“They replied, ‘Be quiet, keep your mouth shut, and come with us. Be a father and a cohen for us. Which is better? To be a cohen in the house of one man or to be cohen to a whole tribe and family in Israel?’. This made the cohen feel very good; so he took the ritual vest, the household gods and the image and went off with the people.”-Judges 18:19-20
Alrighty, let’s get our bearings of where we’re at in the story of Micah, his Levite “priest”, and the tribe of Dan.
Here’s a quick recap of the events so far.
FIRST, things all started when scouts from the tribe of Dan stumbled across what they considered to be the perfect place to relocate their tribe.
It was a fertile city called Laish and it was located near the border of Lebanon.
The residents of the city were a gentle and peace loving people.
In other words, they fit the perfect victim profile of anyone who might desire to attack them.
And to make matters worse, they didn’t have any alliances with any nearby kings or princes.
This would prove to be their downfall at the hands of Dan.
SECOND, all excited about their new discovery, the scouts hurry back to their cities of Tzorah and Eshta’ol and urge their elders and tribal leaders to not waste any time in preparing to attack the city.
So 600 men and their families pack up and start heading north to attack the unsuspecting people of Laish.
However, on the way, the 5 scouts decide to pay a second visit to Micah.
But this time, the scouts are accompanied by a group of cold-blooded men and their intentions are anything but good.
THIRD, operating under the current superstitions of the time, the 5 scouts enter Micah’s property, rip off his silver idol, steal all his other gods and take his priest with him to become their own priest.
FOURTH, none too happy that he’d just been robbed, Micah takes a posse to chase after the 5 scouts and their men.
However, when Micah and his men catch up with the hardened members of Dan, they are threatened with death if they don’t shut up about wanting their idols back.
Realizing they’re outnumbered, Micah and his men return home empty-handed and humiliated.
NEXT, the murderous intentions that had been stirring in the hearts of the men of Dan reach their full fruition.
They attack and kill the innocent people of Laish and burn the city down to the ground.
FINALLY, after the slaughter, the city is renamed to Dan.
Then the silver idol that was stolen from Micah is erected…
And the cult worship, with the young Levite overseeing the rituals, begins in earnest.
Now you know what’s so tragic about all these events we just went over?
I’m talking about events filled with idolatry, double-handed betrayal and the murder of an entire population of innocent people.
Here’s what’s so sad.
None of the characters in this story saw any wickedness in their actions.
They saw no perversion in their idolatry and in how they chose to worship God in a manner so far removed from Torah.
And that’s the takeaway for today.
Because what’s worse than sinning is sinning but not knowing we’re sinning.
This story about faith gone astray…
And a people who were blind to having fallen away is pretty much our story today.
Oh and one final thing,
A lot of folks mistakenly think Micah’s priest was kidnapped.
That’s not true.
The soldiers of Dan didn’t haul him off by force.
He was given a better offer for more money, superior benefits and higher prestige.
So without a moment’s hesitation, this young Levite with dollar signs in his eyes decided to take the new job.
This is just more evidence of the fleshly nature of the times and how every man did what was right in his eyes.
Now you may be wondering how in the world do I know this Levite was NOT a real priest authorized by God?
Or another way to put it, how do I know he was NOT from the proper priestly line of the tribe of Levi?
Well, we’ll get into that the next time we meet.
See you all next time.
Leave a Reply