2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
This is the story of a man named Micah found in JG 17-18 (not to be confused with the prophet Micah whose ministry extended from about 740-687 BC). This Micah lived in the hill country of Ephraim on the eastern side of Israel but west of the Jordan river just north of the Dead Sea. While we don’t know the exact dates of his life, we do know that the commonwealth period of Israel’s history, the time of the judges, was from about 1210-1030 BC. It was a period of lawlessness and efforts to mix idolatry with Judaism. Sadly, after the first generation of Hebrews who entered the Promised Land with Joshua died off, each succeeding generation became more and more disobedient to God. Micah’s story reveals the mind-set and way that events during his time laid out, giving us a vibrant picture of this dark period in Israel’s history. Religious, moral, and political decay was in progress.
The story opens with Micah returning 1100 pieces of silver which he had stolen from his mother after she had discovered them missing and put a curse on the person who took them. Once her son confessed, she wanted to find a way to avoid having the curse fall on him. JG 17: 4, “…She took two hundred of the pieces of silver and gave them to a metalworker, who made an idol, carving it from wood and covering it with the silver. It was placed in Micah’s house.” God had made it clear in EX 20: 3-5 what His will was about worship. “Worship no god but Me. Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate Me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.” It was clear that this message was being ignored. From the time of the tabernacle in the wilderness, Hebrews were drawn to one place to worship God. Later in Israel’s history, that place was to be Shiloh and then, Jerusalem. The reason for that is the actual place of God’s presence was in the Holy of Holies over the Ark of the Covenant. God didn’t actually depart that place until the prophet Ezekiel was in Babylonian Captivity from 593-571 BC [see EZK 10: 4].
The perversion of this command is seen in JG 17: 5, “This man Micah had his own place of worship. He made some idols and an ephod, and appointed one of his sons as his priest.” NU 3: 10, “You shall appoint Aaron and his sons to carry out the duties of the priesthood; anyone else who tried to do so shall be put to death.” Even Levites who were not descendants of Aaron were not to be priests; Micah’s son was an Ephraimite! The ephod is a priestly garment which is described in detail in EX 28. No real priest of God would have an idol. Later, a young Levite from Judah, not related to Aaron and thus without a Godly commission to be a priest, came to Micah’s home. Had he actually been a priest, he would have been supported by the tithes of the nation and would have been serving Jehovah. Instead, this man was seeking a salary, food, and clothing, which he got when hired by Micah [JG 17: 7-13].
JG 18 tells the story of Micah and the tribe of Dan. At the time that the Jews entered the Promised Land, the territory was divided with each of the twelve tribes getting a share based on its size. The tribe of Dan was originally given a small tract of land on the west side extending inland from the Mediterranean Sea to about the middle of the country, just north of Judah and southwest of Ephraim with a small part of it bordering Manasseh to the north and Benjamin to the east of it [see JS 19: 40-48]. JG 18: 1, “There was no king in Israel at that time. In those days the tribe of Dan was looking for territory to claim and settle because they had not received any land of their own among the tribes of Israel.” Either the land described above had not yet been given, or it was too small for all the Danites to occupy. That is not clear. Five men from the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol were sent to explore and spy in the effort to find land to take for the Danites. They arrived at Micah’s house, met the Levite “priest,” and noted the silver idol in it. JG 18: 4-5, “They said to him [the priest], ‘Please ask God if we are going to be successful on our trip.’ The priest answered, ‘You have nothing to worry about. The Lord is taking care of you on this trip.’” The five men left and went on to Laish, where the people lived in peace and security as did the Sidonians [Phoenicians] to the northwest of them. Laish is just south of Mt. Hermon, east of the Jordan River in what is the Golan Heights area of modern Israel. The Danites decided to tell their group to attack Laish, but they didn’t forget the silver idol at Micah’s house.
The five spies returned with six hundred men to Micah’s house (17). They went into the house and took the silver idol which the priest stood at the gate with the Danite soldiers. Once outside the house, the spies talked the Levite into leaving with them and becoming their priest (19-20). When Micah realized what was happening, he ran out after the Danites. However, he realized there was nothing he could do about it once he saw how many there were. Later the Danites attacked Laish, killing the inhabitants and burning the town (27-28). JG 18: 29-31, “They changed its name from Laish to Dan, after their ancestor, Dan the son of Jacob. The Danites set up the idol to be worshipped, and Jonathan, the son of Gershom and grandson of Moses, served as a priest for the Danites, and his descendants served as their priest until the people were taken away into exile. Micah’s idol remained there as long as the Tent where God was worshipped remained at Shiloh.” It is interesting to note that Dan was where King Jeroboam set up golden calves for worship, a glaring act of disobedience to God that furthered His decision to send the Jews in exile [1 K 12: 29-30].
The losses both spiritually and materially that Micah suffered came from punishment for unfaithfulness. Had Micah been obedient and had he trusted God, none of this would have happened to him. The Danites would have not remembered the silver idol or felt the desire to return to Micah’s house. PR 14: 12, “What you think is the right road may lead to death.” The lesson here is not to rely on human ways, but to follow God’s, for human ways often lead to spiritual death.
PRAYER: O Lord, the more we read the Scriptures, the more appreciation we can have for the loving patience You show us every day. How long You have suffered, watching mankind make the same mistakes over and over again! The story of Micah allows us to see the disaster that worshipping idols brings. When You commanded us not to do this, it was because of Your profound love for us. You never ask us to do anything that isn’t in our best long-term interest. There is a good reason for every command You give us. Whether our idol is some material thing like Micah’s or something less tangible like a bad habit we don’t break, You command us to turn from it, so that it can’t keep us from eternal life with You. When we become adults, we have a responsibility to bring ourselves closer to You, even if we have not been raised to do so. Micah and his family had Your commands and consciously chose to break them. We also have them and must not make that choice. You have by Your grace given us Christ’s atonement and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For that we are ever grateful and offer You our thanks, praise, honor, worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, reverence, and obedience. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the life of Judah’s King Asa from 1K 15-16 & 2 CH 14-17 to see how it reflected trust and obedience of the Lord. I hope these stories are blessing your lives in how they reveal the love our Lord has for all of us. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn