Judges 17 begins the story of Micah. He was a man in the hill country of Ephraim. His mother had 1100 pieces of silver taken from her and Micah had taken it back and now returned it to her. She took some of the money and had a silversmith create a carved and metal image. And Micah took those into his house and ordained one of his sons to become his priest. The country was running on its own – “everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. Sounds familiar for the people of Israel doesn’t it?
A young man was passing from Bethlehem and cam upon the house of Micah. And Micah asked him to “stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living”. Micah hires himself a priest. And the Levite was pleased with the arrangement and stayed and “the young man became to him like one of his sons”. Micah brings this young Levite into his home and cares for him.
“Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah”. A personal priest – not a bad strategy at all. Micah wants to be in God’s good graces. He brings a personal priest into his home to help keep him in right standing. In fact, Micah said it like this: “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest”. Pretty good strategy staying close to the cloth. Micah has a plan and takes action to make it so.
