Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20030112.htm

JUDGES AND RUTH: FACING GROUP APOSTASY AS INDIVIDUALS
Part XI: Learning To Value And Practice Leadership That Adheres To Scripture
(Judges 17:1-19:1a)
  1. Introduction
    1. Though each of us believers in Christ is a king-priest according to 1 Peter 2:9 and Revelation 1:6, God has established human leaders in His flock who are to lead in obedience of Scripture for blessing, Heb. 13:17.
    2. To see the practical value of such human Biblical leadership, and to lead by aligning ourselves with Scripture, we view Judges 17:1-19:1a that reveals what happens when such Biblical leadership is lacking:
  2. Learning To Value And Practice Leadership That Adheres To Scripture, Judges 17:1-19:1a.
    1. Joshua 1:8 informs us the nation Israel was required by God to obey His Word for blessing.
    2. Yet, the lack of Scripture-based leadership in Israel during the period of the judges left the nation open to spiritual decline (Judges 17:6; 18:1a; 19:1a and 21:25 in accord with the king's duty in Deut. 17:18-20).
    3. We only need to let history speak for itself to see the need for leadership that is Scripture-based:
      1. Due to a lack of Scripture-based leadership in the family, the family slipped into apostasy, 17:1-6:
        1. The man, Micah tried to remove his mother's illegal revenge curse (Lev. 19:18) due to his lawless act of stealing her silver (Ex. 20:15) by repaying that silver unbiblically (Ex. 22:1-4), Judges 17:1-3.
        2. His mother errantly blessed his unbiblical restoration, and to celebrate, made an idol to the Lord in violation of Ex. 20:4-5 out of the restored silver, 17:4. Thus, even her good intentions were wrong!
        3. Micah then set up his son to be a priest in his house-shrine in violation of Num. 18:1-7 (Jud. 17:5).
        4. The reason for such error is given in Judges 17:6: the lack of Scripture-based leadership left families doing what was right in their own eyes rather than what God wanted!
      2. Due to a lack of Scripture-based leaders in the Levitical priesthood, the priesthood fell into sin:
        1. Micah sought formal absolution from his guilt by violating Deut. 12:5 to hire a young levite to be his private house priest, 17:7-12. Thus, a Levitical priesthood independent of the tabernacle under the Law was established, and that where idols were syncretistically mixed with true worship!
        2. Amazingly, Micah actually concluded God would be pleased with this arrangement, Judges 17:13.
        3. The reason for such error is given in Judges 18:1a: the lack of a Scripture-based leadership left priests doing what was right in their own eyes rather than what was right with God!
      3. Due to a lack of Scripture-based leaders, apostasy came to corrupt even international matters!
        1. The sinfully faithless Danites ran out of room of land allotment since they had failed to trust God to remove the Philistines, Jud. 2:1-3; thus, they sought easier land to conquer for more room, 18:1b-2a.
        2. In their search, they came across Micah's unbiblical syncretistic ecumenism, and unbiblically sought the house-priest's unbiblical blessing on their faithless efforts to gain more land, 18:2b-5.
        3. After gaining this illicit priest's illicit blessing (18:6), the Danites violated Ex. 21:16 by kidnapping this house-priest, lovelessly outmaneuvering Micah in violation of Lev. 19:18b to motivate themselves to conquer territory not Biblically apportioned to them by God, Jud. 18:7-11, 13-26.
        4. In the end, they violated Ex. 20:13 by murdering the people of Laish to settle there, Jud. 18:27-29.
        5. In the end, the Danites set up the graven image made by Micah's mother and had Jonathan, the son of Gershom who could trace his lineage back to Moses establish a priesthood with this graven image, cf. Judges 18:30 with Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Judges 18:30a. Thus, they errantly by-passed the Aaronic priesthood and went with the line of Moses in violation of Exodus 28:1, 43!
        6. Thus, the Danites practiced an errant ecumenical syncretism until the captivity of the ark from Shiloh in the 11th century, Ibid., The Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Judges 18:30!
        7. The reason for such error is given in Judges 19:1a: the lack of Scripture-based leadership left the nation often doing what was right in its own eyes rather than what was right with God!
Lesson: The lack of Bible-based leadership in Israel led to apostasy at all levels of society -- apostasy in the home, priesthood, tribe, etc. that harmed even innocent people at the international level!

Application: (1) If we are subordinates, may we value and heed good Bible-based leadership. (2) If we are leaders at ANY level of God's appointment, may we ADHERE STRONGLY to SCRIPTURE!