Judges ~ 17:1 to 18:20

ready to get back into our father's word here at the chapel we invite you to get your Bible and join us we're going to pick it up today in judges chapter 17 verse 1 and as we ended our concluded our last lecture with the death of Samson that closes the history of the judges that is written of in the book of Judges I'll remind you Samson was not the last judge in that Eli and Samuel both are referred to as judges but their history is written in the book of 1st Samuel rather than here in the judges but we got five more chapters to go these five chapters have to do and I'm going to prepare you two we step back in time from the time of Samson Samson died around 10 80 BC and eight years down the road in other words from Samson's death you've got the first man king of Israel soul came into power God raised him up to be the first man king but we're gonna step back in time to probably around 14 30 BC rather than from 1080 BC where we left off and this last five chapters covers what was going on they serve as an appendices if you will they're kind of tacked on to the end of the history of the judges but it's relevant information to the judges in that it lets us see what was going on in the nation at the time and it wasn't good and that's the reason that the Lord kept raising up enemy after enemy to oppress the children of Israel but then over and over we saw it again they'd start crying out to the Lord Oh help us lord help us when they got down so far down to the bottom of the barrel they had to look up and they'd look up the Father and Lord would send them someone to deliver them that being the judges of Israel so we're gonna pick it up like I said now Israel did okay as long as Joshua was still alive Joshua being the one who replaced Moses and actually led the children of Israel into the Promised Land and Joshua did things God's Way 99.9% of the time and what happens when you do things God's Way you receive His blessings but as soon as Joshua and the ones who supported him that generation passed away then you start seeing folks messing around with strange new religions and that's what brought the problems on all the time so we're going to see that a couple of things that happened in in in the nation of Israel it's interesting it is history so let's ask that word of wisdom and Yeshua Jesus precious name father we ask you to open eyes open ears and we're going to pick it up today Judges chapter 17 verse 1 and it reads and there was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah now this is not Micah the minor prophet simply another Israelite by the name of Micah Micah the minor prophet would be centuries after this time Micah means if you translate it from the Hebrew language who is like God and he was from Ephraim and mounting for him once again I mentioned it's not a one large mountain it's the hilly country of Ephraim verse 2 and he said unto his mother the eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee about which thou cursed she cursed whoever it was that stole her eleven hundred shekels of silver and spake us of also in mine years we talked to me about it to her son says behold the silver is with me I took it I stole your over mom and his mother said blessed be thou of the Lord my son what a response you talk about turning a cursing into a blessing here she's cursing whoever it was that stole her 11 shekels eleven hundred shekels of silver but then when she finds out it was a very own son who stole it she's all blessing him in the name of the Lord and note she said Lord that notice that is all caps lor D 99% of the time that is Yaakov a so she knows who yaha Bay is because she called him by name are they worshiping him though verse three and when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother he gave it back to her his mother said I had wholly dedicated the silver under the Lord Jehovah from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image now therefore I will restore it unto thee now doesn't that sound religious let's make a gold molten image and a graven image no that doesn't sound religious you see whoever would do such a thing is not even familiar with the Ten Commandments because the second commandment God said thou shalt make no graven image before me and here this is a they think it's a form of worshiping Yahweh but it's an illegal form of worshiping Yahweh and Micah which means who is like God and his mother are completely ignorant of God's laws verse 4 yet he restored the money or the silver unto his mother and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder to the silversmith in other words who may they're of a graven image and a molten image and they were in the house of Micah do we have the house of God or the house of yahweh here no we have the house of Micah so in all this is showing us completely how bad things were in Israel the book of Joshua we had the Land of Israel possessed inhabited God gave out of the land and and said okay this tribe gets this allotment of land that tribe gets this allotment of land in the book of Judges though we see the land despised in other words the people God's faithfulness to them they repaid it with unfaithfulness in that they're running around making golden calves to to worship and it's nothing new when remember when Moses came down off of Mount Sinai what was it that Aaron the high priest had made he made a golden calf after the time of Solomon when the nations split the first king of the ten tribes to the north Israel Jeroboam made two golden calves he wanted to make it convenient for the people to worship so he put one of the golden calves and Dan and one of the golden calves and beth-el and said there now worship those you don't have to go down to Jerusalem to that temple of Yahweh to worship Him you can just stay right here at home and do it here the house of Micah verse 5 and the man Micah had an house of gods note the small G the church the true Church of God had been neglected and people are searching nothing new Under the Sun and made an ephod here we go and a terror from terror film are the little God you may all that Laban the mother of Rachel and Leah his gods were little terror films and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest or what a deal we've got the house of Micah we've got a golden molten image and a graven image we got terror films we got even a little ephod which no doubt he put something that he called Urim and Thummim in so that if he wanted to inquire say not of God but if he wanted to inquire Micah he could do so with the Urim and the Thummim and not only that he consecrated one of his own sons to be his priest verse 6 in those days there was no king in Israel note that small K I'll say there was no capital K there was no God in Israel either they turned their back on him he turned their back his back on them but every man did that which was right in his own eyes he didn't do what was right in the eyes of God and it happened over and over and over when you have a strong leader people did things according to God's will his way and how do we know his way it's written right here in the letter that he sent to us his word the Bible but it happened over and over and then when you had no leader no King as this person this is explaining the young lawless ways of the people and by saying this this is why Micah was making his own house with his own religion because there was no no-one at the helm no one guiding the ship verse 7 and there was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah of the family of Judah who was a Levite and he's sojourned there now this verse is not translated very well at all first let me say the reason it has Bethlehem Judah is that there are more than one Bethlehem there was a Bethlehem and several of the tribes of Israel and that's why it's simply distinguishing this is the one in Judah now when you say family of Judah that indicates that he's of that seed line of Judah the house of Judah is the family of Judah and but it says then he was a Levite and he's sojourned there he wasn't born there or he wasn't a full-time resident he was he was a stranger if you will not a foreigner don't misunderstand but he was not normally from Bethlehem Judah he was there temporarily and we're gonna find out that the priest you know and let me say that this is not necessarily a priest you can be a Levite that can be a priest but if you're a priest you have to be of the seed line of Aaron a descendant of Aaron the brother of Moses there were other Levites who weren't priests and they had other responsibilities important responsibilities doorkeepers security if you will of the temple the singers the musicians were all Levites but they want priests as the point so we don't know though whether this lad young man this Levi it was priests or not he's about to become a priest verse 8 and the man departed out of the city of from Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place and he came to mount ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed thus again showing the situation the while the Levites and the priests are out of work because no one is worshipping Yaakov a legally the silversmiths or making graven images are working overtime because of people like Micah Bethlehem Judah of course the place where the youngest of the twelve patriarchs Benjamin was born in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born there centuries later verse nine and Micah said unto him to the Levite winst cometh thou and he said unto him i am a levite of Bethlehem Judah and I go to sojourn where I'm I find a place I'm looking for a place to live and and some work there where I can support myself and we can see Micah here the wheel starting to turn he goes now let's see I've got my Terra film I've got my graven image I've got the house of Micah consecrated one of my own sons to be the priest oh oh you said a Levite did you ten and Micah said unto Him dwell with me and be unto me a father and a priest and I will give the ten shekels of silver by the year every year in other words and a suit of apparel every year I'll buy you a new set of clothes nice new duds and buy victuals your food and so the Levite went in he gets three squares a day a roof over his head a new suit every year and ten shekels of silver to be the priest of Micah the father and a priest don't let that throw you father is the same word that was utilized of Joseph you may remember when he rose to the rank of second in command under Pharaoh Joseph was called a father on to Pharaoh meaning an advisor to Pharaoh you can read about that in Genesis chapter 45 verse 8 in other words be a priest in the house of Micah and be my personal spiritual advisor verse 11 and the Levite was content to dwell with the man and the young man wasn't to him as one of his sons close but there what they're doing is the they set up their own church because the real Church the true Church of God was in such disarray that people were searching struggling for something and these people are Micah and his Levite priest or playing Church verse 12 and Micah consecrated the Levite which he had absolutely no authority to do the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah Micah and I can imagine what those sermons must have been like rather than praising Yahoo they I would imagine the sermons were full of praises of Micah and probably rather than hallelujah they said hallelu Micah verse 13 then said Micah now know why that the Lord that's yah ha they will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priests not going to happen they've got golden images they've got Terra thumbs on and on and on but he thinks now just because he's got a Levite to be his priest things are gonna start going knows Yahoo Bay but probably biblically illiterate wouldn't know God's Word if it came up and bit him on the elbow no true house of God going on this time no king or leader no judge to make sure things were done right and we've got total apostasy chapter 18 verse 1 in those days there was no king in Israel there wasn't a judge to set things right and rule as we've seen time and through the book of Judges in those days the tribe of the Danites the tribe of Dan sought them an inheritance to dwell in for into that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel now this is a little misleading here let's set the record right dan received an inheritance in the promised land you can read about that in Joshua chapter 19 telled what Dan's inheritance was the problem was and we covered it in chapter 1 do you remember of the book of Judges and verse 34 Dan did not drive the ammonites which were one of the tribes of the Canaanites out of his possession the ammonites drove Dan up into the mountains which were just a small portion of his inheritance the majority of Dan's inheritance was in the plain the flat land but the ammonites put him on the run and took basically their promised land away from them verse 2 so we find Dan looking for a land here and also a new God verse 2 and the children advance sent of their family five men from their coasts or their borders these five are spies to go find some land men of valour from zora and from estée all remember that was Samson our last judges home 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 I wasn't a motel 8 and I guess I shouldn't mention brand names but there were in the hotel on every corner in every town people stayed with other people when they traveled and what's going on here verse 3 when they will buy the house of Micah they knew the voice of the young man the Levite and they turned in bitter and said unto Him who brought thee hither and what make us thou in this place and what hast thou here who are you and what are you doing here they recognized the voice I don't think they actually knew the young Levite what this means is that they recognized the accent of the young man you remember back in chapter 12 verse 6 when the the people of Ephraim were trying to get back across the Jordan to go home and the other tribes of Israel made him say Shibboleth and they said are you of Ephraim and if they said no they say say Shibboleth and the Ephraim I couldn't frame his mouth to say Shibboleth he said Cybil left and they knew immediately that it was of ephraim and they killed him so that's what this is talking about they they could tell by the young Levites voice that he wasn't from around there you're not from around here are you son what are you doing here verse 4 and he said unto them the young Levite thus and thus detail by detail this means dealer Micah with me and have hired me and I am his priest verse 5 and they said unto Him ask counsel we pray thee of God no it's Elohim in the Hebrew God here the Creator not Yahoo they the covenant God they don't even know Yahoo they the covenant God anymore that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous pull out your ephod your little and inquire of the god of mica the house of Micah whether we're gonna be prosperous as we go and seek out a new land for the tribe of Dan verse 6 and the priest said unto them go in peace before the Lord that's all caps Yahoo they is your way wherein ye go listen better translated yah have a nose your way and is pleased here the young Levite is being so presumptuous as to speak for God for Yahweh he's acting like he is a prophet he's a false prophet he's speaking his own mind not what the Lord has to say verse 7 then the five men departed and came to lay yeast the five spies from Dan iishe by the way is called the Shem in Joshua chapter 9 and saw the people that were there in how they dwelt careless peacefully in safety this means after the manner of the zidonians quiet and secure and there was no magistrate or leader the word actually means there was no possessor in the land that might put them to shame in other words - there wasn't a ruler that would rule over them if they move there in anything and they were far from the zygonians and had no business with any man they lived after the manner of the cydonia n--'s means that they were involved in commerce and trade and i think they were probably part of the cydonia n-- nation at this time but what they're saying is these people live so far away from the side--oh nians and they don't have anything to do with anyone else we could move in there and take their land away from them and then we would live quiet insecure verse age and day this is the five Danite spies came into their brethren to Zora and Estelle they went back to Dan and their brother and said unto them what say you know you went to search out this land what exactly did you find verse 9 and they said the spies arise that we may go up against them for we have seen the land and behold it is a very good land and our are you still just sit there and be calm be not slothful to go don't be lazy and to enter to possess the land we're telling you this is going to be easy pickins these are peaceful people they're not warriors they're traders and they're involved in commerce and and we can go and take their land no problem easy picking verse 10 when you go you shall come unto a people secure this means a peaceful people and to a large land for God have given it unto your hands no he didn't a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth what kind of sounds like a whole lot like the land that God promised Abraham and the land that God told Moses about a land that flows with milk and honey the land that God gave them they despised by not following God's instructions and running the Canaanites out of the land now they're gonna do worse than that they're going to fall into idolatry verse 11 and there went from thence of the family of the Danites out of Zorah and out of Estell 600 men appointed with weapons of war they were girded for war battle this also pointing to the fact that the people that they're going up against they're not looking for much of a fight they're only sinned in 600 girded for war and the last count of the fighting men the last numbering of the fighting men of ether excuse me of Dan that's recorded in numbers chapter 26 there were 64 thousand four hundred and who were aged 20 and up who were capable of picking up a sword and going through war so they're not looking for much of a fight 12 and they went up and pitched in Kirchhoff Durham in Judah wherefore they called that place may have made a excuse me may ha made Dan which means camp of Dan or city of Dan unto this day behold it is behind occurred Jeff Durham that it is behind it means that it is to the west in the Hebrew language or figures of speech verse 13 and they passed bents unto Mount Ephraim and came unto the house of Micah here they made full circle went back got 600 fighting men girded for war and now they're back at the house of Micah verse 14 then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of lace and said unto their brethren the six hundred armed for war that will rip them do you know that there is in these houses and ephod and teraphim and a graven image and a molten image the young Levite showed them everything now therefore consider what you have to do in other words what do you want to do you know we're going to go into this new land and we're gonna need a religion here every we got everything that we need right here with the Tara film and the ephod and the graven image and the molten image we could have our own church we could set up our new church with all this stuff everything we need is right here only one thing lacking and that is Jehovah verse 15 and they turned bitter Word and came to the house of the young man the Levite even under the house of Micah and saluted him this is a common citation and it is in the Hebrew language is there peace there isn't any peace on their minds for sure verse 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 when a tense situation here verse 17 and the five men that went to spy out the land went up and came in bitter and took the graven image and the ephod and the teraphim in 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 we've got everything we need now to set up our new church all we need is a preacher verse 18 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 this is the young Levite appointed by Micah unto them what do you now that it was really weak that he said that I mean here we got six hundred armed men and they said unto Him hold thy peace lay down hand upon thy mouth in other words shut up and go with us and be to us a father and a priest is it better for thee to be a priest under the house of one man or that thou be a priest under the tribe and a family in Israel is it better that you be a priest to Micah or to a whole tribe of the nation of Israel verse 20 and the priests heart was glad and he took the ephod and the teraphim and the graven image and went in the midst of the people oh boy gonna have church tonight okay you guys got those telephones and you got the ephod you got everything I'll be sure and get those 10 collection plates over there you know I've only used one of those all this time because Micah's the only one that come to church but got a whole tribe of Dan in here I'm gonna need all ten of those connect those collection plates don't forget those oh by the way while we're talking about money Michael was only paying me ten shekels of silver a year how much are you guys gonna pay me verse 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 his neighbors in other words who were loyal to Micah were gathered together and overtook the children of Dan oh we got trouble on the horizon and note these 600 we're gonna see they had they're the children of Dan we're gonna see that they not only have these six hundred fighting men but they had women and children with them too because they're going to move them into a protected position as we've got trouble on the horizon so making up their own religion nothing new Under the Sun when people pasta sized and move away from our Heavenly Father when they become so biblically illiterate that they know that something is religious or something is an abomination to our Heavenly Father this is what happens you see the people falling away further and further and further from our Heavenly Father do you think he's anxious to come and rescue them he'll let them go and ask the gods that they're worshiping for help when they go and ask for help from him so don't miss the next lecture you got to see how this turns out with the Danites and their new priests in their new religion and their new God we got a short message we'll ask you to listen a moment won't you please

Channel: YHVH Savior

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Keywords: Pastor, Book of, Arnold, Book of Judges, Pastor Murray, Shepherd's Chapel, Chapel, Murray, Shepherds Chapel, Pastor Arnold Murray, Judges, Shepherd's, Arnold Murray, Shepherds

Id: CmkuqyuRs40

Length: 32min 51sec (1971 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 26 2019