Good Wednesday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
We have probably all heard the question: “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” But have you ever heard this similar question: “Why does God allow good people to do really bad things?” Pause and ponder those two questions for a few seconds.
In our journey through God’s “Grand Narrative” found in the Bible, we come today to Judges 17&18 and that’s where I find rooted that second question: “Why does God allow good people to do really bad things?” Of course, the first answer is that rarely does God interfere with the human exercise of reason and choices, even if they are bad and will hurt innocent people. Humans are the only species of beings which God explicitly said He created “in the image of God.”
Among other things that means God gives us humans the ability to think, reason, predict probable outcomes of actions, make free will choices, act on those choices and then be held ultimately accountable by Holy, Omniscient God for the choices we make. Most people celebrate that God given privilege and process, all except the very last part. Most people refuse to believe they will be held accountable by Holy, Omniscient, All-powerful God!
Judges 17&18 give us the sad story of, we presume, an Israelite family that made a series of choices which rejected the Covenant Law God had given the Israelites. You’ll remember those laws were to define their lives and their relationship with God and also were to distinguish the God honoring Israelites from the idol worshiping pagan peoples who lived near them.
In Judges 17:1 an Israelite son steals 1100 shekels of silver from his mother! That, of course, breaks the 8th Commandment “You shall not steal”. (Exodus 20:15)
Strangely, even though Micah’s mother invoked God’s holy name to bless her thief son when he returned the silver, next the mother breaks another of the primary Commandments of God by having an idol made with some of the silver! (Judges 17:4) God had made it very clear to His Covenant people “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything…You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” (Exodus 20:3-5)
As we read further in Judges 17, we find this Micah was either quite religious or quite superstitious! The record says: “Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 17:5,6) Since I see no husband to Micah’s mother mentioned, I presume Micah’s father has died and Micah had responsibly invited his elderly mother to live with him and his family.
Perhaps Micah thought, as many people do, that his mother’s silver was his inheritance and therefore taking it wasn’t really stealing as much as it was taking his inheritance without her awareness? Maybe Micah even reasoned it was room & board payment for his generosity of taking his mother in? Oh my, how we can convince ourselves that stupid or simply wrong choices aren’t so bad.
Did you notice Miach had built a ‘shrine’ with several idols and even installed one of his sons as the family priest!? Now let me introduce you to an important word and very dangerous religious mistake: Syncretism. It means blending two opposite or very different but real things or theories to make a new reality! Idol worship of the pagan peoples and Holy God designed worship were both worship, but they were opposite of each other. Idol worship rejects the one, true, living, Holy God while embracing and giving glory to man-made, life-less, worthless images!
But Micah and his family were trying to both at the same time in the same place!! The place where I grew up, Haiti, did the same thing about 200 years ago trying to blend Roman Catholicism with Demonic Voodooism.
I wonder if you and I can discern if ‘syncretism’ might be happening in our cities or even in our extended families? Like Micah’s family do we declare we are Christians, but we blend God designed worship & God honoring living with self-worship or hero-worship or entertainment or athletic worship or materialism or . . .?
Did you notice that little phrase describing life in Israel in those days? “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 17:6) Do you see how that statement seeks to blame the problem of syncretism on the absence of a strong government? But by God’s design the spiritual vitality of His Covenant people and their faithfulness to their promises to BE God honoring people was never intended to be dependent on a king, but rather for each person it was to be their personal commitment to God which motivated them to live in obedience to His Covenant Law. Clearly the spiritual and moral problem for Micah and his family was not the absence of a human king.
Sadly, things go from bad to worse in Micah’s house because as you’ll see in the remainder of Judges 17 a young Levite finds his way to Micah’s house and is invited to live there and become their spiritual leader, the priest of this homestead and all who live there. (Judges 17:7-13) As further evidence of this syncretism in Israel, Micah makes this bold and blasphemous statement: “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.” (Judges 17:13)
I’d like to give Micah credit for his spiritual passion and perhaps Micah hoped the Levite would lead Micah’s family away from idol worship and back into worship of the one, true God of Israel.
Perhaps Micah hoped God’s blessing would then fall upon his household in abundance as they lived revived spiritual lives… but I see no evidence of that. In fact, as Micah’s story further develops in Judges 18, we see the powerful, painful truth that syncretism can be contagious and become a spiritual deception, a moral trap and lead people into even darker and deeper wickedness, eventually bringing God’s judgement!
It’s a sad story, but I’m grateful God includes such sad, truthful stories in His Grand Narrative, for they are warnings for you and me as we are surrounded by frequent invitations to abandon our commitment to Jesus and embrace theories or philosophies or priorities or behaviors that lead us not only far from God but eventually put us into opposition to God and Jesus! Now think about that as you consider your journey, your values, the truth you are building your life upon.
The closing statement of Judges 18:31 summarizes the despicable place Micah and the Danite people lived in syncretism: “They continued to use the idol Micah had made all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.” Even though the Ark of the Covenant; the Tabernacle; the Altar for burnt offerings and the Altar of Incense for meeting with God were all in Shiloh, Micah and the Danites developed their own religion and ignored God.
Oh, so sad! What lessons can we learn from them, especially as we look at the paths our grandkids are walking? Again, we have further study notes at the “Grand Narrative” link below. I’ve found a wonderful worship song which calls us to think clearly and wisely in our adoration of the only true God, as we guard our hearts against syncretism. You’ll find it at the bottom of this page, and I’ll be here waiting for you tomorrow…
Today’s Scripture: Judges 17 & 18.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Judges 18
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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