Judges 18:1-31
18:1-2 The children of Israel have lost their foundation. By abandoning God, they have made themselves completely lost: literally and spiritually. The Danites, the people of the tribe of Dan, are essentially homeless. They have no law or philosophy to live by and they have no land. In seek of stability, the Danites send out five men to search the land for a solution.
18:3 The five men encounter Micah in the mountains of Ephraim and lodge in his house. Our lives make an impact on those who come into our lives, and this is evidence here. These five men represent an entire tribe of people, what they learn from Micah will spread throughout the homes of thousands of people. Unfortunately, Micah's lifestyle will bring further detriment to their situation.
The Danites recognize the Levite, the self-proclaimed personal priest to Micah. They ask him about his circumstances.
18:4 The Levite man explains that Micah has hired him and pays for his services through shelter and provision.
18:5-6 The Danites are intrigued by Micah's wealth; the home is surrounded by idols. Their spiritual ignorance causes them to believe that these idols render the place holy. A true child of God would be careful to observe that impressive things are not holy, but often charm people enough to convince them that they are.
18:7-10 The five men return to their people and report back that they found a solution to their problems. Their plan is to take over Micah's home and claim it for themselves. Humanity can be quite obtuse; we benefit from learning of our shortcomings through these pages. The Danites are thrilled to have found a supposedly holy place... even though the place is very obviously unholy, as it is filled with direct opposition to the 3rd commandment.
Humans get the equations wrong without the help of our Creator-Mathematician. Our calculations are often wrong: we think certain things added to our lives will equate with happiness. We are charmed by false idols and therefore neglect to subtract them from our lives.
18:11-17 The Danite men rob Micah and the priest's house. They take all of the idols for themselves.
18:18-19 When the priest is woken, the men tell him to leave Micah and become their priest. They tell him that it is better for him to serve a group rather than an individual. Ironically, both the group and Micah would be better without this false priest they so cherish and desire to have.
18:20 The priest, already known to us a fool, agrees with their logic and leaves Micah to follow them.
We can see just how far the children of Israel have gone from God. This man is supposed to be a teacher of God's word. Instead, he is more than happy to flit from group to group, teaching nothing, as long as he is provided for by their wealth. He has no sense of obligation to lead them toward God; instead, he follows their corrupt ways.
People like this are not an ancient kind. They still persist in their detrimental "work." Scripture implores us over and over again to be vigilant, cautious to follow anyone other than God.
The Danites are in desperate need of a foundation, a philosophy, just as each individual is - then and now. God is the foundation on which to rest, secured. God is the philosophy through which to live and remain secure, purposeful and righteous.
18:21-26 Micah's men catch up to the Danites as they leave with all of Micah's livelihood. When confronted as thieves, the intimidate Micah into backing down. If we already did not have enough evidence of the God-less nature of these peoples lives, Micah's submission to fear and intimidation is a prominent example. God's children shrink to no person, no matter how fierce the opposition.
18:27-29 The Danites take over a peaceful place; killing all of the innocent people within. God never gave the children of Israel permission to trample over what is not theirs. The righteous children of God are allowed to overtake evil: but these Danites are not righteous and the people they have taken over are innocent. This reckless, selfish lifestyle is an insult and poor substitute to the covenant God offered to them.
18:30-31 We should be convinced by now of the Danites utter foolishness. The symbolism is that without God's philosophy, life tends to dissolve into chaos. The Danites have supposedly established themselves on stolen land, with stolen carved images and a stolen, false priest. And yet they are proud!
This scripture is placed in the Bible because God does not want us to descend into arrogant foolishness. As humans, we have deficiencies. We are often slaves to our desires. We are vulnerable to ignorance and pride. God wants us to trust that He has established a philosophy which will inspire and enable us to overcome our fallibility.
