WWUTT 269 What's Right In Their Own Eyes?

As we continue our study of the book of Judges, we see Israel continue on the decline to a point where we get to a pretty violent portion of the story today. But there's still a hope for Israel, just as there is a hope for us today when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. Open your Bible to Judges chapter 17. We finished up the story of Samson and Delilah, and between this week and next week we'll finish up the book of Judges. I think we'll manage to get through about three chapters today, and for the most part it's just going to be a straight read.

Micah’s Idol and the Corruption of Worship

So let's start at Judges chapter 17, beginning in verse 1. There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he 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.

And his mother said, blessed be my son by the Lord. And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a carved image and a metal image, now therefore I will restore it to you.

So she is dedicating the silver to the Lord to have an idol made out of it. So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image.

And it was in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Not the last time we're going to see that statement. Now, an ephod, if you'll remember, is the breastplate that the high priest wore. There was only supposed to be one, but Micah has made one for himself and has ordained one of his sons to be a priest.

So it's kind of like he's got this manner of holiness going on in his house of here I can ordain my own priests and have my own ephod. And I've got a metal image that I'm going to worship, even though I dedicated it to.

The Lord.

So it's OK. Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah of the family of Judah who was a Levite and he sojourned there. And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place.

And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.

And Micah said to him, Stay with me and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living. And the Levite accepted his offer, and the Levite was content to dwell with the man.

And the young man became to him like one of his sons. And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, Now I know that the Lord will prosper me because I have a Levite as a priest, because it was supposed to be a Levite who was supposed to be a priest.

So here Micah is just increasing this this false spiritualness that he has in his home. In those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them.

So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Eshdael, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, Go and explore the land. And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?

And he said to them, This is how Micah has dealt with me. He has hired me, and I have become his priest. And they said to him, Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.

And the priest said to them, Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord. Then the five men departed and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting, lacking nothing that is in the earth, and possessing wealth, and how they were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.

And when they came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshdael, their brothers said to them, What do you report? They said, Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold it is very good.

And will you do nothing? Do not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. As soon as you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.

So six hundred men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshdael, and went up and encamped at Kiriath Jerim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahanadan to this day.

Behold, it is west of Kiriath Jerim. And they passed on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah. Then the five men who had gone out to scout the country of Laish said to their brothers, Do you know that in these houses there is an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image?

Now therefore consider what you will do. And they turned aside, and came to the house of the young Levite at the home of Micah, and asked him about his welfare. Now the six hundred men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate.

And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priests stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

And when these went into Micah's house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, the metal image, the priests said to them, What are you doing? And they said to him, Keep quiet. Put your hand on your mouth and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest.

Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be the priest to a tribe and clan in Israel? And the priest's heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.

So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the goods in front.

Of them.

When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, What is the matter with you that you come with such a company?

And he said, You take my gods that I made in the priest and go away. And what have I left? How then do you ask me what is the matter with you? And the people of Dan said to him, Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you and you lose your life with the lives of your household.

Then the people of Dan went their way, and then Micah saw that they were too strong for him, and he turned and went back to his house. So he had these false gods in his home that clearly did nothing to protect him, nothing to bring him wealth, and actually ended up losing his wealth.

The silver that his mother had given to him to fashion into these false gods ended up getting stolen by the Danites. This Levite priest that he had for himself, that he was paying a wage so that he might have a priest in his own home, ends up leaving him for an even better deal.

And the ephod that Micah had fashioned for himself also got taken by the Danites. And Micah was left with nothing, so much for all of that work that he had done that really amounted to nothing at all.

And he is no better in the eyes of God for sure. Remember, everybody did what was right in their own eyes. Micah had no fear of the Lord before him. Verse 27,. But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword, and burned the city with fire.

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with.

Anyone.

It was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob. Then they rebuilt the city, and lived in it. And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel. But the name of the city was Laish at first.

And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves. And Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.

So they set up Micah's carved image that he had made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh. So we have not known the name of this Levite priest until this point. And when it's revealed, it's showing to us that the corruption that had occurred in Israel was so great that it was even affecting the house of Moses.

Even the descendants of Moses now, at this point, were no longer following the Lord, but doing what was right in their own eyes. And so what they did, the idol that they had there, the priests that they had with them remained with the Danites until the captivity of the land.

So this is going to happen even through David as king. The hearts of the Danites will be far from God all that time. So then in chapter 19, in those days when there was no king in Israel, a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

The Levite’s Concubine and the Horror at Gibeah

And his concubine was unfaithful to him, and she went away from him to her father's house at Bethlehem in Judah and was there for some four months. Then her husband arose and went after her to speak kindly to her and bring her back.

He had with him his servant and a couple of donkeys, and she brought him into her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he came with joy to meet him. And his father-in-law, the girl's father, made him stay, and he remained with him three days.

So they ate and drank and spent the night there. And on the fourth day they arose early in the morning, and he prepared to go. But the girl's father said to his son-in-law, Strengthen your heart with a morsel of bread, and after that you may go.

So the two of them sat and ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, Be pleased to spend the night and let your heart be merry. And when the man rose up to go, his father-in-law pressed him till he spent the night there.

Again.

And on the fifth day he arose early in the morning to depart. And the girl's father said, Strengthen your heart and wait till the day declines. So they ate, both of them. And when the man and his concubine and his servant rose up to depart, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, Behold, now the day is waned toward evening.

Please spend the night. Behold, the day draws to its close. Lodge here and let your heart be merry, and tomorrow you shall arise early in the morning for your journey and go home. But the man would not spend the night.

He rose up and departed and arrived opposite Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. He had with him a couple of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him. When they were near Jebus, the day was nearly over.

And the servant said to his master, Come now, let us turn aside to the city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it. And his master said to him, We will not turn aside into the city of foreigners, who do not belong to the people of Israel, but we will pass on to Gibeah.

And he said to his young man, Come, and let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or at Ramah. So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, and they turned aside there to go in and spend the night at Gibeah.

And he went in and sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night. And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the field that evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was sojourning at Gibeah.

The men of that place were Benjamites. And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, Where are you going and where do you come from? And he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come.

I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his house. We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants.

There is no lack of anything. And the old man said, Peace be to you, I will care for all your wants, only do not spend the night in the square. So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed, and they washed their feet and ate and drank.

Now watch what happens. As they were making their hearts merry, behold the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.

In other words, they want to rape him. And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly, since this man has come into my house. Do not do this vile thing.

Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you. But against this man, do not do this outrageous thing. But the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them.

And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house, where her master was until it was light.

And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.

He said to her, Get up, let us be going. But there was no answer. Then he put her on his donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine, he divided her limb by limb into twelve pieces and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.

And all who saw it said, Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak. Now Israel had grown quite evil in the sight of God, but this was something that had occurred in Israel that they had never seen before, and so it even shocked the people of Israel to the point that they said, Take note of the things that have happened on this day, consider it, take counsel, and speak.

The story that we just read in chapter 19 sounds really familiar, doesn't it? Sounds just like what happened in Sodom, when the two men, the two angels that God had sent there to retrieve Lot went in.

And when they went into Lot's house, the people of Sodom came upon the house, beat on the door, and said, Where are the two men that came in to be with you? Send them out to be with us, so that we may know them.

Again, they wanted to rape these two individuals. So we see the very same things that happened at Sodom and Gomorrah are now happening in Israel because they are not listening to the Lord, they do not fear God, and everybody is doing what is right in his own eyes.

The Gospel as the Hope for a Nation

My friends, I say to you that the very things that we see happening in Israel at this point in the story are the very same things that we can observe happening in our own country all around us. Everybody is doing what is right in their own eyes.

Through the heinous, murderous practice of abortion, 3 ,000 children are being killed every day. They're being dismembered, burned alive, decapitated, much like the way that this Levite divided up his concubine.

So this practice of abortion happens at the knife of abortion doctors every single day. Children being divided up, murdered in violence. We see sexual obsession happening within our culture. It's so bad that it's difficult for you to go throughout your day without seeing some kind of pornographic image.

I was just at the grocery store last night and saw things on the magazine rack that I'm going, I cannot keep my eyes from this stuff. It is all around. Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land, and our government actually endorses homosexual eroticism, encouraging teenagers to have sex by handing out condoms at high schools, middle schools, and even grade schools.

They are teaching children things without asking permission of their parents to tell them some of the things that they are telling them. We have a hybrid of spirituality happening within even our own churches where people are grabbing different spiritualness to kind of feel like the most spiritual person that they possibly can.

And you look at the Roman Catholic Church and you see the things that they are doing are really no different than what Micah was doing here in this particular story when we started it in Judges chapter 17, fashioning for himself idols to worship and dedicating them to the Lord, thinking that was okay.

That's exactly what the Roman Catholic Church does. Having his own priest in his home and feeling like this spiritualness that he has in his own house makes him an even more spiritual person and God's favor is upon him.

But we don't just see this happening in Roman Catholicism. We see it happening in Protestant evangelical churches as well, where there's this just this spiritualness. They acknowledge the Lord with their lips, but their hearts are far from God.

This is happening in many churches in most of the country. Israel had become like Sodom and Gomorrah. And so the same is happening with the United States of America as well. But my friends, I tell you that all hope is not lost with Sodom and Gomorrah.

There was not one single righteous person to be found, save for Lot. And God sent his angels into Sodom to pull Lot out before he judged the city with fire. So there are righteous people in Israel, even at this time of the Judges.

When we read the story of Ruth, that was a story that took place during this period of the Judges. So there are righteous people that are still there who fear the Lord and seek his will. But Israel, for the most part, had gone this way of corruption.

And same with the United States of America. There are righteous people who are here, people who fear the Lord, who love his word and are declaring his gospel. And so if we are going to see souls be saved, we must do that very thing.

The hope for our nation is not, is absolutely not, is not in the next person who is going to be elected president of the United States. Either one of the two major candidates that are out there are going to continue the decline that we are on.

They are not going to improve our situation. The hope for our country is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we must take it to the highways and byways. We must be the voice in our own communities, not expecting everything to happen from the top down, from the president on down.

But we who are in the communities in which we live, we have the gospel. And so we must take it to them. Go out to the street, hand out tracks, do soapbox evangelism, stand up and declare the gospel, preach it so that people might hear it.

Because as it says in Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And as we have also read in James, as we've studied in this James 1, 18, of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth.

Souls are saved when they hear the word of God. So hear it and do what it says. Speak the word of God to the people that are around you, that they would repent of their sins and know Jesus Christ, the Lord who forgives sins and gives eternal life.

Christ our God died on the cross for our sins. And as he hung there between two thieves, he absorbed the wrath of God. He spilled his blood for our sake so that by that atoning sacrifice, our sins would be forgiven and we would have right standing with God.

Jesus did not stay dead, but he came back from the grave to show that all who are in Christ not only receive his righteousness, but also his life. And we have eternal life in Christ our Lord, peace with God by the sacrifice of God.

And so may we declare this message that people would turn from their sins, trust in Christ as Lord and be saved. Let us pray. Lord, as we come to you here, I pray that these words would be written on our hearts as a warning that we would see the same things that are happening around us in our country.

And we would take the message of the gospel to them so that these people might be saved from their sins and trust in Christ as Lord. You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are still on your throne.

You still reign over all. So Lord, may we worship you as God and declare you as God to this people. This wicked people that we are surrounded by. So they would repent of their sins and they too would worship God.

We pray and ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

All again, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Precious is the fate as no home, no, nothing but the blood of, nothing but the blood of. The blood of nothing but that makes me undying justice, nothing but of Jesus makes me worthy.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.