Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest. (Judges 17:5)
Micah was a thief and an idolater. Right at the start of this chapter we discover, in one information packed verse, that Micah had stolen a huge amount of silver from his own mother. He only confessed his sin when he heard her calling down a curse on the thief. On having it returned to her, Micah's mother consecrates it to the Lord AND makes arrangements for an idol to be formed. Israel has descended into a mish-mash of syncretistic religion where worship of Yahweh is stained with idolatrous homage.
Micah, with no biblical authority or warrant, 'ordains' a family priest. Israel's religion is syncretistic and it is privatized. Tellingly the narrator tells us that at this moment in time, 'Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.' Israel had descended into religious anarchy. It gets worse. A Levite priest wanders across Micah's path and Micah quickly co-opts him to be the family priest in exchange for a healthy living allowance. The Levites were those set part by God to serve as priests in his sanctuary alone. And so now the Levite priesthood has been corrupted by syncretistic, privatized and idolatrous worship. All for ten shekels of silver.
The church of God is a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9). We are set apart ones - set apart to declare God's praises and his glory. We are to live in, but not of the world. In the church of Jesus Christ there is no room for syncretistic, privatized and idolatrous worship. The sobering message of Micah's story is that his religion had the veneer of true worship, but in reality it was rotten to the core. Micah did not worship Yahweh. in forming family idols and installing a family priest, Micah worshipped Micah. God, protect us from settling for any veneer of worship. May I and we worship you only in Spirit and in truth.
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