Observations:
(1) In those days Israel had no king.
This sentence was repeated 3 times with each in chapter 17-19. The last appearance was the conclusion of this book 21: 25.
In 3 different ways Israel showed their lack of leadership.
(2) The young man from Judah assumed he was the priest because Micah hired him to do that.
a. The 5 spies believed in him.
18:5 They said to him, “Seek a divine oracle for us, so we can know if we will be successful on our mission.”18:6 The priest said to them, “Go with confidence. The LORD will be with you on your mission.”
When they reported back to their fellow kinsmen they encouraged them to take over the place.
v.10b God is handing it over to you—a place that lacks nothing on earth!”
b. he looked at himself as a hired worker and sought for better position when it was available
v.19b Wouldn’t it be better to be a priest for a whole Israelite tribe than for just one man’s family?”18:20 The priest was happy. He took the ephod, the personal idols, and the carved image and joined the group.
c. How did Scriptures describe him?
18:30 The Danites worshiped the carved image. Jonathan, descendant of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile.
18:31 They worshiped Micah’s carved image the whole time God’s authorized shrine was in Shiloh.
His name was not mentioned until the very end. Jonathan led not only Micah in unauthorized worship, but also the whole tribe of Dan until the time of exile. It was about 300 years of sin!
Reflection: It did not matter how you deceived yourself or how others were deceived by you. God is not fooled by anyone. God's authorized shrine was in Shiloh, not in Dan with Jonathan. Do we deceive other people and ourselves? It does not matter if you talk like you are spiritual or if others believe that you are spiritual. God is not fooled. God sees the bottom of our hearts.
Jonathan and his descendants fooled people and themselves for 300 years without repentance. They led others into idol worship for this period of time. How long does it take for us to repent? How much damage we have caused to ourselves, and to our families?
(3) The 5 capable men from Zorah and Eshtaol.
(NET) Heb “men, sons of strength.”
a. They came from the birth (13:2) and burial place (16:31) of Samson and the place where God's spirit began to move him (13:25).
b. They led their 600 kinsmen to Micah's house and stole his ephod, idols, images and finally his "priest."
Scriptures repeatedly described that they stole these items in v.14, 17, 18, 20.
The Danites were violent when they answered back to Micah when he chased them.
18:25 The Danites said to him, “Don’t say another word to us, or some very angry men will attack you, and you and your family will die.”
Reflections: These 600 Danites were so violent because they were going to the battle and they needed the help from God. Instead of going to Shiloh and to the house of God they took the idols and the "priest" from Micah.
They did want the blessings from God, but they ignored the authorized way to do it and used their own ways. Do we ignore God and seek Him according to whatever way we want to do it? Do we read the Bible and apply the principle in our lives? Or we seldom read the Scriptures and ignore it?
The land was given to them long ago by the LORD. They just needed to fight and take it as commanded by Joshua, but they did not do it until this time. It was probably because of Samson, who came out from their tribe.
Delayed obedience is another form of disobedience. Do we delay in doing anything that God wants you to do? Or anything that is commanded in the Scriptures?
c. Their result
18:30 The Danites worshiped the carved image. Jonathan, descendant of Gershom, son of Moses, and his descendants served as priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the exile. 18:31 They worshiped Micah’s carved image the whole time God’s authorized shrine was in Shiloh.
The time period they worshiped the image was from the time of Judges to the exile. That was the end of the punishment that God foretold to their ancestor if they worshiped idols in Deuteronomy.
Reflections:
They did win their battle, but Scriptures also reminded them about their punishment of exile, which eventually happened to them. The gods that they thought helped them to save their lives in battle became their reason for punishment.
Let us refresh our mind that there are consequences of our sins. Also, let us examine our hearts and ask ourselves, is there any idol in our heart that we need to remove.
Audrey
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