah treated him like a son (v11).
How misguided Micah was – having consecrated the Levite as his priest, he naively stated (v13) “Now I know that The LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as a priest”. He thinks he now has a ‘proper’ priest to take the place of his son who had been the substitute.
How often do we see others, even ourselves, thinking that by going through the motions or following mere traditions we will be blessed by God? God wants our sincere worship and He looks on the heart, not the outward trappings. We must be genuine before God otherwise we will not experience blessing. Worship is not a form or emotion but a position before God – prostrate, awe, reverence. When Satan tempted The LORD Jesus to fall down and worship him, he wasn’t asking Him to sing worship songs to him.
You’ve heard me say this before, but I find it irksome when the service leader says, “We will now have a time of worship” meaning we will now have a time of singing. I usually say, “What have we been doing up to now?” Worship is the whole of our lives 24/7. Romans 12:1,2 show us very clearly.
