Judges Chapter 18:1-31
“Losing Your Religion”
- Introduction
- 1-6 Committed to ease
- 7-26 Designer Faith
- 27-31 Lavish Laish Lifestyle
Introduction
A simple overview of this chapter tells us that the Danites were unable to defeat the Canaanites that dwelt in their territory. So, with a mass migration they decided to go to the furthest part of Israel and find an easier place to live. Most of us have felt like Danites from time to time. We get tired of our circumstances and our situations just seem too hard to overcome so we think, “Man, I’ve got to get out of here, and head up to where life is easier.” But because we can read the rest of the story, we know that they are about to make a huge mistake that they will never recover from as they will become a tribe fully invested in idolatry.
They should have stuck it out and fought the fight of faith and allowed God to change them instead of seeking change in their surroundings. Perhaps God in His wisdom has placed you in a tough place where you have to fight for every square inch because He wants to build your character.
Vs. 1-6 Committed to ease
Vs. 1 The tribe of Dan descended from Jacob’s fifth son born of Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah. We must not think that God had somehow failed the Danites in appropriating land for their tribe to dwell in. Joshua 19 makes it clear that they had been given the land between Ephraim and Judah that stretched all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Judges 1:34 tells us that it was their disobedience that had caused them to be forced into the hills by the Amorites to dwell in two cities.
The Danites wanted their inheritance from God but weren’t willing to do spiritual battle for it. They wanted all the benefits without any of the costs. The Danites chose the easy way that didn’t require sacrifice or obedience. God had called His people to fight and the Danites refused but it wasn’t because they were committed to peace, it was because they were committed to EASE! Why fight the Philistines when you can wipe out the Phoenicians? Why stand when you can run? Vs. 2-6 Over and over again when people passed through this area of Ephraim they seemed to always stop at Micah’s shrine. Micah’s designers’ faith became popular and people were going there as “it was a growing, happening shrine.”
Six times in the Old Testament we read the phrase “from Dan to Beersheba” to describe the geographical boundaries of Israel which was equivalent to saying from “far north to far south”. The interesting think is the Danites land was never supposed to be in the far north. In Duet. 34:1 as Moses was about to die never entering the promise land, he climbed Mount Nebo and looked across the land as “the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan.” As God showed Moses the land, He already knew that the Danites were going to reject the land that He would give them choosing instead that land that was furthest north. God offered them what was best, and they chose what the was the worst. Do you ever feel like your lot had fallen on difficult terrain? No matter what “the Lot our Lord has given us is best.”
The Lord will never give us something that He won’t enable us to conquer, enjoy and be a blessing in!
The Danites love of ease made the worship of idols even more appealing. They sent out five spies, but they didn’t seek God’s will in the Tabernacle at Shiloh instead they went to Micah’s shrine and hired the Levite. They didn’t want to hear what God thought, they wanted a god who would tell them what they wanted to hear!
I believe that they knew what the living God wanted, that was the reason they went to the “designer faith” of Micah, so they could hear something that would fit their desired lifestyle without any demands or conviction.
Gary Inrig in his commentary on this section says, “There is no greater danger facing North American Christians than the love of ease.”
It is so tempting to carve out a lavish Laish City (vs. 7) lifestyle for ourselves.
- A city of ease where we can live affluently and forget about all the needs of the hurting world.
- A place where we can stay away from the radical claims of Jesus and the commands He makes upon our lives.
- A place where we can sleep instead of fight and settle down instead of sacrifice.
Friends, there is no shortage of Evangelical churches that are lining up to offer their particular brand of Micah’s “designer faith”! Be careful!! Ask yourself when you are feeling pulled away…is it for the “love of ease?”
Are you longing to hear something from the pulpit that will affirm your lifestyle and bring no conviction upon your heart?
Vs. 7-26 Designer Faith
Vs. 7-26 What the five spies saw was beautiful and easy to obtain and there was no argument in that. The argument lies in the fact that it was NOT what God had for them, instead it was what appealed to their natural senses. On the way back to the rest of the tribe the five spies told their fellow tribe mates that Micah had a great collection of idols and a fake priest who would tell them what they wanted to hear.
So, when Jonathan answered the door the 2nd time outside stood not five men asking directions, but 600 men to steal him and the gods away and it was the advancement that the upwardly mobile minister had been waiting for. Upon Micah’s return he was missing his gods and his fake priest and asked, “What else do I have?” All Jonathan could think of was “for me, a promotion and a pay raise, man God sure is blessing me!”
Saint’s let me just point out the obvious here: If someone can come and steal your god, if you have to protect your god by killing people who say mean things or draw ugly pictures about your god, then you have the wrong god!
Remember this Christian, if you want to live Laish you will have to become an idol worshipper! You cannot be committed to a “life of ease” and “a life of the cross” at the same time! No lover of Jesus will be able to abandon the mission of our Master if you want to settle down it will be at the price of sitting at the feet of the King!
Micah’s story of stolen gods would be funny if it wasn’t for the fact that it has been repeated countless times by believers.
- Imagine building a faith around something you created and sustained!
- Imagine putting all your faith into something that could be taken from you in an instant!
- Imagine heaving to put all your energy in protecting and defending something you worship that is manmade!
- Imagine being willing to kill or steal from someone else for what they created!
Poor Micah, “what more does he have” now he will have to live by faith idol. Micah entered the story as a thief and exits as a victim of thieves who stole away his “designer faith!”
Vs. 27-31 Lavish Laish Lifestyle
Vs. 27-31 The Sidonians that the Danites destroyed should have never been attacked as they were not Canaanites. Instead, it was the Danites who should have had their cities burned as they were the ones practicing idolatry. The “designer faith” that Micah had developed had four things that appealed to the Danites.
- Practical convenience: A priest who not only would do house calls, but he lived in Micah’s house. No more getting up early, no traffic, or parking problems. Imagine the church ad in the local newspaper or online: “Tired of getting up on your day off? Want to sleep in after a busy week? Try Micah’s faith for a low monthly payment (less than a tithe) and you too can have church at your door.”
- Personally edifying: Micah’s religion was family owned and operated, funded by his mother and staffed by his son, therefore it was truly about THEM. You could hear the comments from those who attended Micah’s “designer faith.” “Man, I just love this shrine, the people made me feel like it was all about me!”
- Positionally tolerant: Because their religion was man based and tailored for them and about them, they could easily eliminate all the things they didn’t like about the true faith. Gone was any thought of sin or need for personal change. It was “greeting card” type faith. One that didn’t require you to make a stand on anything except yourself.
- Positive messages: Finally, as we read Jonathan’s’ words to the Danites, the preaching was positive all the time. “Go in peace. The presence of the Lord be with you on your way,” Jonathan preached. Never mind that the “way” was in the opposite direction of God’s Word. The Danites were looking for a place where there is no lack of anything that is on earth. (vs. 10) And Jonathan was all too happy to oblige them in his preaching.
That is the problem with “boutique designer faith” the “Do it your way, stay at home spiritually” it cannot deliver you in the day of trouble, and when it comes (and it always comes) then you will be left chasing after the gods of your making trying to save them instead of counting on the true God to deliver you.
The outcome of the Danites “love of ease” and theft of Micah’s “designer faith” is a bit deceiving as at first numerically it appears extremely successful, as they defeated a people who prior to their invasion were “quiet and secure.” They burn them out and rebuild the city for themselves and settle into a lifestyle of ease built around a “designer faith” that stays intact. To stop here in Judges would allow us to believe that there is no downfall to creating our own designer faith, no retribution, and impression that they lived happily ever after.
BUT, that is not their history according to 1 Chronicles as we are given the list of the tribes in the Land of Promise and there is no mention of the tribe of Dan. The Danites simply seem to have disappeared. They have vanished into intermarriage with the Philistines all because they refused to take what God had for them and instead took what they wanted they lost everything.
We notice in Revelation Chapter 7 as John introduces the 144,000 Jewish evangelists in the tribulation period that carry out the mission of their Master after the rapture of the Church there is no mention of the Danites being a part of the 144,000.
They had chosen the life of ease and went after Micah’s designer faith and boycotted their future ministry! “Designer Faith” had led to “Self-Centered Service” which had left them to pursue of a “Life of EASE!”
Be careful Christian in what you pursue in your quest for a Church! Personally, if I am not being challenged to die to self (my flesh) pick up my cross and follow Jesus….then it IS NOT FOR ME!
I don’t care how friendly the people are that attend, I don’t care how large a congregation, what kind of facility or how talented the worship team. No, my quest is this: “Am I challenged for there to be more of Jesus and less of me?”