Judges 17:1–5

Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.”

And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!” So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah.

The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.

This scene is such a train wreck that there’s not much to say, except that things are obviously descending into chaos. A man steals a vast sum of silver from his own mother but then fesses up and returns it. For a moment, this looks like a story of repentance and redemption.

But no. The mother then uses some of the silver to make idols. Next, the son makes an ephod and consecrates one of his sons as his priest (literally, “priest to him,” לֹ֖ו לְכֹהֵֽן, lo l-kho-hen). That’s even worse than making idols.

What makes this especially creepy is that the son knows the law. He’s setting up a Levitical-style priest, while blatantly violating the rules—his son isn’t a Levite and the priesthood isn’t a private office.

The affrontery to the LORD is great, fully informed, and very specific.

What the son does is worse because, to paraphrase Paul, he is without excuse—he should know better.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. — Romans 1:18–21

We who know the truth have an obligation to that truth. God’s blessings come with responsibilities. This extends beyond just not doing bad things. God saved us for a purpose. That isn’t partying in heaven.

We each have a job to do. If you’re not sure what that is, just get involved in something and let it grow.

To paraphrase a famous 1977 commercial, “A life is a terrible thing to waste.”

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.