Following the death of Samson, the judge of Israel destroyed the Philistines after he coveted a strange woman, Delilah, and lost his hair, his strength, and his reputation before God and man, the Book of Judges takes a turn from bad to worse, at least regarding the conduct of the Israelites.
In order to understand what is going on in this part of the Scriptures, we must first of all rightly divide the Word of God, making a clear difference between the portions of Scripture which speak to an indict of evil under the Old Covenant, yet always bearing in mind that because of Jesus' death on the Cross, we are no longer under that Covenant, freely receiving the grace of God.
Yet under the Old Covenant, man was presented with the Law, the immovable righteousness of God as standard which no man could meet in his own strength.
Indeed, the strength of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15: 57), and no part of Scripture more devastatingly portrays this truth than in the last chapters of Judges.
In Chapter 17, the number normally associated with victory, we read about a spoiled brat named Micah who stole silver from his own mother. When he confesses to his mother that he stole her silver, she replies:
"And he said unto his
mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee,
about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver
is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the
LORD, my son." (Judges 17: 2)
This boy stole the silver, and the mother spoke curses into this ears, perhaps suggesting that she knew that he had stolen the silver. Now, silver speaks of redemption in the Bible, yet how Micah uses the silver is a disturbing picture, indeed:
"And when he had
restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother
said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son,
to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto
thee." (Judge 17: 3)
The mother had intended to use the silver to make an image to worship the Lord God! The Lord made it clear in the second commandment that the children of Israel were not to make a graven image of anything!
What can we discern about the nation of Israel from these two verses? First of all, there is an absolute break-down in the healthy relationship between parent and child. Not once do we read about Micah's father. This is a picture of the world, in which men and women are desperate for a Father, for God the Father, and because they have no revelation of God's law, and more importantly his love, they resort to creating gods for themselves, worshipping the LORD according to the dictates of their flesh and limited mind instead of according to the way that God had outlined everything in His Word.
This is the world in which many believers may find themselves lost or scared. Because they have no revelation of God as Father, as Daddy who wants to care for us in every and supply all our needs, many believers are resorting to stealing the traditions of their elders instead of standing on the Truth — Christ and Him Crucified — and thus they take the redemption of the Gospel and turn it into a work.
If we do not set our eyes and our affections on Him who is above us (Colossians 3: 1), this is the result:
"In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did
that which was right in his own " (Judge 17: 6)
In our own eyes, though, we can only do what our first parents did, who upon being deceived by the devil ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Then we read in Judges 17 that the son hires a Levite, who in fact was a member of the tribe of Judah. The confusion is just rampant, and one that spread far beyond mount Ephraim. This boy hires the Levite to be a father and a priest. Is this not what everyone of us longs for? Yet through Christ Jesus we receive the Spirit of sonship (Romans 8: 15) and Jesus becomes our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1) who justifies us and makes intercession for us (Romans 8: 33).
Now this verse reveals just how twisted things have become in Israel:
"And Micah
consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the
house of Micah.
"Then said Micah, Now
know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my
priest." (Judges 17: 12-13)
A man who consecrates someone else to he his father? This is crazy, yet the impulse comes through very strongly why this young man is doing this — he wants to know that God will be good to him.
Under the New Covenant, displayed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, we read about the lavish and unconditional love of God the Father, a love which we receive because Jesus Christ, His Beloved Son, gave His life for us that we may receive His life (John 3: 16; 1 John 4: 10, 17) We do not create a priest for ourselves, for God sent His Son to be our High Priest and Propitiation while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8)
In God's eyes, because we are in Christ, He sees us as righteous, just as righteous as His own Son (2 Corinthians 5: 21) We do not need to make ourselves a god, an idol, a priest, or a standing. Let us rest and receive God's righteousness and grace through the Finished Work of Christ Jesus!