If I “feel” it’s okay, then why should anyone care?

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of the “Titan Sub”, which suffered a catastrophic implosion during its voyage to the shipwreck Titanic. The Titan likely imploded an hour and 45 minutes from its launch. What likely caused the problem? I quote:

“Experts have questioned the use of titanium and carbon fiber for deep diving, as they have different properties. Titanium is elastic and can adapt to ranges of stresses and pressures without permanent strain on the material. Carbon fiber on the other hand is stiffer and non-elastic, often prone to cracking.”

The CEO of the company who died in the implosion fired an engineer who questioned his use of titanium and carbon fiber. Mixing the two would prove to lead to no good. As humans, we love to push the envelope, thinking that we can overcome regardless as to how foolish our actions are. Sometimes there is no recovery.

Just as the engineers created a submarine destined to implode, last week we were introduced to a pioneer in false religion called Micah. Micah and his mother made a “do it yourself” religion, complete with his own store bought “priest”. What could possibly go wrong?

Home Made Hand Made Religion Is Deceiving

Samson’s Tribe, the Tribe of Dan, had been given land by God, land they were supposed to fight for and work in. But the problem with the Tribe of Dan (hereafter called the “Danites”) was that they would NOT obey God. Look at the first few words of:

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.

“there was no king in Israel” – not even God. The Judges only rose up when the people repented, which came less and less. Samson only halfway followed God, and ended up blind and dead for it. Micah started his own religion. The Danites refused to work the land they were given.

Word Study: The Tribe of Dan was given a region west of Jerusalem, but would not obey God and work the land, pushing the Canaanites out. Dan – like so many today – prefer welfare to actually serving the Lord. Their inheritance had not “fallen unto them” (Hebrew nāp̄al, pronounced naw-fal’, Qal Perfect verb), literally “laid down for them”. Since they were not on God’s affirmative action giveaway they as a tribe disobeyed God, and began to search for land that was easier to acquire.

To do the work of God takes effort. The lazy believer will never find blessing! The blended believer will never triumph over evil, but will be Satan’s dupes!

Judges 18:2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

It was not that Dan didn’t have the supplies nor the people to settle the land. They just didn’t want to live for God! They had “men of valor”, five men that they sent out to scout for a land more easily conquered. These spies moved northeast into the land apportioned to the Tribe of “Ephraim”. Here they came across the home of Micah and his man-made religion.

Judges 18:3-4 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

We Worship God In Spirit & Truth (John 4:23-24)

Our Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). There is no worship of the God of Israel in Mount Ephraim. Before Jerusalem was conquered and the Temple was built, Israel had a Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting (called in the Hebrew Ohel-Mo’ed) that they worshiped God in. When Joshua took Israel into the Promised Land, the Bible says:

Joshua 18:1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

God wanted the Tabernacle – the movable Temple – in Shiloh, about 19 miles north of Jerusalem. “Shiloh” means “He Whose it is”, and was a prophetic name for Jesus Christ our Messiah (see Genesis 49:10). Joshua often made major decisions for Israel in Shiloh (Joshua 18:8, 10; 19:51). The House of God was not supposed to be in Micah’s home, but in Shiloh. We read:

Judges 18:31 And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

I wish I had a dollar every time someone told me, “Preacher, I can worship God while I’m fishing, or while sitting in a duck hide”. Yes, you can. Yes, you should. But you won’t. When believers come together, we encourage one another to worship – something you will NOT do in the wild! Micah wanted to worship God his own way, with his gods and goddesses, in his home. He didn’t want to do it God’s way.

Likewise we have the Danites. Why were they looking for land? Because they refused to serve God in the way He commanded. They rejected God as King, and because of that were unable to secure the land. God will not bless you if you do not obey God. Period!

The Danites come to Micah’s “church” and, ignoring Micah, talk to the Levite. “Why are you here, and not in Shiloh?”, they ask. The Levite tells them that Micah – not GOD but Micah – “hath hired me, and I am his priest”. This priest is a false prophet. He is not living his life for the Lord, but for Micah, for the pleasure of others. He is like the false prophets that the Apostle warned of in:

2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

The servant of God is not to please people, but to please God. The Apostle said:

If I yet PLEASED MEN, I should NOT BE the SERVANT OF CHRIST! Galatians 1:10

This Levite “belongs” to Micah, not to God.

Like Esau, he has sold his soul for a bowl of lentil stew.
Like Judas, he has betrayed His Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Like Caiaphas, he has lied about the Messiah.
Like Pilate, he has betrayed truth in order to please the crowd.

Foolishly, the Danites ask the Levite if God will bless their journey. This is foolish. Would you ask a blind man to describe the color red, or a deaf man to describe Handel’s “Messiah”? No! But these Danites were already outside of the will of God, so they speak to the false priest:

Judges 18:5-6 And {The Danite Spies} said unto {the Levite Priest}, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go.

What did you think of the “priest’s” prayer to God? There was none.

This false priest did not so much as pray or seek God’s face, but immediately tells them that they will be blessed because “before the Lord is your way wherein ye go”. I love the way my commentary puts this:

“This shows what a spiritually confused time this was in Israel. These Danites on a sinful mission met with a sinful Levite and wanted to know from a righteous God if their mission would be successful. Then the sinful Levite sent the sinning men on their way with God’s blessing.”

God will not bless anything apart from His Word. By His Word He had given the Danites a territory of their own. By departing from His Word, they are traveling a path that will take them farther and farther from God.

Judges 18:7-8 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians {Sidonians or Phoenicians}, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. 8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

Word Study: The Spies come to “Laish”, also known as Leshem (Joshua 18:47) and found there a city filled with Phoenicians. These people “dwelt careless” (Hebrew yāšaḇ beṭaḥ), literally “lived in security”. God told Israel to drive these people out of the land (Joshua 13:4). Yet this land was not given to the Tribe of Dan, nor did God send these spies out to Laish. The Danite Spies wanted this land because the people were “quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land”. The people had no ruler, no government to speak of, and no standing military or police. The Sidonians were peaceably living in the land, and appeared to be far enough away from other Sidonians so that they would be easier to defeat. Talking it over with the Danites of “Zorah and Eshtaol”, they decide to build a small army:

Judges 18:9-11 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. 10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth. 11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

Though No One Has Asked God Anything,
They Blame It All On God

The Spies told the Danites “God hath given {Laish} into your hands”. This is what the false priest told them after not seeking God’s face. Building an army of 600 Danites, they head back to Laish – but not before getting their “lucky rabbit’s foot”.

Judges 18:12-17 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim. 13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. 14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. 16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. 17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

Illustrate: The Danites had long since ceased following God. They wanted to be sure that God blessed them, and went before them. How did they ensure this? They stole a bunch of Qurans, a pile of Vedas, some Books of Mormon and Jehovah Witness New World Translations. They grabbed the Buddhist Tipitaka, and a whole bunch of rabbit’s feet and buckeyes. They were going to battle, so they wanted something religious with them to insure that God would go before them.

This is how Roman Catholicism started. The Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus (Constantine the Great) had a dream in which he was told to mark ‘the heavenly sign of God’ on his soldiers’ shields. He did as instructed, had the sign – the Cross – inscribed on the shields of his army. When he died in 337 AD, Roman Catholicism was the state religion of Rome.

Like Constantine and his armies, the Danites wanted a lucky mark on their shields so they could overthrow Laish. After grabbing all the idolatrous paraphernalia that Micah had cast, they decided they also needed their own priest. So they offer this priest a promotion!

Judges 18:18-20 And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? 19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? 20 And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

Illustrate: They knew the priest was open to bartering, as he stood by while the Danites robbed the false temple. It reminds me of another time several years ago during the Los Angeles riots, when a reporter came across three people looting a store. Questioning them, the first two cursed him and ran away. The third man told the reporter, “I got some Gospel music! I love Jesus!”. You do not love Jesus if you do not obey Jesus (John 14:15; 15:10). God “shows mercy to the thousands that love Him, and keep His commandments” (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10). God has always said:

Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

God’s people have a King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

1 Corinthians 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

The Danites offer this false priest a promotion. He can stay with Micah, and be just a small family priest – or he can play the BIG TIME with the Danites. He can be the Danites own personal priest. This man was being offered a MEGACHURCH, an amazing upgrade! So he defects along with all the religious paraphernalia.

Judges 18:21-23 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. 22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

You Can’t Steal My Religion!

When Micah realized that his false god and false religion were stolen, he went to rescue his own gods. This is the folly of idolatry. Any god that you make, you must also protect. Any god that you make is no stronger than you are. Idolatry is, at heart, no more than self worship. God forbade idolatry in the 2^nd commandment:

Deuteronomy 5:7-10 (ESV) You shall have no other gods before me. 8 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The True God of Scripture never needs to be rescued. His Servants need not seek “better employment”, for God is the best Employer! The Psalmist mocks idols as foolish things:

Psalm 115:3-8 (ESV) Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. 5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. 6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. 7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. 8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

The trust in a false idol or a false priest is the height of stupidity! It is idolatry that leads to homosexuality and lesbianism (Romans 1:18-32). It is only the pagan that chases after idols (1 Corinthians 12:2). Idolatry is vain, useless, without power. God’s Word to His people is:

Colossians 3:5-8 (ESV) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away …

The Christian has a High Priest that can never leave us nor forsake us. We have Jesus Christ! Jesus will never abandon us for someone or something greater. He is the “Good Shepherd Who gives His life to His sheep” (John 10:11) . Jesus Christ is the “Good Shepherd Who knows His sheep, and whose sheep know Him” (John 10:14). Pastor John Piper stated:

“Idolatry starts in the heart: craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything that you treasure more than God. … What is an idol? Well, it is the thing. It is the thing loved or the person loved more than God, wanted more than God, desired more than God, treasured more than God, enjoyed more than God. It could be a girlfriend. It could be good grades. It could be the approval of other people. It could be success in business. It could be sexual stimulation. It could be a hobby or a musical group that you are following or a sport or your immaculate yard.”

Judges 18:24-26 And {Micah} said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? 25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. 26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

When Micah came with his ragtag army to rescue his idols, they told him to SHUT UP and GET OUT or die. The Danites refused to return Micah’s idols and his false priest, so Micah turned around and headed home, defeated and looking utterly foolish. The Danite army continues to Laish. We read:

Judges 18:27-31 And {the Danite Army} took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon {Sidon}, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

The Bible is very careful to tell us that the Danites defeated Laish – not for the glory of God nor through the power of God – but because Laish was a weak area unaffiliated with Sidon (Phoenicia). Laish was much like the protesters who took over several city blocks in Seattle during the June 2020 riots. Calling that unlawfully occupied area “CHAZ” (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone), it wasn’t long before lawlessness took over. The Danites destroyed Laish, and rebuilt it, calling it “Dan” after the name of the Tribe.

The city was not God conquered, but man conquered. It was not God honoring, but man honoring. Once Dan was named, the city of Dan made Micah’s stolen priest and idols their “State Religion”.

This is the FIRST established idolatry in Israel in the Promised Land. Though the people had been individually idolatrous at times, this is OFFICIAL idolatry.

Though the Levite false priest’s name was not revealed earlier, we now see his name revealed. “Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh” was a descendant of Moses:

“A direct descendant of the man {Moses} most responsible for securing Israel’s unswerving commitment to Yahweh played a major role in leading the Israelites away from God!”

What is the significance of this? I have often heard it said that “God has no grandsons, but only sons”. Just because a person is related to a great believer in God is no assurance that the relative is saved. This false prophet “Jonathan” not only agreed to stand in a man made temple as if he were a high priest, but he agreed to pass this priesthood down to his own children. Man made religion not only infected the Danites, but it infected Jonathan and his children for ages to come. May God save us from man made religion. Amen and Amen!