Four times in the last five chapters of Judges, we are told there was no king in Israel. The events related in today’s Scripture took place after the death of Joshua and before Samuel anointed Saul as the first King of Israel. Since there was no king to rule over them, “every man did what was right in his own eyes.”
When you consider yourself to be god you can do anything you want that seems good to you. That’s what this Micah from Ephraim did. While he is to be commended for confessing his thievery to his mother, he stands as an example of so many today who obey not the God of the Bible, but become their own gods.
Making and bowing down in worship to graven images made in the likeness of God was prohibited by the second commandment. Micah was clearly wrong to have a shrine with such idols and to appoint one of his sons to be his priest. He evidently also knew this was wrong because when a Levite (one of those who God had appointed to lead the worship at the tabernacle) happened by, Micah hires him to be his priest in a vain attempt to salve his conscience and gain God’s favor (vs. 13).
We live in a similar age when people are making their own gods and demanding their “freedom” to do what is right in their own eyes. But like Micah, they will lose it all because their man-made gods can’t deliver them in the end. The philosophy of many is: “if it feels good, do it.” Forsaking God’s laws and making our own rules for life leads to tragic ends. Just consider: one in five teens has a sexually transmitted disease, the number of unwanted children is increasing as is the number of children living in broken homes. Crime is increasing; prisons are not sufficient to hold the lawbreakers who “were doing what was right in their own eyes.” Making our own gods and doing what we think is right has tragic consequences.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way” Psalm 139:23–24 (NASB).
Rev. Bill Monroe, Vernon, Vt.
Extended Scripture: Judges 17–19 (NASB)
