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Judges Chapter 17（ESV）

1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, “The 1,100 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.” 3 And he restored the 1,100 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.” 4 So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 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. 5 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.

 

REFLECTION

1. This notice “All the people did what was right in their own eyes” (v6) is repeated in 21:25, the final verse of the book, suggesting that everything that takes place in the final chapters of the book is evidence of idolatrous self-assertion. These chapters are full of disobedience—and a lack of God—which resulted in the violent, chaotic consequences.
2. For starters, Micah steals from his mother. Although he returns the silver, it is used to make an idol, which apparently becomes the focal point of Micah’s private shrine (v4).  Micah also presumes to appoint his son as priest until he hired a wandering Levite (v13).  In view of the legal material found in the books of the Law, the whole situation is simply ludicrous.  But this is precisely the point.  The final chapters of Judges intend to point out that prolonged unfaithfulness and disobedience lead to absurd behavior.

 

PRAYER

Is there a believer that I know that had “prolonged unfaithfulness and disobedience to the Lord”, and had been leading a sinful and absurd life?  Get in touch with my own feelings about this person, sorrow, anger, regret, grief?

Invite Jesus to sit with me and to think of this person.  Tell Jesus my emotions and try to feel Jesus’ emotions.

 

HYMN

Lord Have Mercy (For What We Have Done) – youtu.be/cNE2jiVFG9c