Understanding open questions

Open questions require thinking and listening to God so that you wrestle with what you read in his Word. Rather than many questions, we ask only a few open questions that direct your attention to important themes and truths for your written responses on paper, perhaps in a journal. Let God speak from his Word, not only to learn about who he is and how he acts, but also in a personal way that applies to your own life and walk with him.

The simplicity of this study doesn’t equate to shallow

This study demands your involvement. Although the layout is simple, how deeply you go depends on you. As you spend time talking to God and recording your thoughts on the questions, he may lead you to other cross-references, but he will certainly give you insights into the verses. Don’t stop with initial surface answers, but ask God to clarify and guide. The time you spend in the scriptures with God gives him space to speak. Listen well, record your thoughts, share them with your small group, and glean from others’ insights.

Studying through three parts a week

If you like doing a little study at a time, each week’s lesson is set up in three parts, but feel free to go through it in any way that works best for you. If you prefer daily time in the Word, consider spending two days on each part, journaling about the optional starred section the second day. You may be amazed at what you see by reading the same passage twice. If you prefer to do the week’s study in one sitting, you may want to read all the passages first and then journal at the end. Of course, it’s great to be in God’s Word each day, but you may have other ways of doing that. Stick to what works for your schedule.

Additional reading and background information

Background information pertinent to your understanding is provided. Feel free to do your own research when you have interest or questions, but the group conversation will be focused on the passages studied by everyone.

*** A star identifies optional verses or suggested study for those with time and interest. The additional reading will help you wrestle with deeper insights into the passages.

Light for Living

The verses that begin each week’s lesson are great choices for memorization and/or discussion.

What you need

• A quiet place, if possible.
• A Bible that you can understand. If you don’t have one, ask your group leader for suggestions, or email us at [email protected]. Modern versions are available as downloads, through Bible apps, or in print at any bookstore. (We are using the NET Bible at lumina.bible.org, a free online Bible translation with study helps.)
• A notebook, loose paper, laptop, or tablet to record your thoughts and also carry them to your group meetings. (See Journaling 101 on p. 63 in the Appendix.)
• The commitment to listen to God and write out what you hear as you read, study and pray.
• Someone, or even better a group, to discuss this with you and provide support, encouragement and spiritual challenge

Best practices for group get-togethers (See also Appendix & leader videos)

Plan a regular place, time, and leader.

The leader should—

• read the section “Tips for Leaders” in the Appendix p.67.
• watch Beyond Ordinary Women’s (BOW’s) free, short videos or listen to the podcast versions: “Tips for Leading a Journaling Study” (https://vimeo.com/190999125) and the series “Listening Well” (https://vimeo.com/album/4065298). If your group includes Millennials, watch the series “Millennials: The Good, the Bad, and the Ministry” at https://vimeo.com/showcase/6829309.
• start on time, not waiting for late arrivals.
• move the group along, being sensitive to God’s Spirit.
• encourage everyone to share without forcing it.
• be a great encourager.
• avoid dominating the conversation.
• keep the focus on the women, not herself and her own thoughts.
• provide time for the group to think and share from their journals.
• contact absent group members to encourage them.
• email the group weekly to remind them of the upcoming meeting, and share her excitement.

As a group—

• come prepared and on time with your study, journal, and Bible.
• share freely and honestly.
• encourage one another.
• don’t interrupt the speaker.
• love one another.
• rather than giving advice for the problems that other members of your group express, pray for one another and entrust each other and your problems to God.
• be honest and vulnerable, but wise in how much detail you share personally.
• stay in touch with each other between meetings for support and encouragement.

If your group meets within a larger group in a church setting

• Look for a woman gifted in teaching God’s Word to teach a short time after the small group discussion. Watch the short, free video “Why Use Live Teachers, not Video?” at https://vimeo.com/209323216. (For help in preparing to teach, see our collection of videos at https://beyondordinarywomen.org/bible-teaching/ or contact us at https://beyondordinarywomen.org/contact-alternative/.)
• Because the discussion isn’t about the teacher’s comments but focuses on the members’ personal study, the discussion should precede the teaching time. Based on educational research, this matters.
• The teacher may spend 15-25 minutes adding to the background of the lesson, beginning and ending within the allotted time frame. The majority of the time together should be invested in small groups.
• The teacher’s role is to clarify and extend what the group has studied, not retell what has been discussed.

Stories

Each week’s study includes a true story at the end that relates to the lesson. The names have been changed in some cases to protect people involved.

Light for Living

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

If you follow the news, you realize that like everything in our broken world, there is injustice in our judicial system. DNA testing has proven the innocence of many who were wrongly convicted and punished with dozens of years or more in prison for crimes which they didn’t commit. Others seem guilty and yet get off on technicalities. The systemic injustice for people of color in the U.S. becomes clear when their sentences are compared with those of white people who commit similar crimes.¹

Our God is just and expects us as his image-bearers to work toward justice, as we see in this week’s verse. Ultimately, a day will come when God will right the wrongs of our all too human systems.

And yet God is not only just but also merciful, and he asks us to display all aspects of his character to the world around us. The more I study Judges, the more convinced I am that it is God’s mercy that is most prominent throughout the book. Mercy, like diamonds, shines most brightly when juxtaposed with the dark.

Part One Study

Review the cycles in Week One on p.14, in the Appendix on p. 58 of this study, or in Judges 2:11-19.

Judges taps into a theme that runs throughout the Scripture: God in his mercy is our Savior/Deliverer. This biblical theme is first introduced after sin enters the world and God curses the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve:

And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel. Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

This verse is considered the first proclamation of the gospel or good news. God promises that a child of a woman will heroically save/deliver the world from the forces of evil. Although Adam and Eve’s sin marred Paradise, hope was ahead, not because they, or we, deserve it, but because God is merciful. Those of us who live after the New Testament recognize the child as Jesus.

The Bible tells us that 2,000 years ago Jesus did come and die to deliver the world from the evil that enslaves us personally and corporately. The scriptures also describe a coming day when he’ll return, judge perfectly, and restore all creation to the paradise of Eden.²

The stories in Judges provide a shadow of the gospel story that only comes to light in the New Testament. The judges’ victories were incomplete and temporary, but they provide a glimpse of Jesus’s future rescue of his people from the power of sin and death. In this time between Jesus’s first and second comings, God deals with us as he dealt with the Israelites of the Old Testament days: he lets us live with the consequences of worshiping and relying on the gods of this world to cause us to cry to him and turn from our idols. Someday when the Savior returns, we’ll be freed from the very presence of sin as we live on a new earth with him forever—our deliverance complete!

The stories of the judges teach us that we can never put our trust in worldly deliverers who can only provide temporary safety. From where we sit in history, we understand that whatever happens our only hope for the present and future is in the God who has rescued us through Christ.

As you read these passages about our Deliverer/Savior, write your thoughts on the questions: John 1:1-5, 9-17; Romans 5:6-11; 6:5-10; Ephesians 2:1-10; Revelation 19:11-16 and 21:1-4.

• Where are you spiritually? Do you believe what these verses reveal about Jesus? Do you need his mercy to free you from your dysfunctional life that causes pain to you and others because of sin? Do you need him to provide a life as God’s child? Will you follow Jesus by the power of God’s Spirit? Be prepared to share honestly with your group about your current relationship with Christ. We are all still growing. If you have questions about Jesus, contact your small group leader, minister, or contact us at BOW (https://beyondordinarywomen.org/contact-alternative/).
• How do these verses about Jesus’s life and future relate to God’s justice and mercy?
• What is God saying to you through these passages?

*** Read these additional passages in light of the questions above: John 3:16-21; Colossians 1:15-22.

Part Two Study

Remember that there are three sections in Judges: the double introduction (Judges 1:1-3:6), stories of the judges (3:7-16:31), and a double conclusion with two stories of moral decay (17:1-21, 25). We studied the introduction in Week One, and now we’ll begin reading about the judges in the second and longest part of the book.

As we study through the cycles in Judges, note that they descend in an overall downward spiral—the judges become less virtuous and the people adapt more and more to look and think like the people of the land.

Review Judges 1:11-15, and read Judges 3:5-11 about Othniel, considered by some to be the ideal judge.³ Then write your thoughts on these questions:

(FYI: There is some debate about how Othniel and Caleb were related.⁴ Many scholars believe that Othniel is Caleb’s nephew.)

• How would you describe Othniel? Why might some describe him as the ideal judge?
• How do you see God’s justice and mercy in the cycle that includes Othniel?
• What is God saying to you about your own life?

*** Read in Bible resources about the idols Baal and Asherahs⁵ (Judges 3:7), and write down what gets your attention. Many outstanding Bible resources are free online, including bible.org.

Part Three Study

In every judge’s story the people of Israel dealt with an oppressive foreign ruler as a consequence of their idolatry, and yet God in his mercy raised up a deliverer. Sometimes innocent people deal with cruelty; it is not always a consequence of their personal sins or disobedience. so we have to be careful here. The faithful remnant also lives with the consequences that the majority deserves. As you think about applying Judges, remember that Israel is unique as a designated God-given land for the Jews. Because no other country falls into that category, we need to apply what we read to ourselves and our churches, not to the unbelievers in the nation around us.

We believers are to be salt and light in our nations as aliens, knowing that our first allegiance belongs to God’s kingdom (Philippians 3:20). To apply the stories in Judges consider how we as God’s New Testament people are making compromises, the nature of our idols, the ways we ignore God’s commands to love him first and our neighbors as ourselves, and the ways we replace trusting and worshiping God with trust in ourselves, other people, government, money, etc.

A God-given desire for justice lives deeply within all people. Sometimes, however, that desire leads fallen people to seek revenge or become self-righteous. The English words righteousness and justice are two forms of the same word in the Bible. Self-righteousness means judging ourselves as worthy and just while we vilify other people. We can often see it in our hearts when we lack empathy toward “those” who aren’t like us. When we do that, we aren’t merciful or loving toward our neighbors.

With that in mind let’s continue the stories of the judges. The cycle began again after 40 years of rest following Othniel’s deliverance.

Read Judges 3:12-31, and record your thoughts as you think through these questions:

(FYI: “An oxgoad was a long stick with a small flat piece of iron on one side and a sharp point on the other. The sharp side was used to drive the oxen during times of plowing, and the flat end was used to clean the mud off the plow.”⁶)

• Compare Ehud and Shamgar to Othniel, the first judge. Consider their situations and methods, as well as anything the text tells you about their character. What makes each good or unusual choices for God’s leaders? Why would God choose judges with limitations?
• What is God saying to you through the stories of these first three judges?
• What three things does God require of us according to Micah 6:8, our verse this week? How might God be asking you to be an advocate/support for justice and mercy?

Just as the judges delivered God’s people from the oppression of foreign kings when the people cried out to God, so we participate in God’s kingdom work by speaking and working for justice. The more difficult the situation is, the more courage we need to stand against what is popular and accepted among our friends. The church has not always led the way in this area. As followers of Christ, we are called to speak out against inequality and injustice wherever we find it—on the job, or in the church, our nation or our families.

At the same time we’re to be forgiving and merciful because that shows God to others, maybe like nothing else does. We show mercy to the guilty and those affected by sin. Our desire for justice must be tempered by our realization that we too have received mercy— totally and completely undeserved. Harsh attitudes and hard lines that fail to love our neighbors are irreconcilable with the name of Christ.

*** Read, listen to, or watch a true story or facts about injustice, discrimination or oppression. Stretch yourself to consider a viewpoint outside of your personal experience from people unlike you. Where can you help bring justice, and where can you give mercy? How can you act on both concepts which are high on God’s priorities? (Need suggestions? See a short list in the list of “Resources on Injustice” in the Appendix on p. 61.)

A friend who worked through this study to provide input as I edited it suggested that I “strongly encourage” you to read the resources on injustice suggested in the starred optional section you just passed. She said that she’s so glad that I needed her input on them because she would’ve skipped them otherwise. She ended up challenged by what she read. Consider reading at least one of them! It’s easier to turn our heads and ignore injustice, but that leaves us as accomplices to evil.

Crystal’s Story

I grew up thinking that our country was a place where justice always prevailed. But then in February 2012, with the shooting of an unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin, I started to question my views. Was racism still a reality in our country? Did people experience systemic injustice just because of the color of their skin? These questions forced me to dive back into the history of our nation and to revisit the story of the black experience in America through their perspectives.

Over the next few years, I read everything that I could get my hands on to understand more fully what I felt like was not being talked about in the classrooms or even the churches where I had grown up.

There continued to be more high-profile shootings of black and brown men, women and children, often in encounters with police, but now I was starting to see through the typical rationalizations offered that something deeply unjust was happening. Comments that I heard from other white Christians that racial justice was a “distraction from the Gospel” rang hollow.

When I started to study the Bible again, now in community with believers from diverse ethnicities and life experiences, my eyes were opened to the fact that these issues were central to God’s heart for justice and reconciliation. Because they are important to Him, they should be important to me as His child.

How has this changed my perspective now? Now I listen first before I speak. I grieve with those communities most affected by the brokenness and injustice in our world. I teach my kids that God has created us in all our differences and loves this diversity. I speak up and work to support those on the frontlines of creating more just communities where we live. Just as the Israelites learned in the book of Judges, I too have learned that my ultimate hope cannot rest in man but only in the God of perfect justice who has reconciled us in the cross and will make all things right again in the end.

¹ The Sentencing Project, “Criminal Justice Facts,” at https://www.sentencingproject.org/criminal-justice-facts/ accessed 4/27/19.

² If you have never studied the big picture story of the Bible, consider doing BOW’s study The ONE Story (https://beyondordinarywomen.org/the-one-story/) which focuses on the overall story and unity of the Bible.

³ Younger, Jr., 36.

⁴ Othniel’s “exact relationship to Caleb is uncertain. The antecedent of ‘his younger brother’ could be either Caleb or Kenaz, in which case he would be Caleb’s nephew.” Block, Daniel I., The New American Commentary: Judges and Ruth, Vol. 6, E. Ray Clendenen, Ed. (Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1999), 93.

⁵ “The Asherahs were local manifestations of the Canaanite goddess Asherah.” Note 9 on Judges 3:7 in https://netbible.org/bible/Judges+3. See the Appendix section “Additional Information about Judges” p.57 for more specifics.

⁶ Note in Life Application Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000), 387.

Light for Living

But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.”

Jesus to Jewish religious leaders in Matthew 22:29; 23:23 (ESV)

Often I hear Christians support their choices by saying, “I prayed about it” or “God told me to do it.” And of course, God leads his people in prayer and by his still small voice. I’m not suggesting that we don’t pray or expect him to guide. But what if we’re mistaken because we don’t know him well enough to recognize the ways in which he leads and the choices that align with his character? I’m very careful about attributing my actions to God because I’m fallible and may be mistaken. I may say, “I sense God leading me,” after some time testing it and asking for counsel from friends whose lives and actions reflect God’s character. More often it’s only in hindsight that I can firmly attribute direction to God.

Our first Light for Living verse this week quotes Jesus speaking to the Jewish leaders, who seemingly knew the scriptures better than anyone in that day. I find it a sobering reminder of how off we can be, in thinking that we know the Bible. They often knew the “rules” but failed to apply the character of God to their reasoning. And the second of this week’s verses speaks to that very issue—our God is just, merciful and faithful, and he calls us to show his image to the world through our lives.

To know God requires immersing ourselves in understanding who he is and how he acts. That’s why I’ve found that repeatedly reading and studying the whole Bible is one of the best protections for incorrect thinking about God. After all, the Bible is his story.

Our fallen human nature can lead us to believe that our desires are God’s—that his greatest concern is our personal happiness and pleasure because he exists for us rather than the other way around. We tend to make him in our own image instead of wanting him to remake us in his. When we determine God’s will based on our feelings of peace, we risk being wrong because we’re naturally more at peace with our selfish desires and the thinking of our culture than with sacrificial love. Our blindspots can only be countered by immersing ourselves in the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation and seeking wise counsel from others who walk with him.

Background

This section of Judges reveals a very dark time. The deliverers who saved the people from oppressive foreign rulers were apparently as ignorant of God and his character as the people who followed them. Their failure to see clearly through the darkness caused suffering and oppression. God was still present, however, and he continued to work for the best of Israel because he is faithful and merciful, not because they deserved it.

Part One Study

As you read about this cycle, note that Israel is now worshipping additional gods.

“Every time Israel worshiped the idols of a nation, that nation ended up oppressing them. This time, Israel has added the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines—and in consequence they are given over to being oppressed by the Ammonites and Philistines (10:7). Idolatry leads to enslavement.”¹

Read Judges 10:1-11:11, and respond:

• What strikes you in the short record of the judges mentioned in 10:1-5?
• What differs here from previous cycles and what does this story reveal about both God and also the people of Israel?²
• Compare the backgrounds of Jephthah and Abimelech (Judges 8:29-31; 9:1-6). What insights do you have about Jephthah and the people of Israel from Judges 10:17-11:11? Write down your thoughts about God’s choice to use Jephthah.

“There is no indication that the Lord raised up Jephthah or even commissioned him for battle, though he did energize him for war.”³

*** What insights do you gain as you compare Jephthah and his “worthless” meaning “empty, idle, worthless (ethically)”⁴ men with David and his fighting force (1 Samuel 22:1-2; 23:5; 25:4-8; 14-16)?

Part Two Study

Read Judges 11:12-40, journaling as you think about these questions:

• What do you learn about Jephthah through his interactions with the Ammonites?
• Based on his words, what is Jephthah’s motive for making his vow? What does the vow show us about his view of God’s power and character? In light of Deuteronomy 12:29-31 and 18:10-12, how does the vow reveal his ignorance of God’s law and his adoption of the cultural norms?
• How does Israel’s repentance, which led to God’s relenting in Judges 10:10-16, differ from Jephthah’s act in making this vow?
• What is God saying to you today about what you truly believe and know about him based on your actions and prayers? Could you be ignorant of God’s character or will? What cultural ways of thinking have you adopted?

There are two thoughts about what Jephthah did to his daughter as result of his vow: 1) he killed her as a sacrifice to God, or (2) he forced her into lifelong virginity. The second idea is apparently a fairly recent one, perhaps because we don’t want to believe that Jephthah, a judge, would actually sacrifice his daughter. But remember that the character of the various judges becomes weaker as the book progresses. And we also know that at this time Israel worshiped Yahweh, the true God, alongside other gods, resulting in a syncretistic religion, the fusion of different beliefs. These idolatrous religions valued the sacrifice of children as an act of worship. This concept wouldn’t have been foreign to Jephthah or the people of Gilead. Repugnance to child sacrifice seems to be the main reason to dismiss it as fact.

To excuse Jephthah, some suggest that he expected an animal to come out of the house, not his daughter. Gary Inrig, however, lays out the case that Jephthah’s daughter was indeed sacrificed:

First, animals were not kept indoors. Second. . . if he intended an animal sacrifice, he would have vowed his very best animals, not just whatever wandered out the door. Third, he intended a sacrifice, as the word translated ‘burnt offering’ indicates. Every time the word is used in the Old Testament, it refers to a blood sacrifice . . . .⁵

This story should force us to think about the toll that idolatry of any kind takes on individuals, families and communities, as well as the dangers of mixing our worship of God with any other allegiances.

Jephthah and his daughter understood that vows are serious. It’s true that we should fulfill our vows, but before we even make them, we should verify that they align with God’s Word and his character. If we make a rash vow, we shouldn’t fulfill it if God’s Word forbids our actions. Jephthah was either ignorant of God’s laws not to sacrifice people or misunderstood God’s character which prioritizes people over rules.

*** Read these verses, writing down your thoughts about the importance of keeping your word and what God is showing you: Ecclesiastes 5:2-7; Matthew 5:33-37; Psalm 15:1, 4c.

If you have time, write a lament over the unnamed daughter of Jephthah and all children today who pay for their parents’ idolatry.

Part Three Study

The first tragedy in Jephthah’s story was the death of his daughter. Sadly, he caused another tragedy because of his lack of wisdom and understanding of God’s will.

Respond to these questions as you read Judges 12:

• How did the anger of the men of Ephraim toward Gideon (Judges 7:24-8:3) compare with their anger at Jephthah? How did Gideon and Jephthah’s responses differ?
• Write down any thoughts that you have about the descriptions of the three judges mentioned after Jephthah’s story.
• What is God saying to you about conflicts in your life? Are there any perspectives or issues that you hold so closely and personally that you would fight a “civil war” over them with friends, family or other believers? Where is the line?

*** Watch this series of three short, free videos from Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries: “Fight Right”: https://vimeo.com/showcase/4885111.

Pamela’s Story

My sister contracted hepatitis when she was pregnant with her first child. Although the doctors were careful not to scare her, of course our entire family was very concerned. My mother was particularly stressed and worried about both my sister and the baby. Thankfully she was a prayer warrior, but she somehow felt the need to try to manipulate God. She bargained with him, saying that she would become more regular in her Sunday evening church attendance if he would protect them both.

Praise God that although my sister struggled to feel better for several weeks, her baby was born healthy a few months later.

Sadly, my mother’s prayer revealed her lack of understanding about the nature of God. Her bargain seemed to be based on one of these possible misunderstandings: God could be bribed if she sacrificed something, or the illness was God’s punishment for her failure to faithfully attend church on Sunday night. In either case, she saw God’s actions as based solely on her good works.

Thankfully, my mother’s bargain did no damage to anyone but her. Only recently did I recognize the connection between her prayer so long ago and her lifelong lack of trust in God’s grace and goodness. It makes me sad that her failure to really know God prevented her from experiencing the joy and security of his love and salvation.

¹ Keller, 109.

² For information about the specific Canaanite gods mentioned, see the section “Additional Information about Judges” in the Appendix p. 57.

³ Chisholm, 21.

⁴ Strong’s Concordance Hebrew definition for 07324 accessed at https://netbible.org/bible/Judges+11

⁵ Gary Inrig, Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay (Chicago: Moody Press, 1979), 193-194.

Light for Living

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Jesus quoting Isaiah to the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8-9 (ESV)

There’s something broken in the human heart that draws us to things like success, fame, money and popularity. The history of mankind is marked by stories of tragedy that result when people seek what glitters. Whole nations have been destroyed by leaders who seek power and bring defeat on themselves and their own people. Many tragedies, however, involve the destruction of families or relationships: parents who pursue success over the needs of their children; husbands and wives who look for self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice in marriage; pastors who’ve built their own kingdoms rather than God’s. This week we read a sad story that can be traced back to one man’s desire for what glitters.

Background

At this point we begin the last of the three sections of the book of Judges. We’ve read the double introduction (Judges 1:1-3:6) and the judges’ stories (Judges 3:7-16:31). The rest of the book shifts to stories of religious anarchy and moral chaos. They aren’t chronological, so they actually happen before Samson’s story. Clues suggest that they occurred within a few years after Joshua’s death. Some call this a double conclusion as it balances the double introduction.

God can use the darkest and saddest chronicles of history in order to teach us about himself and alert us to danger. The Old Testament has great profit for the church:

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:11-13, NASB).

Applying the scriptures helps avoid God’s discipline (Hebrews 12:2-11), so let’s look within ourselves initially and at the church secondly. These aren’t lessons for non-Christians or the nation; they’re about believers being the people we’re supposed to be. Just as God’s people embraced the darkness in Judges, we can also be guilty.

Four times in the last section we read this phrase: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25, ESV). In two of these instances the author adds this note: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25, ESV). We’ve just read that Samson did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 14:3), and now we’ll see the same attitude in the larger population.

Part One Study

The first conclusion is a story in three parts, like episodes in a series. Today we’ll look at Episode One.

Recognizing the disobedience to God’s will and commands involved in this story requires knowledge of some Old Testament laws, so don’t skip the cross-references in your reading.

The main character of the first episode is Micah, “a shortened form of Mikayabu, meaning ‘who is like Yahweh?’ This is ironic since he is so absent from the story.”¹

Read Judges 17:1-6, and note the word LORD in all caps, which indicates God’s personal name Yahweh. Journal as you consider these questions and cross-references:

• What do you learn about the character of Micah and his mother from this story? (Read Exodus 20:1-5, 15; 28:1-14; Numbers 30:9; Deuteronomy 12:1-7, 13-14, 26-28.)
• How does Romans 1:19-25 help explain why God is so opposed to idols, even if those images are dedicated to worshiping him? What does this show about God?
• What is God saying to you about areas where you excuse your conduct or ignore God’s Word, essentially doing what’s right in your own eyes?

*** How do this week’s Light for Living verses on p. 43 connect to this story?

Part Two Study

Micah imitated the religious observances given to the Jews by God: a temple, priests who wore ephods, and ways of worship. Micah believed that he could worship Yahweh as he pleased.

Now let’s look at Episode Two of the story.

Read Judges 17:7-13, again paying attention to where God is referred to by name as the God of Israel. Write down your insights as you think about these questions:

• Compare the story the Levite told Micah with God’s instructions for the Levites in Joshua 21:1-3. What insights do you have into the Levite’s character from Judges 17? (FYI: We see in Numbers 3:1-13 that the tribe of Levi was ordained for God’s service, but only the descendants of Aaron, also Levites, were designated as priests.)
• How is Micah’s view of God distorted?
• What glittery things draw you? Where are you seeking things such as success, approval, comfort, safety, love or happiness? What is God saying to you from this story?

*** Read Hebrews 10:23-25, and write down your insights as to why God commands us to worship with the church in community.

Part Three Study

Episode Three gives us clues that this entire story occurred early in the Judges’ Era (Judges 18:1). Joshua had allotted the tribe of Dan land near the Mediterranean, but the Amorites forced them to stay in the hill country (Judges 1:34). In our first lesson we learned that Israel’s failure to obey God’s instructions to rid the land of its inhabitants brought on idolatry and the cycles.

As you read this part of the story, consider the ripple effects of one man’s sinful actions—Micah.

Read Judges 18:1-31.

FYI: There’s debate as to whether recognizing a voice (v.3) means identifying an accent from a different area or being acquainted with a particular person.² Also, Laish is described as land outside the allotments God made and not listed in the areas that God commanded to be cleared of their inhabitants.³

Journal your thoughts on these questions and the one below the quote:

• What does this story add to what you know about Micah’s character? What does it tell you about the Danites?
• What were the long-term effects of Micah’s false worship both to himself and to others?

The story’s big surprise is the identity of the Levite, who is unnamed until the end of the story. The term “son of Gershom” in Judges 18:30 may mean descendant, allowing the story to be a little later in the time of the Judges, but it may also be that he was Moses’s grandson, which would date it early in the Era of the Judges.⁴

“James 1:27 states that pure religion in God’s sight has two basic components: concern for the weak and vulnerable (this is, an ethical dimension that makes the best interests of others a priority) and spiritual purity (defined as keeping oneself unstained by the pagan world and its standards). Judges 17-18 depicts the antithesis of pure religion.”⁵

• What insights do you have into this story in light of the quote on the previous page? What is God saying about your life?

*** False worship and false teaching is a danger in our churches too. What do you learn about identifying false teachers and their teaching from these verses, and how do those qualities relate to idolatry? Matthew 7:15-23; Acts 20:28-31 (Paul to the elders of the Ephesian church); Galatians 1:6-10; Colossians 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:15-19; 2 Pet. 2:1-2; 1 John 4:1-3.

Our idols not only affect our own lives, but we also spread them through our influence with our families, friends, communities and churches. Although it’s hard and uncomfortable, we each need to uncover and root out our idols before we infect others. Beware of what glitters lest it draw you and those you love away from true worship of the one and only God.

Susan’s Story

I grew up in a Christian home and in a very strong church that taught the Bible. I participated in the youth group, the Wednesday night activities, and the youth choir tours. I was there virtually every time the door was open. I loved my church, my friends, and the strong Bible teaching and music. I worked at a Christian camp after I graduated from high school. And I was very excited to be going to a Christian university after having spent 12 years in public school. I was sure that this would enhance my walk with the Lord. I would finally be able to relax and enjoy school with other believers.

When I got to college, I immediately felt accepted and successful and I began to acquire recognition and honors. I gradually began to substitute this for a growing relationship with the Lord. I still went to church but the Word wasn’t being taught. I prayed every day, but they were short prayers of thankfulness or prayers for help or prayers of desperation. I became a double-minded person (James 1), thinking that I could worship and serve God and do my own thing at the same time. I substituted human logic for divine revelation and I lost all discernment. I used my own reasoning to sort out situations and I enjoyed the passing pleasures of sin. When I reached the pinnacle of the achievement track I was on, I felt totally empty inside and was truly miserable. I knew that I should be happy. I had achieved the goals that I had set, but, I had drifted away from the truth and the rest of my life had lost its meaning.

Thankfully, God prevented me from making some disastrous decisions at this time in my life. (Most notably, he prevented me from marrying the wrong person by having that person decide it was not right.) Eventually, through God’s painful, loving discipline I began to think through some things and saw that he would not let me go my own way.

A friend invited me to a conference taught by the top speakers at Campus Crusade for Christ. I went night after night and I realized what I had left. These Bible teachers were exciting and challenging and I remembered that God’s Word was “alive and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). I was challenged to confess sin and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It was all coming back to me. I had left my “first love” (Revelation 2:4-5). I had drifted off on my own but God called me back to himself. How grateful I am today that he would not let me go my own way. His Word is truth, and I cannot make up my own way to serve him or to worship him. I have to do it his way.

I had avoided Bible studies when I was having so much “fun” in college because I knew I would feel convicted. I prayed that God would give me a desire to study his Word, and he has! The joy, peace, purpose, and fulfillment that I have now are the result of his working in and through my life. He has filled the emptiness that I tried to fill with position and relationships with himself. The plans I had for my life pale in comparison with what God planned. He has given me his best for me and I am still in the process of learning to trust him fully and not “lean on my own understanding” (Proverbs 3).

¹ Younger, 336.

² Chisholm, 455.

³ Ibid., 459-460.

⁴ “This Levite is a descendant of Gershom, the son of Moses (Ex. 2:22; 6:18-20), which means that he is a member of the Kohathite clan of the Levites . . . . Thus, this Levite should not have been living in Bethlehem in Judah.” Younger, Jr., 339.

⁵ Chisholm, 463.