Judges... It's a book for the church today.... That's not a good thing.... It's an indictment against us.....
Over and over - we read the SAME refrain - "There was no king in the land, and every man did what was right in his own eyes"....
The episodes about this idolater Micah and the tribe of Dan (Judges 17-18)... What the heck is this all about?
Some things to help make sense of this....
Judges 18:7 - there was no magistrate (Judge) in the land to put them to shame...
Far from the Sidonians
Far from everybody else...
Dan had been living in Zorah and Eshtaol - which are basically in Judah... Unable to inherit... So, here's Dan... Not inheriting their own land... Stuck in somebody else's inheritance... They gotta go along with the Judges of Israel - do what the Judges say... and apparently, it's not going all that well - by the comment "There was no magistrate in the land to put them to shame" we infer that they had taken quite a bit of flack from God's judges up till then... They want a land of their own where they don't have to listen to anybody else....
They are going to go take their own land where nobody will tell them what to do - that's good and all.... But then... OOOHHHH.... Here's the icing on the cake - their own Do-It-Yourself Religion all cooked up for them... Idols, priestly vestments, AND a Real life Bona-fide Levite...
so NOW - they are going to not only have their own PLACE that's far away from Israel - where nobody else will tell them what to do from a CIVIL perspective - BUT - they will have their own PRIESTS and Religious ordinances - so NOBODY ELSE will tell them what to do from a RELIGIOUS perspective either....
What worries me is how much this rings true with our churches today... Don't like the way things are going - split off... Go find another... The Church organization clamps down on you - doesn't let you do whatever you want.. No problem - just start your own and then shop for a denomination where they will let you do whatever you want (So you aren't shamed by the judges so to speak).... Hire some Ministers to do it the way YOU like it.... If they won't let you run your church the way you like or they won't preach the flavor of God that makes you happy - fire them and go buy some new ministers.. There are plenty out there who just want a job and will go along with most anything to get it... There are over 44,000 "denominations" - and within those denominations hundreds of thousands of choices... Wow, look at all those churches.....
Except... That's NOT God's model.... God's model doesn't include us picking up our chips and throwing a tantrum like a little kid whenever we don't get what we want... God's model doesn't include firing the pastor when he doesn't go along with us and hiring a fresh, new pastor who will declare that God says whatever we want.... God's model doesn't include us going where there is no "Judge" to criticize our evil deeds and do-it-yourself religion....
See - we read Judges and think: "Gosh, if it wasn't for these evil Phillistines and surrounding nations - Israel would do just fine".... but that's missing the whole point... Even WITHOUT all that noise - they don't do fine.. The root of their problems are NOT external... And just like them - WE are doing exactly the same thing TODAY.....
Every CHURCH did what was right in their own eyes....
Over and over - we read the SAME refrain - "There was no king in the land, and every man did what was right in his own eyes"....
The episodes about this idolater Micah and the tribe of Dan (Judges 17-18)... What the heck is this all about?
Some things to help make sense of this....
Judges 18:7 - there was no magistrate (Judge) in the land to put them to shame...
Far from the Sidonians
Far from everybody else...
Dan had been living in Zorah and Eshtaol - which are basically in Judah... Unable to inherit... So, here's Dan... Not inheriting their own land... Stuck in somebody else's inheritance... They gotta go along with the Judges of Israel - do what the Judges say... and apparently, it's not going all that well - by the comment "There was no magistrate in the land to put them to shame" we infer that they had taken quite a bit of flack from God's judges up till then... They want a land of their own where they don't have to listen to anybody else....
They are going to go take their own land where nobody will tell them what to do - that's good and all.... But then... OOOHHHH.... Here's the icing on the cake - their own Do-It-Yourself Religion all cooked up for them... Idols, priestly vestments, AND a Real life Bona-fide Levite...
so NOW - they are going to not only have their own PLACE that's far away from Israel - where nobody else will tell them what to do from a CIVIL perspective - BUT - they will have their own PRIESTS and Religious ordinances - so NOBODY ELSE will tell them what to do from a RELIGIOUS perspective either....
What worries me is how much this rings true with our churches today... Don't like the way things are going - split off... Go find another... The Church organization clamps down on you - doesn't let you do whatever you want.. No problem - just start your own and then shop for a denomination where they will let you do whatever you want (So you aren't shamed by the judges so to speak).... Hire some Ministers to do it the way YOU like it.... If they won't let you run your church the way you like or they won't preach the flavor of God that makes you happy - fire them and go buy some new ministers.. There are plenty out there who just want a job and will go along with most anything to get it... There are over 44,000 "denominations" - and within those denominations hundreds of thousands of choices... Wow, look at all those churches.....
Except... That's NOT God's model.... God's model doesn't include us picking up our chips and throwing a tantrum like a little kid whenever we don't get what we want... God's model doesn't include firing the pastor when he doesn't go along with us and hiring a fresh, new pastor who will declare that God says whatever we want.... God's model doesn't include us going where there is no "Judge" to criticize our evil deeds and do-it-yourself religion....
See - we read Judges and think: "Gosh, if it wasn't for these evil Phillistines and surrounding nations - Israel would do just fine".... but that's missing the whole point... Even WITHOUT all that noise - they don't do fine.. The root of their problems are NOT external... And just like them - WE are doing exactly the same thing TODAY.....
Every CHURCH did what was right in their own eyes....