Judges 18b Commentary

Judges 18b Commentary

A chapter of counterfeits. Micah has the appearance of a religious man. But Micah is a thief who uses stolen money to cast a range of idols.

The thought is that he would escape divine punishment by practicing religion, albeit a forbidden religion.

Micah has sufficient zeal and enough money to sponsor his pagan religion. To make it look better, he even installed a “real priest”.

But this priest is an empty tin – No word. He has zero knowledge of the Ten Commandments – what really needed to be his toolbox, bread and butter, and his breath.

The priest isn’t consulting the Creator God!

The Danites show up. They are not interested in the Creator God. Yes, in the ephod, but never in the LORD God. They probably have faint memories of their ancestors sitting down to learn the will of the LORD under Moses through the Ephod. But the God that Moses served isn’t their God.

The Danites have zero resemblance to the God they needed to claim as their God. We can see this in their conduct.

The author hasn’t mentioned it, but he is clearly unhappy that the Danites attack a “peaceful and quiet people”. Needless aggression.

The Danites practiced a self-made religion. They acted as their strength determined. They saw nothing wrong with idol worship while at the same time mentioning God’s name.

Whenever the name “God” is mentioned, ask, “Which God?”. Check the fruit and you will be sure.

Micah, the priest, and the Danites have displayed enough fruit for us to judge them under the provisions of the Law. They are an example of a pagan religion with Christian-like lingo and practices.

The money-happy priest isn’t in the picture by the end of the chapter. Instead, it’s we see a descendant of Moses in the picture. Another counterfeit. Close enough, but wrong still. Priests come from Aaron, exclusively.

Deception is the currency of the world. The wicked hopes of the wicked priest to become the “High Priest” of the tribe of Dan disappear. The Danites won’t keep their word.

But there are consequences to wickedness. The tribe of Dan is probably the first tribe to disappear from Israel’s proper history as a unit.

The ignored Commandments of the LORD have the last word. The curses of Deuteronomy 28 come to bear fruit. The Word of the LORD is everlasting. Know it. Love it. Keep it. All counterfeits disappear in the end.

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