Judges 17. The first appendix: What is God's prosperity?

Title: Judges 17. The first appendix: What is God's prosperity?

 

JDG 17:1 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

 

JDG 17:2 And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by the Lord [Jehovah]."

 

JDG 17:3 He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the Lord [Jehovah] for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return them to you."

 

JDG 17:4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah.

 

JDG 17:5 And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest.

 

JDG 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

 

Micah had a domestic temple belonging to his house, not for the public. This was common practice for pagans, but it was not permitted to Jews.

 

Micah made and ephod like Gideon had done, an imitation of the priesthood. Also, he had household gods for divining, as a substitute for the Urim and Thummim.

 

On Sunday we documented the manner in which the believer is guided by God.

 

Hence, we are led strictly/only by knowing the word of God well, rather than only superficially, and in faith applying that word by setting our minds to do it; trusting in faith the Holy Spirit to accomplish it.

 

We must not do what Micah did. We must not make our own system from which we expect God to guide us. It is the epitome of arrogance to receive the means of divine guidance from God and to reject it and make our own and expect Him to still guide us.

 

Guidance from God's word does not pertain to a particular person or society at a particular moment. God's word tells you to feed one who is hungry but doesn't give you a cooking lesson on what to feed him. It tells you to give, but not how much. The word of God is a director which will set us all to do the right actions in the right way and give us eyes to see the new life so as to walk in it.

 

When we operate strictly under the guidance of the word of God, the number of options in life's situations drastically reduce.

 

LUK 10:38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.

 

LUK 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord's word, seated at His feet.

 

LUK 10:40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me."

 

LUK 10:41 But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;

 

LUK 10:42 but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

 

Some manuscripts do not include the "few things" and it is hard to imagine our Lord not being absolutely precise. The word of God will narrow down your decisions. There was a time to listen to Jesus speak and a time to prepare the meal. Jesus wasn't always speaking while meal prep could be done anytime.

 

It is important to note that the many, many decisions we make in life are changing us, either into conformity with Christ or into conformity with the flesh. I don't think we can keep in the center by making equal numbers of each type. The conscience is the decision center as it is the place that holds your true value system. Good decisions bring us more and more into harmony with God, our fellow creatures, and with ourselves, while the opposite is true with every bad decision.

 

Good and bad decisions are made within and are invisible. Their impact on us is also invisible. They may not reveal themselves overtly, and if they do, the damage was already done beforehand.

 

We are under grace, and so we don't have to always get it right, but we do reap what we sow, and if we are to experience a life of joy, peace, knowledge, and power, it is vital that we make a lot of good decisions based on God's guidance.

 

If a person has already made an extensive amount of bad decisions, but finds himself still alive, he may turn to God and remain with God, and he will find a clean conscience within himself sooner than he could have believed. It is the character of the inward man that is important, and in faith, that character will be of a divine image if the Lord is sought for and loved.

 

One more point should be made about good and bad decisions. As we make good decisions over a period of time our conscience gets clearer and we are more often close to God. As such a person gets better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left within him. If a man is getting worse through a series of bad decisions he understands his own evil less and less. We only understand the problems with drunkenness when we are sober. We don't know them when we are drunk. You don't see mistakes when you're in the midst of making them. A Christian who loves God consistently makes good decisions and he understands good and evil and is very wary of evil within. A bad person doesn't know much about good or evil and is usually mastered by his impulses.

 

This way of guidance and truth, and only in this way, we are to teach to one another in great humility. You do not have to be a full time pastor to teach the truth to others; never in pompous arrogance, for if you do you are no teacher, but in gentleness, reverence, and humility.

 

As you are guided by the Lord, you are to be a guide to others as the light and truth of Christ shines through you.

 

JOH 13:12 And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?

 

JOH 13:13 "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.

 

JOH 13:14 "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

 

JOH 13:15 "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.

 

JOH 13:16 "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.

 

JOH 13:17 "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

 

Micah of Ephraim made a copy of the central place of worship at Shiloh in his own home and he made his son the high priest. He made a copy of that which God had graciously blessed Israel.

 

Verse 6 gives the theme of the appendices. "In those days there was no king in Israel." They did not regard Jehovah as their King, nor was there a human king to enforce the worship of Jehovah at Shiloh.

 

Rather than having a central figure in their hearts as the name of God, or on a throne to enforce the proper worship of the people, we find a mother who blesses and curses in the name of Jehovah, while her actions go contrary to that name. We find a son who has an orthodox name, but commits the ultimate sin against that name by establishing a cult system in his home.

 

Micah finds a Levite as a new priest.