The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 17:6,
"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."
In the episode of Micah, together with the events that follow, we are
told that "everyone did as he saw fit" twice. Four times we are told
Israel had no king. In two of them it precedes the observation that
"everyone did as he saw fit". Apparently the "no king" included the
Lord as well. He was to have been Israel's king, but the Israelites
spurned the Lord and went their own way. The account beginning in
chapter seventeen is bizarre and startling. The whole book of Judges
begins with what might be considered a low point in Israel's history
and spirals downhill from there. By the end of the book we find the
Israelites at an horrific stage of depravity. The whole of it treats
us to a view of what happens when God's word is lost along the way.
Micah's story begins with him, his mother, one of his sons and a young
Levite. All of these people are bizarre, misguided, misfits, and badly
mistaken about the things of God. Micah's mother blessed her thieving
son who had stolen 28 pounds of silver from her. Having confessed and
returned the money to her, she consecrated the silver to the Lord for
her son to make a "carved image and a cast idol." Just the thing to do
when you are doing as you "see fit". Although the Lord had condemned
such actions and behavior and had even instituted capital punishment
for such an evil thing, it must have seemed like just the thing to do
for this man and his mother from Ephraim. Following this, Micah
"installed" one of his own sons as his priest. Did I mention how
bizarre and mistaken these people were about the things of God? Not
content with that, Micah next hired a wandering "young Levite" to be
his "father and priest", Judges 17:10-12. This apparently seemed like
such a great idea to the fighting men of Dan, they sought out the
Lord's direction by consulting Micah's newly installed in-house
version of a priest. Did I mention how bizarre and mistaken these
people were about the things of God?
The motivation for all of this bizarre behavior stemmed from something
that has been felt by all humanity from the garden of Eden till today.
This motivation has launched bizarre religions, ignorant theologies,
and plunged all mankind into a wild pursuit for anything and
everything imagined to address it. In Judges 17:13 we hear Micah say,
"Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has
become my priest." Since mankind has become estranged from God with
the resultant felt loss of meaning and purpose in life, he seeks and
he does what he sees fit to address it. It is not just Israel, it is
all mankind. It is this sense of need that something has to be "fixed"
about us. Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, socialists
and communists all feel compelled to pursue wacky and weird things
because they know something is wrong. They are just looking in all the
wrong places.
It is no surprise today that those who reject the gospel message are
found to be buying in to things that are so misguided. Even within
what is called "Christianity" we have all kinds of made-up things that
distort the truth of Jesus Christ, the message and priority of faith
found in the gospel, the worship and practice that is so clearly
portrayed and spoken of in the word of God.
When I view the events portrayed in Israel's history during the time
of the judges, I see exactly what mankind is today. Nothing has
changed where the word of God is abandoned. Folks have a way to fill
the void when God's revelation is rejected. They fill it with all
kinds of things that outwardly express an inward and compelling sinful
nature.
It makes me so thankful that God has seen fit to provide us what he
has to say in the Scriptures so that we might not follow the
imaginings of our own sinful hearts. It is so unfortunate that so many
fail to avail themselves the opportunity of truth.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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