Scripture Daily

Context No. 2042 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 17:1-13: in context

1There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May the LORD bless my son!” 3He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.” 4When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made a carved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah. 5The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. 7There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there. 8The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled. 9Micah said to him, “Where did you come from?” He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.” 10Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in. 11The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. 12Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”

In an age when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes, a man named Micah fashions his own religion. He returns silver he had stolen from his mother, who then dedicates it to make a carved idol. Micah sets up a shrine in his house, makes an ephod and household gods, and installs first his own son and then a wandering Levite as his private priest. Then he says, with misplaced confidence, now I know the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.

Micah's homemade religion is a picture of worship shaped to one's own liking rather than to God's command. He mixes devotion to the LORD with idols, sets up his own shrine, appoints his own priests, and assembles the outward trappings of religion according to his own design. And then he presumes on God's favor: now I know the LORD will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest. He assumes God's blessing because he has the outward forms, the shrine, the priest, the religious apparatus, while ignoring that he has ignored what God actually commanded. His confidence rests on a religion of his own making. This is a danger that outlasts Micah's age. We too can fashion a religion shaped to our own preferences, keeping the outward forms and trappings while quietly setting aside what God has actually commanded, and then presume on his favor because we have the appearance of devotion. We assemble a faith of our own design, comfortable and self-chosen, and assume God is pleased because we have kept its outward forms, its shrine and priest, its religious apparatus, while its substance is not what he asked for at all. The phrase that governs Micah's story, everyone did what was right in his own eyes, is the mark of a religion made to suit ourselves rather than submitted to God. Scripture warns against exactly this. You shall not do what is right in your own eyes, Moses says; and God rebukes those who draw near with their lips while their heart is far from him, honoring him with forms he did not command. This searches our own religion. Have we fashioned a faith shaped to our own liking, keeping the outward forms while setting aside what God actually commands, and then presumed on his favor because we have the trappings of devotion? Micah's homemade shrine and his misplaced confidence warn us against a self-made religion; and the call is to submit our worship to what God has actually commanded rather than shaping it to our own eyes and presuming on his blessing because we have kept its outward forms.

Have I fashioned a religion shaped to my own liking, keeping the outward forms and trappings of devotion while quietly setting aside what God has actually commanded, and then presumed on his favor because I have the appearance of faith, and can Micah's homemade shrine and his misplaced confidence warn me to submit my worship to God's command rather than doing what is right in my own eyes?

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