Teaching Notes

TH1013: JUDGES

As we concluded last week in Judges chapter 16, we also came to an end of the chronological history of the book of Judges. We have seen 12 Judges raised-up to deliver Israel from the bondage they were in. Those Judges were:

1. OTHNIEL 2. EHUD 3. SHAMGAR

4. DEBORAH 5. GIDEON 6. TOLA

7. JAIR 8. JEPHTHAH 9. IBZAN

10. ELON 11. ABDON 12. SAMSON

Now as we move into chapters 17-21 we move into a section that is an appendix to the book of Judges and in this appendix we see recorded the religious apostasy and social degradation that was going on during this time. It gives us an inside look at the hearts of the people and it isn't a pretty picture. But then looking at sin we know it is not a pretty picture, but it is even worse when God's children are involved in it.

Remember when God showed Ezekiel the hearts of the leaders of Israel, and the Lord said to him, "`Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.' So I went in and saw, and there - every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around the walls. And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, `Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, `The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.'" Ezekiel 8:8-12. The religious leaders of Israel were into idolatry, thinking that the Lord does not see their evil deeds. That the wickedness that is being done in the dark is hidden from God. Ezekiel was looking into the hearts of the religious leaders of Israel, seeing what the Lord see's. And it was ugly. These religious leaders had sunk down to the level of the nations around them. And as the religious leaders go, so will the people. They sunk as low as their leaders and the Lord said "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity, for they say, `The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!'" Ezekiel 9:9. They were playing follow the leader and both were heading to destruction. As we move into the last 5 chapters of the book of Judges, they break down basically like this. Chapters 17-18 deal with religious apostasy. And Ezekiel showed us what follows religious apostasy, social degradation which is found in chapters 19-21. Here the people sink to the same level as their religious leaders. Now the events of these chapters seem to have transpired fairly early on in the history of the book of Judges. In Judges 18:30 we see the grandson of Moses mentioned, and these 2 chapters could have happened around the time of Othniel. And chapters 19-21 also could have occurred early in the history of the book of Judges for we see in Judges 20:28 Eleazer, the grandson of Aaron mentioned. This evening, we will be dealing with the religious apostasy in Israel. So please turn to Judges chapter 17.

JUDGES 17

VERSES 1-2

1. This guy Micah, rips off his mother of 1,100 shekels of silver, but becomes a little nervous when she places a curse on whomever stole this silver from her, for she did not know that her own son had done this evil. So he spills the beans and tells her that he is the one who took the silver, but instead of coming against what he had done, she says "May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!" How mixed up they had become. Not standing up for what is right and coming against what is wrong, in fact they were doing the opposite. And it only gets worse.

VERSE 3

1. First of all she took no stand against stealing and now she says that the silver was to be given to her son Micah to purchase carved and molded images - IDOLS! Now these were not pagan images but images that represented to him the presence of God. We see that today in many churches, people who don't feel God is present unless there is a big cross, or stained glass windows and-so-on. The problem with that is if you need those things to relate to God, it shows that you have lost the consciousness of God in your life and you are trying to replace it with these images. It is a mark of spiritual deterioration which is trying to be filled with these images rather than God.

VERSES 4-5

1. Not only does Micah break the second commandment from Exodus 20:4 by making this carved image, but he makes his son, his priest, which was also unlawful. They came from Ephraim, and the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe. How tragic, Micah, whose name means "Who is like Yahweh?" seems to be totally confused about his relationship with God. He attempts to worship God according to his own ways instead of how God had instructed him. Verse 6 explains the reason for the confusion.

VERSE 6

1. We see this theme repeated some 4 times in the book of Judges, (17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25). And this is the reason for their failure, God was no longer reigning on the thrones of their hearts. Because of that the people did whatever they felt was right, and for the most part it was evil.

2. We see that today and we call it existentialism, which basically says if it feels right, do it. You see, you are not responsible for your actions and there is no real right or wrong. We can see that we are reaping the consequences of that philosophy. God has told us that there are moral absolutes and we must follow them or our society will be in chaos.

3. We also see many social scientists tell us that we do not need God to live a moral life style. Just look at America and you can see how wrong that statement is. One of the problems today is that this nation is being run by popular opinion, being a Democracy, and the problem with that isif the hearts of the people are wicked, then the things they stand-up for will also be wicked. In fact our founding fathers set-up a government that was not a Democracy, but a Republic. In fact they hated Democracy and called it the work of the Devil. Even our Pledge of the Allegiance says "I Pledge allegiance, to the flag, and to the United States of America. And to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all." A Republic is based upon moral absolutes the Bible, where as a Democracy is based on whatever the majority of the people wanted. There are no moral absolutes in a Democracy. Under a Democracy we can change the laws on homosexuality, adultery and-so-on, based upon the popular opinion of the people. Under a Republic that would not change. That is why our founding fathers thought that a Democracy was of the Devil for they saw the potential problems with it, what we are experiencing today.

VERSES 7-8

1. Johnathan, who was a priest and the grandson of Moses, according to Judges 18:13, was dwelling in Bethlehem. The problem with this was that Bethlehem was not one of the 48 cities assigned for the priests to dwell in. Why was he dwelling there? Most likely the people stopped supporting the priests, which makes sense when you think about it. When the spiritual condition of the people cooled off, they stopped supporting the priests, whom they were to support according to Numbers 18:21-32, Deuteronomy 14:27-29 and 26:12-15.

2. So Johnathan gives up his calling and is out looking for work, dwelling in areas that he was not to be in and doing things that he was not to do. We are going to see that this man was not in it to serve the Lord and to encourage the people to follow the Lord, but for the money!

VERSES 9-10

1. Johnathan is a hireling, turning from serving God to serve in the comfort and security in the home of a idolator. When God calls you into a ministry He doesn't say it will be easy, but don't sell yourself out to the enemy to live a life of comfort and ease. Do the work that God has called you to do. For Johnathan, he could not pass up this offer!

VERSES 11-13

1. How warped the mind of Micah was. He thinks that now that he has this priest to attend to the shrine he has made, that God will bless his household. How could they move so far away from the truths of God? Very simply, they had nothing to guide them, and as you start getting off course, it is not long before you are totally lost, not knowing where you are at. Let me explain. Imagine if you were going to sail from California to Hawaii, and when you started you were only a few degrees off course. Not much at all. By the time you were to arrive in Hawaii, you would be so far off course that you would miss the island completely. So how can we stay on track? Simple, you need a compass. For us our compass is the word of God that keeps us on track. You will never go astray if you are guided by the instruments that God has given to you to keep you on track and that is the word of God which is powered by the Holy Spirit.

2. It is amazing to me, but the Johnathan's and Micah's will always find each other, because they need each other. As Paul told Timothy, warning him of what was to come, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." II Timothy 4:3-4. You see, their will always be those seeking to satisfy self, no matter if it contradicts what God has said, and there will always be those who will teach that garbage of lies to others. For they need each other. Our responsibility, Paul says, is to "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." II Timothy 4:2.

JUDGES 18

VERSE 1

1. Dan was given a portion of land by Joshua, the problem was that they did not drive out the enemy. The area that was allotted to them was by the Jerusalem mountains to the Mediterranean Sea Coast. This was also the area in which the Philistines dwelt in. And the tribe of Dan could not drive them out, but were only able to take a small portion of land to live in. Thus, most of the tribe of Dan headed northward, to Laish. This is a beautiful, fertile area at the base of Mount Hermon. But it is always tragic to see God's people dwelling in the place that God has not given to them.

VERSES 2-6

1. These 5 men of the tribe of Dan head northward to find an area of land for the rest of the tribe of Dan to dwell in. They rested at Micah's house and while there they recognized Johnathan's dialect and wondered what in the world he was doing in Micah's house. Johnathan is not ashamed and tells them that Micah hired him. Since Johnathan was a priest, these guys ask him to inquire of the Lord to see if their journey will be prosperous. And Johnathan tells them not to worry, God is with you. Now I truly doubt if that is what God said to him, I think more likely Johnathan was a man pleaser and just told them what they wanted to hear.

2. Remember when wicked king Ahab asked king Jehoshaphat to assist him in battle against the Arameans at Ramoth Gilead. And Jehoshaphat, who was a Godly king, asks king Ahab to inquire of the Lord to see if they should go to war. And king Ahab gathers together 400 prophets and asks them that question. They responded by saying "Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king." And you would think that 400 prophets all agreeing would be enough, but Jehoshaphat said "Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?" I Kings 22. And reluctantly king Ahab informs king Jehoshaphat that there does remain one more prophet, Micaiah. But the king hates this guy "Because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Remember that king Ahab is a wicked king married to that wicked woman Jezebel. But they reluctantly bring this man, Micaiah in before these two kings. And as they bring Micaiah in they tell him to speak as the other prophets have spoken. To be in one accord with them. They wanted him to encourage the king, and they were not concerned with the truth. Sothe king asks Micaiah what they should do, and, almost sarcastically he says "Go and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king!"

The king recognized what Micaiah was doing and said to him "How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?" So Micaiah lets him have it. He tells him that Israel will be defeated in this battle, and king Ahab would not return from the battle. His reward for speaking the truths of God was he got punched in the face, locked in prison and fed bread and water. The king did not want to hear the truth but wanted his ears tickled by the words of his false prophets. What Micaiah said came to pass, but we still see that kind of garbage today. People do not want to hear the truths of God. They want all roads to lead to God and not just the narrow road. So when you speak the truths of God, many don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear of a righteous God who is coming to judge those who have rejected His Son Jesus Christ. So they speak of a God of love, negating that He is also a righteous Judge and will judge the wickedness in this world. As much as people don't want to hear it, Christ is coming in judgment against a Christ rejecting world. No matter how much they try to deny that fact, it will come to pass, for God has said it. The men of Dan had their ears tickled by Johnathan, but again, I don't think it was of the Lord. Johnathan gave them the answer they wanted to hear.

VERSE 7

1. As these men of Dan head northward, they come across the people of Laish. A peaceful settlement, isolated by themselves, and the men of Dan saw this as an easy victory. These people were not like the Philistines, big and strong, but easy picking for the men of Dan.

2. Laish is about 25 miles north of the Sea of Kinnerith, that is the Sea of Galilee. As I said earlier, the land is very green and overgrown with all forms of vegetation. There was plenty of fresh water and the men of Dan saw this as a great place to live and the victory would be easy.

VERSES 8-17

1. Dan gathers 600 men to go to war against the people of Laish, and on their way they make a stop at 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 guys house and think nothing of it.

VERSES 18-21

1. Here we see the heart of this priest, Johnathan. He gets a better offer, more money, more people, and jumps on it. He see's it as a chance for advancement. Johnathan is not a true shepherd of God, but a hireling, who was in it for the money. 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.

2. The men of Dan recognize that Micah might not appreciate what they did, so they place the young, the livestocks and their goods in the front, so that if Micah attacks from the rear, theywould be ready for him. Their behavior illustrates their serpent behavior mentioned in Jacob's prophecy for this tribe back in Genesis 49:17.

VERSES 22-24

1. How tragic when a man's god's can be carried away. You see, Idolaters worship god's that can be carried away, but we as Christians worship a God who carries us! As Moses tells the children of Israel what God has done for them, He is also doing the same for us. He said in Deuteronomy chapter 1, "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." Deuteronomy 1:30-31.

2. We see here that once their spiritual condition was destroyed, their moral condition broke down. Thus, MIGHT IS RIGHT! That was the law of the land. You see, if the Spirit of God is not guiding you, then your bodily desires will guide you and you will act like wild animals. Much like we see in the world today. We see today 3 basic philosophies of life that guide us:

A.. WHAT'S MINE IS MINE, I'LL KEEP IT!

B.. WHAT'S YOURS IS MINE, I'LL TAKE IT!

C.. WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS, I'LL SHARE IT!

The tribe of Dan followed the second philosophy, What's yours is mine, I'll take it! But we as Christians should follow the third philosophy, What's mine is yours, I'll share it! That is AGAPE love that comes flowing from our lives. It should not be selfish nor a might is right philosophy, taking what ever you want by force.

VERSES 25-26

1. The men of Dan had allot of compassion, they told Micah to watch his mouth, or he would lose more than just his gods!

VERSES 27-31

1. The men of Dan defeat the people of Laish and set-up their shrine with the carved image and the rest. And this kind of activity continued until their captivity by the Assyrians in 721 B.C.

2. Also, Dan was the first tribe to officially adopt idolatry as a tribal policy, and it was through the tribe of Dan that idolatry entered the land. (I Kings 12:28-30). The setting-up of this kind of worship, with this shrine, was in direct opposition to the true worship of the Lord which was to take place in Shiloh, Joshua 18:1.

3. Next week, as we conclude the book of Judges, we will see the social degradation that was taking place in Israel. A very harsh reality to where the hearts of the people were at.