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The DEEP

A Fish Rots From the Head First

No moral compass.

Judges 18:14–20

Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” So they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man—to the house of Micah—and greeted him. The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were armed with weapons of war.

When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

And they said to him, “Be quiet, put your hand over your mouth, and come with us; be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” So the priest’s heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people.

The wording here is odd. “Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.” The Hebrew idiom doesn’t translate well to English.

But the action makes it clear. It must mean something like the English idiom, “You know what to do.” The “brethren” automatically know to be on the lookout while their five buddies rob Micah.

Forget the Ten Commandments; stealing Micah’s stuff is intuitive to these guys. That’s how far they’ve sunk.

But Micah’s priest sees what they’re doing and questions them. They respond like the thugs they are and suggest that the priest would be better off being the priest of a band of thugs.

And the priest jumps at the offer.

That’s how far he’s sunk.


“A fish rots from the head first.”

If the priests have no ethics, then there’s nothing left. There’s no moral compass.

That’s why the last part of the book of Judges says, over and over, “In those days there was no king in Israel.” They were leaderless.

It only occasionally adds, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” but that’s what it means.


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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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download 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.

Mike Slay

As a mathematician, inventor, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, Mike Slay brings an analytical, conversational, and even whimsical approach to the daily study of God's Word.

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