Judges 18

Yesterday, belovedofthelord showed us 3 characters that served as cautionary tales for us Christians in the last days.  Today, let us conclude the 2 part series of chapters 17-18 by looking at what other warning signs we – as the supposedly faithful men (and women) of God in the last days should be careful of… lest we also quickly slipped to become faithless people.

Bible Passage:  Judges 18

What was wrong with the people of Israel?  Just in this one chapter alone…. SO MANY THINGS!  I hardly know where to start!  It is frightening to think that when I read this passage, I could not help but constantly reflect on where I am right now and see how close I am to being just like them….

Choosing Our Way and Not God’s Way

We start off with Judges 18:1 where it seems strange that after all the dividing of the land, here was Dan still seeking for a place to dwell in.  Oh!  They have been given land by Joshua but the big problem was that they did not drive out the enemy because the inhabitants of the land were the Philistines and they were big, strong and ugly (ok… maybe not ugly).

But they were difficult customers and Dan had trouble in driving them out and could only take a small piece of land to stay in.  So now, they headed northward to Laish – a beautiful fertila area at the base of Mount Hermon.

This may sound good and wonderful… but there was only one problem…. this was not where God wanted them to be.  This was not what God wanted to give them. This was where they thought they knew better and wanted to be.  Their way… not God’s way.

Are we sometimes like this?  We know clearly what the will of God is at times and what we should do.  But because of various difficulties or obstacles… we just choose to give up and choose for ourselves another way…. comforting ourselves that this is the more beautiful and better way.

But it’s our way… not God’s way…  think about it.

Hearing What We Like To Hear

Now Dan sent 5 spies to spy out the land before they attacked it (Judges 18:2-7) and they came to Micah’s house.  When they found out that Jonathan was a priest, they asked him to inquire of the Lord and Jonathan came back with a most favourable answer – that God will be with them.

Now I seriously doubt that Jonathan received an answer from God (given his dubious service as a priest) but the people of Dan were very happy and took that as God was with them.

Do you remember in 1 Kings 22 when Jehoshaphat and Ahab had an alliance to fight their common enemy and Jehoshaphat wanted to inquire of the prophet of God.  Even though Ahab gathered 400 priests together that gave their blessings for the battle, Jehoshaphat still sought to hear from the man of God, Micaiah.

When Micaiah finally told the truth and gave a bad prophecy, he was punched in his face and imprisoned.  Ahab just did not want to hear the truth and wanted his ears tickled by the words of his false prophets.  But we all know the end of that story…

However, we still see the same thing happening today… even for ourselves.

We like to hear what we want to hear.  And when the word of God suits us, we receive it willingly.  But when it goes against what we want to hear, we find ways to ‘bending’ it such that it suits us.  We just want to hear messages of “Peace, Peace” but do not want to confront the stark facts before our eyes and ears.

Many are willing to tell us what we like to hear… but is it always in the truth.  Unfortunately, it is always harder to tell the truth cause many a times, it hurts.

I realised that there are very few brethren who will tell me directly when I have done wrong and where I should do better.  Let me give you permission right now (actually you do not need it) to tell me directly where I am wrong (even though this may not be the things I want to hear) so that I may change and improve.

One Wrong After Another

Now that the Danites established that Laish was a beautiful place with ‘weaker’ people, they gathered a force of 600 men to attack it.  They stopped by Micah’s house and the 5 spies go in and take the carved image, the ephod, the house hold idols and the molded image. They go in and raid this guy’s house and think nothing of it. (Judges 18:7-21)

So here we see the true heart of Jonathan the priest.  In Chpater 17, we learn that he as a Levite from Bethlehem and because he was paid some money and given an ephod, he served in the house of Micah.  Now, he gets a better offer, more money, more people, and jumps on it.

He sees this as a chance for career advancement!

Now, this is not a true shepherd of God, but a hireling.  Peter admonishes us to “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain…” I Peter 5:2.

When I read this, I also took some time to re-evaluate my service to God.

Am I serving God with a wrong purpose and lurching from one wrong to another in my service?

Do I jump ship in my service to the Lord for more high profile services or works?  What is my true intention of serving God?  Am I even doing what I should or should not be doing now?  Again…. some things to think about.

Might Is Right!  Is it?

What follows to the rest of the chapter is quite comical… if not tragic.

The Danites chose to carry away the gods of Micah.  It’s strange that the people of God (both Micah and the Danites) placed so much faith in these idols when it could be so easily carried away!

Moses reminded the people (and us) in Deut 1:30-31….

“The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.”

Yet, we live our lives depending on things and resources that shows we have not placed our full confidence in God.

And when you see how the Danites first confronted Micah and then the people of Laish, it was also a clear case of bullying… using their might to get what they want.

600 men of war against Micah!  They told him to watch his mouth or he would lose more than just his gods… and Micah wisely heeded that warning.

600 men of war against the weaker people of Laish!  They had sought God first but ended up stealing someone else’s idols, priest and then set up their shrines with the carved images at their new homeland.

This is like a comedy if it were not so tragic.

Sometimes everything that we do goes to plan.  It is all smooth sailing.  And we are happy because we seemed to have done the right thing… we have inquired of God; we have conquered the enemy; we have even gotten the priest on our side!  We are unstoppable!

But might is not always right!

How and why we are doing things are just as important for us to consider.  Let us not allow success in the world to cloud our minds from thinking that all is right with God.

But instead, like what belovedofthelord encouraged us to seek for yesterday, let us pray that “God grant us the wisdom to remain faithful in faithless times” and learn from the terrible examples of the people during the time of the Judges.