“Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”
~ Judges 17:13
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know what it means to steal? Stealing is when a guy or a gal or a kid unlawfully procures something which is not his or hers. Do you know what a false god is? A false god can be an inanimate idol. An idol is an object that a guy has made for himself to worship or for someone else to worship. Inanimate idols are made from metal, wood or stone. Guys and gals who worship false gods believe that the metal, wood or stone false gods can hear and that they can do things for them. A guy and/or a gal who has a false idol god always want to please the thing because he or she or they are frightened of it. Do you know what a curse means? A curse is to speak evil against someone or to pronounce calamity over something. The years between when the Israelite people group first returned to the land which God had promised to His specially chosen people and when God first allowed the Israelites to have kings is recorded in the book of Judges. A number of Israelite tribal clan leaders over a period of about three hundred years were ascribed the title of being a judge. When Joshua was the Israelite people group’s leader, everything went quite well. Because Joshua had not prepared someone to be Israel’s leader after he died, God’s specially chosen people started doing their own thing. The Israelites started to forget about God. The Israelites started stealing. The Israelites started to worship false gods. Your grandpaa believes that God wants to show to him – and to you, how really bad it can get if . . . by how really bad it got in Israel when the people who God had specially chosen for Himself forgot Him. Joseph was a son of Jacob who Jacob’s eleven other sons disliked so much they found a way to get rid of him. Joseph had two sons who he named Ephraim and Manasseh. The land which God had promised His specially chosen people was divided among the extended families – which were called tribes, of Jacob’s or Israel’s sons and between Joseph’s two sons. There always seems to be one kid in every family who is more rebellious or disobedient than any other kid in the family. Ephraim seems to be the one tribal clan who gave God more of a headache than any of the other tribal clans. Who gives your ma and dad the biggest headache most of the time in your house?
An incident which God wants us to know about is found in Judges 17. The writer of Judges – who may have been Samuel, was led by God to report this true story. This true story took place in the land area that was given to the Ephraim tribal clan. A gal had eleven hundred shekels. Money was much different over three thousand years ago than what it is today. A shekel was a day’s salary during the time of the judges. This gal had a lot of shekels. The gal one day had all her shekels stolen. The gal said a curse – which means that this gal pronounced something bad on the person who had taken all her shekels. This gal’s son heard that his ma had made the curse. The kid’s name was Micah. Can you guess what Micah had done? Micah had taken all of his ma’s shekels. Micah had robbed his own ma. When Micah heard his ma say the curse, what did Micah do? Micah gave all the shekels that he had taken back to his ma. Why did Micah do this? Micah believed that something awful was going to happen to him because of the curse his mother had made against whoever had taken the shekels. What do you think Micah’s ma did when Micah gave back to her the shekels that he had stolen? Micah’s ma patted Micah on the head and told him he was a good kid and that God should bless him. Do you think that was what Micah’s ma should have done to him? What would your ma do to you if you took something of hers which you knew that you were not to take? Micah’s ma was so happy to get her all of her shekels back she had the shekels consecrated to the Lord for her son so that she could have something made for her son to worship. Micah’s ma gave two hundred of the eleven hundred shekels – which were made of silver, to a silversmith for him to make into a false god. Because God was to be worshipped through priests and because Micah knew this, Micah made one of his sons a priest. It had gotten to where the people who God had chosen for Himself were now doing whatever they felt like doing. A young Levite one day showed up at Micah’s door. The guy wanted to live someplace other than where he had been living. God had designated the Levite tribal clan to be the tribe to bring Him sacrifices. Micah knew that the Levites were the ones who were to bring sacrifices to God. Micah asked this young Levite to live with him. Micah gave him food, a place to live and some shekels each year. Now Micah had a real priest who could do sacrificing to whoever or to whatever for him.
You are probably thinking that guys and gals just do not do the same kinds of things today that guys and gals did over three thousand years ago. Mayans are an indigenous people group who live in Guatemala. Mayans have altars where they worship spirits. If a guy or gal believes in Jesus, the guy or gal is not to worship at altars where spirits are worshipped. Most of the guys, gals and kids who live in Guatemala attend Catholic churches. Catholics worship the mother of Jesus. If a guy or gal believes in Jesus, he or she is not to worship Mary – who was Jesus’ mother. Today in Guatemala there are guys and gals who say that they believe in Jesus or who worship Mary who go to a Mayan altar to sacrifice something – like a chicken, to evil spirits who they fear. The true story about Micah, Micah’s ma and the Levite priest is an example of how really messed up a guy or a gal can get. Verse 13 says “And Micah said, ‘“Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.’” Micah no longer knew how to worship just God. Micah did things that made him happy; Micah did not do things that make God happy. Your grandpaa and grandmaa are praying that as you grow up that you will learn to please only God.
Judges 17 (22)