Judges 17-18

What a soap opera! It starts with this guy, Micah, who's married, has grown children, and lives with his rich mother, from whom he steals a large sum of money, 1,100 shekels of silver, to be precise. It's enough that when he later hires a Levite at 10 shekels a year, it would have paid his salary for 110 years. Anyway, she puts a curse on the money and his fear of her outweighs his avarice, so he owns up to the deed. She immediately forgives him and says she had ."dedicated the money to the Lord (Yahweh). Together, they decide the best way to use the money in that context would be to take 200 shekels to the silversmith to create an idol for Yahweh, in violation of the Word of God in what we now know as Exodus 20:4 and 5 which says not to make any graven images under any circumstances. The situation deteriorates even further when a Levite leaves Judah, "looking for himself" because he's discontented with his situation. Micah hires him to be a priest for his new idol. A bunch of Danites show up, also looking for themselves, and ask for a "word" from the Lord about their idea to attack some undefended, peaceable people in a town nearby. The Levite obliges them with a "word" which they take back to their crew. The Danite gang, now 600 in number, come back intending to attack the unprotected town, but stop along the way to confiscate the idol and Micah's Levite "priest." Micah tries to stop them, and the threaten to burn him out if he doesn't shut up. The crux of the whole matter is "There was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes." Israel HAD a King, and He was God, but there WAS no king IN Israel. They have all effectively forgotten the real Word of God and settled for a mythology. Have we done likewise today? How many "ministers" present their own ideas as if they were God's? And how many of us are willing to accept them? Study to show yourself approved unto God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, one who is able to handle the Word of God with truth and precision. 2 Timothy 2:15