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- Preaching the Living WORD through
the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4;:2 - |
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THE IDOLATROUS
WORSHIP OF MICAH Judges 17:1-13,
1/22/14 Grace Bible Church,
Gillette, Wyoming Pastor Daryl Hilbert I. THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES HAS ENDED A. There were six periods of Judges
(Deliverers) in the book of Judges: 1) Othniel
(3:7-11); 2) Ehud and Shamgar (3:12-31), 3) Deborah and Barak (4:1-5:31), 4)
Gideon, Tola, and Jair
(6:1-10:5), 5) Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (10:6-12:15), and 6) Samson (13:1-16:31). B. We find in the remainder of the book of
Judges a postscript or appendixes. It emphasizes the low point of the
spiritual condition of Israel (Jdg 17:1 - 21:25). Some have suggested that
the final chapters are not necessarily chronological, but episodes in the
period of Judges. II. THE IDOLATRY OF MICAH AND HIS MOTHER
(7:1-5) A. The bizarre and violent events in the
appendixes are linked with the “hill country of Ephraim.” They are the
highlands of central Palestine some twelve miles north of Jerusalem. We have
seen this region come into play with Ehud (Jdg 3:27), Deborah and Barak (Jdg
4:5), as well as Gideon (Jdg 7:24). B. [1] At some point during Judges, a man
named Micah lived in the hill country of Ephraim. In light of the events that
were about to ensue, there was irony in the meaning of “Micah” (“Who is like
Yahweh?”). C. [2] From the beginning, we find Micah to
be a thief who had stolen 1100 shekels of silver from his mother. He
confessed to stealing after hearing his mother’s curse upon the culprit. For
his confession, Micah was then blessed by his mother saying, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.” D. [3] At the outset, Micah’s mother’s
blessing may appear as a spiritual blessing, but unfortunately, that was not
the case. In a strange dedication to the LORD (“Yahweh”), Micah’s mother
commissioned her son to actually make
two false idols, one graven out of wood, and the second molded from metal. On
the one hand, this appeared to be a spiritual dedication to the Lord, but on
the other hand, it was a direct violation of God’s Law to worship idols (Ex
20:4; Le 19:4; 26:1; Dt 5:8; 32:21). E. [4] It was Micah’s mother who kept back
200 shekels and paid for a silversmith to make a graven and molten image for
her family. The images remained in the house of Micah. F. [5] But Micah followed in his mother’s
spiritual idolatry. For he himself had a shrine and like Gideon made an ephod
for worship (cf. Jdg 8:27). In addition, Micah had household idols. He even
consecrated his son to become his priest. This was not a good thing with his
son, for obviously Micah’s religion was man-made and not according to God’s
revelation. Micah’s son would have been his father’s priest but it would have
been by his father’s idolatrous prescription. 1. Looking back at Micah’s mother’s curse
(Jdg 17:2), there was no indication that such a
curse would have come true. Not every curse from man comes true (Pr 26:2),
but only those that are from the Lord that carry out His righteous judgment
(cf. Jdg 9:56-57; Dt 11:26-28; Pr 28:27). 2. However, obviously Micah and his mother
observed a pluralistic religion combining the worship of Yahweh with false
gods, along with their superstitions. Such superstitious notions stirred
Micah’s heart to confession. Unfortunately, he did not turn to the true God,
but to graven images. 3. But both Micah and his mother opened
themselves up to God’s curse for worshipping false idols (Dt 27:15). III. EVERY MAN DID RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES (7:6) A. [6] Verse 6, describes what kind of
religion Micah and his son as priest would have entertained. Since every man,
including Micah, did what was right in his own eyes, Micah’s religion would
most definitely have been man -centered. It would have been a religion not
based on God’s objective moral values, but on man’s subjective pooled
ignorance. It would have attempted to include bits and pieces of all
religions. Such an idea sounds promising, but such worship would not have
been from the true God and true worship. 1. It would have based its religion on
Relativism. Relativism is the belief that there is no absolute truth or
validity. Something is only relatively true to an individual, but such
relative truth could not be imposed upon others. 2. The first problem with Relativism is that
you cannot get anyone to agree on one truth, one religion, one political
view, or one -whatever. If there is no conformity to one truth and everyone
has their own truth, there is in essence “no truth.” 3. Secondly, Relativism essentially becomes
a very self-centered model. It usually comes down to squeezing truth into
personal likes and dislikes. If another person doesn’t like your truth, too
bad, it’s your truth. 4. Thirdly, Relativism is a self-refuting
philosophy. If there are no absolutes, then even the statement “there are no
absolutes” cannot be true. It would be a fallacious absolute truth statement. 5. Fourthly, when man does what is right in
his own eyes, not only is that an attitude of sin against the Lord, but it
leads to the result characterized in Judges as, “and they did evil in the
sight of the Lord.” Without God’s objective morality over man, man will
eventually do what comes natural; i.e. sin (Is 53:6). 6. Note that there was “no king” in Israel
in those days. Israel had rejected God’s authority. In addition, there was no
authority over man to curb his selfish and sinful notions. IV. MICAH HIRES A LEVITE PRIEST (Jdg 7:7-13) A. [7-8] A young man from Bethlehem in Judah,
of the family of Judah, who was a Levite travelled to the hill country of
Ephraim. The young man was in search of any place to stay wherever he could
find one. There he came to the house of Micah and stayed with him B. [9-10] Micah found out that the young man
was a Levite. So Micah hired the young man to be his “father” (name of
respect, cf. Ge 45:8) and “priest.” In payment for the young man’s priestly
services, he would stay with Micah, receive 10 pieces of silver of silver a
year, a suit of clothes (perhaps to carry on priestly function), and daily provisions.
C. [11-12] So the young man agreed and he
became so close to Micah that he became like one of his sons. Micah
consecrated the young man as his priest and lived in Micah’s house. 1. It might look like Micah was finally
getting closer to a right relationship with the Lord by having a Levite for a
priest instead of his son. However, both Micah and the young man were
violating the Levitical rules. 2. Levites had 48 cities prescribed to them
were they could live and do priestly service (Jos 21:1-3). The hill country
of Ephraim was not one of them because north of there was Shiloh, where the
tabernacle was located. 3. Levites were to be taken care of from the
temple gifts and sacrifices, not private entities. D. [13] Micah was sure that his situation in
setting up a Levitical priest would ensure that he would be blessed by the
Lord. V. OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS A. Religion without God’s
revelation becomes superstitious. God prescribes in His Word what true
worship is and He will not accept anything less (Jn 4:24). Without God’s
input, man relies upon his own natural inclinations and gives rise to paganistic rituals and cultish religion. Even when
churches of true believers forsake the Word, worship can take on a carnal
imagination of its own (Col 2:8). B. Micah was an early promoter of the
Health and Wealth Prosperity Gospel. He somehow believed that if he could
get the proper idols and priests he for that reason would be blessed by God.
A relationship with God is not getting the mere formalities lined up. Rather
it is aligning our hearts with God and His Word. Changes are made in the
heart for God’s glory and not personal prosperity. In fact, one could make an
argument that in some cases, a true believer will not prosper in the world
(Jn 16:33; 2Ti 3:12; 2Co 11:21-28). C. Idolatry can take all kinds of shapes
and sizes. It can be pluralistic. It can be polytheistic (and usually
is). It can pick and choose among the religions of the world. It can be
relativistic. It can be made of images of wood or images in the heart. But
whatever sort it is, it removes the sole glory from the only true God. It
will remove the only way of salvation for man (Jn 14:6). It will stifle all
attempts at sanctification because Christ and Christ alone is to be
preeminent in the believer’s life (Col 1:18). |
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