SPIRITUAL WANDERERS WILL SEEK DIRECTION FROM ANYONE WHO LOOKS LIKE A RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY

Judges 18:1-6 1 In those days there was no king of Israel ; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite ; and they turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here ? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here ?” 4 He said to them, “Thus and so has Micah done to me, and he has hired me and I have become his priest.” 5 They said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the LORD’S approval.”

COMMENTARY: Here we find Micah’s priest again. This time some strangers needed some direction. They knew him from somewhere before, and they believed that the priest was legitimate, so they asked him for spiritual help. That in itself is not a wrong thing to do.

The problem here is that the priest was not a legitimate priest. Since he was operating outside the Levitical priesthood system that God had established, he had no real authority or credibility with God. As evidence of his illegitimacy, the scripture does not say that he actually inquired of God on behalf of the travelers. Instead, the priest gave them a perfunctory blessing and affirmation that they were going the right way. In effect, he told them what they wanted to hear. We have no evidence that he knew anything about the travelers or where they were going. And yet he dared to say that they had the Lord’s approval.

This is not much different from churches or ministries in which the hired priest (pastor, prophet, apostle, missionary, counselor, etc.) gives affirmations to people about whom they know little or nothing. They tell them what they want to hear, and they move on. If people like what they hear, they might be inclined to pay for it in some way. This is not discipling. It is pandering. It is an example of what God had in mind when he charged Israel with prostitution, whoring and harlotry.

STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of how God uses the imagery of physical prostitution and harlotry to represent religions where religious leaders prostitute themselves for a reward by giving or offering to the people peace and other affirmations (e.g. ” the way in which you are going has the LORD’S approval, go in peace) that they desire to hear so that they can continue in their religious ways without inner conflict (i.e.guilt) over their sins.

We don’t know for sure if God has physical prostitution and harlotry in mind or not when He accuses Israel of such sins, but we do know that He is at least accusing them of spiritual prostitution and harlotry where leaders prostitute themselves for a reward by giving or offering to the people peace and other affirmations that they desire to hear.

There is no record in this story that any money was exchanged, but it is pandering nonetheless with hopes that the travelers will offer a payment in exchange for the direction they were seeking. When the scripture says the Levite priest was hired, it is logical that he received something from Micah in exchange for his services. It is not inconceivable that Micah hired the priest so that he could perform priestly functions for travelers who would pay to lodge in Micah’s home. We can imagine , therefore, that the priest’s job was to pander to travelers by telling them what they wanted to hear with hopes that the travelers will offer a payment in exchange for the direction they were seeking. If nothing else, they paid something to stay in Micah’s home. It has all the earmarks of a religious business.

The world is full of people on spiritual journeys who are looking to find their share of the promised land (i.e. their inheritance). They need to listen to God directly — not from a hired pastor/priest/shepherd who has been set up in office by someone like Micah who is only looking for personal prosperity.