JUDGES 17

What a quirky little chapter. Out of the blue, there is a story about this guy named Micah. He was a thief—having swiped 1100 shekels of silver from his mom. (Who steals from Mom?) After he heard her pronounce a curse on whoever had stolen the money, he fessed up and returned it. In turn, she was so worried that the curse would follow her thieving child that she had some of it melted down and made into a little idol that Micah kept in his house. His "god" would hopefully protect him from the curse.

In time, Micah decided that he needed a priest to facilitate worship in his household. So one day, he nabbed a young Levite who was passing through town and offered to pay him ten shekels a year and give him clothes and food if he would be his personal priest. Voila! Just like that, Micah turned his house into a temple, with his very own god and everything.

Here’s what struck me: Micah offered to pay this Levite ten shekels per year. That wasn’t a very good deal. He had swiped a hundred times that from his own mother! Micah wasn’t very generous. What he offered was a slave’s wage compared to the extravagant provisions God offered the Levites for their work in the temple. As priests, they were entitled to a tenth of the entire income of Israel—not to mention cities dotted throughout the entire nation.

So what made this Levite want to sell out for ten shekels and a shirt? Perhaps in their neglect of the worship of God, the Israelites were also neglecting the Levites. And perhaps the Levites weren’t doing very much to lead the people to God. What a shame! Even from a purely greedy standpoint, the Levites weren’t going to find better treatment anywhere outside of the temple. Nobody is more extravagant than God! He gives the best gifts, He pays the best wages, and He provides more than we could ever need. He doesn’t know how to stop giving.

With God, nobody ever has to settle for ten shekels and a shirt!