Micah...

this is not Micah the prophet... this is a man from the days before Israel had a king...

his mother had some money stolen and spoke a curse on the person who stole the money... so he comes to her and tells her that he took the money and gives it back.. she uses this money to have an idol created.. in honor of her son.. but supposedly a representation of who we know as God.. who we all know HATES idolatry... so first he sets one of his own sons up as a priest in his house... then a levite from bethlehem was traveling and he hires this priest to be the priest for his home... the levite agrees.. later on.. the tribe of dan comes and takes the idols and the priest and set them up in the temple for the tribe...

the bible states twice in this reading (judges 17-18) that this was a time when there was no king and so all men did whatever they thought was right... I find it strange that they felt they needed a king to lead them to what was right... why wouldn't the word of God be what was used to lead them on the right path... why wouldn't you follow a priest rather than a king in the things of God...

I imagine a piece of this issue would be because the towns were far apart.. the houses and land large.. so if you didn't have a priest on your own land.. then you wouldn't be likely to be able to travel to the temple more than once or twice a year...

strangely though.. the entire tribe of dan forgets the teachings of moses and worships this idol... I wonder how often this happens to us.. although of course we would say never... how often are we pulled off course by someone else's thoughts and ideas.. yet we know what God really said to us... yet we follow someone else...

I heard someone say that they thought people want a god they can control.. I don't think that is the majority of the issue.. truly.. you cannot control a wooden idol anyways.. it has no power.. there is no control in that... I feel it is about a god we can touch... I think that is how we are so often led astray.. we want a god we can touch and feel.. one we can hear the voice of in an audible way.. one that leads us and guides us... I think that is how kings got so much love and respect from the people.. maybe they couldn't touch him themselves.. but they know someone could.. and they could see him.. and they could hear his voice...

is this why we need a priest? need a head? need a ruler?

some of our greatest issues are the fact that God is unseen... if we can get past that.. we will surely be further ahead... but just because we cannot see God.. cannot feel Him.. we cannot allow ourselves to be mislead.. to go down the wrong path.. to worship someone or something other than the Living God... we must instead be sure that we go to God in prayer.. be sure that we spend time in His word.. know Him... Love Him... receive His love for us... spend time in the temple.. under a true priest.. one who worships the only Living God.. a true and righteous man of God...

this is how we walk the right path while we cannot see or feel our God... know that He leads us daily.. despite the fact that He is unseen...