Jg. 17: Micah: Priestly Fail

Judges 17:11 "So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons."

Wow, did these people ever miss the point. We have another mention of 1100 shekels of silver (offered by the Philistines to Delilah to betray Samson), this time it was stolen by this dude Micah from his mom. Then he admits to the thievery, and she is so happy, she has it turned into idols.

Micah remembers something about an Ephod somewhere, and maybe a priest needing to be installed for some reason, so who better than a traveling youngster. (Bonus points for him being a Levite!) Micah installs him as priest and pays him. An ephod was meant to be a priestly garment (Ex. 28:6), not an object of worship (Jg. 8:27). So, some of the elements are right, in that they exist, but they are way out of their intended bounds.

Probably most pathetic about this whole deal is the joy Micah must have, evidenced in verse 13 "...And Micah said, 'Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.'" Was his heart in the right place? I...don't think so. He wanted to please the LORD, and to have the LORD pleased with him, but he made assumptions as to how that would work. The rules were clear, but he didn't know them, or was poorly taught. Coming to God in his own way was probably not likely to work.

As Israel was doing their own thing without a king or judge in place, they deviated far and wide from the set covenant, the priestly rules and ordinances, and generally how to obey God.