Bible Reading: Judges 17 & 18
Coming Into Our Inheritance
1 Cor. 10:6 says “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” This is speaking of the things that happened to the nation of Israel, and I think the principle applies to everything that was written about them, not just the examples given in 1 Cor. 10.
As I have been reading through the book of Judges I am amazed anew at how the Israelites failed to follow through on what God had told them, and how they digressed time and time again to worshiping idols. A couple things stand out to me in today’s reading. First, Judges 17:6: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” And in 18:1 (also 19:1): “In those days Israel had no king.” They had rejected God from being their king. Their great leader, Joshua, had died, and after the elders who outlived Joshua died, God raised up a series of judges to lead them back to Himself (Judges 2:16) and deliver them from their oppressors, but as soon as that judge died they reverted back to idolatry.
In Judges 17 a man named Micah set up a shrine with silver idols and got a young Levite to be a priest. The Danites came along and stole Micah’s idols and enticed his priest to be their priest. God had set aside the tribe of Levi to do the work of the tabernacle but only descendants of Aaron of that tribe were ordained to be priests. Judges 18:30 says this priest was the son of Gershom, the son of Moses. In reality, he was not a priest at all. And of course a true Levite priest would not be a priest for idols. It shows how far Israel had wandered away from the truth while the truth was in their midst. The house of God was in Shiloh!! (18:31)
Judges 18:1 says “the Danites were seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.” That is mind boggling. Over 300 years had passed since Israel entered the land God had promised them and this tribe, the Danites, were still wandering around looking for a place to settle. Joshua 19:49 and Judges 1:34 talks about different places that were given to them for their inheritance but they had difficulty taking possession of their territory, and in another area were confined to the hill country. Perhaps the Danites in today’s reading were one portion of the tribe of Dan, but in either case it still is amazing that after 300 years they, or some of them, didn’t have a permanent dwelling place. Joshua chided the tribes in Joshua 18 them for not going in and taking their inheritance.
There are things that the Lord promises to believers as our inheritance: a new life (2 Cor. 5:17), an abundant life (John 10:10), joy (Psa. 16:11), peace (John 14:27), fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) just to name a few. But there are many Christians who haven’t tapped into their inheritance. What hinders? Perhaps like the Danites, not conquering “kings” in their lives. Has something set itself up as king in your life and you have been unable to conquer it? Jesus said all authority (power) has been given to Him (Matt. 28:18). Just tap into Jesus and let him conquer those kings for you. The Danites set up idols for themselves while the true place of worship was in Shiloh. Do you have an idol set up in your life that hinders you from complete worship of God? An idol is anything that is supreme in your life over Jesus Christ; anything that comes between you and worship of God.
Don’t be like the Israelites where everyone did what was right in their own eyes without following the precepts God had for them. Let Jesus be the king in your life. Don’t wander through life without coming into your inheritance in Christ.
God is good all the time,
Naomi Brinkman
