1 Samuel 15, The Lord is my Banner!

During the American Civil War, General Robert E. Lee was most idolized and famous commander of all Confederate commanders. Next to him was General Thomas J. Jackson. He was a professor from Virginia Military Institute; he trained and led the famous Stone Brigade of the Confederate Army. He implemented a severe and vigorous training program and turned untrained recruits into an effective military organization.

General Jackson earned his famous nick name, “Stonewall” from the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. He advanced his troops to a place called Manassas. When they arrived, they saw other Confederates retreating from the battle. General Jackson prevented the retreat. Jackson had his men lined up at the top of a hill and had them for action. They didn’t budge; they stood like a stonewall. General Barnard Bee another Confederate general tried to rally his retreating troops back to line up and fight. So, he shouted to his troops, “See, there is Jackson, standing like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians.” This is how he earned his nickname as General “Stonewall” winning the First Battle of Bull Run.

A similar theme runs through the Bible. When God freed the Israelites from the oppressive rule under Egypt through his demonstration of miraculous power, the ultimate destiny for the Israelites’ journey was to get to the Promised Land. In their journey to the Promised Land, one nation stood out like a sore thumb, the Amalekites. In Exodus 17, the Amalekites although unprovoked fought came and attacked the Israelites at Raphidim. Moses sent out Joshua along with other men to fight the Amalekites. While the Israelites fought, Moses went to the top of the hill and held up his hands high. As long as he held his hands up high, the Israelites were winning; when he bought them down, the Amalekites were winning. When his muscles froze and he could no longer raised his hands up, Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other- so that his hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

There at Raphidim where the Israelites won against the Amalekites, Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. And Moses said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation. In the ancient wars, the troops fought under their banners and their banners represented who they were fighting for. In the case of Israel, their Banner was the LORD. They were fighting for the LORD’s battles.

The story of Exodus 17 portrays Christian spiritual journey well. We are called out of darkness into the light of Jesus Christ. And, we journey under the Banner of our Lord Jesus Christ and we are called to fight for God’s kingdom. In this kingdom journey, we face the giant, the Amalekites. Apostle Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And, we are called to “stand our ground” to “stand firm” under the Banner of our Lord Jesus against these forces of evil.

Now going back to Exodus 17, if you fast forward about four hundred years from the time of Moses, you arrived at the period of 1 Samuel, specifically the time of Saul. Today’s passage, 1 Samuel 15 continues to tell the story of Saul. As Moses and Joshua were called to come under the Banner of the LORD and fight against the Amalekites, the Lord the Banner over him called Saul to fight his battle!

1. The Lord the Banner over you calls you to fight and eliminate any element in your life that frustrates God’s kingdom purpose.

The Lord of the Banner what we saw in Exodus 17 now comes to Saul and tells him in 1 Samuel 15:2-3, “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt” and the Lord tells him specifically, “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

We got to understand this chilling command to annihilate the Amalekites in the broader context. In the supreme knowledge of God, everyone one of the Amalekites were doomed to destruction. They sealed their own destruction when they were bent on attacking the Israelites, to hall the Israelites from reaching to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 25:18 says

“they had no fear of God.” When they attacked the Israelites, they were really attacking God who was advancing his kingdom agenda to bless the Israelites. God was going to put a stop to the Amalekites’ attack on Israel and to God. This is what was behind God’s command for Saul to completely destroy and annihilate the Amalekites. It was about eliminating the element that tried to frustrate God’s kingdom plan and purpose. God’s purpose would not be thwarted.

Remember, God’s call to Saul was for complete destruction, elimination of the Amalekites in order to stop them from frustrating God’s kingdom purpose of the Israelites. And, this command was to be taken very seriously.

2. God takes our sins personally.

When the Lord gives his command, he gives us the power to do his will. So, since the Lord gave Saul the charge to destroy the Amalekites, it is not surprising to see Saul successfully raising two-hundred ten thousand foot soldiers.

Verse 7 describes the widespread extent of successful attack; Saul and the army was able to capture Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and destroy all his people.

Then, there is the very important word in the Bible, “But” in verse 9. It says, “But, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves, and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

It seemed everything was going well. They successfully cease the Amalekites since the Lord helped them. All they had to do now was to carry through the Lord’s command to destroy completely. But, they didn’t. There was no ambiguity in what God told Saul to do; God called for the complete destruction of the Amalekites. But, only thing that they destroyed was what they deemed as repulsive and useless. What looked good to them, they saved them.

Verse 10, God said to Samuel, “I am grieved that I have made Saul the king, because he turned away from me and has not carried my instructions.” Ephesians 4:30 says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Our God is person, not a cosmic or good force. Our sins, our unwillingness to carry out his kingdom purpose grieves him; our sins always personally offend God.

And, we also see what an awesome leader Samuel was. The fact that God was grieved over Saul’s disobedience troubled him and it says he cried out to the LORD all that night. Samuel was a leader whose heart beat after God’s heart beats; Samuel was a man of prayer.

3. The anatomy of disobedience.

From verse 12-33 where Samuel confronts Saul, we see clearer picture emerging the motivation behind Saul and his men’s flagrant disobedience.

a. We disobey God because we honor ourselves more than we honor God.

Verse 12 says that Saul set up a monument in his own honor. When God called for completely destruction of the Amalekites, it was because God took personally their attack on his people. It was because the Amalekites were trying to frustrate the will of God. But, Saul by his action of not carrying out God’s wish, his will, it showed he didn’t care what mattered to God. And, the fact he built a monument to commemorate the victory as though he made it happened tells the depth of his pride, arrogance. Saul honored himself more than he honored God because he gave into the pride.

b. We disobey God because we love the pleasure of sin more than pleasing God.

The reason that they were unwilling to destroy completely in verse 9 was because they delighted in the good stuff more than delighting in pleasing God. Think of the things that you do that you know as sins. Why do you do them although you know they are not good? It is because your delight, your love for sin outweighs love for God.

c. We disobey God because we deceive ourselves.

Verse 12, we see Saul greeting Samuel as though nothing was wrong. “Hi, Samuel. What’s going on?” When Samuel confronted him about the noises of the animals spared, Saul rationalized in verse 15, “they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” Well, the problem with this is it was not what God told them to do. And, they rationalized, justified their wrong doing by sugar coating as though it was a good thing. We disobey God because we deceive ourselves.

The rationalization and the blame shifting instead of taking the responsibility for sin is nothing new. This was a pattern set from the very beginning of mankind. When God confronted Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Adam shifted the blame on Eve and on God; “The woman you put here with me- she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” Genesis 3:11-12.

When Moses confronted Aaron, “What did these people to do you, that you led them into such great sin?” in Exodus 32:21. Aaron responded, “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So, I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

d. We disobey God because we fear men more than fear God.

Saul confessed after trying to rationalize his sin away in verse 24, “I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them.” When he feared his men more than fearing God he listened to them and obeyed them instead of listening and obeying God.

e. We disobey God because we think we know what’s good for us.

Verse 23 says, “rebellion is like the sin of divination.” Divination is any attempt to find God’s will by bypassing God. It is an attempt to find what’s good for us without trusting what God says about us. When we give in to this, disobedience follows.

f. We disobey God because we set ourselves as our own king.

Verse 23 again says, “arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” Pride is to think that we know what’s good for us. And, when we give into the arrogance, we set out to please ourselves, our will, thereby we make ourselves king.

g. We cannot serve God out of partial disobedience.

Psalm 50:16-17, “But to the wicked, God says: ‘What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips? You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.”

Psalm 119:139, “My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore your words.”

Saul asking for forgiveness was not genuine as it was not in the case of Pharaoh. Exodus 10:16-17, “Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me.” Asking for forgiveness was really about his attempt to get off easy from all the deadly plague.

Partial obedience is not obedience at all. And, without complete obedience, we cannot serve God.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Brigade

Judges 19-21, What happenes when you do things you see fit without relying on God.

Last week, we consider Judges 17 and18. There, we saw what happened to God’s people when they neglect God’s word; we witnessed the idolatries at a personal level from the story of Micah and his mother and at a tribal level from the story of a Levite and the tribe of Dan. Today, we are going to consider the rest of the book of Judges, chapter 19-21. What we are going to see is the level of idolatry affecting, not just at the personal and the tribal level, but the whole nation of Israel. We are going to see what happened when the Israelites did things as they saw fit without wholeheartedly relying on God.

A story of a Levite and his concubine (Judges 19)

Judges 19 tells a story of another Levite. This Levite is a different person from the Levite, Jonathan the grand son of Moses from chapter 17-18. We are not given the name of this Levite in chapter 19. We are told that he lived in the hill country of Ephraim. Just like Jonathan the Levite from the chapter 17 & 18, the Levite in chapter 19 was not living in his designated Levite city where he was to serve God. This Levite too was a renegade Levite who wasn’t living out God’s will for him.

We are told that this Levite took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. We are not told that the Levite has another wife, so it appears that this concubine was the first and sole wife for this Levite. Verse 2 tells us, “she was unfaithful to him.” But, another translation, New Revised Standard Version, translates this as “his concubine became angry with  him.” The differences come from the different manuscript sources used to translate this verse. New Revised Standard Version used older manuscripts to translate this verse; it exonerates the concubine and places the blame for the marital problem on the Levite. It seems unlikely that this concubine indeed if she committed adultery would have been able to go back to her father’s house. If she committed adultery, likely outcome would have been honor killing by her husband. Verse 2 and 3 tells us that the Levite after four months since she left, he went after her to persuade her to return to him. The Levite going back to his adulterous wife to have her come back to him seems unlikely considering how he treated her later in this story.

Now, when he went back to his concubine’s father’ house, verse 3 says that her father gladly welcomed him. As it was a typical custom, the father-in-law was hospitable to his son-in-law. The Levite stayed with him for three days, but wanted to go on his way with his concubine. But, he ended up staying another night because of his father-in-law’s insistence.

On the fifth day, the father-in-law again insisted his son-in-law to stay over night. But, we are told in verse 10, he was unwilling to stay another night. He left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with two saddled donkey and his concubine along with his servant.

The servant suggested to the Levite to stay over night in the city of Jebusites. But, the Levite rejected his servant’s suggestion because Jebus was still an alien city, whose people were not Israelites. He might have thought that he would receive a better welcome from his own people than from the foreigners in Jebus. So, he pressed on and reached a town called Gibeah by sunset. The city of Gibeah was a part of the tribe of Benjamin.

Verse 15, they went into the city of Gibeah and waited in the city square, but no one took them into his home for the night. Unlike the warm welcome hospitality the Levite received from his father-in-law, in Gibeah, supposedly a town belonging to the fellow Israelites, no one was hospitable to the Levite.

Verse 16 tells us that it was an old man from the hill country of Ephraim who was living in Gibeah, who stopped to find out what was going on. The old man came from the same town, Bethlehem, where the Levite lived and was heading to. The old man warmly welcomed them to his house; he hospitably fed the Levite’s donkeys; he also washed their feet, gave them something to eat and drink.

While all things seem to be going well, verse 22, the wicked men of the city of Gibeah surrounded the house. They demanded the old man to send out his guest, the Levite so that they could have sex with him. This reminds us the story of Lot from Genesis 19, where Lot faced the mob of men who wanted to have sex with his guests who were the angelic visitors.

The old man seems to be a religious man for he told them, “No my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this disgraceful thing.” But, then he offered them, “Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.” What we see here is moral confusion. The old man was repulsive by their attempt to rape the Levite in homosexual act. But, somehow in his mind, giving his daughter and the guest’s concubine to be raped by this gang of wicked men was better than the Levite getting raped.

Now, here is the telling scene about the kind of man the Levite was. When the men wouldn’t listen to the old man, verse 25 tells us that the Levite took his concubine and set her outside to them; they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. Verse 26 reads, “at daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.”

The Levite didn’t protest against the wicked men of Gibeah. He didn’t stand up for his concubine, his wife. Instead, to save himself from being raped, he gave his concubine into the wicked gang of men to be raped and abused. He had the appearance of religiosity when he wanted to stay in a town belonging to the Israelites. But, the Levite was a man who only looked out for himself.

What was he doing during the night while his wife, his concubine was being raped by a group of gang? Verse 27 says, “When her master got up in the morning and opened to the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.” He slept through the night comfortably while his concubine was being raped and abused; when he woke up he got himself ready to leave; when he was about to step outside of the house he saw his concubine lying motionless by the threshold. What did he say to her? Verse 28, “Get up; let’s go.” Cold, loveless… no wonder the concubine left this man. With no answer from her, he put her on his donkey and set out for home. No mention of tears, moaning… nothing from him!

Verse 29, He came home and took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and set them into all the areas of Israel. One commentator suspicious of this man’s character wonders if the concubine was still alive when he dismembered her.[1] By sending dismembered parts of the body of this concubine, the Levite was calling the Israelites to arm to deal with the wicked men of Gibeah, the Benjamites.

The Israelites responded (19:30-20-15)

When the rest of the Israelites received the dismembered body parts of the concubine, they were enraged; at Mizpah, a near city to Gibeah, they enquired the Levite of what happened. Verse 5, he told them, “During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one peace to each region of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.” Listening to his story, it sounds like he was a helpless victim, a caring husband. But, we know that they weren’t after him to kill him. They were after him to have sex with him. And he conveniently skipped the part about how his concubine ended up outside of the house. It was he who pushed her outside to save himself.

The Levite gave them an embellished account of what happened. With the witness of this one man, without investigating further to learn what really happened, the Israelites reacted as one man. Verse 11 says, “So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.” Each tribe sent out 10 percent of their people to deal with the men of Gibeah. They were responding to Deut. 13:12-18:

If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have known), then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sward all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.

With the embellished account of what happened by the Levite, the Israelites didn’t carefully inquire, probe and investigate the matter thoroughly to determine if it was true and proven. The Levite took no responsibility for his action.

If they indeed investigated carefully and learned the true nature of what really happened according to God’s word, the story might have very different outcome.

The Israelites mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen according to verse 17 to deal with the situation. Verse 13, the Israelites demanded from the tribe of Benjamin, “Now surrender those wicked men of Gibeah so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.” Verse 15, but the Benjamites refused to give the men who sexually abused and violated the concubine. Instead of turning those men of the city of Gibeah, the whole tribe of Benjamin decided to protect these wicked men. The Benjamites had mobilized their own 26,000 swordsmen and 700 chosen men who could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

The Israelites fought the Benjamites (Judges 20:16-48)

Chapter 20:16-48, we are told about three battle scenes between the rest of the Israelites against the Benjamites who were protecting the wicked men of Gibeah. In the first scene, being confident they were doing right, they ask the Lord in verse 23, “Who of us shall go to fight against the Benjamites?” God answered, “Judah shall go first.” He gave them no promise for victory though. The Israelites although vastly large in number suffered 22,000 casualties at the hands of the Benjamites.

After been defeated, now less confident of themselves, verse 23, they approached God with weeping, “Shall we go up again to battle against the Benjamites, our brothers? Again, the LORD told them to go up against them, but without the promise of victory. Again the Benjamites killed another 22,000 of the army of the Israelites.

For the third time, they approached the LORD, this time verse 26, with weeping, fasting, and presenting burnt and fellowship offerings to the LORD. They were no longer confident of themselves. They finally humbled themselves to seek God’s will on this. Through the prophet Phinehas son of Eleazar, the LORD told them, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”

With the LORD’s promise, they set an ambush around Gibeah and fight against the Benjamites. Verse 35 says, “The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords.”

When the battle was over, verse 47, only 600 men survived. They fled into the desert of the rock of Rimmon; there they stayed four months. Verse 48, the men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword according to aforementioned Deuteronomy 13.

The wives for the Benjamites (Judges 21)

After all that had happened, the men of Israel took an oath at Mizpah, “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to Benjamite” Do you remember what happened when Jephthah rashly vowed to sacrifice whatever came out to greet him first when he returned home in chapter 13. He sacrificed his own daughter for his hasty vow. In the same way, the Israelites made a rash vow here as well without bothering to hear from God only to regret later. They also took the second oath in verse 5, “anyone who failed to assemble before the LORD at Mizpah should certainly be put to death.”

The excessive measure to kill all the Benjamites except 600 left the tribe on the brink of extinction. All because of their rash and thoughtless oaths! When they realized what they had done, verse 2-4, they sought the LORD, weeping bitterly, building an altar and presenting burnt and fellowship offerings. But, the LORD didn’t answer them.

So, what did they do? They found that no one from Jabesh Gilead showed up earlier at Mizpah when they decided to arm against the Benjamites. And, on the condition of their second oath, they decided to wipe out the people of Jabesh Gilead, except the virgins. Jabesh Gilead didn’t participate in the oath not to give their daughters to Benjamin. This meant their virgin daughters were not prohibited from being given to the Benjamites in marriage. So, the 12,000 fighting men killed all the people of Jabesh Gilead except 400 young virgins.

Verse 13 and 14, they offered peace to the 600 Benjamites by giving these unfortunate 400 young girls to them. Still 200 Benjamites were left without wives.

The elders of the Israelites devised a scheme to get 200 women for the remaining Benjamites. They saw a loop hole in their first oath. Their first oath was not to give their daughters as wives to the Benjamites and “Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to Benjamite.” The plan was for each of these 200 Benjamites to abduct the unsuspecting girls of Shiloh to make them their wives.

Verse 23 says, “So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.”

K. Lawson Younger would call this scene “the rape of daughters of Shiloh,” and he compares this to the rape of the concubine.[2]

Applications

The question today’s sermon asks is, “What happens when you and I do things as we see fit without wholeheartedly relying on God.”

1. coward and selfish (the Levite’s action to give concubine for abuse, lies to make himself look better).
2. moral confusion (the old man’s action to offer his daughter and the concubine of the Levite).
3. you mess things up (the Israelites attempt to deal with situation... not following God’s word to investigate carefully, rash oaths, killing after killing to remedy their own rash decision…

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[1] K. Lawson Younger, The NIV Application Commentary: Judges and Ruth, P. 359

[2] Ibid., p. 383.

Judges 17 & 18, What happens when you neglect and reject God's word?

Today we are going back to the book of Judges to go back to where we left off. We left Judges after the story of Samson in order to study Ruth together. We saw in the book of Judges the moral and spiritual decays spiraling out of control. In the midst of chaotic time of Judges, we saw Naomi, Ruth and Boaz shining brightly with their godly character and their devotion to God. Now, we are returning back to Judges, specifically to chapter 17 and 18. These two chapters along with the chapter 19-21 form the double conclusions for the book of Judges.

Micah and his mother (Judges 17:1-6)

In Judges 17, we are introduced to a character named Micah. His name means, “Who is like God?” But, as we will see, his meaningful and godly name didn’t translate into godliness for him.

His mother was quite wealthy. Someone stole eleven hundred shekels of silver from her. A yearly wage of ten shekels would make eleven hundred shekels, worth 110 years of wages. That is a lot of money.

There was an article titled, “Children Who Steal”¹ by American

Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In this article, it says that children by the age of three to five years old are able to understand that taking something which belongs to another person is wrong. And, here were the recommendations to parents when their children are caught in stealing.

• tell the child that stealing is wrong

• help the youngster to pay for or return the stolen object

• make sure that the child does not benefit from the theft in any way

• avoid lecturing, predicting future bad behavior, or saying that they now consider the child to be a thief or a bad person

• make clear that this behavior is totally unacceptable within the family tradition and the community

I would add to this list why stealing is wrong from the biblical perspective as well. What did Micah’s mother do when her son stole from her?

Having lost the huge amount of her wealth, the mother cursed the thief, not knowing that it was her own son who stole from her. Matthew Henry comments, “Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses.” We don’t know the nature of Micah’s mother’s curse. But, it was severe enough to scare her son into confess how he stole from her.

Having confessed his sin of stealing, according to Leviticus 6:1-6, Micah was required to do the following. He was to present his guilt offering to the Lord at the tabernacle. Another word, he was to confess his sin before the Lord and offer a guilt offering through the priest to receive forgiveness of his sin. And, on the same day, he was to pay back a fifth of the value on the top of the principal to his mother whom he stole from. The only thing he did was to pay back the principal he stole from his mother. His mother didn’t say anything about what he didn’t do right, what he needed to do to make things right, how he could walk in God’s way.

Instead, when Micah brought the money back to her, she replied, “The LORD bless you, my son!” in verse 2. Perhaps, she was proud of him for having come out clean. She continued, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son…” This appears to be a great expression of worship, devotion to God; to dedicate all eleven hundred shekels of silver!

But, then she went on to say, “…to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you.” What appeared to be a solemn consecration and devotion to the LORD turned out to be nothing more than “deviation to self-serving idolatry and demon-worship” according to Matthew Henry. She hired a silversmith to make the image and the idol with two hundred shekels of silver; she pocketed the rest.

Verse 5 tells us that the carved image, the cast idol Micah’s mother made along with an ephod and other idols, household gods, were all placed in a shrine in Micah’s house. Micah then installed one of his sons as his priest.

Micah didn’t deal with his sin of stealing in God’s way; it is not surprising that he disregarded God who prohibited him from making any carved images or cast idols according to his second commandment (Exo. 20:4, 23; Lev. 19:4). He made an ephod just like Gideon did again against God’s laws; he also made idols, teraphims, which were used for inquiring the will of gods, not the God of Israel; he also installed someone other than a Levite as a priest, his own son (Exodus 29:9; Num 16:10). Not to mention his ethically and morally deprived action to steal from his mother. To have a personal shrine was against the law which permitted only one place for true worship according to Deuteronomy 12:5-7:

But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; ⁶ there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

All this took place in Micah’s home in the hill country of Ephraim, not too far from Shiloh, which was the legitimate place for worship where tabernacle was placed during the period of Judges.

What was going on with this family? Verse 6 tells the story, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”

There was an appearance of doing what was right; confessing sin and returning the stolen money, consecrating the returned money to God… but for everything else they did as they saw fit, not according to God’s will.

Micah And the Levite (Judges 17:7-13)

The story of Micah and his mother is followed by the story of Micah and a Levite in the rest of chapter 17.

17:7 introduces to us a young Levite. He is said to be from Bethlehem, but left Bethlehem in search of some other place to stay. From 18:30, we learn that this young Levite was Jonathan, son of Gershom who was the son of Moses. Joshua 21 lists specifically designated 48 Levitical cities where Levites were to live. Bethlehem was not one of these 48 cities. The way God intended was for the Levites to live by what people offered to God. But, because the Israelites failed to obey God’s laws, the support system for the Levites failed as well. This explains why this young Levite was in search of some place to live.

This young Levite, Jonathan a grandson of Moses, came across Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim. And, Micah having learned Jonathan was a Levite offered him a yearly pay, clothes and food to become his spiritual father and priest. Verse 12 tells us that the Levite became Micah’s priest and lived in his house. And, verse 13 tells us how this made Micah feel, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.” It felt so right for Micah to have this Levite as his own priest at his own home for the worship of the carved images and the idols; he was convinced that the LORD was going to bless this arrangement.

His was going about against God’s will; yet he was so confident that God was now going to bless him so much! Isn’t this ironic?

The Levites and the Danites (Judges 18)

Chapter 18 begins with all too familiar saying, “In those days Israel had no king” in verse 1. Chapter 17 was an illustration of what happened at the individual level when Israel had no king. Now, chapter 18 addresses the broader impact at the tribal level when Israel had no king. Having no king meant that they didn’t live under God’s kingship.

Judges 18:1 says, “the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.” Why were they not in procession of the allotted land from God? Judges 1:34 answers this question. It says, “The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.” They were not able to overcome the Amorites’ presence and their pressure against them. Joshua 19:40-46 records the actual cities and towns that God allotted to the Danites. But, Joshua 19:47 says that the Danites had difficult time taking the land that was allotted to them. Instead of persisting in their effort to appropriate their God given allotment, it says, “they went up and attacked Leshem, took it, put it to the sword and occupied it. They settled in Leshem and named it Dan after their forefather.” Judges 18 expands this account from the book of Joshua on the Danites’ failure to appropriate their inheritance and their possession of a city not allotted to them. This is a picture of God’s people not following God’s will because of the opposition and the difficulty.

Having met the resistance and the difficult of appropriating the land God has given them, the Danites sent out five warriors to spy out and to explore the land where they might settle. They gave up on the land God had given them; instead they wanted to explore other alternatives out there.

These five warriors came across the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim and spent a night there. When they came near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. Perhaps, his local accent gave it away. The spies asked the Levite why he was at Micah’s house. The Levite explained how Micah hired him to be a priest over the images and idols in Micah’s house for yearly wage, clothes, and food.

Anyone with even the minimal knowledge of God’s word would have seen this arrangement as downright sinful! What would these five Danites say to this renegade Levite doing as he saw fit instead of living by God’s word?

Verse 5, they said to the Levite, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.” No rebuke against the Levite for his unfaithfulness by these five Danites! All that they cared was someone to validate their waywardness.

Verse 6, the Levite replied, “Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD’s approval.” How could this Levite pronounce God’s response to the Danites so confidently when he himself wasn’t even walking with the Lord? He couldn’t have. The Levite walking wayward couldn’t see how wrong it was for the Danites to seek validation on their sinful adventure. God already revealed to Danites what they were to do; they were to go and take the land God had given them as their inheritance. God didn’t give them Laish or Leshm as their inheritance in Joshua 19:40-46. This Levite wasn’t speaking on behalf of God; he was speaking as he saw fit.

18:7, we learn their reasoning for wanting to take Laish. It was an easy target to them. The people of Laish were living in safety… unsuspecting and secure and living in isolation with no ties to other people. They were easy target! They reasoned with the rest of the Danites in verse 10, “When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

The only problem with their logic was that God didn’t give this land to the tribe of Dan. God didn’t put Laish into their hands.

They ushered six hundred men from the clan of the Danites, left Zorah and Eshtaol, and came to Micah’s house, verse 11-13.

There at Micah’s house, the five spies told them about the ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol belonging to Micah’s shrine. They went in and stole them. And, they got caught by the priest, the Levite. But, when the Danites presented to the Levite to the bigger and better ministry opportunity in the tribe of Dan, the Levite gladly left with them with all the paraphernalia for the idol worship.

Verse 22-25, Micah got his people to go after the Danites to retrieve the stolen idol paraphernalia and the priest. But, they were no match to the. So, he gave up the pursuit and returned empty handed.

The rest of the chapter 18 records how they were able to overtake Laish. They burned down the city killing the unsuspecting and peaceful people. The city of Laish was an easy target. The Danites met little to no resistance and easily overtook Laish. Rebuilding the city and setting there, they renamed it Dan. In this newly gained city of Dan, they set up the idols and had the Levite, Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, as their priest. And, they had the Levite and his sons oversee the idol worship.

Verse 31 is telling, “They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.” Another word, not too far from them was the real house of God where they were commanded to go to worship God. But, they didn’t.

Applications

The question of today’s sermon asks is, “What happens when you reject God’s word?”

1. When you reject God’s word, you cannot tell right from wrong. So, you end up asking God to bless you with things that God has no desire to bless you with. And, the greater tragedy is that you feel confident that you are asking the right thing, that you are seeking God’s will!

2. When you reject God’s word, you get deceived by the appearance of success! Micah succeeded in securing idols and a priest for idol worship although it was completely against the will of God. The appearance of success deceives you and you begin to think that you are succeeding because you sought after God’s will. The truth is that the appearance of success does not guarantee that you are in God’s will! The only way you can walk in God’s will confidently is when you allow God’s word to make claim upon your thinking, perspective, emotion, decision, and action.

3. When you reject God’s word, you cannot deal with the root of sin. The root of the sin is doing things as you see fit instead of how God see fit. When you reject God’s word, you reject him from being your King. When you reject God, your King, you do whatever would maximize your own agenda, your gain, your pleasure. When God is not your king, when God’s word doesn’t make claim upon you, you set out to make yourself a king!

The cost to reject God’s word, to reject God, our King, is too great! May the Lord help us to trust him as our King, to allow his word to make full claim upon us!

1 http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Children+Who+Steal&section=Facts+for+Families