Idols, A Levite And A Concubine Series

Idols, a Levite and a Concubine

Judges 17-19

9/13/09

INTRODUCTION

„X As head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, Uday oversaw the imprisonment and torture of Iraqi athletes who were deemed not to have performed to expectations. According to widespread reports, torturers beat and caned the soles of the football players’ feet -- inflicting intense pain without leaving visible marks on the rest of their bodies. Uday reportedly kept scorecards with written instructions on how many times each player should be beaten after a poor showing.

„X He allegedly kidnaped young Iraqi women from the streets in order to rape them. Uday was known to intrude on parties and otherwise "discover" women whom he would later rape. In one such instance, he accosted a young woman who was walking with her husband, where Uday said her husband was a nobody, despite him wearing a uniform showing him to be a captain in the Iraqi Army. Uday then ordered his men to grab the girl, to which her husband struck Uday in defense of his wife, and was apprehended by Uday’s bodyguards. The wife was raped and later murdered, and the husband was sentenced to death for "high treason against Saddam".[citation needed]

„X He purused self-indulgence in an era of widespread privation. When U.S. troops captured his mansion in Baghdad, they found a personal zoo stocked with lions and cheetahs; an underground parking garage for his collection of luxury cars; paintings glorifying him and his mother with Saddam (which was known to have infuriated his father); Cuban cigars inscribed with his name; and millions of dollars worth of fine wines, liquor and heroin. He amassed hundreds of millions of US dollars by running facade corporations illegally trading with Iran (although, at that time, UN restrictions did not allow foreign trading.

„X Uday purchased or stole approximately 1,200 luxury vehicles, including a Rolls-Royce Corniche valued at over $200,000. Uday is reported to have arrived at a polling station during a referendum on his father’s regime in a pink Rolls-Royce.[11]

WITHOUT DELIVERANCE, WITHOUT THE DELIVERER, THE RULE OF OUR LIVES BECOMES OPEN TO ANYTHING.

Key Verses 18:1, 19:1 In those days Israel had no king.

I. Let Finances Rule

A. You gage blessings and curses by windfalls.

17:1 Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2 said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse-I have that silver with me; I took it."

Then his mother said, "The LORD bless you, my son!"

B. You honor wealth above God.

3 When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into the image and the idol. And they were put in Micah’s house.

5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest. 6 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

C. You organize your life around your finances.

7 A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah, 8 left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 Micah asked him, "Where are you from?"

"I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," he said, "and I’m looking for a place to stay."

10 Then Micah said to him, "Live with me and be my father and priest, and I’ll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food." 11 So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons. 12 Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. 13 And Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

- Living for retirement not the lord.

- Decisions are made based on Financial outcomes.

- Judging blessing by the size of IRA not the presence of God in our lives.

II. Let Selfish Ambition Rule

A. Seek our easy answers for own selfish desires.

18:1 In those days Israel had no king.

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.