Click to read Judges 17
Synopsis
Chapters 17 to 21 record the last of the "lows" of Israel. The consistent message was "the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."
Micah and his mother seemed to be sincerely wanting to worship God and appeared to be moral and good. However, they disobeyed God by letting their own desires and ideas override what God had instructed and wanted. The people, like Micah, were putting their own interests above all else. They replaced the true worship of God with their home-made brand that suited them. As such, injustice, revenge and chaos followed. This eventually led to confusion and destruction through a bloody civil war amongst the tribes.
The moral decay was so serious that it even affected the priesthood (Levites). The Levite "sold" his service to Micah probably because he was not supported by the tithes which might have stopped coming from the people.
Clearly the message to us is that anyone who does not submit to God will end up "doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes." This is still prevalent in our world today.
Major Verses
V3-4 Against God's clear instructions (Exodus20:4) not to make idols for themselves, Micah's mother decided to make an idol for herself. Micah had a shrine made in his house and appointed one of his sons to be priest. This was against God's orders as well.
What I learn
We have to be firm in not falling to the standards of the world. The people of Micah's time "did whatever seemed right in their own eyes". We must focus our eyes upon Jesus so as to avoid making decisions that are against God's law.
V10-13 - Levites were set aside to serve God. The people were to contribute to them by tithing, so that they can concentrate on serving God. However, this Levite had to leave his ministry, probably because the people stopping tithing into his temple. He had to seek out a living for himself. However, he allowed himself to be sold into Micah's wrongful decision. Instead of serving God, he served as Micah's priest.
What I learn
We need to continue to support God's ministers and servants so that they can serve Him with focus. Our responsibility is to tithe and not to decide how the money is to be used. More importantly, let us not stop tithing because we do not agree with the stewards on how the money is used; that is their responsibility to God.
Micah was so blinded that he thought that the Lord had blessed him as he had a priest to himself. He was dead wrong and so because he did not adhere to God's original instructions that the Levites were set aside to serve Him and not an individual. We must be careful not to misinterpret God's instructions to our wimps and fancy.
Summary
When the people did not revere God, their standards of spirituality and morality drop to the lowest level. They did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. To prevent our self from falling into that condition, we need to keep our self afresh with God's words. As long as we read His words constantly, our eyes will be lighted and our path will be guided. The Holy Spirit will help us to do what is right in His sight, not ours.
Up next ...
Judges 18 revealed the end of Micah's "blessing"...coming up next week on 20th.
Synopsis
Chapters 17 to 21 record the last of the "lows" of Israel. The consistent message was "the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."
Micah and his mother seemed to be sincerely wanting to worship God and appeared to be moral and good. However, they disobeyed God by letting their own desires and ideas override what God had instructed and wanted. The people, like Micah, were putting their own interests above all else. They replaced the true worship of God with their home-made brand that suited them. As such, injustice, revenge and chaos followed. This eventually led to confusion and destruction through a bloody civil war amongst the tribes.
The moral decay was so serious that it even affected the priesthood (Levites). The Levite "sold" his service to Micah probably because he was not supported by the tithes which might have stopped coming from the people.
Clearly the message to us is that anyone who does not submit to God will end up "doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes." This is still prevalent in our world today.
Major Verses
V3-4 Against God's clear instructions (Exodus20:4) not to make idols for themselves, Micah's mother decided to make an idol for herself. Micah had a shrine made in his house and appointed one of his sons to be priest. This was against God's orders as well.
What I learn
We have to be firm in not falling to the standards of the world. The people of Micah's time "did whatever seemed right in their own eyes". We must focus our eyes upon Jesus so as to avoid making decisions that are against God's law.
V10-13 - Levites were set aside to serve God. The people were to contribute to them by tithing, so that they can concentrate on serving God. However, this Levite had to leave his ministry, probably because the people stopping tithing into his temple. He had to seek out a living for himself. However, he allowed himself to be sold into Micah's wrongful decision. Instead of serving God, he served as Micah's priest.
What I learn
We need to continue to support God's ministers and servants so that they can serve Him with focus. Our responsibility is to tithe and not to decide how the money is to be used. More importantly, let us not stop tithing because we do not agree with the stewards on how the money is used; that is their responsibility to God.
Micah was so blinded that he thought that the Lord had blessed him as he had a priest to himself. He was dead wrong and so because he did not adhere to God's original instructions that the Levites were set aside to serve Him and not an individual. We must be careful not to misinterpret God's instructions to our wimps and fancy.
Summary
When the people did not revere God, their standards of spirituality and morality drop to the lowest level. They did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. To prevent our self from falling into that condition, we need to keep our self afresh with God's words. As long as we read His words constantly, our eyes will be lighted and our path will be guided. The Holy Spirit will help us to do what is right in His sight, not ours.
Up next ...
Judges 18 revealed the end of Micah's "blessing"...coming up next week on 20th.
Hi Steven, glad to see you are continuing with your blogging - I left a comment earlier but in the wrong place. So here we are in Judges 17 - this is a really scary situation when even the priests don't know God's word and become a servant to whoever pays the most. It also is sad that the priest is serving a man rather than the God of Israel. We must know and obey God's word so that we really are serving God first. If only they had know God's word the people would have had an alternative to doing what seems right in their own eyes. Pastor Peter
ReplyDeleteHi Ps Peter
ReplyDeleteThank you for your contribution. Keep in coming. This learning blog will get better only if readers share their own learnings that the Holy Spirit gives them as they study His word.
As you have pointed out, it is so important for us to know His words, so that we will not "do whatever that seem right in our eyes".
God bless.
Steven