📖 Judges Chapter 17 : A House Dedicated to Idol Worship

Micah is a shortened form of Micaiah , which means Who is like Yahweh! but Micah in today’s reading portion falls short of the glory of its name . He has stolen a handsome amount ( Eleven Hundred Shekels of silver ) from his mother , which is equal to the amount promised by the Philistines to give Delilah (Jud 16:5 ) . Nothing is mentioned about his father , and we do not know about the source of this amount .

📌 A MOTHER WHO FAILS
James writes , “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing..” 3:10
✔ When Micah stole 1,100 pieces of silver from his mother , he heard her curses , and out of fear he returned the same to his mother. To our surprise , she responded with a blessing The Lord bless you, my son and she went further and said “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image..” ( v 2-3) .

✔ She paid 200 silver pieces to the idol maker for the image and the idol ( v 4 ) , and kept 900 pieces of silver.

✔ She placed the idols in Micah’s house (v 4b)

🤔 One wonders why she did not dedicate the amount to the legitimate sanctuary at Shiloh ( 18:31) but she spent little amount for an illegitimate project at her son’s residence .

✔️ Micah’s mother failed to teach her son the Godly values and because of this God’s Commandments were violated :
📝 You shall not make for yourself an idol.. Ex 20:4 . Micah made an Ephod and some idols ( 17:4-5)

📝 You shall not steal Ex 20:15. Micah stole his mother’s money (17:2)

📝 Honor your parents . Ex 20:12 . Micah showed no respect.

📝 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord.. Ex 20: 7 .
Micah’s mother said , ” I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord..” 17:3
Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me ..” 17:13

📝 Love the Lord… impressed them on your children… Deut 6:4-7 . Instead Micah installed his son to be a priest to lead the idolatrous worship in the community (17:5)

📌 LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON
⚜️ Micah established a shrine in his house with images , idols, his mother’s idol , ephod etc . He worshipped the creation rather than the Creator.

⚜️ He install his son as the adhoc resident priest in opposition to the officially ordained Levitical Aaronic priesthood ( Ex 28:1-14 )

⚜️ He knowingly disobeyed the Lord , and made a self- made religion . For he said, “You took the gods I made , and my priest.. What else do I have ?” (18:24)
Yes , Micah had to turn back when faced with opposition because he saw that God would no longer fight for him .

⚜️ One of the saddest part of Micah’s intervention is that the Danites continued to use Micah’s Idols in the house of God in Shiloh (18:31)

⚜️ Another shocking news is that Jonathan – the grandson of Moses , and his sons were appointed as the priests. (18:30)

💕 Beloved Church, let us learn from the mistakes of Micah and his mother.
Is there any idols in our home ❓

Glory to God 🙏
✍🏽 Mark Boje
Arunachal Pradesh, India 🇮🇳