WHEN THERE IS NO DISTINCT VOICE IN A NATION:
SUBTLE DECEPTION to GRADUAL DESCENT INTO DELUSION
HOW THE DEGENERACY OF THE TIMES OCCURRED.
Preamble Scriptural Texts:
[1] 1Peter 4: 1-6, 17-19
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
[2] 1 Tim 4: 1 – 11
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained. But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach.
[3] 2 Tim 4: 1 – 11
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
[4] Isaiah 8: 11-
For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand,
and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy;
neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself;
and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
And I will wait upon the Lord,
that hideth his face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look for him.
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
should not a people seek unto their God?
for the living to the dead?
To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
DELUSION IS ALSO JUDGEMENTAL
[5] Zeph 3: 1 – 5 (AMP)
WOE TO her that is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city [Jerusalem]!
She did not listen to and heed the voice [of God]; she accepted no correction or instruction; she trusted not in the Lord [nor leaned on or was confident in Him, but was confident in her own wealth]; she drew not near to her God [but to the god of Baal or Molech].
Her officials in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones on the morrow, for nothing is left by morning.
Her prophets are light [lacking truth, gravity, and steadiness] and men of treachery; her priests have profaned the sanctuary; [defrauding God and man by pretending their own word is God’s word] they have done violence to the law.
The Lord in the midst of her is [uncompromisingly] righteous; He will not do iniquity. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He fails not, but the unjust [person] knows no shame.
[6] Romans 1: 18 – 32
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore GOD also GAVE THEM UP to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause GOD GAVE THEM UP unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, FORNICATION, WICKEDNESS, COVETOUSNESS, MALICIOUSNESS; … whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, INVENTORS OF EVIL THINGS, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, COVENANT BREAKERS , WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, implacable, UNMERCIFUL: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have PLEASURE IN THEM THAT DO THEM.
[7] 2 Thessalonians 2: 5 – 10
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause GOD SHALL SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had PLEASURE IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.
THE DYNAMICS OF DELUSIONAL DESCENT WHEN THERE IS NO DISTINCT VOICE!
As I start the ministration this morning, I AM REMINDED OF THE GRADUALISM IN DESCENT TO APOSTASY AND ESTRANGEMENT FROM THE WAY OF GOD DESCRIBED VIVIDLY BY THE SINGER OF PSALM ONE!
Psalm 1: 1
Blessed is the man
that WALKETH not in the COUNSEL of the ungodly,
nor STANDETH in the WAY of sinners,
nor SITTETH in the SEAT of the scornful.
IN OTHER WORDS,
CURSED IS THE MAN, WHO ALLOWED HIMSELF TO MOVE THROUGH THE STAGES OF SUBTLE DECLINE BY CARELESS LIVING AND BLINDNESS
(1) WALK IN SUGGESTIONS, IDEAS and ADVICE OF THE UNGODLY – the nice,
seemingly moral, respectable in the society but atheistic in believe system.
(2) STANDS (now OBSESSED) IN ENVIRONMENTS WHERE SINNERS REGULARLY
COMMUTE AND CHATTER (in pleasure)
(3) SIT IN AS A CONVERTER CONTRIBUTOR AND RESOURCE PERSON TO IDEAS
PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS AND DOCTRINAL SLANTS THE MOCK GOD’s WORD
AND SANCTIFIED LIFESTYLE
Just like it is in the positive when God seem to prefer to work by three-stage process, it is also in the negative!
Father …. Son … Holy Ghost
Abraham… Isaac … Jacob
Outer Court … Inner Court … Holy of HOLIES
The Spirit … The Water … The Blood
Sit with Christ … Walk in Love and The Spirit … Stand in Faith
Consider that the THIEF (Satan) comes to
Steal … Kill … Destroy
Walk … Stand … Sit
This is a Case Study of Destruction Of A Nation (Tribe or Race)
VIA Micah, Micah’s Idols, and the Tribe of Dan.
THE DYNAMICS OF DELUSIONAL DESCENT WHEN THERE IS NO DISTINCT VOICE!
The beginning of idolatry in Israel, Micah and his mother. (1-6)
Micah hires a Levite to be his priest. (7-13)
Judges 17
”There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. One day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.”
“The Lord bless you for admitting it,” his mother replied. He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.”
So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s house. Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest.
In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
One day a young Levite, who had been living in Bethlehem in Judah, arrived in that area. He had left Bethlehem in search of another place to live, and as he traveled, he came to the hill country of Ephraim. He happened to stop at Micah’s house as he was traveling through. “Where are you from?” Micah asked him. He replied, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.”
“Stay here with me,” Micah said, “and you can be a father and priest to me. I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, plus a change of clothes and your food.” The Levite agreed to this, and the young man became like one of Micah’s sons.
So Micah installed the Levite as his personal priest, and he lived in Micah’s house. “I know the Lord will bless me now,” Micah said, “because I have a Levite serving as my priest.”
[My comments
Theologically the book of Judges chapters 17-21 constitute an epilogue giving illustrations of the religious apostasy and social degradation that characterized the period of the Judges.
Social chaos culminates in the closing chapters (chs 17–21). The incident of Micah, the Levite, and the Danites (chs 17–18) combines religious irregularities with lawless marauding, theft, and violence. The climactic final epilogue (chs 19–21) describes a tragic civil war and the abandonment of civility. Marital breakdown, inhospitality, rape, and murder (ch 19) led to the virtual elimination of the Benjamites (ch 20), who were spared only by the complete decimation of a historic city (Jabesh-gilead) and a sham ceremony in which maidens were seized as concubines (21:19-23). Little wonder that the book concludes, “In those days Israel has no king…”
Those conditions were indicative of the anarchy which prevailed when “Israel had no king” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25).
Timing:
Historically the events recorded in these chapters of the book of Judges probably transpired fairly early in the preceding history. Why? An early date is indicated by the presence of the grandsons of both Moses (18:30) and Aaron (20:28) and by reference to the ark at Bethel (20:27-28).
The epilogue consists of two major sections:
(1) Chapters 17-18 interweave stories of the household idolatry of Micah the Ephraimite who hired the Levite Jonathan, Moses’ grandson (18:30), as his personal priest, and the migration and tribal idolatry of the Danites.
(2) Chapters 19-21 narrate an atrocity perpetrated on another Levite’s concubine at Gibeah, and the ensuing civil war against the recalcitrant tribe of Benjamin, leading to its near annihilation]
Study Of Chapter 17:
Jud 17:1-4.
MICAH RESTORING THE STOLEN MONEY TO HIS MOTHER, SHE MAKES IMAGES.
1. This occurrence belongs to a period when the Hebrew nation was in a greatly disordered and corrupt state, that is, soon after the death of Joshua: see chap. Judges 20:28.
This episode of Micah, a man of mount Ephraim, that is, the mountainous parts of Ephraim, is connected with Judges 1:34.
It relates to his foundation of a small sanctuary of his own,
a miniature representation of the Shiloh tabernacle which he stocked with images modelled probably in IMITATION of the ark and cherubim.
NAMES:
What a shame! It is ironic that a man named Micah (meaning “Who is like Yahweh?”) should establish an apostate shrine with an unlawful priesthood. So what meaneth all these carnally motivated change of names?
E.g. “Segun Prosperity”, “Success Victory”, “Miss Wealth”, …. etc
Who changed Abraham’s name? Who changed Sarah’s name?
Jabez didn’t have to change his name one he became a new creation of God!
Who and what is inspiring your change name? To what purpose?
SINCERITY IN IGNORANCE:
Micah and his mother were probably “sincere” in ignorance in their intention to honor God. Sadly the environment, the highly PUNGENT Canaanites influence had corrupted their KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING and therefore FAITH!
Their faith was now blended with sad high quantity amount of IGNORANCE and DELUSION.
The divisive course they pursued, as well as the will-worship they practiced, subjected the perpetrators to the penalty of death.
Isaiah 5: 13,14
“Therefore my people have gone into captivity,
Because they have NO KNOWLEDGE;
Their HONORABLE MEN are famished,
And their multitude dried up with thirst.
Therefore Sheol (HELL) has enlarged itself
And opened its mouth BEYOND MEASURE;
Their glory and their multitude and their pomp,
And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it.
People shall be brought down,
Each man shall be humbled,
And the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled”
Prov 29: 18
“Where there is no vision, the people perish:
but he that keepeth THE LAW (God’s Word), happy is he”
Hosea 4: 6
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no PRIEST to me:
seeing thou hast FORGOTTEN the law of thy God,
I will also forget thy children”
THE PRIESTHOOD:
Malachi 2: 7-9
“For the lips of a PRIEST should KEEP KNOWLEDGE,
And PEOPLE should SEEK the LAW FROM HIS MOUTH;
For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
But you have departed from the way;
You have caused many to stumble at the law.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base
Before all the people,
Because you have not kept My ways
But have shown partiality in the law.”
THE ROOT OF CORRUPTION:
See the MAJOR cause of this corruption:
The LOVE OF MONEY made Micah so undutiful to his mother as to rob her, and
The LOVE OF MONEY, equally, made her so unkind to her son, as to curse him!
1 Timothy 6: 10
“For the love of money is a root of ALL KINDS OF EVIL, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”
MOTIVATION – BLESSINGS & CURSES, A LESSON:
Outward losses drive good people to their PRAYERS, but bad people to their CURSES.
James 3: 10 – 12
“Out of the same mouth proceed BLESSING and CURSING. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh”
This woman’s silver was her God, before it was made into a graven or a molten image. Micah and his mother agreed to TURN THEIR MONEY INTO A GOD, and set up idol worship in their family. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and then they soon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Reasoning it out:
Such a situation came about, in part, when he heard his mother … utter a curse against the thief who had stolen her 1,100 shekels of silver, and then confessed, I took it.
As a reward for such “honesty,” his mother sought to neutralize her curse with a blessing (The Lord bless you, my son!). Her subsequent consecration of the silver to the Lord … to make a carved image was in disobedience to the command in Exodus 20:4, and reflects the IDOLATROUS CANAANITES INFLUENCES on the Israelites during this period.
Deut 7: 1 – 7 THE LAW OF THE LORD:
“When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall DESTROY their altars, and BREAK DOWN their images, and CUT DOWN their groves, and BURN their graven images with fire.
For thou art an HOLY people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a SPECIAL people unto himself, ABOVE ALL people that are upon the face of the earth”
SIX THINGS TO NOTE:
Note 1: A graven image and a molten image is one carved from a block of wood or stone, to be plated over with silver; the other, a figure formed of the solid metal cast into a mould.
Money was also given to the founder.
Note 2: in verse 5
Micah had an house of gods in Hebrew, “a house of God” which is essentially a DOMESTIC chapel, a PRIVATE religious establishment of his own.
Note 3: What is an ephod? (see on Ex 28:6).
Note 4: What is a teraphim? tutelary gods of the household (see Ge 31:19 and see on Ge 31:26).
Note 5: Who is consecrating? Micah. What is being consecrated?
One of the fundamental errors is the act of consecrating one of his sons who became his priest! Second error is the assumption of the priestly office. This ought to be by any one out of the family of Aaron, a direct violation of the divine law (Nu 3:10; 16:17; De 21:5; Heb 5:4).
Note 6: verse 6. “every man did that which was right in his own eyes”
From want of a settled government, there was no one to call him to account.
No punishment followed any crime.
EXAMINING THE PRIEST – The Levite: “of Judah”
Observe that two things about this priest here.
1. Not much about this Levite fits into orthodox biblical categories.
Some Levites were priests, while others were temple servants (cp. Num 3–4). Levites were scattered throughout Israel (Gen 49:5-7; Josh 21). This young man, apparently a descendant of Gershom (18:30; cp. Exod 2:21-22), was based in Judah, but not in a Levitical town, and was looking for another place to live.
2. Men of the tribe of Levi might connect themselves, as Aaron did (Ex 6:23), by marriage with another tribe; and this young Levite belonged to the tribe of Judah, by his MOTHER’s side, which accounts for his being in Beth-lehem, not one of the Levitical cities.
“THE WANDERING PRIEST”
8. “the man departed … to sojourn where he could find a place”
For want of a competent provision being secured for every member of the Levitical order, he thus became “a wandering priest” and his wandering about showed him to have been a person of a ROVING disposition or UNSETTLED habits.
Question “jam” answer, in the course of his journeying he came to the house of Micah, who, on learning what he was, engaged his permanent services. This young Bethlehem Levite (Moses’ grandson, Jonathan son of Gershom; cf. 18:30) moved to the hill country of Ephraim where he was EMPLOYED by Micah to be his father 45:8; 2 Kings 6:21; 13:14) and priest.
This is also erroneous! Gershomites are Levites by birth but not priests by calling.
10. “Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father, a spiritual father, to conduct the religious services of my establishment”
He was to receive, in addition to his board, a salary of ten shekels of silver, equal to 25 shillings a year. A suit of apparel, not only dress for ordinary use, but vestments suitable for the discharge of his priestly functions.
Micah took care of him like one of his sons.
So Micah INSTALLED the Levite (cf. Judges 18:4) as his priest (in addition to Micah’s own son, who was made a priest, 17:5).
12. Micah consecrated the Levite in Hebrew, “filled his hand.”
This act of consecration was not less unlawful for Micah to perform than for this Levite to receive (see on Jud 18:30).
13. THE CONTRACT PRIEST THRIVING ON IGNORANCE & SUPERSTITION
“Now know I that the Lord will do me good”
The removal of his son, followed by the installation of this Levite into the priestly office, seems to have satisfied his conscience, that by what he deemed the orderly ministrations of religion he would prosper. This expression of his hope evinces the united influence of ignorance and superstition.
Micah rejoiced because of his SUPERSTITIOUS notion that having a Levite for his priest would bring blessings from the Lord, when in fact it was FORBIDDEN in the Law (Num. 3:10).
The Levite, of course, was as much (or more) to blame for having accepted the position. These acts of disobedience to God’s Law were typical of the Israelites in the time of the Judges.
In Micah’s view, conferred some additional LEGITIMACY on the shrine, though his expectation that the Lord would bless him was based on SUPERSTITION RATHER THAN OBEDIENCE to the Lord.
Micah’s abandonment of God’s covenant would bring a CURSE on him that no unemployed Levite could ward off. Micah was not the last Israelite to seek out a priest or Levite in an attempt to legitimize irregular religious practices (cp. 1 Kgs 12:28-31; 2 Kgs 16:10-18).
Prolonged STATE of sustained satanic STEALING of
KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING & TRUE FAITH leads to
APOSTASY and DELUSION.
PROVIDENTIAL ACTS OF GOD IN STATE OF DISOBEDIENCE:
From verses 7-13, Micah thought it was a sign of God’s favor to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who PLEASE themselves with their own DELUSIONS, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.
In backslidden states, lying spirits easily induce total misjudging of the reasons behind PROVIDENTIAL ACTS OF GOD!
Recall:
1. “…their foolish heart was darkened”
2. “…GOD also GAVE THEM UP…”
HOW ERROR AND DELUSION SPREAD LIKE CANCER TO KILL A WHOLE RACE:
What began as MICAH’s PRIVATE HERESY (17:4-5) would become the APOSTASY OF AN ENTIRE TRIBE (Judges18:30-31). What began as COVENANT FAILURE (Judges 1:19-36) turned into SOCIAL BREAKDOWN in the days of Jephthah and Samson (Judges 11–16).
In the end, law and order were replaced by BANDITRY and PILLAGING (18:27-28).
Jud 18:1-26: THE DANITES SEEK OUT AN INHERITANCE and THE MIGRATION (Josh19:40-48)
This is the story of a whole tribe’s failure to obey God’s covenant, and it is indicative of Israel’s decline. MIGRATION WITHOUT GOD’s INSTRUCTION.
Judges 18
“In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.
When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go”
DISCUSSION
Vrs 1 – 6: A seemingly valid reason to migrate without God’s leading or ordination.
In those days the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in.
The Danites had a territory assigned them as well as the other tribes. But either through indolence, or a lack of energy, they did not acquire the full possession of their allotment, but suffered a considerable portion of it to be wrested out of their hands by the encroachments of their powerful neighbors, the Philistines. This lack of a central authority to muster an Israelite army no doubt aggravated the problem faced by the tribe of Dan, namely, Dan’s inability (or lack of faith) to come into an inheritance. The Danites were being pushed by the Amorites (1:34-35; cf. Josh. 19:47) and later the Philistines (with the rest of Israel; cf. Judges 13:1; 14:4; 15:11). Dan was forced more and more eastward into the territory of Benjamin and Ephraim.
Because of Dan’s cramped living conditions its people decided to seek a new territory.
In consequence, being straitened for room, a considerable number resolved on trying to effect a new and additional settlement in a remote part of the land. A small deputation, being despatched to reconnoitre the country, arrived on their progress northward at the residence of Micah.
DANGEROUS COINCIDENCES:
The clans of the Danites sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to explore the land.
Early in their journey they lodged for the night in the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim. There they RECOGNISED THE VOICE (probably the Judean accent) of Micah’s priest and inquired concerning his PRESENCE AND ACTIVITIES in Ephraim.
The Danites expressed no emotions either
(1) of surprise or of indignation at a Levite daring to assume the priestly functions, and
(2) at the existence of a rival establishment to that of Shiloh.
Recognizing his priest as one of their former acquaintances, or perhaps by his provincial dialect, they eagerly enlisted his services in ascertaining the result of their present expedition.
When they learned that he was functioning as a priest, they SUPERSTITIOUSLY sought some WORD OF GOD’s BLESSING on their mission.
Which mission sir? Banditry? Armed Robbery? Drug Trafficking? Prostitution? Office Fraud?
His answer, though apparently PROMISING, was DELUSIVE and really as AMBIGUOUS as those of the heathen oracles. This application brings out still more clearly and fully than the schism of Micah the woeful degeneracy of the times.
One wonders about the source of the priest’s confident answer:
“Your journey has the Lord’s approval!”
They were ready to seek, through means of the teraphim, the information that could only be lawfully applied for through the high priest’s Urim. Being thus equally erroneous in their views and habits as Micah, they show the low state of religion, and how much superstition prevailed in all parts of the land. The degeneration of Micah is hereby transferred by
1. Association,
2. Environment, and
3. Influence.
This is the clear example of CONTAMINATION BY CONTACT.
WHAT IS TRUE SUCCESS OR BLESSING?
The outward success of their mission did not correspond with the Lord’s revealed plan for the tribe of Dan, and eventuated in the establishing of a major center of idolatry (cf. 18:30-31; 1 Kings 12:28-30).
Vrs 7-10: Wow! GREAT VISION AFTER GREAT ANOINTING SERVICE
The 5 men departed, and came to Laish (Jos 19:47), supposed to have been peopled by a colony of Zidonians. The place was very secluded–the soil rich in the abundance and variety of its produce, and the inhabitants, following the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, lived in their fertile and sequestered valley, according to the Zidonian style of ease and security, happy among themselves, and maintaining little or no communication with the rest of the world. The discovery of this northern paradise seemed, to the delight of the Danite spies, an accomplishment of the priest’s prediction. They hastened back to inform their brethren in the south both of the value of their prize, and how easily it could be made their prey.
Returning home, the five spies reported an unsuspecting people and a spacious land, that lacks nothing whatever. They encouraged the Danites to attack Laish without hesitation.
They felt that God had given it to them.
WHEN THE DOCTRINAL BASIS FOR SUCCESS IS DEBATABLE you need motivational speaking to drive through. Yes, their theological affirmation is debatable, their anticipated victory seemed inevitable.
Vrs 11-21: PURSUE YOUR DREAM!
There went from thence of the family of the Danites, six hundred men!
This was the collective number of the men who were equipped with arms to carry out this expeditionary enterprise, without including the families and furniture of the emigrants (Jud 18:21). Their journey led them through the territory of Judah, and their first halting place was “behind,” that is, on the west of Kirjath-jearim, on a spot called afterwards “the camp of Dan.” Prosecuting the northern route, they skirted the base of the Ephraimite hills.
RECOGNIZING THE ANOINTING
The five spies then informed their fellow warriors about the house and shrine of Micah.
On approaching the neighborhood of Micah’s residence, the spies having given information that a private sanctuary was kept there, the priest of which had rendered them important service when on their exploring expedition, it was unanimously agreed that both he and the furniture of the establishment would be a valuable acquisition to their proposed settlement.
STRATEGIC THINKING
While the fighters waited outside, the five men greeted Micah’s priest, and then proceeded to steal Micah’s image, ephod, and idols. While the armed men stood sentinels at the gates, the five spies broke into the chapel, pillaged the images and vestments.
PRIEST FOR HIRE
When the priest challenged them, they told him, Be quiet! and invited him to become their tribal priest rather than just a household priest. They succeeded in bribing the priest also by a tempting offer to transfer his services to their new colony.
ENLARGEMENT OF MINISTRY!
He gladly accepted the offer and went with them carrying Micah’s ephod, the other household gods, and the carved image (cf. 17:4-5). Taking charge of the ephod, the teraphim, and the graven image, he “went in the midst of the people”. Wow! A central position assigned him in the march, perhaps for his personal security; but more probably in imitation of the place appointed for the priests and the ark, in the middle of the congregated tribes, on the marches through the wilderness. New staff in the ministry and security details! Progress!
MORALITY TO THE BIN
This theft presents a curious medley of low morality and strong religious feeling. The Danites exemplified a deep-seated principle of our nature, that is, that men have religious affections, which must have an object on which these may be exercised, while they are often not very discriminating in the choice of the objects. In proportion to the slender influence religion wields over the heart, the greater is the importance attached to external rites; and in the exact observance of these, the conscience is fully satisfied, and seldom or never molested by reflections on the breach of minor morals.
CONSOLIDATING THE VISION
Anticipating that Micah might pursue them, the Danites sent their families and possessions on ahead of them and formed a rear guard.
Yes, Micah soon discovered his loss, and accompanied by his FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS he pursued the Danites. Micah accused them of appropriating his gods and priests. But when they intimidated him with threats of violence he reluctantly but wisely turned around and went back home. His pathetic question concerning his idols. What else do I have? reflects the emptiness of idolatry.
Wait a minute…FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS? Oh the chapel had become the community MECCA all the while!
THEY WIN LAISH – GREAT ACHIEVERS, GREAT SUCCESS
Vrs 27: “they … came unto Laish … smote them–the inhabitants and burnt the city…”
We are revolted by this inroad and massacre of a quiet and secure people.
“Nevertheless, if the original grant of Canaan to the Israelites gave them the warrant of a divine commission and command for this enterprise, that sanctifies all and legalizes all” [CHALMERS].
This place seems to have been a dependency of Zidon, the distance of which, however, rendered it impossible to obtain aid thence in the sudden emergency.
28, 29. they built a city, and … call the name of that city Dan–It was in the northern extremity of the land, and hence the origin of the phrase, “from Dan to Beer-sheba.”
Vrs 30, 31: THEY SET UP IDOLATRY.
The children of Dan set up the graven image.
The Danites rebuilt the city and named it Dan after their tribal forefather.
More significantly (and sadly), they established a tribal center of idolatrous worship under the priesthood of Jonathan son of Gershom (Ex. 2:22) which extended through his descendants until the time of the captivity of the land.
Many scholars refer this to either the Assyrian captivity of Israel in 722 b.c. (2 Kings 17:6) or the captivity of the Galilean population under Tiglath-Pileser III in 733-732 b.c. (2 Kings 15:29).
As for Moses, the Hebrew text has inserted a superlinear n into the name of Moses mosheh to make it read “Manasseh” m’nashsheh. This was apparently a pious scribe’s attempt to relieve Moses’ grandson, Jonathan, of involvement with idolatry. The reference to the house of God … in Shiloh implies that the worship at the Danite shrine opposed the true worship of the Lord at Shiloh (cf. Josh. 18:1).
This false worship in Dan was a forerunner of that of Jeroboam I who later established a Northern Kingdom shrine at Dan (cf. 1 Kings 12:28-31).
Their distance of this migrated tribe, Dan, secluded them from the rest of the Israelites, and doubtless this, which was their APOLOGY FOR NOT GOING TO SHILOH, was the cause of PERPETUATING IDOLATRY among them for many generations.
Deut 32: 16, 17
“They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods,
with abominations provoked they him to anger.
They sacrificed unto devils, not to God;
to gods whom they knew not,
to new gods that came newly up,
whom your fathers feared not”
Revelation 7: 4 – 8
“And I heard how many were marked with the seal of God—144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of Israel:
from Judah12,000; from Reuben12,000; from Gad12,000; from Asher12,000;
from Naphtali12,000; from Manasseh12,000; from Simeon12,000; from Levi12,000;
from Issachar12,000; from Zebulun12,000; from Joseph12,000; from Benjamin12,000”
Where is Dan?
Revelation 2: 5
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy FIRST LOVE.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and REPENT, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will REMOVE THY CANDLESTICK out of his place, except thou REPENT.
LET US PRAY!