Verse 3 Micah's mother wants to dedicate the silver to the Lord...by melting it into an image that she will worship.
Verse 5 The people of Israel seem to be falling away from what is true. They think they are honoring God, but the truth of His standards have been lost somewhere along the way.
Verse 6 They are doing what is right in their own eyes. So many people, whose intentions are good and pure, are worshiping idols and false gods because they have no standard to follow. They live by the mantra, "If it sounds right, believe it." Our response should be, "If it sounds right, compare it to God's Word." If Micah had done this, he would have realized right away that what he was doing in the name of the Lord was actually displeasing to Him.
Verse 13 He is way off the mark.
Chapter 18Verse 5 Everyone is assuming that this "priest" has a direct line to God because of his heritage.
Verses 15-18 The warriors distracted the priest at the gate while five men went into Micah's house and stole the religious articles.
Verse 20 This priest is less interested in seeking God's heart than he is in seeking his own promotion.
Verse 31 After destroying and taking over the city of Dan, they set up a little house of worship.
I have to say, the underlying theme in these two chapters seems to be, "Get to Know Your God." At this point in the book, the people of Israel are really in bad state. They are doing what is right in their own eyes. And, in general that might not be a bad thing. Their intentions are good. They are still trying to do what is right--don't they get points for that? The world is full of people doing what's right in their own eyes. For that matter, so is the church. That's why it is so important to stay in the Word daily. To constantly seek knowledge of the Lord, because His is the standard we are striving for.
A couple weeks ago in a discussion group, we brought up the question, "What counts as being in the Word daily?" Do you have to be holding your Bible in your hand? Does the Bible on mp3 count? What about reading it off of your phone? Or meditating on memorized scripture? Or listening to the sermon of a trusted pastor? The conclusion that we cam to was that no, it did not have to be the physical Bible every single time. You learn differently whether you are seeing, hearing, writing, or remembering, and all of those are helpful in your daily Walk. But it becomes less-than when you start using the sermon, or the devotional book, or even your memorized verses, as a substitute for the written Word. We have to continually be measuring even the good things by the standard that God has given us. Because there is an Enemy among us who loves to lead us astray by tweaking that Truth slightly more each time. I think that's exactly what happened to the men in these chapters.
Next time: Judges 19-21
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