Judges 18

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ago for us and we can Reflect on it.
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Look at it learn from it Be taught by it.
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It's amazing in that God has preserved his word For us and to us.
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Okay, so We'll deal with chapter 18 this morning.
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And so I'd like to read the whole chapter and certainly it's 31 verses so It'll be Some thoughts but not every thought that could be had as we go through the chapter, okay Judges 18 you remember as brother Mike brought up Mike is Opening history in chapter 17 It continues in chapter 18 in those days There was no king in Israel and in those days the tribe of Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in Or until that day their whole inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not yet fallen to them So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from the territory men of valor from Zorah and Eschatol To spy out the land and search it and they said to them go search the land So they went to the mountains of Ephraim to the house of Micah and large there And while they were at the house of Micah They recognized his boy the voice of the young Levite and they turned aside and said to him who brought you here What are you doing here in this place? What do you have here? And he said to them thus and so Micah did for me is hired me and I became his priest So they said to him, please inquire of God that we may know whether the journey on which we go Will be prosperous and the priest said to them go in peace and made the presence of God of the Lord be with you on your way So the five men departed and went to Laish and they saw the people who were there how they dwelt safely in the manner of The Sidonians quiet and secure and there were no rulers in the land who might put them to shame for anything They were far from the Sidonians and they had no ties with anyone Then the site the spies came back to their brethren at Zorah and Eschatol and their brethren said to them.
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What is your report? So they said it arise let us go up against them for we have seen the land and indeed it is very good Would you do nothing do not hesitate to go that you may enter to possess the land And when you go you will come to a secure people in a large land for God has given it into your hands a place Where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth and six hundred Men of the family of the Danites went from there from Zorah and Eschatol armed with weapons of war Then they went up and encamped in Kireth Jerim in Judah and therefore they call that place Maneah Dan to this day there it was west of Kireth Jerim and they pass them there to the mountains of Ephraim and they came to the house of Micah Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren Do you know that there are in these houses and Ephraim and household idols and a carved image and a molten image now therefore consider? What you should do So they turned aside there and came into the house of the young Levite man That is to the house of Micah and greeted him the 600 men armed with the weapons of war who were the children of Dan stood by the entrance of the gate and Then the five men who had gone up to spy out the land went up and entering there They took the carved image in the ephod The household idols and the molten image and the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with 600 men Who were armed with weapons of war? When these went into Micah's house and took the graven image the ephod the household idols and the molten images The priest said to them.
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What are you doing? And they said to him be quiet.
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Put your hand over your mouth and come with us be a father and a priest to us Is it better for you to be a priest? To the household of one man or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel So the priest's heart was glad and he took the ephod and the household idols and the carved image and took his place among the people and then they turned and departed and put the little ones the Livestock and the goods in front of them and when they were a good way from the house of Micah the man the men who were in the house near Micah's house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan and They called out to the children of Dan so they turned around and said to Micah What else you that you have gathered such a company So he said you have taken away my gods, which I have made and the priest and you have gone away Now, what more do I have? How can you say to me? What else you? the children of Dan said to him do not let your voice be heard among us lest angry men fall upon you and You lose your life with the lives of your household Then the children of Dan went their way and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him He turned and went back to his house so they took the things Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him and went to our yeast to a people who Were quiet and secure and they 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 They had no ties with anyone and it was in the valley that belongs to Beth for our oak So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there and they called the name of the city Dan After the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel, however, the name of the city formerly was Laish Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image and Jonathan the son of Gershom The son of Manasseh and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land So they set up for themselves Micah's carved image which he made all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh So Again we're judges 18 if you just came in General thoughts not as many details because of the Length of the chapter but nevertheless if you remember as brother Mike brought up last week the time and the setting For this is not to be misunderstood as if it is After the judges but rather and I think I don't want to go all the way back to but brother Mike proved And showed from the scriptures how this is really something that has taken place Long before the judges were even raised up after perhaps the the elders that outlived Joshua and now we begin to see some of the things that led up to Because as you read the book of Judges And you read through the judges and I think we talked about this a little bit at the end last week it's as I read these final chapters, I think it gives me a little better understanding of the times and the Surrounding things that would take in place.
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And so when we see the judges raised up and we see the judges themselves have Issues in their own lives and issues with the the The actions that they take and issues with the rest of the charges or that this helps us understand What is going on at that time? So If you remember now and certainly we're going to deal more with the idea of the family of Dan or as I would understand it part of the family part of the tribe of Dan if this is not just saying that that the Danites or the whole Tribe of Dan that that came out of Dan have not possessed the land but rather I'm gonna set before us and and hopefully show and I think it's fairly easy to do that that some of the land that the tribe of Dan was given was settled and yet this is a If you will a part of the tribe of Dan Of and it called Danites and and that they are unsettled and now they're trying to gain further Places in the land.
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So Let's think about it a little bit You remember what they were told in the beginning? But what was Israel told when Joshua brought him into into the land or as they entered into the land? What was his what was the instruction to all of Israel? I'm glad somebody said something because I wasn't gonna say anything Yeah, I was right.
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It was to go into the land and subdue it.
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God has promised you a land here Here's its boundaries and you ought to go and you are not only to Enter into the land, but and did I hear you right? You said conquer? Right, but but yeah, but that's it wasn't just to enter into the land.
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It was to dispossess those Nations who were not in right relationship with God and so it wasn't just like just go in and just relax No, you need to go in and you need to subdue you need to overcome and you need to wipe out basically in the in the idea of total destruction and and then you will enter into the the lot and if you remember remember the how if You think about it.
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They were all given a lot right? They were given a portion It wasn't and you basically broke out and I'm certainly not going to draw If you remember what sister Mary said when I drew drew a picture of Israel She said it looked like a rotten tooth.
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So I'm not I'm not doing that again, but if you remember They all had a portion and and it and that whole land was divided up, right? Some got a bigger portion some got a small portion and when we come to the tribe of Dan It's interesting that Well, let me just read to you what you remember the blessings that came out in Genesis 49 to to the tribes Right to the twelve sons Well, this was what was told to Dan Dan shall be a serpent by the way a viper by the path That bites the horse's heel so that its rider shall fall backwards So Dan was Dan was given a portion of land If we were to go back and look at it Was Dan the biggest tribe anybody know, okay, they weren't and Not only that but what's interesting about that if you go back in and I went back that I look and looked in the first chapter numbers you remember the chronology and the Laying out of how many men were to go to war? From each of the tribes and what was the age it was from 20 and over that the men had to be prepared for war And as you go back and you read The tribe of Dan was not the largest tribe and yet The only tribe that had more men prepared for war with Judah Dan was in that sense one of the smaller tribes and yet they possessed one of the bigger Armies and yet their land that was given to them was one of the smallest because again the land was proportion to the tribe and the size and the amount of people but I thought that was interesting as we come to this chapter and We look at the Danites here and they're they're trying to get further into their possession that you and I would understand There's a problem here with the tribe of Dan.
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Don't you think they have? Not fully engaged themselves in faith and gone in and done what they were told to do therefore We see this as it Starts to develop but it is is interesting that That they had such a large amount of men that could conquer and yet.
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What what do you think kept them from doing it? What would be what would be one reason why people? Especially as the the nation of Israel entered into what would be a reason why they don't Take possession of the lot that God gave them the portion Fear okay.
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Yeah fear and what is um What's the root of that lack of faith sir Unbelief right.
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Yeah all those things and so as we look at this and go through this rather quickly I wanted us to keep in mind that It's not like the Danites are Oh poor Danites haven't been able to do what they tried to do in many ways.
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They have failed to do what they were told to do and so as we come to this now and and begin to look at the The the different things that are sent out for us It's interesting to and where was Samson from by the way, which tribe? Yeah, that Samson was from the tribe of Dan.
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But so now remember we're looking before Samson and It is interesting that the last judge that is given to us is from that tribe.
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Okay One other thing and I'm not gonna draw the YM Land of Israel's That don't look like a rock to me, but I guess Well, where do you where was Dan remember how this is split Northern Kingdom Southern Kingdom, right? Would you say? I Certainly It's interesting because there's actually two portions that you could find that would give you Dan Here's what I wanted to say.
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Anybody know what's the furthest point down in the south? Yeah Bathsheba and and I want to make a point real quick about this I'm gonna write this so small so you can't tell whether I was spelling it, right? The spelling don't count when I'm here Interesting that the northern part the northern most part of the land of promise Was allotted in many ways to the tribe of Dan Dan if you read through the Old Testament as you as we come through Samuel and and the Kings and whatnot There's this constant rehearsing for us of how Israel is Spoken of as from Dan to Bathsheba You'll you'll you'll see it as you go through it says that Israel was Whether it was good bad or somewhere in between I'll say from from Dan to Bathsheba So it really was at the very top and and actually the way that they're Looking to possess From what I understand is that the mouth of the Jordan? and so it's a this is a It's a good piece of land that they're trying to capture It wasn't they weren't just trying to take over a desert This was this would have been if that's true and it is by the by the mouth of the Jordan Usually when you come to water you have what? Fertile good for growth good for this good for crops good for for many things.
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So This is an important piece of land.
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Okay With that, let's just walk through a couple Thoughts as we go through the verses so first when he came to pass in those days when there was no King That the certain Levi Sojourning in the remote mounds of you for me took himself.
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I guess I should be chapter 18, right? Quick interesting.
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It says in chapter 18.
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It starts There's no king in Israel chapter 19 starts the same way.
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So In those days there was no king in Israel in those days the tribe of Dan of the Danites Was seeking an inheritance for self to dwell in for until that day their whole inheritance among the tribes of Israel Had not fallen to them and that's what we had just been talking about and I wanted to remind us of Something that was told to them and this goes all the way back to the first chapter of the book of Judges and it says this Judges 1 you look it up for yourself and it's verse 34 and it says the Amorites force the children of Dan into the mountains For they're not would not let them come down into the valley and the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Ceres So again, if we think about this they are trying to take the rest of their lot and From the very beginning they've been struggling with this again, not that they hadn't taken some of it so so the narrative goes on so the children of Dan sent five men from their family the territory men of valor from Zorro and Eschatol to spy out the land and search it and they said to them go and search out the land They went to the mountains of Ephraim and behold they come upon the house of Micah and Then by coming upon the house of Micah, who are they going to find? But the Levite right who we found out who was the Levite anyway Who was this Levite priest who winds up in the house of Micah, but if we? answer This or brother Mike's gonna come back up next week.
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I'll go back to chapter 17 He was what? He was somebody's grandson right and do you remember The professor the Hebrew professor wrote all that Hebrew backwards with hanging vowel points and all that and To prove that it was that it when it says he was from Manasseh That's not correct.
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Right? He was he was from Moses because he who was Gershom Moses son and who is Jonathan who is this Levite Gershom son therefore ipso facto Jonathan is who he's Moses grandson Again, and that helps somewhat determine the time remember how long is the How long does the book of Judges take place and Just a wild idea.
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How long is the time space for the book of Judges? 50 years 60 years 100 years 200 years 300 years thousand years somebody something then Yeah, 350 400.
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I mean, it's let's put this way.
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It's more than a week and less than a millennium But anyway, my whole point is there's a good amount of time and a good amount of space that we're talking about So when you think about that and we think about this Levite That they just happened to come to the house and and find That he is in fact Moses grandson So verse 3 when they were at 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 do you what do you have here now? I just a moment at verse 3 Where it says they recognize the voice of the young Levi I Guess we could spend some time really did they know him? Personally, what do they know from perhaps his accent? I Mean, I really can't go anywhere You already know what I'm gonna say I'm a Yankee and you already know it And if I go back to New York, you know what they're gonna say you sound yeah, so I'm a transplant Honey I've always sound confused Yeah But I don't know if I don't necessarily know if they knew him personally perhaps Or did they know him because of his accent but either way they recognize Him and and as this begins to unfold we'll see how they want to treat him based on that and so Why you here? What what are you doing here? And verse 4 he said to them thus and so Micah did for me.
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He has hired me and I become his priest Not good Not good.
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Remember the two words I Put up on the board.
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I'm just gonna do it again.
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Why I can't do it as good as you bro.
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So and What was the other word? You should put a bunch of A's in between you know, what draw it out I Just asked brother Mike to say it every time we will say so so what is he you remember he's hooked up into this house of Micah and This is not a good situation.
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This is That's who you asked me a title is a mess to begin with right? but nevertheless, they come upon him and What's interesting is? Well, let's read a little further.
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I think you'll see it.
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So Lessons verse 4 thus and so Micah did for me.
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He's hired me I become his priest and they said to him please inquire of God that we may know whether the journey on Which we will go will be prosperous and the first six and the priest said to him going peace May the presence of the Lord be with you on your way Now, I don't know how you take that but I take that pretty much is Yeah, things are good go I Don't see any way should should he really be the one that they are inquiring of? Yay, nay nay Okay, why? And The room in the thumb, right they would go in and like you say and the priest would would Pray and then whatever the woman Durham actually was and you had that little thing, right? So they don't have any right really to be doing this and I take it as Jonathan just says yeah, go ahead God's with you I'll say anything that says thus sayeth the Lord I don't and he couldn't say that because he's really not supposed to be doing this to begin with and It's interesting how he just have gone.
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Peace.
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May the presence of the Lord be with you on your way So the five men verse seven five men departed to go to Laish and they saw the people who were there How they dwell safely in the manner of Sidonians quiet and secure and there were no rulers in the land Who might put them to shame for anything? They were far from Sidonians and they had no ties with anyone In verse 8 the spies came back to their brethren of Zorah and Eschatol and their brethren said to him What is your report and they said arise and let us go up against them for we have seen the land indeed It is very good You do nothing do not hesitate to go that you may enter to possess the land basically They think they go and they inquire and All they needed to hear in in their minds was yeah it go the Lord's gonna bless you And so what do they do? And this is gonna be easy pickings There's nobody to protect them.
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There's nobody to stop us.
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I Want to read this quote because one of the commentators pulled this point out and I want to make a point the Outward providence of God Can easily be misunderstood Even if it appears as if that providence is good In other words, can we solely and again, we don't have time to go too deep in this can we solely rely on? providential events to determine our action We can meet mislead us or we can Mislead understanding the promise of God and so one commentator said this it says those who please themselves with their own delusions if providence Unexpectedly brings anything to their hands to further them in their evil way They are apt from that to think God is pleased with them I think that's something for all of us to to to consider in our lives Because what is what really is our authority? Is it is it providence alone? Our real authority is what Word of God and and and and certainly the leading of the Spirit of God within us in Accordance to the Word of God now again, not everything is is that way, right? You know, I pray whether they take This job of that job.
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Well, you know So so I'm not discounting what I'm saying is the Danites here as they come upon the house of Micah and they see Jonathan And and perhaps now they find out if they didn't know already that this is Moses grandson And they begin to think man.
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This is all good for us We're gonna be able to roll right in and and take this over and and so they said arise and go into the land and then verse 11 And 600 men from the family of Danites went from there from Zorah and Eschatol armed with weapons of war And that's why I say to you run believe this was the whole tribe was a segment of the tribe of Dan perhaps a clan perhaps a family unit But nevertheless, there's 600 men and and by the way, they're they're men of valor And so they went up and they camped in Kirat Jerim in Judah Therefore they call the name the name of the place But now you're Dan to this day and there was west of Kirat Jeria and so verse 13 they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim and they come to the house of Micah and and so The five men who had gone to spy out the country remember that that was what the children of Israel had to do Originally to go in and spy out the land and What what kind of report did they bring back Was an evil report right except for who Joshua and Caleb Interesting here now, they're gonna go And they're gonna bring back a good report but that doesn't again It doesn't necessarily mean just because someone gives you a good report that things are good We have to think about that so the five men who had gone out spy out the country and They said to their brethren Do you know that there are in these houses? ethos and household idols and a carved image in a molten image now therefore consider what you should do and as we read through the Remaining verses as we have time this whole thing keeps coming back up about the idols Carved images molten images in the ephod and it becomes what? What is it what does it become to them Come on I know, you know, what is it to them? Idols, yeah, and not only that becomes the map the manner in which they think that God Is to be worshiped and his brother Mike brought up last week.
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That is that correct? Even if we call on the the name of the true God What if we call on him using? Wrong names what if we call on him using wrong? Ways of living and we just make that determination and so certainly idols and carved images, I mean Is that what anybody said that that's a good thing to have idols and carved images and molten images No Well, and if I was only for the for the priest of Levi here he's he's for the service of God But it's not the same right? Well, that's part of the issue, right? That's the what? You know how corrupt our minds are, you know what I think in my mind when I read that Some of you're gonna whatever I think it Janice Joplin The Janice Joplin, does anybody know what I'm talking about or should I just leave this? Okay Go on to the next verse.
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I got to say it Anyway, Josh Joplin sang a song it says I don't care if it rains and freezes as long as I got my plastic Jesus sitting on the dashboard of my car And now it's an idol, right? It's it's you say leave it alone Okay So So verse 15 they turned aside and it came to the house of the young Levite that is in the house of Micah They greeted him in the 600 men armed with the weapons of war who with the children dance stood by the entrance of the gate and it goes on and on and On and it begins to rehearse What took place to come down to verse 18 when these went into Micah's house? They took the graven image in the ephod and the household idols and molten images The priest said to them, what are you doing the verse 19 is interesting don't you think there's a kind of me reveals the character of Jonathan look at verse 19.
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They said to them they said to him so he says what are you guys doing? Micah's taking care of me.
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I'm his priest.
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This is a pretty good setup.
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He gives me clothes.
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I get a yearly money What are you doing and so they say in verse 19 they said to him be quiet Put your hand over your mouth come with us be a father and a priest to us It is better for you to be a priest to the household.
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Is it better to be a help up the priest of the household of one? man Or that you may be a priest the tribe of the family of Israel.
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So the priest was Glad he took the ephod and the household idols in the carved image and took his place among the people Now here's my understanding is He did some calculations And it didn't take them all this is gonna work out for me right I'm gonna have more honor I'm gonna have more authority I'll be better supported To me that reveals the character not not that the other things don't reveal the character, but again, I would do one of those Right again remember now as we said They think that the providence of God is smiling on and what's interesting as you go through this.
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They actually do subdue This piece of land but even in that just because we seem to have victories is that in and of itself the determining factor or Is it that we walk by faith in obedience to God's Word regardless Kind of like Job right the Lord gives What takes away? Must it be the name of the Lord? Shall we receive good Job said and not evil so but anyway, he's uh He thinks this is a good setup So now he's gonna go with them and now and now Micah comes back and now Mike is all Micah says Right because he comes home and everything's gone including the priest His deal is broken his a he set himself up thinking that the providence of God has smiled on him Does the Levi came into his house? The children of Dan think that the providence of God has smiled on them because they meet the Levite The Levite himself thinks the providence of God has smiled on him because now he gets to be a priest to the whole tribe Well, at least this larger piece of the tribe of Dan Everybody thinks that and then Micah comes and his bubble gets busted So it says they turned and departed and put the little ones in the livestock Livestock and the goods in front of them and they were a good way from the house of Micah the men who were in the houses near Micah's house gathered together and Overtook the children of Dan and they called out to the children of Dan so they turned around and said to Micah This is kind of interesting my verse 23 and this is the way the New King James says what else you And you have gathered such a company.
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What is a Brother Mike was it saying yours? Kalia what's your what's that verse saying yours the one we just talked about? now where it says they What else you in verse 24? How's those laughs? What's the matter with you you want to say what's the matter with me you've taken everything that I just set up And now, you know won't want to know what's bugging me And so now the children Dan come back at him And so he said he goes on he says you've taken away my goods I'm sorry, my gods, which I've made and the priest and you've gone away Now what more do I have how can you say to me what else you and the children of Dan said to him Do not let your voice be heard among us basically tell them You better shut up Less angry men fall upon you remember and I am going to say these 600 men from this clan of Dan These are not these are valiant these are Street fighters or mountain fighters or Valley fight where anyone these are men.
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These are men that are able to do I don't think there was a bunch of Well, I think this was a bunch of rough-looking guys come come pulling into Into Micah's house and Micah's basically now he does another quick calculation Says if I start a fight, is he gonna go good with me? So what does he do after they tell him to be quiet? Verse 26 the children Dan went their way and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him He turned and went back to his house basically Micah's deal is over the children of Dan still think that they have They got God with them because they got Jonathan and you got the ephod and the carved images and everything just gonna Work out and verse 27 And so they took the things the Micah had made and the priests who belonged to him and they went to Laisha people who were Quiet and secure and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burn the city with fire So I said they did they actually did do what they planned to do And there was no deliverer because it was far from sight and that's what we read in the narrative that these people live Basically alone and by themselves and it was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob And so they rebuilt the city of the city and dwelt there and they called the name of the city Dan After Dan their father who was born in Israel.
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However, the name of the city formula was formally was Laish Verse 30 and verse 31.
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We just have a minute left.
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This is a very sad ending because their disobedience their their desire Inordinate not based in truth is gonna Capture them and hold them captives for a long time.
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Look at verse 30 The children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image and Jonathan the son of Gershom the son of Manasseh and his sons Were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land Now that takes a while folks There's gonna be some there's a lot of a lot of things are gonna happen before They're gonna go off.
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Remember remember the northern part goes off in like 722 something like that they go to Assyria and then the Southern Kingdom Judah part like 586 587 gets taken by Babylonians so so this there's some time and and the snare is that they have set up false worship and What was the very thing as we close what was the very one of the most important things that God warned them Through Joshua and even through Moses before that.
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What was the one? Great thing that God said to them as he told them that he was going to give him the promised land He told them do not mingle Do not mingle why because if you mingle you're gonna be entangled and you're gonna wind up in False worship and Idolatry the things that God hates So there's a real lesson for us.
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I think one of the best ways to Summarize the final chapters of the book of Judges is not what we can learn from the positive But what we ought to learn from the negative Because both the teachers right? God uses both positive and negative to instruct us.
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So I'd like to say questions comments concerns, but we don't have time.
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So I get out of it free.
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So let's pray Father, thank you for our time together Lord Thank you for who you are thank you for what you've done Thank you Lord that you sent your son the Holy One the righteous one The one who did always the things that pleased you and so we can trust in him Above all else Lord for he has done what we could not and would not do in that he Paid the price that we owed to you Bless us may we worship you in spirit and truth in Christ's name.