Judges 17:1-13 - Doing What Seems Right to You

Judges 17:1-13

Micah’s Idolatry

1 Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 

2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”

And his mother said, ”May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!” 3 So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” 4 Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

5 The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there. 8 The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?”

So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.”

10 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. 12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. 

13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!”

The idolatry of self determination is as rampant today as in the time of Israel when they left God and did what was right in their own eyes.  They disregarded the word of the LORD and substituted it, modified it, and even replaced it with their own desires (1 John 2:15-16) instead of keeping it (1 John 2:17) to be God pleasers.  There are still some who substitute the Lord Jesus Christ with idols falsely identified as dead righteous people, modifying God’s word to make only revered people into saints when we are told clearly that all who are in ch are called to be saints (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2) because they are seen as righteous in the righteousness of Christ (Romans 4:5, 6:11, 10:3-4, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Philippians 3:9, 2 Corinthians 5:21) and not their own works to earn that title as is falsely claimed by those changing what God said to match what a man who usurped His authority claims over the God-breathed scriptures.  We who are made righteous by faith in God’s work in Christ are now imputed righteousness which is the definition of a saint, a holy one.  We are also all called priests to out God (Isaiah 61:1, 6, 1 Peter 2:5, Revelation 1:6, 5:10, 20:6) and do not require a man electing only some deemed worthy to be a priest in defiance of God’s word as Micah did in this passage.  We who have been made worthy in the holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ are priests and we do not worship idols of the dead nor add to and take away from His word to follow the false gospel of men (Galatians 1:6-7, 8-9) contrary to the words breathed out (2 Timothy 3:16) by Gods to us.  Such false apostles build on a foundation of sand by claiming a nonexistent line of apostleship to replace the Rock of Christ (2 Corinthians 12:13, 14-15) as our one foundation and then preach a false gospel that cannot save us from the wrath of God as only Christ can by His word, work, and Spirit.  We do not hire priests to worship household idols as Micah did by his bad example, and look to no other mediator than (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15, 12:24) Jesus Christ to whom we directly approach (Hebrews 4:16, 10:21-22) for forgiveness of sin in His grace as our great High Priest and Mediator to the only Father (Matthew 6:9, 23:9, Ephesians 2:18) we have in heaven above.  Do not make the eternal mistake of doing what seem right in your own eyes as others do instead of what God tells us plainly in the scriptures.  Amen!