5/3/21

"And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah." (Judges 17:1)
In my A. M. reading assignment, this a. m., I read about a seriously confused and dysfunctional family. They were mixed up about how to serve God, and were highly superstitious people.
This is still a very common problem with many people today. I went to lead in a revival some years ago, and spent a day visiting in the community. The pastor took me to a house where a married couple lived. He said they had some weird notions about church attendance, and serving God. They certainly did! I found out that they had baptized each other in their bathtub, and had incorporated their own church. They were the only two members of their church, and were the only people that they knew of who were going to heaven! Wowzer! They became angry with me when I asked them, "Were you wearing your clothes when you baptized each other?" He showed me the door!
Well, now, in this chapter, we meet a guy named Micah, and his mother. Here we go:
1) Micah has robbed his mother of 1100 pieces of silver. Each piece was probably about an ounce. If that is so, in today's money, that would be about $30,000+! (The Bible plainly teaches that we are not to steal, and that we are to honor our parents.)
2) Mother knows that she has been robbed, and put a "voodoo" curse on the money, and on the thief! (The Bible plainly teaches that we are not to curse one another, nor to wish harm upon others, and that we are to forgive others of their trespasses.)
3) Micah returns the money, because he is afraid of the hex she put upon it. (We are to fear the LORD, and the consequences of our sin. But we are not to be afraid of curses!)
4) The mother prays for God to bless her son! (God will not bless us for sinning!
5) The mother says that the money was "consecrated" to God. In other words, she says that it was not her money, but God's. But, it sounds to me that it was, in fact, hers. People often boast about all of their things belong to God, when in fact, they have not given them to God.
6) She then gives 200 of the coins to her son! (See!) She tells him to take the silver to a silversmith, and have him fashion a silver idol from it! (The Bible clearly teaches that idolatry is a sin!)
7) Micah does have an idol made from the "consecrated" silver coinage! He makes one of his sons his priest. (The Bible clearly teaches that you are to make no graven images, and that only a descendant of Aaron could be a priest.)
These people were clearly making the rules as they went along! Let me be very clear, they were not even close about they way they were worshipping the God of our Bible!
As you read along, here is this verse: "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Judges 17:6)
As you finish reading this chapter, you will note, that a Levite priest, a descendant of Aaron, wanders through the area. Upon learning who this guy was, Micah fires his son that he had made his priest, and hires the Levite to be his priest! And the Levite accepts the job!
Even the priest was wrong in what he was doing! He was ministering before an idol made of silver! (Money talks!)
This is the reason that God gave us His Word, the Bible! He has preserved it through all of the centuries, so that we can know how to serve Him in a way that is pleasing unto Him.
Make no mistake about it, "God was not pleased with this bunch!"
"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12)
Micah, and his mother, were more superstitious than religious. And they certainly did not know God!
From my heart to your heart.