Daily Bible Reading Sunday 17th March 2024
by William Moody
Judges 17
Micah and the Levite
17:1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD.” 3 And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, “I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” 4 So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained1 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 of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” 10 And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”
Footnotes
[1] 17:5
Hebrew filled the hand of; also verse 12 (ESV)
As we consider this incident of Micah, his silver image and the Levite, our understanding is helped greatly by verse 6 and the words, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” We see in this chapter people who were very religious, but also very disobedient to the Lord.
The story begins with Micah owning up to having taken his mother’s silver (v1-2). She gets Micah to use part of the returned silver to make an idol to worship the Lord (v3-5). This woman and Micah were probably very sincere in their religion, but they were also very wrong. True religion and worship have to be in obedience to the Word of the Lord. It was against the Lord’s will to build and idol and to set up your own private place of worship.
Micah then come sin contact with a Levite who was passing through the region and employs him to be his family’s personal priest (v7-10). Again, in all that happens Micah appears to be very sincere, he even goes through a service of ordination with the priest (v11-12). In all this he was seeking the blessing of the Lord on his family (v13).
We live in a world which believes that sincerity is enough when it comes to religion. Sincerity by it self will lead people to hell, people need the truth of God’s word and the Gospel alongside sincerity. Jesus chastised the women at the well for the ignorant worship of the Samaritans and said that the Lord was looking for those who worship “in spirit and truth” John 4 v23).
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