MONEY CAN BE USED TO MAKE IDOLS AND TO PURCHASE RELIGIOUS SERVICES FROM UNQUALIFIED MINISTERS (PRIESTS)

Judges 17:1-13: 1 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 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.” 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 for my son to make a graven image and a molten image ; now therefore, I will return them to you.” 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. 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. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel ; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was staying there. 8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to stay wherever I may find a place.” 10 Micah then said to him, “Dwell with me and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, a suit of clothes, and your maintenance.” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite agreed to live with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”

COMMENTARY: The first thing to recognize about Micah is that he is not a righteous man. First he had stolen silver from his mother. Then when his mother gave the silver to him he had it made into an idol. Next, he had no regard for God’s laws about who could be a priest. He was an Ephraimite, not a Levite, and yet he installed one of his sons as a priest. Furthermore, he created a shrine which was a pagan worship device and an ephod. There was one ephod that God allowed and that was to be worn by the High Priest.

Then a real Levite priest enters the scene. He was not righteous either. He should not have been wandering around looking for spiritual work wherever he could find it. He should have been ministering in the temple in Jerusalem or in one of the cities God had established for Levites. Being a priest for hire is not the system that God set up.

So we now have two unrighteous men who make a deal. One has money, and the other has some credentials (i.e. he is a Levite). Thus the Levite became Micah’s personal priest. That is contrary to the system God established.

Finally, we see what Micah’s motives are: He wanted to prosper, and he thought that having a Levite priest was the ticket to prosperity.

This unholy arrangement is not much different from the religious system that has been in place since the early days of the Catholic church. People with priestly credentials wander around until they find someone who will set them up as their personal ministers. The deal is this: The priest stays and performs ministry for the people, and the people pay for those services with cash and perhaps other kinds of goods. It works for the priest because he has a legitimate job in which he has standing in the community. It works for the people because they believe that they will prosper (in a variety of ways) because they have a spiritual man who ministers exclusively to them.

This system has been in place for nearly two thousand years, but it is all contrary to the system that God established.

Finally, we see what Micah’s motives are: He wanted to prosper, and he thought that having a Levite priest was the ticket to prosperity.

This unholy arrangement is not much different from the religious system that has been in place since the early days of the Catholic church. People with priestly credentials wander around until they find someone who will set them up as their personal ministers.Typically it was kings with wealth who could afford to support such priests. It was good for kings to have religious people beholden to them because it was good for their image and the priests could keep the people calm, educate them and encourage support of the kingly regime.

Here is a brief outline of the relationships:

This system works in the world of religion, but it is all contrary to the system that God established.