Judges 9

Chapter 9. Religious Compromises—Their Folly and FruitJudges 17-18No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 6:24)The remarkable incidents of Judges 17 and Judges 18 illustrate with great vividness the principles found in Matthew 6:24. They contain the story of Micah and are a medley of sin and crime that condemn with the bitter irony of truth the follies and sins of the dark ages of the judges. And they apply to the social and religious abuses of our own times. Dishonesty First, we see a picture of dishonesty. Micah, a young man of the hill country of Ephraim, stole 1,100 shekels of silver from his mother and, for a time, hid the money from her. Finally, alarmed by her angry curses, he confessed that he had taken the money, and he gave it back to her. This a common happening—dishonesty and crime beginning at home with the first penny stolen from mother’s drawer. From this the person goes on to lead a life of lawlessness and crime. Absolute righteousness even in the smallest of things is essential to all religious character. We find a lack of righteousness today in society’s concepts of right and wrong. There are men and women who can speak of deep religious experiences and extraordinary public services, who yet seem to be unable to appreciate the absolute necessity of strict integrity and uprightness in the matter of property, debt and business transactions. Passion Next, we see a picture of passion. When Micah’s mother found that her money was missing, she became angry. She cursed so loud and long that it seemed to be the only thing remembered about the transaction. Her curses made such an impression on Micah that he didn’t get over it until he had restored the money. The moment the shekels were returned, she forgot about her passion, and even about the crime of her boy. She fell into another passion of delight and blessed him as extravagantly as she had cursed him before. “The Lord bless you, my son!” (Judges 17:2) she said. The old lady had a little streak of religion running through it all, and probably thought that she was a very good sort of woman. It never occurred to her to sit down, and tell her boy about his wickedness and lead him to true repentance. All she could think of was that she had got the shekels back. How like many a mother, alternating between the passionate love and the passionate anger, which are both alike natural, animal and devilish! False Consecration As we continue in the account, we see a picture of counterfeit consecration. “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol” (Judges 17:3). What a strange medley of religion and idolatry! Micah’s mother had plenty of “religion,” but it was not good because it was mixed. The world’s need is not religion; all people have religion, and the less a man has of God the more he has of religion, as a rule. Animists in Africa or Hindus in India have far more religion than Christians in North America. They sacrifice, give and do more in the service of their gods than we do for Christ—but theirs is the devil’s religion. Back of all their idolatry they, like Micah’s mother, have a dim idea of the Lord. They will tell you that these images and fetishes are but forms and stepping stones through which they can rise to the true God. A Roman Catholic who mumbles her rosary and counts her beads and looks up to the saints and images on her altar, and the Buddhist who talks about Nirvana, alike claim that they are doing it unto the Lord. They have a sense that there is a God, and they desire to meet Him. But this does not make their practices any more acceptable. The motive does not make the act right. Similarly, in our religious ceremonialism, we may have much piety in building our chapels, in erecting our altars, in contributing to the costly machinery of our splendid rituals and in keeping our fasts and our Lenten services, but it is idolatry all the same. It will be a sad day for many “devoted worshipers” when they find that God has accepted none of their foolish sacrifices, and that all their expenditure of money, time and bodily exercise has been as vain as the grossest idolatry of heathenism and the licentious orgies of Baal worship. Notice, though, in this woman’s consecration, how she betrayed herself by an act of insincerity in the midst of her pretended sacrifice. “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord,” she said. Yet when it came to actually giving up the money, she only took out 200 shekels and kept the rest for herself. She was the grandmother of Ananias and Sapphira. She was not even honest in the little religion she had. We see the same spirit in many religions today. The Buddhist will try to cheat his god as openly as the Christian worshiper who puts a bad penny in the plate if he can do it unnoticed. It is the custom of some ancestor worshipers to offer clothing and articles of furniture at the graves of their ancestors. They are made of tissue paper and set on fire, that they may go up in smoke and reach the dead for their habiliments in the land of spirits. But I noticed one Chinese man who made only half a garment—one side of a pair of pants or jacket. The reason given was the gods would not notice it and he would save the other half. How natural it is to let self come into our devotions. We need to heed the admonition of Paul: “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means” (2 Corinthians 8:11). Ritualism We see too a picture of ritualism. Micah made the image and set it up in his idol temple, where he performed a whole ritual of idolatrous worship. He “had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest” (Judges 17:5). It is all a piece of man-made religion. Now here is where the emphasis lies. Micah’s religion was all manufactured according to his own patterns—not God’s. And this is the essential defect of all forms of false religion—they are man-made. It matters not whether they are the grossest idolatries of pagan nations, with their common fetishisms and priestly idols, or the licentious forms of gross idolatry, which but expresses the passions of the human heart, or the more artistic and ideal religious systems of more refined ages, with their Confucian morality, their Buddhist philosophy, or their ancient Vedas and Shastras. Whether they are the dreams and pretended revelations of Mohammed and Joseph Smith, whether they are the imposing ceremonials of the papacy or whether they are the elaborate rituals of the modern Church, they are all the thousand man-made forms of so-called worship. Their basic fault is that they are human, that they are based upon the traditions or inventions of man and not upon the revealed Word and authoritative commandment of Jehovah. God’s command to Moses was that he should do all that was told him according to the patterns shown him on the mountain. Christ’s command to His disciples asserted the same notion: “Therefore go… and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). But Satan has tried to institute into the Church a whole system of theological teaching and ceremonial worship that God never revealed or commanded and to change the whole divine system of the Church into a piece of human machinery that he could manipulate at will. How much of our religious work today is entirely human? Our revivals are gotten up by careful organization and artificial mechanism. Our worship is sustained at an enormous cost by trained performers who belong to the world, the flesh and the devil on six days, and for a consideration give a few hours to the Lord on the Sabbath. And much of our so-called religion is what Scripture describes as “teachings… taught by men” (Matthew 15:9) and as things that “are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings” (Colossians 2:22). After Micah had set up his “temple,” he felt as if something was lacking. He wanted God to recognize his man-made church to give it a touch of authority and sacredness. One day a young man from Bethlehem came by Micah’s house and stayed with him a few days. Micah, discovering that he was a Levite, asked him to come live with him and be his priest and take charge of the temple and service that he had recently fitted up. He offered him a salary of 10 shekels a year, his clothing and his room and board. The young man accepted and was installed as the hired preacher in Micah’s church. Micah had just enough of God in his man-made church to justify his calling it a religious institution. He said with delightful self-complacency, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest” (Judges 17:13). In the same way men and women today are making up their various religious programs, wanting only to get ecclesiastical recognition, to get some Levite with real apostolic succession to countenance the thing. It does not matter whether God approves or disapproves. Alas, it is only too easy to get ecclesiastical recognition for any form of doctrine or medley of so-called worship. I have seen men with liberal minds and attractive personal qualities go forth as teachers, winning the confidence and acclaim of many Christians. Their creeds are so tactfully phrased that they are accepted by Unitarians, Jews, Spiritualists—as well as Christians. These men, if they are tactful enough in pointing their phrases and prudent enough in guarding their expressions, could stand as representatives of the most conservative of the churches and be recognized as true Levites. And I have seen men who, with the wild license of modern theological thought and the passion for freedom and originality, have literally excised every supernatural thing from the Bible. These men can laugh away the Pentateuch and the books of Isaiah and Daniel and yet somehow these same individuals manage to secure the highest places in our theological seminaries. They are recognized as star lecturers at our Christian conventions. And no one seems to challenge their positions. I know, too, of churches that use their sanctuaries—the temples of God—as places for religious entertainments and exhibitions, some of which would not even be considered decent on Broadway. Their schedules include the weekly dance as well as the weekly prayer meeting. And somehow, they are able to justify it all as scriptural. The members and officers of this man-made medley fold their arms in self-complacency, like Micah, and say, “It is all right. We have a ‘man of God’ as our pastor.” The Evils of Compromise Finally, we see a picture of the sad fruits of religious compromise. The sequel of the story of Micah is ironic and most tragic. The tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. So the Danites sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. (Judges 18:1-2) This band came to the house of Micah and spent the night. They recognized Micah’s young priest, and after finding out what he was doing there, they asked him to inquire of God about whether their mission would be successful. The priest told them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval” (Judges 18:6). They continued on their journey, and finding a prosperous land, they returned home and urged their people to arm for battle. The army set out, stopping first at Micah’s house. There they stole his priest and his gods. When Micah found out what had happened, he and his clan went after the Danites. “As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, ‘What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?’” (Judges 18:23). Seeing that he was overmatched, Micah turned around and went back home. The Danites marched on with their booty and invaded the city of Laish, utterly destroying this peaceful people. They then set up their own idolatrous shrine and seat of worship, which became in succeeding years the most corrupting influence in the religious life of the entire nation. Thus we see Micah’s sin and folly bearing fruit. First, in his own suffering and loss, and the ruin of all his cherished hopes and plans, and the very loss even of his religion. Second, in the cruelty and wrong which swept away a whole defenseless community. Third, in the long-continued and baneful influences which it started and kept in operation throughout all the centuries of Israel’s history. These are the effects of religious compromise and the sin of Micah in every age. First, they lead to the bitter disappointment of the worshiper. The day will surely come when the devil will steal the worthless religion that he gave his wretched follower and leave him nothing but scorn and despair. Secondly, superstition leads, and always will lead, to cruelty and crime. False religion becomes a persecutor and a destroyer of the rights and liberties of men. The two most cruel and destructive influences of medieval and modern history have been Islam and Roman Catholicism. They are both forms of false religion, very similar in their history and religious principles to Micah’s hybrid religion. The early conquerors of South America took possession of the land in the name of God. Even the very geographical names of the country today bear witness to their pretensions of piety. But the degradation which still rests upon the land today bears witness to their cruelty, rapacity and wickedness. Thirdly, the leaven of false religion becomes a corrupting principle in all the future history of a people. Micah not only corrupted his own family, but he laid the foundation of evils that lasted to the latest age of their history and corrupted the whole nation, leading eventually to the captivity of the race and the sins and sorrows of threescore generations. When we defile the streams of divine truth and life, we poison a whole generation. When we plant weeds with the wheat, we leave behind seeds of thorns and thistles for the eternal burning. We may think it is a very innocent thing to play with “higher criticism” and toy with ritualism, but doing so will undermine the faith of our children and our children’s children. We are kindling the fire that will burn up our altars and homes. And we are pioneering the awful procession of anarchy, socialism, immorality, crime and the horrors of lawlessness and wrong that will usher in the days of Antichrist and the catastrophe of the world.