A Levite
Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim 2 said to his mother,
“The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which
I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it.”
Reading this passage of the chapter, I wondered if Micah had
stolen the eleven hundred shekels of silver form his mother or he just took
them, with good intentions, and forgot to mention that to his mother. I am not
quite sure about it. I’ve noticed he returned back all of the shekels of silver
that he took away from his mother, once he heard her utter a curse, to a person
who took them.
After he returned them back to his mother, this is what she did.
4 So
after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels
of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol.
And it was put in Micah’s house.
Why idol? Isn’t she a believer: what about Micah himself, why would
he allow an idol to be placed in his house? Later on the chapter, we noticed
Micah himself made some gods and installed on his sons to be as his pries.
5 Now
this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and
installed one of his sons as his priest. 6 In
those days Israel
had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
In the last paragraph, after Micah has installed the young
Levite as his priest, he thought the Lord will now be good to him. Why did
Micah thought the Lord would be good to him this time I don’t really know. Could
Levite are those who are chosen to become a pries and serve the Lord? Is the Levite
descendent of Aaron’s generations (those chosen by the Lord them to serve him in
his house)?
I did a little search to find out why Micah had thought the Lord
to be good to him this time as a result of his installation of the young
Levite. I found some bible versus that
helped to clarify and answered some of my questions. Hope it will help you too
as your read this part of the chapter.
12 Then
Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in
his house. 13 And
Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has
become my priest.”
Here is the bible versus that I mentioned above.
The
Levites then took on the duty of serving God. "At that time the LORD
separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to
stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day"
(Deuteronomy
10:8).
That
service included serving the priests.
"And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his
sons from among the children of Israel, to do the work for the children of
Israel in the tabernacle of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of
Israel, that there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children
of Israel come near the sanctuary" (Numbers
8:19).
You are good and that your
Love endures forever!
2 comments:
Edeneye,
God bless you for sharing what you have learned from our reading. The story of Micah shows how people lived during his time, verse six states “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Micah’s family disobeyed God by making and worshiping another God. God has appointed the Levite’s to be his priest. Somehow Micah taught because they have Levites as a priest they would be blessed. Here we see that the family do not fully believe and obey the word of God, but they practice or believe whatever they think is right in their own eyes. I think we may have witnessed this kind of attitude in our days too.
Sometimes, people accept some part of God’s word, seem spiritual and do not agree or want to accept another part, and still believe that they are okay with God. The reason could be lack of knowledge or just thinking that we know better what is good/right. We may not always understand the word of God a, but we need to know that God is bigger, wiser and also He is a righteous and holy God. We need to trust His whole word. Just like a baby we may not have a capacity to understand when parents or older people try to keep us away from danger. When we are mature we appreciate their protection and their teachings. If we are wise we need to choose the way of life. God has given us a choice, not only a choice, He has also told us which one benefits us. “Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.” (Proverb 30:5)
The Micah story show that when there is no leadership what could happen to the community. On previous books you see leaders such as Moses or Joshua. People were continually thought and whenever somebody sins there was a consequence. At the time of this story, they didn’t have anyone to answer to or did not have someone to correct them; we see the desire of the idol worshiping spread from the mother, to her son, to her grandson, to the Levite then to the Danites.
May God help us to know Him and obey Him fully and also to be a blessing to others.
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