“They said to him, ‘Please ask God whether our journey will be successful.’ The cohen replied, ‘Don’t worry. Adonai is with you on this journey.‘”-Judges 18:5-6
During the time of Judges Chapter 18, the tribe of Dan only controlled two cities.
But even saying that is not accurate because those two cities were firmly nestled inside of Judah territory.
Judah, being the largest and most powerful tribe, was kind enough to let the tiny and weak tribe of Dan take up residence within their borders.
But obviously Dan wasn’t happy at all with their current situation.
So they decided to send out 5 scouts to check out fresh pickings in the north.
Now as I said yesterday, this whole scouting expedition was arranged because Dan was in a state of rebellion against the Lord.
If they had just accepted the territory God had originally assigned to them…
And driven out the Philistines from that area, there wouldn’t have been a need to go on some ridiculous scouting expedition.
But since they decided to abandon God’s original purpose for them, this is where we’re at.
Onward.
So we’re told the 5 scouts headed up north and arrived in the hilly country of Ephraim where Micah lived.
As was customary in those times, Micah was hospitable and let the five men stay at his place before they moved on.
While they were relaxing they met the young Levite who Micah had recently hired to be his private priest and struck up a conversation with him.
While chatting we’re told the 5 scouts recognized the young Levite’s accent…
Which means the 5 scouts probably met this young man before.
This makes sense because the Levite most likely stopped at Tzorah or Eshta’ol (the 2 cities occupied by the tribe of Dan) on his journey.
It’s also interesting that just like we have a variety of accents within the US, the same phenomenon also developed in ancient Israel.
So the scouts began peppering the Levite with questions:
“How did you end up at Micah’s place?”
“What are you doing here?”
“What is there for you here?”
The Levite explains how Micah hired him to be his private priest and that he was now being paid a salary.
Once the scouts found out the young man was a bonafide Levite priest, they got all excited and asked the Levite to divine the future for them.
“Tell us how our scouting expedition, the one we’re taking now because we decided to disobey Adonai by not driving the Canaanites out of the territory originally assigned to us, is going to turn out”.
Pardon my sarcasm but obviously the men didn’t say that bit that I bolded and underlined in the last sentence.
But I had just had to insert that part since they should have said it man!
Because this whole expedition was a farce and built on the ungodly and disobedient decisions of men.
The Levite answers the men by saying…
“Don’t worry. Adonai is with you on this journey.”
Yeah, right.
What a bunch of booooooool sheeeeeeeet!
As if this Levite had some kind of direct line to God or something.
He probably answered as he did to impress the men and because he knew that’s what they wanted to hear.
So here’s your takeaway for today.
Just like this false Levite priest, there are a lot of charlatans out in the world today who will happily take your money for false advice that will tickle your ears and make you feel good…
BUT is not grounded in the Word at all!
And desperate people usually end up going to these false prophets of God AFTER abandoning the Scriptures and the Lord’s original purpose for them just like the tribe of Dan did.
Why do they abandon the Lord?
Because the Lord’s plans didn’t seem as exciting and hip as what the sensual and fleshly world had to offer…
Or the Lord’s way seemed too difficult…
So folks end up running to psychics, New Age or personal development gurus, shamans, life coaches (usually new agers themselves or Law of Attraction devotees), Eastern meditation practices that promise spiritual enlightenment and freedom from the stresses and worries of the world and so on and on.
What’s the result of going on all of these ungodly expeditions to try and find purpose for your life outside of the Lord?
You end up wasting a helluva lot of time and money.
And driving yourself even further into an ungodly hole that’s gonna be even more difficult to extricate yourself from in the future…
When if you had just been faithful to obey the Lord from the very beginning, you’d be so much more ahead in your life right now.
It reminds of a lawless criminal who spends all his time and energy trying to find a way to swindle folks out of money when he’d already be well off had he just took the Godly route of getting good at a marketable skill and honestly serving others for fair pay.
Everything we’re going to see happen with the tribe of Dan and this young Levite (who was trying to ply his own false version of the Hebrew religion) would NOT have happened if OBEDIENCE was prioritized over convenience.
In fact, we could say the same thing about the whole history of the human race if ya think about it.
Anyways, done.
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