LIVING WITHOUT LAWS. Judges 18 Seeking to live a normal life without fixed standards to guide society, a family, and a church leaves a void and results in chaos. Disrespect among people, an ungodly pursuit of self-interest, and hard-hearted demands instead of love ultimately make life miserable for everyone. Self-interest causes moral decline and depravity. Moral depravity leads to biting and devouring one another until we turn on our own people. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." At the end of such a downward cycle is regret, remorse, and deep, deep sadness. The last part of the book of Judges demonstrates this fact.
The tribe of Dan was assigned land during Joshua's time, which was enough for them. However, they did not trust God to help them conquer the area He planned, so the Amorites pushed them into the hills and kept the fertile valleys for themselves. They were either unwilling or unable to move forward with faith in God to settle in their designated territory. It seemed easier for them to look for a place that was simpler to capture and claim. Judges 1:34 shows when the migration of Dan occurred.
Consequently, five men from Dan went north to find a place they could settle without much resistance. The five men who stopped for the night at Micah's house recognized the southern accent of the young Levite, who was the man-made priest. He had come from Judah near the area assigned to the tribe of Dan. The will of God had given them the land, but they were not satisfied with just taking what was legally theirs by faith.
The young Levite "priest" disobeyed because God's laws are unchangeable, but he chose to do things his own way. He carried out priestly duties in a private house instead of at the Tabernacle in a designated city. The priest was disobedient because there were idols, both carved and cast, associated with his priestly service. A man’s imagination created an ephod for him to wear — a garment of a glorious color, decorated with all kinds of beautiful things.
Idols may be impressive carved works like crosses, saints, or other departed figures, and metal castings can produce statues and images that people are inclined to bow before, but all of it is wrong. A man may imitate the Levite who claimed to speak to God when he does not and may escape without immediate consequences. One has said, "God does not always settle accounts in October." Fathers must understand they are responsible for their families both physically and spiritually and not expect Sunday school teachers and preachers to do what they should do. A child of God may drift far from fellowship with God and His people by pursuing self-interest, but there are usually signs and words that he cannot hide, even if he lives with a guilty conscience in his backslidden condition.
People often attend church services as a way to connect with others for various reasons. Some "like the music," and find the atmosphere of a church service entertaining. Some go to ease feelings of guilt for things they've done, hoping that by being there, God will not make them suffer the consequences of their actions. Others attend for business reasons, to make connections to buy and sell. Some go because they are lonely and want friends. Others visit churches to ask for financial help, as Christians are often willing to give some aid. Some people go to learn a language in its purest form. The Lord Jesus Christ told a woman that they "who worship the Father must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."
When the five men traveled further north, they discovered a place that was distant enough from others to keep the people safe while still enabling them to access other locations for business. The land was arable, and they could thrive without needing defensive treaties. Laish wasn't part of the land God promised but was an area the Danites believed they could easily conquer.
Earlier on the way there, the five spies who had passed Micah's house told the six hundred soldiers with them about a ready-made ephod, carved and cast idols, and a priest who could be bought with money. Six hundred armed men from the tribe of Dan were probably the majority available during their migration to the northern edge of Israel. A relatively small army must be careful about who and where they attack to claim property others also want.
They could take whatever they wanted from Micah without worry when Micah and his neighbors came after them. Micah was mainly focused on his idol, ephod, and household gods. The ephod, idols, and priest were all he had. He was without God, without anything that pointed to Christ, and without any hope of acceptance by God through his own efforts. Neither he, the Levite priest, nor the Danites considered God. They only wanted God for selfish reasons.
Nothing the world offers—whether religious, business, social, or entertainment—can fill the spiritual void people feel when God is absent. Micah's home life lacked God. The Levite’s religious practices ignored God's laws. The Danites’ pursuit of land was disconnected from divine guidance. Any of us can drift far from God when we forget our identity and ignore His claims on us. God does not lead us to do wrong. Personal success, wealth, popularity, and good health are not always signs of God's blessing. Just because something resembles worship according to human standards doesn't mean it is true worship. Godliness is not merely something we claim; it is reflected in both our motives and our actions.
Idolatry had taken root among the Danites, Micah, and the Ephraimites. Even the Levite priest, the grandson of Moses, was an idolater, and the moral and spiritual strength of the entire nation seemed to have disappeared. It was not just the disintegration of national unity and worship; the individuals within the nation had also lost any semblance of faith in God. In one generation, the overall population had become paganized.
The Danites moved to a remote area where they could do as they pleased. The children of Dan chose the easier route and settled so far from Shiloh that it became simple for them to avoid going to the place where the Lord had His name. God's people were supposed to meet Him in the way and at the place He chose. Without a king or recognized human authority, they rejected God's provision by refusing to accept it. So, the Danites, on their own, attacked an unsuspecting people, burned the city of Laish, rebuilt it, and named it Dan. Even though God's house had been at Shiloh all those years and true worship was available, the people of Dan chose not to bother with it.
Lawlessness often blinds us to our own faults and vulnerabilities and causes us to overlook others. When we disregard others, we become more willing to use spiritual talk to secure our own advantage. Consequently, we may dismiss righteousness by justifying shady dealings as "good business." The outcomes are likely the destruction of personal testimony, a disdain for Christian testimony overall, and a persistent pattern of disobedience to God.
What initially appear as harmless habits can quickly take over our core values. As values deteriorate, they lead to misguided attitudes and actions, trapping us in what we know is wrong. Living without laws and unchanging standards set by a righteous, holy, and just God leaves people without direction and hope for the future.
The Levite priest, whose name was Jonathan, is identified at the end of this chapter as the grandson of Moses. It is sad that he, and possibly his father, did not learn how crucial it is to obey the word of God. The consequence was that his family's next generations became all counterfeit priests until they were taken captive. One person’s rejection of God and His will can impact many generations of those who follow. One poor decision can lead to the ruin of many people.
“Why are you here? Don’t you know of a better situation? A man of your caliber should be way up in rank.” Paying attention to flattering words, a hireling moves on to bigger and better things. His accommodating, thoughtless words make each situation seem better to those who pay him to say what they want to hear, while his disrespect for God grows. “Any place is okay; after all, it is not the place that counts. Your heart matters, your love for everybody, your motive.” The hireling does things in his own house that God has reserved to be done in His. Idols made by men he made he carries with him as he accepts an attractive offer, and his disrespect for God shows.
“What does God say? Are we going to prosper, get rich? Are we going to be important? Are we going to get ‘big?’” Modern hirelings claim to speak for God when God didn’t speak to them—they replace divine truth with their own ideology. When modern gods fail to raise money and are stolen by other hucksters, they simply move on to another place for a better offer—and he knows his disrespect for God.
“You think one thing, and I think another. You have one truth, and I don’t bother because what people think and want matters, not the truth.” The modern hireling follows his own way, and that suits him, while all the while, the house of God remains in its place at “Shiloh.” The hireling’s disrespect for God is evident and continues to grow.
"Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."