Have you ever read a book where the characters are in the midst of a traumatic situation only to see it go from bad to worse? The Israelites have fallen away from God and they are have turned their hand to whatever is good in their own eyes. Have you ever found that your life progressed from a vibrant relationship with God to a lackluster existence far from the rich fellowship of God? There were times in my past where I rested on my laurels thinking I didn’t need to read my Bible daily, I went to church a few weeks ago so missing this week is okay, or why do I need to be around other believers these friends of mine are not that bad. These ideas I have held at various times in my walk with God are from the pit of hell. Hope and security in life can only be found in God and you can only find God through the Scriptures within the body of Christ. In Judges 17 and 18 the Israelites have rested on their laurels and started doing whatever they chose with no consideration of what God would want. It is a sad moment to see a nation who was mightily delivered by God time after time totally disregarding His commandments. I never want to dwell in this state with God, to move from tasting the wonderful refreshment that is a living relationship with Him to the desert of my own desires.
Idolatry has fully blossomed within the Israelite community in Judges chapter 17. A man named Micah who lived in the fill country of Ephraim took silver and madegraven images that he and his household could worship. This is directly against the commands that God laid before the people of Israel. Without diligence to hold to their faith the Israelites perverted their view of God into nothing less than idolatry serving their own lusts and desires. How many compromises does it take to fall away from true worship of God? The perversion of Micah and his household also extended to a Levite, Jonathan, who was traveling and entered the house of Micah to be his priest. This again perverts the structure that God instilled within his priesthood that only the descendants of Aaron would be priests. The only thought that resounds in my mind is that Moses and Joshua both warned that this time would come for the Israelites. In Deuteronomy 31:14-22 God tells the Israelites that they will turn away from Him. In the midst of their sin the Israelites could not see how far they had strayed from God.
In Judges 18 more disobedience and depravity is seen from the sons of Israel as the tribe of Dan seeks a land to live in within the promised land. They were not able to cast out the people who they were told drive out of the land of their inheritance so they now take action on their own accord apart from God’s desire and design. They took the idol and priest that Micah cherished and drove out the inhabitants form Laish as their possession. What was the motive of these men of the tribe of Dan? If they were seeking to obey God they would have driven out the inhabitants from the land which was promised to them initially by God. Instead they take of an idol and priest for their own and dwell in a land of their own choosing. Judges 18:30,31 speaks to how depraved and far from God the sons of Dan were, “The sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priest to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up for themselves Micah’s graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh.” The Danites set up for themselves a place to worship apart from the Tabernacle of God as Shiloh. I see that captivity is mentioned in verse 31 and I wonder if that is the only deliverance that the Israelites will learn from.
Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’ But I will surly hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:17,18
The words of God spoken through Moses have come to fruition for the Israelites. This is a low point for the Israelites and it is difficult to find hope. God who promised that the people would turn away gave them a song that their children would remember when they turned away from God and the song would remind them of their unfaithfulness and disobedience to God. I am excited to see the story of Israel when they see their sin and turn back to God but I first need to appreciate their depravity before I can truly see God’s mercy and faithfulness. It is just important that I see my own depravity so that I can feel the weight of the salvation that Jesus Christ gives to me. I am so thankful that my deliverance is based on the faithfulness of God and not the faithlessness of man.
