Judges 17 - House Priest Series

Text: Judges 17

Theme: House Priest

Beginning of Idolatry:

A man named Micah has lots of money, his mother uses the money to make an idol, and Micah hires a free-lancing Levite as his personal priest. she made it evident that she idolized her son, by telling him she had wholly dedicated this money to the Lord to make a carved image and a molded image for her son. She evidently wanted her son to be religious but with prosperity. Micah and his mother had set up idolatry. Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image (Deuteronomy 27:15). This was the first instance of the revolt of any Israelite against God and his instituted worship after the death of Joshua and the elders that out-lived him. His idol was a replica of Yahweh, the true God. But against the second commandment. This spread to his immediate tribe and then to all of Israel.

The man Micah had a house of gods, a house of God, as good as that at Shiloh. A house of error, Idolatry is a great cheat and one of the worst of errors. He made a shrine. It is a sanctuary or sacred place set apart for worship. The Israelites worshiped God first in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple after its completion by Solomon. But they never spoke of worshiping God in a shrine. Micah made teraphim, (teraphim) are used for “idols.” Though plural in form, “teraphim” can refer either to one or more “household idols”. These little images that receive information, directions, and predictions as that of Urim and Thummim were to the prince and people these teraphim should be to his family. (Judges 17:5). He made an ephod also, copying what was only to be worn by the high priest of Israel (Leviticus 8:7). Ephod was a garment worn around the high priest’s upper body that featured twelve semiprecious and precious stones on the front, each one bearing the name of one of the tribes of Israel (Exodus 28:4, 6, 12, 15, 25–28). Then to crown his wickedness, he consecrated his son as his priest (Judges 17:5). Every man did that which was right in his own eyes, and then they soon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. (Judges 17:6).

A Nation without a Leader:

The central section of Judges offers us flawed heroes caught in a depressing cycle of oppression and deliverance. The final chapters portray a fallen people beyond the hope of redemption. Judges 17 opens with almost a parody of idolatry. There was no king in Israel, no judge or sovereign prince to give orders for the destruction of them, none to convince Micah of his error and to restrain and punish him. No king means no authority to submit to or to obey. So, they will blunt their "inner compass" (of right and wrong), and their conscience. Once it was a sin, but now it can’t, and the net result is they begin to think that what they were doing is not wrong but is in fact right.

Family Priest:

“So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah.” (Judges 17:12). Micah did not have the authority to consecrate the Levite. Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me because the Levite has become my priest’” (Judges 17:13). All Micah desired was a quick upgrade to his homemade religious setup. He had a golden opportunity to get a Levite as a "pseudo-priest." or family priest. It is a revelation of the low spiritual ebb to which the nation Israel had come. Here is a man who thinks just because he has a Levite for his preacher that that is all he needs.

“The ministry is the best calling but the worst trade in the world” (Matthew Henry). This will allow him meat, drink, and clothes, a double suit, so the word is in the margin, a better and a worse, one for every day's wear and one for holy days, and ten shekels, about twenty-five shillings, a year for spending money-a poor salary in comparison of what God provided for the Levites that behaved well. The impulse to turn God into a prosperity machine has never died away. A notorious form of it today is the so-called “prosperity gospel” or “gospel of success” which claims that those who profess faith in Christ will necessarily be rewarded with wealth, health, and happiness.

(Ref: bible ref; theology of work; Austin Precept; bible study tools).