Modern Day Micah's

For those of you who know the Bible, the first person that would come to mind is Micah the prophet, a prophet who prophesized judgement to the southern and northern kingdoms: Israel and Judea. He also prophesized judgement to specific groups of people: evil-doers, rulers, and false prophets. Well, sorry to tell you, but that is not the guy I will be focusing on in this message.

The Micah I am going to talk about is the kind of person who presents himself as a godly person…worshipping a god of his own creation. You may even know a modern-day Micah who is waist-deep in idol worship, or it could be you.

Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!”

Judges 17:1-2

Right off the bat we see that this Micah is a thief, and not just any ole thief, but one that would steal from their own mother. In today’s rate of currency, that would be $6,600 - $7,000 dollars he stole.

I don’t know about you and your family, but there are a few members of my family that would cause me to take an inventory of my things before and after I know they are coming over. Some of you may be wondering…what does this guy’s thievery have to do with idolatry? Well, when someone steals, they prioritize their desire for material gain over ethical and moral values; they have no care for the property or concerns of others, because their needs supersede everyone else’s, believing what they do is right and just, placing a greater emphasis on the material things, ignoring the God of creation who would supply their every need.

The modern-day Micah is much the same, although they may not steal from family members, but they do steal from work, whether it is material things or not putting in the full amount of time in the workplace. It is also the individuals who try to scam you over the phone, through Facebook, ebay, Instagram, and other social media platforms. And let’s not forget some of our local churches with their focus on prosperity and materialism. Along with those churches that beat you over the head with the messages on your lack of tithing.

While living in Sacramento the Lord moved me to find a church; but at that time, I was far from being a religious person. So, I found this nice church, now when I say nice, I mean the place looked like one of the Mega Churches you see today, but that was my idol…the look of the church, not what was being preached in it. In this church, for three weeks straight the message was on tithing, and how bad each of us were for not giving to the Lord what was due Him. I don’t know if they preached a fourth message on tithing because I realized what my idol had done to me…it caused me to lose what God wanted me to find, and that was Him. You see, the idols you worship cause you to not see the true living God of creation.

Now back to our Micah in Scripture. He confesses that he took the money, not because he felt any remorse, but because of fear of the curse his mom placed on whomever stole her money. This is a bright spot in this story… because the mother is quick to forgive. And she’s so happy that she tries to reverse her curse. And so now she utters a blessing upon her son. And she does this IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. Now I call this a bright spot because I know if that happened to one of us, we would never let them live it down, also because it starts to go off the rails.

So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” Thus he returned the silver to his mother.

Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

Judges 17:3-4

So, you might have thought this was a godly woman. If that’s what you originally thought, then I’m sure your proverbial jaw dropped when she directed Micah to take a bit of the money he stole and now returned...and make two idols – one carved out of wood, and one poured from melted metal. Once the silversmith was done, the idols found their place in Micah’s house.