Judges 18:24 “And he said, ‘you have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest…and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, ‘what is the matter with you?’”
Observation: Chapters 17 and 18 of Judges tell parallel stories. One track follows Micah who is identified only as a man of the hill country. Nothing special about him. He created his own religion, making a shrine, an ephod and household idols. He even took in a wandering Levite and made him his priest, paying him an annual stipend and giving him clothing, room and board. The other track follows the Hebrew tribe of Dan, migrating into the area seeking an inheritance for themselves. Israel had no king in those days, so they were on their own. When Danite spies met Micah’s Levite priest, they enticed him to leave Micah, and they also took Micah’s items of idol worship.
Application: This is a pathetic story on all fronts. We have a Levite priest who hired himself out to an idol-worshipper named Micah. And there’s Micah himself, who seems happy to worship idols of his own making. And then there’s the godless tribe of Dan determined to chart their own course. They stole Micah’s idols and ephod, and persuaded his priest that he would surely be benefitted financially by working for 600 “sons of Dan” than for just Micah.
There’s no way this was going to end well. When Micah realized that his priest and idols were gone he organized a posse determined to regain the booty. They soon caught up with the Danites and began calling them out on their thievery, to which the Danite men replied, “What is the matter with you that you have assembled together?” (v. 18:23)
Then comes one of the great childish whines of the ages, as Micah says, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest…and what do I have besides?” Poor Micah. His rant resulted from trusting in the wrong things…a hireling yes-man priest and various man-made objects of worship. And now that those were gone, he had nothing.
In spending two full chapters on this story, surely God would have me reflect on any Micha-like tendencies in my own life. What if I were trusting in all the wrong things…a healthy retirement plan, a lake house, good health, the honor and respect of friends, and then it was suddenly all taken away? It will indeed be taken one day. My personal cache of Micah-like treasures will indeed be gone, burned in the fires of eternal judgment. And I wonder, will I complain as Micah, that I have nothing left? Or will I be found to have trusted more wisely in things of eternal value? As such questions creep into my quiet time I realize afresh how good God is to bring seasons of testing along the way so my story’s end can be different from Micah’s.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, make me alert to my tendency to trust in the wrong things. Remove, I beg you, anything that would stand in the way of advancing your kingdom through me. In your name, Amen