HIRED GUN by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: One of my favorite places to visit in Israel is Tel Dan. It is located in the Hula Valley in northern Galilee. It is in the beautiful part of the country with plenty of water at the foot of Mount Hermon. It is west of the Golan Heights and about 2-3 miles from the Lebanese border. Unfortunately, as we will see today, this became the site of a heinous sin wherein God’s people hired a false priest to lead them into false worship. God was not fooled, and his judgment came against them. Later, it happened again when they set up a golden calf here, which had permanent consequences. Today’s message is titled “HIRED GUN.” Unlike the previous judges where each were a type of Christ. This false judge was a false type of Christ. Main Point: God will not share his worship with another. Anything else is false worship, and he will have no part in it. It is not Jesus plus something. It is Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Judges 17 (page 398-399) 5 “The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Context: So far in our series in the book of Judges, we have seen how the judges were the good guys. We learned that, contrary to popular opinion, Ehud, Barak, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, and others were not the bad guys, but they were a type of Christ. They set a pattern through their lives that was later fulfilled by Christ. Now we come to the section in the book of Judges where there is a shift. No longer are the characters in the narratives a type of Christ. To the contrary, we could say that they were the false types of Christ. One way we know that a shift has taken place is through the refrain we just read in Judges 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This is found 3 other times in the final chapters:
- Judges 18:1 “In those days there was no king in Israel…”
- Judges 19:1 “And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel.”
- Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
Previously, the refrain was – “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD” – mentioned 7 times. In the past, when God’s people sinned, God would send the enemy nations against the people of Israel. But, when they cried out to God and repented, he would send a deliverer/judge to rescue them. The goal was to help them drive out the Canaanites from the land. The people of Israel were to be God’s instruments of judgment against the various nations of the land. Furthermore, the tribe of Judah was to take the lead. Remember the question in our very first message in this series (back in the last week of June) – Judges 1 1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, “Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?” 2 And the LORD said, “Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.” Why Judah? Because it was through the tribe of Judah that the Son of David would come who would be God’s Anointed King – Jesus. Unfortunately, the tribes did not listen. They all did their own thing, from the south to the north. The last chapters in Judges are about how both the northern and southern kingdoms were trying to usurp God’s coming king through David – in the north, it was by building a shrine in Dan (Judges 17-18); in the south, it was the tribe of Benjamin from which came Saul, the first king of Israel, not God’s choice (Judges 19-21).
In today’s message, we will look at what the tribe of Dan, way to the north, was doing to usurp God’s plan of sending his king through Judah. As we will see in a few moments, they were not supposed to be up north. Instead of driving out the Amorite in the southwest, they decided to move into the hill country temporarily, and then decided to go to the north and fight against a people that God had not given their land to them. By the way, there was only one person in the tribe of Dan who was trying to follow God – Samson. God made him a judge. He went south where his tribe was supposed to conquer instead of running north. Interestingly, with Samson, the people didn’t even cry out to the Lord. In fact, they even betrayed Samson into the hands of the Philistines. So, God was done with his people for now. No more judges are mentioned in the final 5 chapters. God would re-initiate his work with his people, but it would be with kings. Now kings, coming through Judah, will be a type of Christ. Maybe, we will study them one day.
In this transitional period, between judges and kings, the tribe of Dan, not only disobeyed God, but they also established a syncretistic form of idol worship: Yahweh along with the gods of the Canaanites. I believe that this is worse than atheism. Many in America have this kind of a faith – “Christ and.” They are very sincere and sincerely wrong. C. S. Lewis, in his book The Great Divorce, wrote – “Having allowed oneself to drift, unresisting, unpraying, accepting every half-conscious solicitation from our desires, we reached a point where we no longer believed the Faith. Just in the same way, a jealous man, drifting and unresisting, reaches a point at which he believes lies about his best friend: a drunkard reaches a point at which (for the moment) he actually believes that another glass will do him no harm. The beliefs are sincere in the sense that they do occur as psychological events in the man’s mind. If that’s what you mean by sincerity, they are sincere…But errors which are sincere in that sense are not innocent.”
With that understanding, let’s begin in Judges 17 1 “Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.” Micah – “Micayehu” shortened = Who is like Yahweh? God the incomparable. 2 And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.” Maybe through a sudden burst of conscience or through fear of his mother’s curse, he acknowledged his guilt. We can’t blame him too much since all of us have robbed our parents at some time. I did, and my dad knew it. He simply said – “Did everything go well today?” That was enough for me to know that he knew, and I shouldn’t have done that. But, this was a much larger sum of money – 2 “…And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!” His mother only blessed him to reverse the curse, but that was not God’s law. Leviticus 6 4 “then it shall be, because he has sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore what he has stolen, or the thing which he has extorted, or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found, 5 or all that about which he has sworn falsely. He shall restore its full value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whomever it belongs, on the day of his trespass offering.”
Application: Parents, do you rescue your children even after they do wrong. Be careful. You may be reinforcing the wrong morals in them. While I’m at it – Conscience is wonderful, but conscience is not Christ. Fear is fine, but fear is not faith in Christ. Love is good, but love without accountability is dangerous. Are you sure that your children know what it means to have a relationship with Christ?
Judges 17 3 So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” By the way, that’s a lot of money, but since it is cursed now, mom decides to give it to the Lord. People do that with the church as well – they bring the broken, the used, the throwaway, and give it to the Lord. 4 Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah. 5 The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. Son is doing what mom did. He is making good of a bad situation. But God is not in it. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 17 7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there. 8 The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place…” Who else came from Bethlehem of Judea? Jesus (Micah 5:2), but this Levite is a false type of Christ. Judges 17 8 “…Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.” 10 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. What does the Bible say about Jesus? John 2 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. The Levite was willing to fit into Micah’s program.
Application: You and I cannot fit Jesus into our program. We have to fit into his.
Judges 17 12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!” It sounds as if Micah was trying to set up a church, but that’s not true. He was trying to worship a God of his own making.
Important Principle: What is worse than a life of sin and rebellion against God? Worshipping God in one’s own way.
Unfortunately, Micah’s worship is like many of our worships. We only like to offer what is convenient. God wants our hearts. He wants true and complete surrender.
Application: Is that you? Are you trying to worship a God of your own making?
Things are about to get worse – Judges 18 1 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for itself to dwell in; for until that day their inheritance among the tribes of Israel had not fallen to them. 2 So the children of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and search it. They said to them, “Go, search the land.” So they went to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 While they were at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?” 4 He said to them, “Thus and so Micah did for me. He has hired me, and I have become his priest.” 5 So they said to him, “Please inquire of God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.” 6 And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The presence of the LORD be with you on your way.” 7 So the five men departed and went to Laish. They saw the people who were there, how they dwelt safely, in the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure. 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. 8 Then the spies came back to their brethren at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What is your report?” 9 So they said, “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, and enter to possess the land. 10 When you go, you will come to a secure people and 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.” A false priest gave a false blessing to a people who are about to falsely attack an innocent people. Beliefs have consequences. This is “happiness at any cost Christianity.”
Later, 600 armed men from the Danites showed up at Micah’s house. Judges 18 18When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 And they said to him, “Be quiet, 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?” 20 So the priest’s heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people. Romans 8:28 – “All things work together for good…” is not “All sin.”
Judges 18 27 So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob. So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish. Soft sins are easy to address, but how about the hard targets? How about taking the land that God told you to take? How about dealing with sin that God is really concerned about?
30 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. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. What is very interesting is that Manasseh is actually Moses! There is a textual corruption here with a dangling nun (Hebrew). The Levite was a great great great great grandson of Moses (only Aaron’s descendants were to be priests)…you cannot hang on to the shirt tails of your parents to get to heaven.
As I mentioned earlier, actions have consequences. Listen to Revelation 7 4 “And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: 5 of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; 6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; 7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; 8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.”
Shakespeare, in Troilus and Cressida, said, “Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows!”
Invitation: How are you leading your children? Are you worshipping God wholeheartedly? Do you have false idols in your life? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ?