Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet

Insanity, Stupidity And Apostasy

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2021-11-06

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver examines Judges 18, arguing that the events demonstrate insanity, stupidity, and apostasy as the root causes of Israel's idolatry. He connects this to modern Christianity, warning that rejecting God's objective law leads to subjective self-rule and idolatry. The message calls for a return to biblical truth and obedience.

[John Weaver] Judges chapter 18. The title of the message is insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. Insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. Look if you would in Judges 18 verse 1. In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days, the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in. From to that day, all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family, five men from their coast, men of valor from Zorah and from Eshtoal to spot the land and to search it. And they said to them, go search the land who, when they came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were there by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite.

[John Weaver] And they turned in thither and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? And what makest thou in this place? And what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth the Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace, before the Lord is your way wherein you go.

[John Weaver] If you were to take the time to read Judges chapter 18, you would have to come to the conclusion that insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruled and reigned supremely in the minds of the children of Israel at that particular time. And the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy. So I want you to hold Judges 18 right now, and I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, and if you would mark this passage, because we will come back there before we end, but there are a couple of passages in Jeremiah. But look in Jeremiah chapter 2, if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 11. Jeremiah 2 and verse 11. Look at what the Word of God says. Jeremiah 2 verse 11.

[John Weaver] Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? So that's a question. Have you changed from the one true, the living God to no gods? He says, but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be astonished. Oh, you heavens at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, saith the Lord. Now watch verse 13. For my people have committed two evils. Number one, They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters. And number two, hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. So one has to be either stupid or insane, probably both, to trade the fountain of living water for a bucket with holes in it. Or for some container that is cracked and you would never ever hold water to begin with.

[John Weaver] So why in the world would anyone leave the place of blessing to go to a place of cursing? And why would one trade the one true and the living God for a bunch of idols? And why would you choose destruction over protection and blessing? In other words, someone must be absolutely stupid or insane to do so. Let me show it to you again. Look in Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's begin reading there with verse 13, and we'll read through verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 18, And let's begin reading there verse 13. Now look if you would please at what he says. Jeremiah 18 in verse 13.

[John Weaver] Therefore thus saith the Lord, ask you now among the heathen. Who has heard such things? I mean, even the wicked hadn't heard anything like this. The virgin of Israel had done a horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me. They've burned incense to vanity, and vanity is another word for idols and idolatry. He says, my people have forgotten me and they've burned incense to idols.

[John Weaver] And they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths to walk in paths in a way not cast up. In other words, they've left the safe way and they're now walking in a way that is not cast up. In other words, there's no protection. I've been on mountains driving in cars and riding in horses and you look down on the other side and it's such a steep drop off, it is unreal. But usually there are guard rails if you're in a car and sometimes with the horses there are rocks piled along the way. But you're trading a safe place for a place that is absolutely unsafe as well.

[John Weaver] So when you look back in Judges chapter 18, This chapter demonstrates very clearly that the outcome and the consequence of turning away from God and His law always involves apostasy and idolatry. So let me make a statement.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to listen carefully. It is impossible to forsake God and His law without at the same time apostatizing and turning to idolatry. Anytime you forsake God and His law, you always turn to man and his law. Here's the passage I want to quote for you. You'll find this in 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8. I've given it to you before, but I want you to listen in light of this context.

[John Weaver] He said this, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods. Now let me just stop there. That was verse 7. So God brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[John Weaver] And what did they do? They turned from him, and the Bible said they feared other gods. Well, what was the evidence that they feared other gods? What was the manifestation? How could you know that? Well, that is answered in verse 8. Listen carefully. The Bible says,"...and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel and the kings of Israel that they had made." So they walked in, in the laws and the statutes of the heathen. That is, they forsook God and His law and began to follow the laws and the statutes of the heathen. And, he said, of the kings of Israel which they made. And may I point out the fact The kings of Israel were all in the northern kingdom. They were all apostate.

[John Weaver] You remember Jeroboam was the first one, and he's the one that made the two golden calves. Put the one in Dan, the other in Bethel. And all of the kings of Israel basically, after that, followed Jeroboam and worshiped those calves as well. So the only alternative that you have to God's law is the law of man. And so when you refuse to worship, and obey God and His law, inevitably, the result is you end up obeying man and basically worshiping the state. In other words, you become a little state.

[John Weaver] This is what it amounts to. So, you must have to, in order to understand chapter 18, you've got to see chapter 17. And so what I want to do is this. I want to show you in verse 6, the theme of the book of Judges. You will also find this exact same verse in Judges chapter 21 and verse 25. So if you look in Judges 17 and verse 6, here's the theme of the book of Judges.

[John Weaver] In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Now, the truth of the matter is, yes, there was a king in Israel, but they did not acknowledge God as king. You'll remember in 1 Samuel chapter 8, When they demanded a man for a king, God said to Samuel, they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. So when you look at the choice of man and man's law, it must be seen as a rejection of God and His law. And then Samuel said the same thing in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. He said this, and when you saw that Nahash, The king of the children of Ammon came against you. You said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your king." So, what they have done, they have rejected God as king. At this point in their history, they did not have a man over them as king.

[John Weaver] However, they did have a king. That king happened to be each individual because they were rejecting God's law, and now they are turning into self-law. That's why the Bible says in verse 6, In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Consequently, this is the exact point where we are today in our nation, This is the exact point where most of us are in relationship to Christianity. Most Americans and most Christians find themselves today in nothing less than total rebellion against God. Because they have rejected God, they've rejected His law, and they're doing what is right in their own eyes. They're doing that which is according to their feelings, their emotions, what they think best, and what they believe is best for them.

[John Weaver] I want to show you the insanity and the stupidity. I want you to look in Judges chapter 17 at the first six verses. I'm going to break this down before we get to chapter 18. And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from thee or stolen from thee, about which thou cursest and spake of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me. I took it.

[John Weaver] That is, I stole it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money to his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the founder. who made thereof a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. Now watch carefully. And the man Micah had a house of gods and made an ephod and a teraphim. An ephod is a priestly garment. Teraphim would be just simply a family god. It would be an image of some type.

[John Weaver] And consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel. But every man did that which was right in his own eyes. So, to begin with, Micah stole from his mother. He stole these 1,100 pieces of silver. In one act, he violated the 8th commandment, thou shalt not steal. He violated the 5th commandment, honor thy father and thy mother. He violated the 10th commandment, thou shalt not covet. And he certainly violated the 1st commandment, thou shalt have no other gods before me, because he elevated himself above God and certainly stole.

[John Weaver] So when he restored the money, it was a restoration without genuine repentance on his part. Now, I want you to notice verse 3, what his mother said when he gave her back the money. And when he had restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image.

[John Weaver] Now therefore, I will restore it unto thee." Now here is the first instance of insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. The money was dedicated to Yahweh or to Jehovah. If you look at that word, Lord, it is all totally capitalized, which means Yahweh or Jehovah. The money had been dedicated to him and she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and make a molten image and a graven image which was contrary to the first and second commandments.

[John Weaver] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. And yet, she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and use it for a purpose that was contrary to God and contrary to His law. So here's the question. How can you use something that is holy in an unholy manner, and it still be pleasing unto the Lord." Well, the word dedicated happens to be the word Kaddash in the Hebrew, and it means to be hallowed, to be sanctified, be consecrated, and to be holy. So she was going to take all of this that was holy and consecrated to God, and use it for an unholy and an ungodly purpose.

[John Weaver] May I point out that this is exactly where we are in the church today. When you look around at the average church, and I understand there are exceptions, but the average church uses the money that God has allowed it to have, oftentimes for unbiblical as well as purely wicked purposes. We have many times in our local churches youth programs. And I'm not against helping the youth, I'm certainly for the youth, but a lot of times these youth programs are nothing more than sensationalism, nothing more than entertainment, nothing more than appeasing the flesh. By the way, nowhere in the scripture does the Bible tell us that one of the purposes or the missions of the church is to entertain. We are to educate. We are to teach. And a lot of these young programs or youth programs are nothing more than entertainment. We are failing to give the young people biblical discernment and godly counsel and godly teaching as well. And usually in the average youth group, And oftentimes in the average church, you cannot tell where the world ends and the church begins.

[John Weaver] They are literally meshed together. Then, of course, you can look at the average church today and how they respond and how they've embraced the LBGT agenda. They've allowed sodomites to pastor and to lead in the church. And you need to pay careful attention to the church's stance on the critical race theory, political correctness, and social justice. In fact, in the average church, you can look around and we have everything but the Word of God being preached and expounded.

[John Weaver] The truth of the matter is this. There is a denial of God's law in the average church. There's a failure to exegete the scripture, explain it, and apply it. And of course, there is a refusal to stand for the absolute truth of the Word of God.

[John Weaver] Now, you look, if you would, here's another illustration of how church music has changed. We no longer have choirs, now we have bands. We no longer sing psalms and hymns and sacred songs.

[John Weaver] Now what we do, we sing courses and we sing tunes that elevate man. I remember years and years ago hearing some songs that were just absolutely outrageous. For instance, I thought of one song they used to sing, I'm building a bridge. Well, you can build your bridge all you want, it's going to collapse, it's not going anywhere. And then there's another one, I remember this part of it, I feel a feeling stealing over me, oh boy. Really? Yeah, I feel a feeling stealing over me.

[John Weaver] You compare the hymns to what we're singing today. Just take A Mighty Fortress is Our God, and look at the doctrine that is being taught. Look at the music today, and let me tell you something, all music teaches doctrine. It is not biblical doctrine. but it is teaching something. Alice and I have been around a bunch of little kids, and I remember one of them was singing this, when you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer. The little kid was three or four years old. It was just a catchy tune. We were at another festival, it was a Mule Days festival, and here this woman was pushing her little baby, about two years old, two and a half, and he was singing Outback Steakhouse, Outback, you know, Outback Steakhouse, that little catchy tune. You can teach doctrine with music. And it's either going to be biblical doctrine or it's going to be worldly and unbiblical doctrine, but you can do it. But you look, if you would, at even the beats. The beats of the honky-tonks and the saloons have now come into the church.

[John Weaver] And so, here this woman was going to take something that was holy and use it for an unholy purpose. Here's the second instance of insanity. stupidity and apostasy. It's found in verses 4 and 5. Watch this. Yet he restored the money into his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a house of gods and made an ephod, a priestly garment, and a teraphim, a family god, and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. Now, I want you to note that Micah had, first of all, a house of gods. Moreover, he made an ephod, a priestly garment.

[John Weaver] The question you have to ask is this. Did he make it according to Scripture? Did he make it according to the way God demanded that the ephod be made in the Word of God? And then, notice if you would, he consecrated one of his sons to be his priest. Really? Go back to verse 1 in Judges 17. Watch this. And there was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah. Micah was an Ephraimite, which means his son was an Ephraimite.

[John Weaver] He was not a Levite. He was not of the priestly caste of Aaron. And so Micah now, he's not only taken it upon himself, to make him some gods, he's taken it upon himself to consecrate one of his sons to be his own priest. Evidently, he didn't learn from Numbers chapter 16. When Dathan, Abiram, and Korah, and some others wanted to intrude into the priesthood, and God killed them in a very unusual manner.

[John Weaver] Of course, you have to understand this. When you're a law unto yourself, When you're doing that which you think is right, then biblical requirements do not get in your way. You can make yourself a god, you can make yourself a garment, you can make yourself a priest, you can do whatever. So, you just simply do that which is right in your own eyes, which is the theme of this book.

[John Weaver] Now, here's another point before we get to chapter 18. Look in Judges chapter 17 at verses 7 through 13. Watch carefully. And there was a young man out of Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite. And he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem, Judah, to sojourn where he could find a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem, Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me. Be unto me a father and a priest and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year and a suit of apparel and thy vittles so the Levite went in and the Levite was content to dwell with the man and the young man was under him as one of his sons and Micah consecrated the Levite and the young man became his priest and was in the house of Micah then said Micah Now know I that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priest."

[John Weaver] Now here's an obviously insane, stupid, and apostate statement. Micah said, now I know that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my priest. In light of the fact in reality that Micah had systematically denied and disobeyed God in his law, he made images contrary to God's law, He consecrated his own son to be a priest, contrary to God's law, and now he thinks somehow that God is going to bless him just because he has a Levite there, and he has consecrated him to be a priest as well. He now has this Levite to assist him in his idolatry. So he says, God's going to bless me. Do you realize that same insane, stupid, Thinking is prevalent in modern-day Christians. We take the attitude, well, God's going to bless me.

[John Weaver] I've got a lucky rabbit's foot. Well, it wasn't lucky for the rabbit, was it? He lost it. Well, I know God's going to bless me. I found a four-leaf clover. I know God's going to bless me because of that fortune in my fortune cookie at the Chinese restaurant. Well, I know God's going to bless me because I've got my grandpa's Bible and my grandpa read the Bible every day. Well, I know God's going to bless me because I prayed for 15 minutes straight today. Well, I know God's going to bless me because I've been to church two Sundays in a row.

[John Weaver] Yeah, we think things like that. Our lives can be in absolute, total disarray and disobedience and rebellion to God, and we do something that we think might be pleasing to God, and we say, well, God's going to bless me now because I have done this. Really? That is insane. That is stupidity. That is apostasy. Blessings always follow obedience. And curses always follow disobedience. Someone's subjective thinking does not change God's objective truth.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to give you a quote from Matthew Poole, and he's commenting on this verse where Micah said, Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest. Listen to what Matthew Poole said. So blind and grossly partial he was in his judgment to think that one right circumstance would answer for all of his substantial errors in making and worshipping images against God's express command, in worshipping God even in a forbidden place, and that he, being an Ephraimite, presumed to make a priest. Now, it is true this young man was a Levite.

[John Weaver] But may I remind you that not all Levites were priests. Not in the sense that Aaron was a priest. Only Aaron's family could actually be the real priest. In other words, you had to be a descendant of Aaron's family. Now, the Levites did priestly service, but that does not mean that they were the ones who went to the Holy of Holies, that they did certain things. No, no. Only Aaron could do that. And so here is Micah, an Ephraimite, and he is now consecrating this young Levite to be his priest. He was thinking that somehow this was going to be a meritorious act for him and he was going to acquire and receive God's blessing because he now had this young man who was a Levite and he made him a priest.

[John Weaver] Let me explain something to you. If you don't learn anything else today, learn this. There's no right way to do a wrong thing. There is no right way to violate the law of God. Let's see. Steve has a million dollars.

[John Weaver] Now, how can I steal that and honor God at the same time? It's impossible. It's impossible. There's not a right way to do a wrong thing. There's not a right way to violate the law of God.

[John Weaver] Now, this is the background of Judges chapter 18. Micah is here with his house of gods and now this Levite. And we read the first six verses, but now the children of Dan, which was one of the twelve tribes, needed more land. And so they send out five men to scout out Laish in its surroundings and to see if they might possibly conquer the people there. So these five men actually come to Micah's house.

[John Weaver] And of course, they hear the voice of the young man who happens to be now the priest. And I want you to look, if you would, at verses 5 and 6. And after they're there, and they say in him, ask counsel, we pray thee of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said to them, go in peace before the Lord is your way wherein you go. Wow.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is, before that, they wanted to know how he got there. They wanted to know how much he made and what he had there going for him. When he told them, they said, alright, now you ask of the Lord as to whether or not our way should be prosperous.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to listen to what he said. Go in peace before the Lord is your way wherein you go. Do you realize that I can answer any question like that? I can! And I will always be correct. So, Brother Gary could ask me, Pastor, I'm thinking about getting a new car. Should I buy that new car? And I could answer him, Go in peace. Before the Lord is your way, where do you go? Hmm? Carol could ask me, should I buy a new house? I could say, go in peace. Before the Lord is the way wherein you go.

[John Weaver] Well, is that not true? I want you to go in peace. And is not the Lord eternal, infinite, omniscient? He knows everything. He knows every way that you're going to go. How these people could derive any consolation or any instruction from this answer, I have no earthly idea. At any rate, And these five men go and check the surroundings around Laish, and they determine that the people are going to be easy prey. In fact, they determine that 600 men are sufficient to take care of the business, and they're not going to make everybody work.

[John Weaver] So, look if you would in verse 11 in Judges 18. And there went forth tenths of the family of the Danites out of Zorah and out of Ishtar, 600 men appointed with weapons of war. So 600 men now are going to conquer this land. The first thing the 600 do is they come to the house of Micah. You remember now the five men who scouted out the land, are now with these 600.

[John Weaver] And they make up their mind what needs to be done before they ever get there. And here's what they determined what needed to be done. They needed to steal Micah's gods, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and get the priest. Hmm. Well, look in verse 14. Judges chapter 18, verse 14. Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and a teraphrim, and a graven image, and a molten image?

[John Weaver] Now therefore consider what you have to do." Lord, we have to get this for ourselves. We have to take this. This would be absolutely hilarious if it were not so insanely stupid. I mean, they're going to steal another man's gods. The gods could not protect the other man. They could not even protect themselves. They could not stop themselves from being stolen. So what makes these Danites think that these gods are going to do them any good whatsoever?

[John Weaver] I have a had a pastor friend for years, he's now dead, but I preached in his church many times, and he lived in the Atlanta area, and I would go up there, and he had a fenced-in backyard, and he had three huge German shepherds in the backyard, and I asked him about those German shepherds, he said, oh, he said, they're for protection, they protect me and they protect this property, and I said, well, that's good, you know, and so I came back a few months later to preach there again, and the dogs were gone. I said, Earl, what happened to your dogs? Oh, they were stolen. I thought, what? They weren't too good of watchdogs or too much protection because they were stolen.

[John Weaver] Somebody just went in and picked them up and walked off with them. Well, you know, that's the way it was here. These gods, they were just there, and these Danites, they just simply went in and took them and walked out. And you think, The gods had no power. The gods had no life. They couldn't fight. They couldn't protect themselves. They couldn't protect Micah. How insanely stupid is something like this?

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to skip down to Judges 18 and look at verses 17 through 20. Watch this. It even gets worse. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up and came in thither and took the graven image and the ephod and the teraphim And the molten image and the priesthood in the entering of the gate were the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

[John Weaver] So now the priest is being detained, the Levite is being detained. He's talking to the six hundred men, while the five are inside stealing everything. Now watch. And these went into Micah's house and fetched the carved image, the ephod and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest to them, what do ye? What are you doing? And they said unto him, Watch, hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? Watch, and the priest's heart was glad, And he took the ephod and the teraphim and the graven image and went in the midst of the people. Now, originally, it was just these five men that were doing the stealing. Now, when he finds out that they want him, he takes them and goes into the midst of the people.

[John Weaver] It's like, okay boys, I'm your leader. I've got everything now. You just follow me. So it was not just the five men who were doing the stealing, not the Levite, the priest who's doing the stealing as well.

[John Weaver] Now, this incident reminds me of another incident that happened in America. In fact, it happened over and over unhappily during the war of northern aggression. And you can check it out for yourself. You can study on the raid on Osceola, Missouri. Senator Jim Lane, and James Montgomery who were with the Kansas Jayhawkers or the Kansas Red Legs. They raided Osceola, Missouri. Osceola, Missouri had absolutely no military connection whatsoever.

[John Weaver] There were no soldiers in that town. There was no military significance in that town. And yet, Jim Lane and James Montgomery raided Osceola, Missouri. The men there were brought into the town square, they were court-martialed, they were shot, they were hanged, the town was burned to the ground. Out of 800 buildings, only three were left standing when Jim Lane and James Montgomery and the Kansas Red Legs left. The people had been left homeless, 3,000 people, homeless without food, All their mules, all their horses, all their goods, anything of value was stolen and taken back to Lawrence, Kansas. In fact, Lawrence, Kansas had a nickname. It was known as the City of Stolen Goods. Let me show you how devastated this town was. In 1861, the town had 3,000 residents. In 1865, there were only 183 residents.

[John Weaver] And oddly enough, the chaplain of the Kansas Red Legs under Jim Lane, James Montgomery, was Reverend Hugh Fisher. And the Reverend Hugh Fisher looted the churches before he put the torch to them and burned them to the ground and took everything and furnished His church in Kansas. That's a fact. That is a reality. And so that's exactly what this young man is doing. He's stealing everything from Micah, and he's doing it with energy.

[John Weaver] And of course, he is obviously ready to go. Now look, if you would please, what they said to him in verse 19. Here's what they said. And they said unto him, when he questioned them what they were doing, Hold thy peace. Lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?" Wow.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to stop and think about this. What they're telling this young man is, you are about to get a tremendous promotion. and a tremendous increase in your provision and in your monetary needs. Because you see, biblically, the priest always got parts of the sacrifice. He got many times the first fruits. Everything that the priest wants to get biblically was now going to be given to this man, Not just from one man in one family, but from a whole tribe in Israel. I remember hearing years ago about a man who went to see the pastor, and he knocked on the door, and the little boy answered the door. And he said, son, may I speak to the pastor, your father?

[John Weaver] He said, I'm sorry sir, I cannot interrupt him. He said, he's in the study praying. He said, He's been offered a larger church with a much larger salary, and he's in there praying about it. Well, he said, son, I don't have to talk to him. I can talk to your mother. He said, oh no, she can't come either. So why not? Well, she's in the back room packing right now. Well, in other words, the point I'm trying to make is larceny was in the heart of this young man anyhow. He had no character.

[John Weaver] He had no moral integrity. In other words, Micah had not defrauded him. Micah had evidently kept his word to him. In fact, the Bible said he was as a son unto Micah. But, he's willing to steal from Micah now, and he's willing to go with these people and help them steal as well.

[John Weaver] Now, obviously it would be foolish for him to have disagreed with 600 armed men, that is for sure. But when he heard about the promotion, he was more than willing to go with them. You know, the Bible tells you in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 10, that the love of money is the root of all evil. And then the Bible warns about Balaam, the false prophet who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

[John Weaver] Now, the two verses I'm going to quote are from the New Testament. But you have to remember that Balaam was in the Old Testament. He was in the book of Numbers. Then there was Deuteronomy, Joshua, and now Judges. So everything to this Levite did not know anything about Bible history. But the Bible says in 2 Peter 2 and verse 15, which have forsaken the right way, and are going astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosar, who loved the wages of unrighteousness." And Balaam was a false prophet, and he was willing to go against God for money. And then Jude 1 in verse 11, he says,"...Woe to them, for they have gone out of the way of Cain, ran greedily after the heir of Balaam, for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Kor."

[John Weaver] Now, while we understand that the love of money is root of all evil, there's a vast difference between knowing and needing funds to live on and just loving money for the sake of loving money. I know one man, in fact, he just recently died, just this month. And he told me years ago, he said, my hobby, is making money. He said, I just love to make money. Well, it didn't do him a bit of good when he died, but I'm just simply saying.

[John Weaver] So if you look in Judges chapter 18 verse 20, here's what happened to that young man when he found out that he was going to be a priest to an entire tribe. And the priest's heart was glad. And he took the ephod and the teraphim and the graven image and went in the midst of the people." In other words, he was willing to steal at that particular point. So it seems that if now he is the leader in the theft and he proudly took that which did not belong to him.

[John Weaver] Now, when Micah finds out that his gods are stolen, the priest is gone. He gets his men together and some neighbors and runs and rides after these Danites. And if you look in verse 22, he catches up with them. And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the house near to Micah's house were gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. I love this passage. And they cried unto the children of Dan, and they turned their faces and said unto Micah, what aimeth thee?

[John Weaver] What's wrong with you that thou comest with such a company? What are you trying to do, start a war? And he said, look what Micah said, you have taken away my gods, which I made, and the priest, and you're going away. And what have I more? And what is this that you say to me, what aileth thee? Micah said, you've stolen my gods. You've stolen everything. I made these, they're mine.

[John Weaver] I'm simply saying, insanity, stupidity, An apostasy ruled and reigned. That's all there is to it.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is, look in verse 25. And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life with the lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went their way. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back, and to his own house."

[John Weaver] In other words, he says, they may be my gods and I may have made them, but I can't whip 600 armed men, and so I'm going to lose my gods. That's all there is to it. You're talking about insanity, stupidity, apostasy. Now, you're going to ask me, what is the point of all of this that I'm sharing with you? Well, first of all, I want you to look at verse 30. Look at verse 30.

[John Weaver] And the children of Dan, that is the tribe of Dan now, the children of Dan set up the graven image and Jonathan, the son of Gershon, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. Israel went into captivity in 722 BC. So for a number of years, the Danites were not only apostates, but idolaters.

[John Weaver] Now what's so important about this verse? Well, look at it. And the children of Dan set up the graven image, and Jonathan the son of Gershon. Does anybody remember the name Gershon? Gershon was the son of Moses." Hang on. Jonathan would either be a grandson or a great-grandson. Now, you're going to say in verse 30, it says, the son of Manasseh. I want to give you two quotes right quickly.

[John Weaver] The first one is from Albert Barnes. And here's what he said. In the Hebrew text, The name here rendered Manasseh is written M-N-S-H. Without the N, the Nun, suspended over the line. The word may be read Moses, whose son was Gershon. Exodus 2 and verse 22. Whose son or descendant Jonathan clearly was. And then John Trapp, the old Puritan, said this. Of Moses by nature, but of Manasseh, that notorious idolater, by imitation." So Manasseh was the most wicked, vile king in Judah. So he's saying, Jonathan was of Moses by nature, but of Manasseh by imitation. Then he goes on to say this, to save the honor of Moses, lest it should reflect upon so good a man to have so bad a grandson as would rather have been steamed Manasseh than Moses. Manasseh is written in the Hebrew with the nun, elevated above other letters, and this mark O upon the top and a note in the margin. So here's the point.

[John Weaver] Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant. Just look at the book of the kings of Judah. You are going to find here's a godly king, and his son is a wicked rebel and apostate." Then you'll find a wicked rebel and apostate is king, and he'll end up having a godly son. So the truth of the matter is, here we have apostasy affecting even the family of Moses. Here's the second thing. I want you to look in verse 31.

[John Weaver] This is absolutely astounding to me. And they set them up, And they set them up, Micah's graven image which he made, now look at this, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. It is insanely stupid to apostatize when you have truth. Do you remember when Joshua and the people came into the land? What did they do? They set up the tabernacle in Shiloh. You could worship God in Shiloh. You could offer sacrifices in Shiloh. The true priesthood was in Shiloh. Everything was there, and yet the people were doing that which was right in their own eyes. Why? They were following the subjective standard, their own thinking, their own emotions, their own feelings, what they thought, rather than what God had said.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 2. We're not through just yet, almost, but look in Jeremiah chapter 2 again if you would. Jeremiah chapter 2, and I want us to go back and read the passage that we read at the very beginning of this message. Look in Jeremiah chapter 2, beginning there with verse 11. And I want you to think with me, please. Look at this verse. Look at the question. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? Look at what our country has done. This country was founded on biblical Christianity. Have we changed gods?

[John Weaver] And the answer is yes. Now we're worshiping the God of political correctness, the God of convenience, the God of Molech, power, state religion. He says, but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. We've changed the glorious God of heaven and earth into that which is worthless. And then he says in verse 12, Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye desolate, saith the Lord, for My people have committed two evils.

[John Weaver] They have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewn them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Let me put it to you like this. When you forsake God and His law, you're going down the drain. That water starts leaving that broken cistern. Anything in it is going out. So here's what I'm trying to tell you. Don't be stupid. Don't be insane. Don't apostatize. Don't leave the pure, true Word of God for feelings and emotions and circumstances, political correctness, or anything, do not do so. Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.

[John Weaver] May I remind you of a passage that most of you can quote, or at least part of it. Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7. Listen to it. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes, Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Now, I want you to listen to me. I want you to just, in your mind, take a broad overview of this country.

[John Weaver] Think about Chicago, New York. Think about Atlanta, Tallahassee. Think about Washington DC. Okay?

[John Weaver] Now that you've done that, I want you to think about the state of the churches that we're in. How most churches hardly ever expound or exegete the Word of God or apply the truth of God. Most people cannot even quote the Ten Commandments. I'm talking about most Christians. Go back, if you would, and look, if you would, at verse 31 of Judges chapter 18. Look at it. Look at verse 31.

[John Weaver] This is what is astounding to me. And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made all the time the house of God was in Shiloh. Look at it. All the time that our governments are apostatizing, we have the truth. All the time that our churches are wicked and apostatizing, we have the truth. And we've turned from the truth. We have to come back. and worship God in spirit and in truth. The true worship of God is bounded on two sides. On the one side, it's bounded by spirit. It must be spiritual worship in the Holy Spirit, in our spirit. And on the other side, it must be in truth. If you do not have spiritual worship, you can run in the ditch on that side. If you don't have truth, you're going to run in the ditch on that side. If you don't have either, it doesn't matter where you are, you're still in the ditch.

[John Weaver] How did they become insanely stupid and apostates? The answer is, they rejected the objective standard. They rejected the objective standard, God's Word, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. We must come back to this truth. I think The message next week will demonstrate this 100%. We are in more trouble than you can shake a stick at. We know we're in deep trouble, but we really do not comprehend how deeply we have sunk until you hear what is being planned for us next week.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to be sane. Help us, Lord, to be truthful and honest. Give us integrity and character. Enable us, Lord, to stand for Thee and not to be stupid, and not to apostatize, and not to turn from Thee or Thy Word. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and may we hold fast Thy truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] you

Insanity, Stupidity And Apostasy

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	KebpMrToOJA
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-11-06
Dictation Name
Book	Book 079: Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover - Volume 2 — Chapter 34
Source Timed Segments	84

Formatted Transcript

Introduction to Insanity, Stupidity, and Apostasy

Weaver introduces the title and reads Judges 18:1-6, asserting that the chapter reveals insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruling Israel.

Judges chapter 18. The title of the message is Insanity, Stupidity, and Apostasy. Insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. Look, if you would, in Judges 18, verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:1-6

"In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days, the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coast, men of valor from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. And they said to them, Go, search the land. Who, when they came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite."

"And they turned in thither and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? And what makest thou in this place? And what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go." If you were to take the time to read Judges chapter 18, you would have to come to the conclusion that insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruled and reigned supremely in the minds of the children of Israel at that particular time. And the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy. So I want you to hold Judges 18 right now, and I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, and if you would mark this passage, because we will come back there before we end, but there are a couple of passages in Jeremiah. But look in Jeremiah chapter 2, if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 11. Jeremiah 2 and verse 11. Look at what the Word of God says. Jeremiah 2, verse 11.

Jeremiah's Indictment of Idolatry

Weaver turns to Jeremiah 2:11-13 and 18:13-17 to show that forsaking God for idols is both stupid and insane, like trading a fountain for broken cisterns.

If you were to take the time to read Judges chapter 18, you would have to come to the conclusion that insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruled and reigned supremely in the minds of the children of Israel at that particular time. And the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy. So I want you to hold Judges 18 right now, and I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, and if you would mark this passage, because we will come back there before we end, but there are a couple of passages in Jeremiah. But look in Jeremiah chapter 2, if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 11. Jeremiah 2 and verse 11. Look at what the Word of God says. Jeremiah 2, verse 11.

"Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?" So that's a question. Have you changed from the one true, the living God to no gods? He says, "But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate, saith the Lord." Now watch verse 13: "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." So one has to be either stupid or insane, probably both, to trade the fountain of living water for a bucket with holes in it, or for some container that is cracked and would never ever hold water to begin with.

So why in the world would anyone leave the place of blessing to go to a place of cursing? And why would one trade the one true and the living God for a bunch of idols? And why would you choose destruction over protection and blessing? In other words, someone must be absolutely stupid or insane to do so. Let me show it to you again. Look in Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's begin reading there with verse 13, and we'll read through verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's begin reading there verse 13. Now look, if you would please, at what he says. Jeremiah 18, verse 13.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things?" I mean, even the wicked hadn't heard anything like this. "The virgin of Israel hath done a horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity"—and vanity is another word for idols and idolatry. He says, "My people have forgotten me, and they have burned incense to idols." "And they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths in a way not cast up." In other words, they've left the safe way and they're now walking in a way that is not cast up. In other words, there's no protection. I've been on mountains driving in cars and riding in horses, and you look down on the other side and it's such a steep drop-off, it is unreal. But usually there are guardrails if you're in a car, and sometimes with the horses there are rocks piled along the way. But you're trading a safe place for a place that is absolutely unsafe as well.

Forsaking God's Law Leads to Idolatry

Weaver explains that rejecting God and His law inevitably results in following man's law and idolatry, citing 2 Kings 17:7-8.

So when you look back in Judges chapter 18, this chapter demonstrates very clearly that the outcome and the consequence of turning away from God and His law always involves apostasy and idolatry. So let me make a statement. Now I want you to listen carefully. It is impossible to forsake God and His law without at the same time apostatizing and turning to idolatry. Anytime you forsake God and His law, you always turn to man and his law. Here's the passage I want to quote for you. You'll find this in 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8. I've given it to you before, but I want you to listen in light of this context.

He said this, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods. Now let me just stop there. That was verse 7. So God brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And what did they do? They turned from him, and the Bible said they feared other gods. Well, what was the evidence that they feared other gods? What was the manifestation? How could you know that? Well, that is answered in verse 8. Listen carefully. The Bible says, "...and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they had made." So they walked in the laws and the statutes of the heathen. That is, they forsook God and His law and began to follow the laws and the statutes of the heathen. And, he said, "of the kings of Israel which they made." And may I point out the fact: the kings of Israel were all in the northern kingdom. They were all apostate.

You remember Jeroboam was the first one, and he's the one that made the two golden calves, put the one in Dan, the other in Bethel. And all of the kings of Israel basically, after that, followed Jeroboam and worshiped those calves as well. So the only alternative that you have to God's law is the law of man. And so when you refuse to worship and obey God and His law, inevitably, the result is you end up obeying man and basically worshiping the state. In other words, you become a little state. This is what it amounts to. So, you must have to, in order to understand chapter 18, you've got to see chapter 17. And so what I want to do is this. I want to show you in verse 6, the theme of the book of Judges. You will also find this exact same verse in Judges chapter 21 and verse 25. So if you look in Judges 17 and verse 6, here's the theme of the book of Judges.

The Theme of Judges: Every Man Did Right in His Own Eyes

Weaver highlights Judges 17:6 as the book's theme, showing that rejecting God as king leads to self-law, paralleling modern America.

"In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Now, the truth of the matter is, yes, there was a king in Israel, but they did not acknowledge God as king. You'll remember in 1 Samuel chapter 8, when they demanded a man for a king, God said to Samuel, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." So when you look at the choice of man and man's law, it must be seen as a rejection of God and His law. And then Samuel said the same thing in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. He said this: "And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king." So, what they have done, they have rejected God as king. At this point in their history, they did not have a man over them as king.

However, they did have a king. That king happened to be each individual because they were rejecting God's law, and now they are turning into self-law. That's why the Bible says in verse 6, "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Consequently, this is the exact point where we are today in our nation. This is the exact point where most of us are in relationship to Christianity. Most Americans and most Christians find themselves today in nothing less than total rebellion against God, because they have rejected God, they've rejected His law, and they're doing what is right in their own eyes. They're doing that which is according to their feelings, their emotions, what they think best, and what they believe is best for them.

Micah's Idolatry and Self-Made Religion

Weaver analyzes Judges 17:1-6, detailing Micah's theft, his mother's misuse of dedicated silver for idols, and the consecration of his son as priest, all contrary to God's law.

I want to show you the insanity and the stupidity. I want you to look in Judges chapter 17 at the first six verses. I'm going to break this down before we get to chapter 18.

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:1-6

"And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee"

—or stolen from thee—

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:1-6

"about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it."

That is, I stole it.

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:1-6

"And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image."

"Now therefore, I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money to his mother, and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah." Now watch carefully. "And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim." An ephod is a priestly garment. Teraphim would be just simply a family god. It would be an image of some type. "And consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." So, to begin with, Micah stole from his mother. He stole these 1,100 pieces of silver. In one act, he violated the 8th commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." He violated the 5th commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother." He violated the 10th commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." And he certainly violated the 1st commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," because he elevated himself above God and certainly stole.

So when he restored the money, it was a restoration without genuine repentance on his part. Now, I want you to notice verse 3, what his mother said when he gave her back the money. "And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image." "Now therefore, I will restore it unto thee." Now here is the first instance of insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. The money was dedicated to Yahweh or to Jehovah. If you look at that word "Lord," it is all totally capitalized, which means Yahweh or Jehovah. The money had been dedicated to him, and she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and make a molten image and a graven image, which was contrary to the first and second commandments.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." And yet, she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and use it for a purpose that was contrary to God and contrary to His law. So here's the question: How can you use something that is holy in an unholy manner, and it still be pleasing unto the Lord? Well, the word "dedicated" happens to be the word "qadash" in the Hebrew, and it means to be hallowed, to be sanctified, be consecrated, and to be holy. So she was going to take all of this that was holy and consecrated to God, and use it for an unholy and an ungodly purpose.

Modern Church Parallels to Micah's Insanity

Weaver draws parallels between Micah's actions and modern churches using holy resources for unholy purposes, such as entertainment-focused youth programs and embracing unbiblical agendas.

May I point out that this is exactly where we are in the church today. When you look around at the average church, and I understand there are exceptions, but the average church uses the money that God has allowed it to have, oftentimes for unbiblical as well as purely wicked purposes. We have many times in our local churches youth programs. And I'm not against helping the youth, I'm certainly for the youth, but a lot of times these youth programs are nothing more than sensationalism, nothing more than entertainment, nothing more than appeasing the flesh. By the way, nowhere in the scripture does the Bible tell us that one of the purposes or the missions of the church is to entertain. We are to educate. We are to teach. And a lot of these youth programs are nothing more than entertainment. We are failing to give the young people biblical discernment and godly counsel and godly teaching as well. And usually in the average youth group, and oftentimes in the average church, you cannot tell where the world ends and the church begins.

They are literally meshed together. Then, of course, you can look at the average church today and how they respond and how they've embraced the LGBT agenda. They've allowed sodomites to pastor and to lead in the church. And you need to pay careful attention to the church's stance on critical race theory, political correctness, and social justice. In fact, in the average church, you can look around and we have everything but the Word of God being preached and expounded. The truth of the matter is this: There is a denial of God's law in the average church. There's a failure to exegete the scripture, explain it, and apply it. And of course, there is a refusal to stand for the absolute truth of the Word of God.

Now, you look, if you would, here's another illustration of how church music has changed. We no longer have choirs; now we have bands. We no longer sing psalms and hymns and sacred songs. Now what we do, we sing choruses and we sing tunes that elevate man. I remember years and years ago hearing some songs that were just absolutely outrageous. For instance, I thought of one song they used to sing, "I'm Building a Bridge." Well, you can build your bridge all you want; it's going to collapse, it's not going anywhere. And then there's another one, I remember this part of it: "I feel a feeling stealing over me." Oh boy. Really? Yeah, "I feel a feeling stealing over me."

Micah's False Assurance of Blessing

Weaver examines Judges 17:7-13, where Micah hires a Levite as priest and assumes God will bless him despite his disobedience, illustrating insane, subjective thinking.

Now, here's another point before we get to chapter 18. Look in Judges chapter 17 at verses 7 through 13. Watch carefully:

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:7-13

"And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man: and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest."

Now here's an obviously insane, stupid, and apostate statement. Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." In light of the fact in reality that Micah had systematically denied and disobeyed God in his law, he made images contrary to God's law, he consecrated his own son to be a priest, contrary to God's law, and now he thinks somehow that God is going to bless him just because he has a Levite there, and he has consecrated him to be a priest as well. He now has this Levite to assist him in his idolatry. So he says, "God's going to bless me." Do you realize that same insane, stupid thinking is prevalent in modern-day Christians? We take the attitude, "Well, God's going to bless me."

"I've got a lucky rabbit's foot." Well, it wasn't lucky for the rabbit, was it? He lost it. "Well, I know God's going to bless me. I found a four-leaf clover." "I know God's going to bless me because of that fortune in my fortune cookie at the Chinese restaurant." "Well, I know God's going to bless me because I've got my grandpa's Bible and my grandpa read the Bible every day." "Well, I know God's going to bless me because I prayed for 15 minutes straight today." "Well, I know God's going to bless me because I've been to church two Sundays in a row." Yeah, we think things like that. Our lives can be in absolute, total disarray and disobedience and rebellion to God, and we do something that we think might be pleasing to God, and we say, "Well, God's going to bless me now because I have done this." Really? That is insane. That is stupidity. That is apostasy. Blessings always follow obedience. And curses always follow disobedience. Someone's subjective thinking does not change God's objective truth.

Now, I want to give you a quote from Matthew Poole, and he's commenting on this verse where Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." Listen to what Matthew Poole said: "So blind and grossly partial he was in his judgment to think that one right circumstance would answer for all of his substantial errors in making and worshipping images against God's express command, in worshipping God even in a forbidden place, and that he, being an Ephraimite, presumed to make a priest." Now, it is true this young man was a Levite.

The Danites' Theft of Micah's Gods

Weaver recounts Judges 18:11-20, where the Danites steal Micah's idols and priest, highlighting the absurdity of stealing powerless gods and the priest's gladness at a promotion.

So, look if you would in verse 11 in Judges 18:

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war."

So 600 men now are going to conquer this land. The first thing the 600 do is they come to the house of Micah. You remember now the five men who scouted out the land are now with these 600. And they make up their mind what needs to be done before they ever get there. And here's what they determined what needed to be done: They needed to steal Micah's gods, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and get the priest. Hmm. Well, look in verse 14. Judges chapter 18, verse 14:

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image?"

"Now therefore consider what ye have to do." Lord, we have to get this for ourselves. We have to take this. This would be absolutely hilarious if it were not so insanely stupid. I mean, they're going to steal another man's gods. The gods could not protect the other man. They could not even protect themselves. They could not stop themselves from being stolen. So what makes these Danites think that these gods are going to do them any good whatsoever?

I have had a pastor friend for years, he's now dead, but I preached in his church many times, and he lived in the Atlanta area, and I would go up there, and he had a fenced-in backyard, and he had three huge German shepherds in the backyard, and I asked him about those German shepherds. He said, "Oh," he said, "they're for protection, they protect me and they protect this property." And I said, "Well, that's good," you know. And so I came back a few months later to preach there again, and the dogs were gone. I said, "Earl, what happened to your dogs?" "Oh, they were stolen." I thought, "What?" They weren't too good of watchdogs or too much protection because they were stolen. Somebody just went in and picked them up and walked off with them. Well, you know, that's the way it was here. These gods, they were just there, and these Danites, they just simply went in and took them and walked out. And you think, the gods had no power. The gods had no life. They couldn't fight. They couldn't protect themselves. They couldn't protect Micah. How insanely stupid is something like this?

Now, I want you to skip down to Judges 18 and look at verses 17 through 20. Watch this. It even gets worse.

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war."

So now the priest is being detained, the Levite is being detained. He's talking to the six hundred men, while the five are inside stealing everything. Now watch: "And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?" What are you doing? "And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?" Watch: "And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people." Now, originally, it was just these five men that were doing the stealing. Now, when he finds out that they want him, he takes them and goes into the midst of the people.

It's like, "Okay boys, I'm your leader. I've got everything now. You just follow me." So it was not just the five men who were doing the stealing, not the Levite, the priest who's doing the stealing as well. Now, this incident reminds me of another incident that happened in America. In fact, it happened over and over unhappily during the War of Northern Aggression. And you can check it out for yourself. You can study on the raid on Osceola, Missouri. Senator Jim Lane and James Montgomery, who were with the Kansas Jayhawkers or the Kansas Red Legs, they raided Osceola, Missouri. Osceola, Missouri had absolutely no military connection whatsoever.

There were no soldiers in that town. There was no military significance in that town. And yet, Jim Lane and James Montgomery raided Osceola, Missouri. The men there were brought into the town square, they were court-martialed, they were shot, they were hanged, the town was burned to the ground. Out of 800 buildings, only three were left standing when Jim Lane and James Montgomery and the Kansas Red Legs left. The people had been left homeless, 3,000 people, homeless without food. All their mules, all their horses, all their goods, anything of value was stolen and taken back to Lawrence, Kansas. In fact, Lawrence, Kansas had a nickname. It was known as the City of Stolen Goods. Let me show you how devastated this town was. In 1861, the town had 3,000 residents. In 1865, there were only 183 residents.

And oddly enough, the chaplain of the Kansas Red Legs under Jim Lane, James Montgomery, was Reverend Hugh Fisher. And the Reverend Hugh Fisher looted the churches before he put the torch to them and burned them to the ground and took everything and furnished his church in Kansas. That's a fact. That is a reality. And so that's exactly what this young man is doing. He's stealing everything from Micah, and he's doing it with energy. And of course, he is obviously ready to go. Now look, if you would please, what they said to him in verse 19. Here's what they said: "And they said unto him, when he questioned them what they were doing, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?" Wow.

Now, I want you to stop and think about this. What they're telling this young man is, you are about to get a tremendous promotion and a tremendous increase in your provision and in your monetary needs. Because you see, biblically, the priest always got parts of the sacrifice. He got many times the first fruits. Everything that the priest wants to get biblically was now going to be given to this man, not just from one man in one family, but from a whole tribe in Israel. I remember hearing years ago about a man who went to see the pastor, and he knocked on the door, and the little boy answered the door. And he said, "Son, may I speak to the pastor, your father?"

He said, "I'm sorry sir, I cannot interrupt him." He said, "He's in the study praying." He said, "He's been offered a larger church with a much larger salary, and he's in there praying about it." Well, he said, "Son, I don't have to talk to him. I can talk to your mother." He said, "Oh no, she can't come either." "So why not?" "Well, she's in the back room packing right now." Well, in other words, the point I'm trying to make is larceny was in the heart of this young man anyhow. He had no character. He had no moral integrity. In other words, Micah had not defrauded him. Micah had evidently kept his word to him. In fact, the Bible said he was as a son unto Micah. But, he's willing to steal from Micah now, and he's willing to go with these people and help them steal as well.

Now, obviously it would be foolish for him to have disagreed with 600 armed men, that is for sure. But when he heard about the promotion, he was more than willing to go with them. You know, the Bible tells you in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 10, that the love of money is the root of all evil. And then the Bible warns about Balaam, the false prophet who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

Now, the two verses I'm going to quote are from the New Testament. But you have to remember that Balaam was in the Old Testament. He was in the book of Numbers. Then there was Deuteronomy, Joshua, and now Judges. So everything to this Levite did not know anything about Bible history. But the Bible says in 2 Peter 2 and verse 15, "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness." And Balaam was a false prophet, and he was willing to go against God for money. And then Jude 1, verse 11, he says, "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core." Now, while we understand that the love of money is the root of all evil, there's a vast difference between knowing and needing funds to live on and just loving money for the sake of loving money. I know one man, in fact, he just recently died, just this month. And he told me years ago, he said, "My hobby is making money." He said, "I just love to make money." Well, it didn't do him a bit of good when he died, but I'm just simply saying. So if you look in Judges chapter 18, verse 20, here's what happened to that young man when he found out that he was going to be a priest to an entire tribe:

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people."

In other words, he was willing to steal at that particular point. So it seems that if now he is the leader in the theft and he proudly took that which did not belong to him.

Now, when Micah finds out that his gods are stolen, the priest is gone, he gets his men together and some neighbors and runs and rides after these Danites. And if you look in verse 22, he catches up with them. "And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan." I love this passage. "And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee?"

Micah's Powerless Confrontation

Weaver describes Micah's pursuit and his inability to recover his gods due to the Danites' superior force, underscoring the insanity of trusting in man-made idols.

What's wrong with you that thou comest with such a company? What are you trying to do, start a war? And he said, look what Micah said: "Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?" Micah said, "You've stolen my gods. You've stolen everything. I made these, they're mine." I'm simply saying, insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruled and reigned. That's all there is to it.

Now, the interesting thing is, look in verse 25: "And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his own house." In other words, he says, "They may be my gods and I may have made them, but I can't whip 600 armed men, and so I'm going to lose my gods." That's all there is to it. You're talking about insanity, stupidity, apostasy. Now, you're going to ask me, what is the point of all of this that I'm sharing with you? Well, first of all, I want you to look at verse 30. Look at verse 30.

"And the children of Dan"—that is the tribe of Dan now—"the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land." Israel went into captivity in 722 BC. So for a number of years, the Danites were not only apostates, but idolaters.

Apostasy's Reach and the Presence of Truth

Weaver notes that Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, served as priest to the Danites' idolatry, and that this occurred while the true house of God was in Shiloh, showing apostasy despite available truth.

In other words, he says, "They may be my gods and I may have made them, but I can't whip 600 armed men, and so I'm going to lose my gods." That's all there is to it. You're talking about insanity, stupidity, apostasy. Now, you're going to ask me, what is the point of all of this that I'm sharing with you? Well, first of all, I want you to look at verse 30. Look at verse 30. "And the children of Dan"—that is the tribe of Dan now—"the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land." Israel went into captivity in 722 BC. So for a number of years, the Danites were not only apostates, but idolaters.

Now what's so important about this verse? Well, look at it: "And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan the son of Gershom." Does anybody remember the name Gershom? Gershom was the son of Moses. Hang on. Jonathan would either be a grandson or a great-grandson. Now, you're going to say in verse 30, it says, "the son of Manasseh." I want to give you two quotes right quickly. The first one is from Albert Barnes. And here's what he said: "In the Hebrew text, the name here rendered Manasseh is written M-N-S-H, without the N, the Nun, suspended over the line. The word may be read Moses, whose son was Gershom (Exodus 2:22), whose son or descendant Jonathan clearly was." And then John Trapp, the old Puritan, said this: "Of Moses by nature, but of Manasseh, that notorious idolater, by imitation." So Manasseh was the most wicked, vile king in Judah. So he's saying, Jonathan was of Moses by nature, but of Manasseh by imitation. Then he goes on to say this: "To save the honor of Moses, lest it should reflect upon so good a man to have so bad a grandson as would rather have been steamed Manasseh than Moses. Manasseh is written in the Hebrew with the nun elevated above other letters, and this mark O upon the top and a note in the margin." So here's the point.

Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant. Just look at the book of the kings of Judah. You are going to find here's a godly king, and his son is a wicked rebel and apostate. Then you'll find a wicked rebel and apostate is king, and he'll end up having a godly son. So the truth of the matter is, here we have apostasy affecting even the family of Moses. Here's the second thing. I want you to look in verse 31.

This is absolutely astounding to me. "And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh." It is insanely stupid to apostatize when you have truth. Do you remember when Joshua and the people came into the land? What did they do? They set up the tabernacle in Shiloh. You could worship God in Shiloh. You could offer sacrifices in Shiloh. The true priesthood was in Shiloh. Everything was there, and yet the people were doing that which was right in their own eyes. Why? They were following the subjective standard, their own thinking, their own emotions, their own feelings, what they thought, rather than what God had said.

Call to Return to God's Objective Standard

Weaver applies Jeremiah 2 and Proverbs 3:5-7, urging a return to God's Word and warning against subjective self-rule, concluding with a prayer for faithfulness.

Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 2. We're not through just yet, almost, but look in Jeremiah chapter 2 again if you would. Jeremiah chapter 2, and I want us to go back and read the passage that we read at the very beginning of this message. Look in Jeremiah chapter 2, beginning there with verse 11. And I want you to think with me, please. Look at this verse. Look at the question: "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?" Look at what our country has done. This country was founded on biblical Christianity. Have we changed gods?

And the answer is yes. Now we're worshiping the god of political correctness, the god of convenience, the god of Molech, power, state religion. He says, "But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." We've changed the glorious God of heaven and earth into that which is worthless. And then he says in verse 12, "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils." "They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Let me put it to you like this: When you forsake God and His law, you're going down the drain. That water starts leaving that broken cistern. Anything in it is going out. So here's what I'm trying to tell you: Don't be stupid. Don't be insane. Don't apostatize. Don't leave the pure, true Word of God for feelings and emotions and circumstances, political correctness, or anything. Do not do so. Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.

May I remind you of a passage that most of you can quote, or at least part of it. Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7. Listen to it: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil." Now, I want you to listen to me. I want you to just, in your mind, take a broad overview of this country. Think about Chicago, New York. Think about Atlanta, Tallahassee. Think about Washington DC. Okay?

Now that you've done that, I want you to think about the state of the churches that we're in. How most churches hardly ever expound or exegete the Word of God or apply the truth of God. Most people cannot even quote the Ten Commandments. I'm talking about most Christians. Go back, if you would, and look, if you would, at verse 31 of Judges chapter 18. Look at it. Look at verse 31.

This is what is astounding to me: "And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh." Look at it. All the time that our governments are apostatizing, we have the truth. All the time that our churches are wicked and apostatizing, we have the truth. And we've turned from the truth. We have to come back and worship God in spirit and in truth. The true worship of God is bounded on two sides. On the one side, it's bounded by spirit. It must be spiritual worship in the Holy Spirit, in our spirit. And on the other side, it must be in truth. If you do not have spiritual worship, you can run in the ditch on that side. If you don't have truth, you're going to run in the ditch on that side. If you don't have either, it doesn't matter where you are, you're still in the ditch.

How did they become insanely stupid and apostates? The answer is, they rejected the objective standard. They rejected the objective standard, God's Word, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. We must come back to this truth. I think the message next week will demonstrate this 100%. We are in more trouble than you can shake a stick at. We know we're in deep trouble, but we really do not comprehend how deeply we have sunk until you hear what is being planned for us next week.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to be sane. Help us, Lord, to be truthful and honest. Give us integrity and character. Enable us, Lord, to stand for Thee and not to be stupid, and not to apostatize, and not to turn from Thee or Thy Word. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and may we hold fast Thy truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Insanity and Stupidity Precede Apostasy

Summary: Weaver argues that irrational thinking and foolishness lead to apostasy, as seen in Israel's idolatry.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy.'

Rejection of God's Law Leads to Idolatry

Summary: Forsaking God and His law inevitably results in following man's law and worshiping idols.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'It is impossible to forsake God and His law without at the same time apostatizing and turning to idolatry.'

Subjective Self-Rule vs. Objective Truth

Summary: The theme of Judges—every man doing right in his own eyes—reflects a rejection of God's objective standard, leading to chaos.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'they were rejecting God's law, and now they are turning into self-law.'

Misuse of Holy Things for Unholy Purposes

Summary: Micah's mother dedicated silver to God but used it to make idols, paralleling modern churches using resources for unbiblical ends.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and use it for a purpose that was contrary to God.'

False Assurance of Blessing Despite Disobedience

Summary: Micah believed God would bless him simply because he had a Levite priest, ignoring his own lawlessness.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Micah: 'Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.'

The Powerlessness of Idols

Summary: The Danites' theft of Micah's gods highlights the absurdity of trusting in man-made objects that cannot protect themselves.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'What makes these Danites think that these gods are going to do them any good whatsoever?'

Apostasy Despite Available Truth

Summary: The Danites practiced idolatry while the true house of God was in Shiloh, showing that apostasy can occur even when truth is present.

Evidence: Weaver points out, 'all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh' they set up the graven image.

The Need for Return to Biblical Obedience

Summary: Weaver calls for a rejection of subjective feelings and a return to God's Word as the objective standard.

Evidence: Weaver urges, 'Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.'

Key Arguments

Stupidity and insanity cause apostasy

Summary: Weaver contends that irrational thinking leads people to abandon God for worthless idols.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'one has to be either stupid or insane, probably both, to trade the fountain of living water for a bucket with holes in it.'

Rejecting God's law means embracing man's law

Summary: There is no neutral ground; forsaking divine law always results in following human statutes and idolatry.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the only alternative that you have to God's law is the law of man.'

Modern America mirrors Judges-era Israel

Summary: Weaver argues that contemporary society and churches are in rebellion, doing what is right in their own eyes.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Most Americans and most Christians find themselves today in nothing less than total rebellion against God.'

Churches misuse resources for unbiblical purposes

Summary: Like Micah's mother, modern churches often use God's money for entertainment and worldly agendas rather than biblical teaching.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'the average church uses the money that God has allowed it to have, oftentimes for unbiblical as well as purely wicked purposes.'

There is no right way to do a wrong thing

Summary: Weaver asserts that violating God's law cannot be justified by any circumstance or intention.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'There's no right way to do a wrong thing. There is no right way to violate the law of God.'

Idols are powerless and trusting them is foolish

Summary: The Danites' theft of Micah's gods demonstrates the absurdity of worshiping objects that cannot protect themselves.

Evidence: Weaver remarks, 'the gods had no power. The gods had no life. They couldn't fight. They couldn't protect themselves.'

Apostasy can affect even godly lineages

Summary: Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, became an idolatrous priest, showing that no family is immune to apostasy.

Evidence: Weaver notes, 'Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant.'

Truth is available but often rejected

Summary: Despite having God's Word and true worship, people choose subjective self-rule and idolatry.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'All the time that our governments are apostatizing, we have the truth. All the time that our churches are wicked and apostatizing, we have the truth.'

Scripture References

Judges 18:1-6

Context: Introduction of the Danites seeking land and encountering Micah's Levite priest.

Jeremiah 2:11-13

Context: God's indictment of Israel for exchanging their glory for worthless idols, forsaking the fountain of living waters.

Jeremiah 18:13-17

Context: God's astonishment at Israel's horrible act of forgetting Him and burning incense to idols.

2 Kings 17:7-8

Context: Israel sinned by fearing other gods and walking in the statutes of the heathen.

Judges 17:6

Context: The theme of Judges: no king in Israel, every man did right in his own eyes.

1 Samuel 8

Context: Israel's demand for a human king was a rejection of God as their king.

1 Samuel 12:12

Context: Samuel reminds Israel that the Lord was their king when they demanded a human king.

Judges 17:1-6

Context: Micah's theft, his mother's dedication of silver for idols, and Micah's house of gods and self-made priesthood.

Exodus 20:3-4

Context: The first and second commandments against other gods and graven images, violated by Micah's mother.

Numbers 16

Context: The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who intruded into the priesthood and were killed by God.

Judges 17:7-13

Context: Micah hires a Levite as his priest and falsely assumes God will bless him.

Judges 18:11-20

Context: The Danites steal Micah's idols and priest, and the priest gladly joins them.

1 Timothy 6:10

Context: The love of money is the root of all evil, applied to the Levite's greed.

2 Peter 2:15

Context: False prophets follow the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

Jude 1:11

Context: Woe to those who run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.

Judges 18:22-26

Context: Micah confronts the Danites but is powerless to recover his stolen gods.

Judges 18:30-31

Context: The Danites set up the graven image, and Jonathan, descendant of Moses, served as priest until the captivity, while the house of God was in Shiloh.

Exodus 2:22

Context: Gershom was the son of Moses, referenced to identify Jonathan's lineage.

Proverbs 3:5-7

Context: Trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding, and fear the Lord, applied as a call to reject subjective self-rule.

John 4:24

Context: True worship must be in spirit and in truth, used to emphasize the need for both spiritual and truthful worship.

Historical References

Jeroboam's golden calves in Dan and Bethel

Context: Weaver mentions Jeroboam as the first apostate king of Israel who made golden calves, leading Israel into idolatry.

Raid on Osceola, Missouri by Kansas Red Legs

Context: Weaver compares the Danites' theft to the Civil War raid where Union forces looted and burned Osceola, and chaplain Hugh Fisher stole church goods.

Manasseh, wicked king of Judah

Context: Weaver references Manasseh as a notorious idolater, used in the commentary on Jonathan's lineage.

Israel's captivity in 722 BC

Context: Weaver notes that the Danites' idolatry continued until the Assyrian captivity.

Important Quotes

the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy.

Significance: Establishes the central thesis that irrational thinking leads to apostasy.

It is impossible to forsake God and His law without at the same time apostatizing and turning to idolatry.

Significance: Key argument that rejecting God's law inevitably results in idolatry.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Significance: The theme verse of Judges, used to diagnose modern rebellion.

There's no right way to do a wrong thing. There is no right way to violate the law of God.

Significance: Emphasizes the impossibility of justifying disobedience.

Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

Significance: Illustrates Micah's false assurance of blessing despite his lawlessness.

Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant.

Significance: Highlights that even Moses' lineage fell into idolatry.

All the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Significance: Shows that apostasy occurred despite the availability of true worship.

Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.

Significance: The concluding application and call to action.

Discussion Questions

How does the statement 'stupidity and insanity precede apostasy' challenge our understanding of why people turn away from God?

Context: Weaver argues that irrational thinking leads to apostasy.

In what ways do modern Christians trade the 'fountain of living waters' for 'broken cisterns'?

Context: Weaver uses Jeremiah 2 to illustrate forsaking God for worthless things.

How does the theme 'every man did that which was right in his own eyes' manifest in today's church and culture?

Context: Weaver applies Judges 17:6 to contemporary society.

What are some examples of churches using holy resources for unholy purposes, and how can we guard against this?

Context: Weaver criticizes modern church practices like entertainment-focused youth programs.

Why is it impossible to do a wrong thing in a right way, and how does this apply to ethical dilemmas?

Context: Weaver asserts there is no right way to violate God's law.

What does the Danites' theft of Micah's gods teach us about the futility of idolatry?

Context: Weaver highlights the powerlessness of idols.

How can we remain faithful when apostasy seems prevalent even among those with godly heritage?

Context: Weaver notes that Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, became an idolatrous priest.

What practical steps can we take to ensure our worship is both in spirit and in truth?

Context: Weaver concludes with the need for true worship bounded by spirit and truth.

Applications

Reject subjective self-rule and embrace God's objective Word

Summary: Weaver calls believers to stop doing what is right in their own eyes and instead submit to biblical authority.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We must come back to this truth... We must come back and worship God in spirit and in truth.'

Guard against using holy things for unholy purposes

Summary: Believers should ensure that church resources and activities align with biblical commands, not worldly entertainment.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'the average church uses the money that God has allowed it to have, oftentimes for unbiblical as well as purely wicked purposes.'

Do not trust in religious rituals or heritage for blessing

Summary: Obedience, not mere religious association, brings God's blessing; Micah's false assurance is a warning.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Blessings always follow obedience. And curses always follow disobedience.'

Recognize the powerlessness of modern idols

Summary: Just as Micah's gods could not protect him, modern idols like money, power, and political correctness cannot save.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'What makes these Danites think that these gods are going to do them any good whatsoever?'

Stay faithful despite widespread apostasy

Summary: Even when truth is available, many reject it; believers must remain obedient regardless of cultural trends.

Evidence: Weaver urges, 'Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.'

Trust in the Lord, not your own understanding

Summary: Weaver applies Proverbs 3:5-7, calling for reliance on God rather than subjective feelings.

Evidence: Weaver quotes, 'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.'

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Clean Transcript

Insanity, Stupidity And Apostasy

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Judges chapter 18. The title of the message is Insanity, Stupidity, and Apostasy. Insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. Look, if you would, in Judges 18, verse 1: "In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days, the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coast, men of valor from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. And they said to them, Go, search the land. Who, when they came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite."
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"And they turned in thither and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? And what makest thou in this place? And what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go."
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If you were to take the time to read Judges chapter 18, you would have to come to the conclusion that insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruled and reigned supremely in the minds of the children of Israel at that particular time. And the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy. So I want you to hold Judges 18 right now, and I want you to turn to the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, and if you would mark this passage, because we will come back there before we end, but there are a couple of passages in Jeremiah. But look in Jeremiah chapter 2, if you would please, and let's begin reading there with verse 11. Jeremiah 2 and verse 11. Look at what the Word of God says. Jeremiah 2, verse 11.
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"Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?" So that's a question. Have you changed from the one true, the living God to no gods? He says, "But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate, saith the Lord." Now watch verse 13: "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." So one has to be either stupid or insane, probably both, to trade the fountain of living water for a bucket with holes in it, or for some container that is cracked and would never ever hold water to begin with.
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So why in the world would anyone leave the place of blessing to go to a place of cursing? And why would one trade the one true and the living God for a bunch of idols? And why would you choose destruction over protection and blessing? In other words, someone must be absolutely stupid or insane to do so. Let me show it to you again. Look in Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's begin reading there with verse 13, and we'll read through verse 17. Jeremiah chapter 18, and let's begin reading there verse 13. Now look, if you would please, at what he says. Jeremiah 18, verse 13.
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"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things?" I mean, even the wicked hadn't heard anything like this. "The virgin of Israel hath done a horrible thing. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken? Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity"—and vanity is another word for idols and idolatry. He says, "My people have forgotten me, and they have burned incense to idols."
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"And they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths in a way not cast up." In other words, they've left the safe way and they're now walking in a way that is not cast up. In other words, there's no protection. I've been on mountains driving in cars and riding in horses, and you look down on the other side and it's such a steep drop-off, it is unreal. But usually there are guardrails if you're in a car, and sometimes with the horses there are rocks piled along the way. But you're trading a safe place for a place that is absolutely unsafe as well.
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So when you look back in Judges chapter 18, this chapter demonstrates very clearly that the outcome and the consequence of turning away from God and His law always involves apostasy and idolatry. So let me make a statement.
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Now I want you to listen carefully. It is impossible to forsake God and His law without at the same time apostatizing and turning to idolatry. Anytime you forsake God and His law, you always turn to man and his law. Here's the passage I want to quote for you. You'll find this in 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8. I've given it to you before, but I want you to listen in light of this context.
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He said this, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods. Now let me just stop there. That was verse 7. So God brought Israel up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
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And what did they do? They turned from him, and the Bible said they feared other gods. Well, what was the evidence that they feared other gods? What was the manifestation? How could you know that? Well, that is answered in verse 8. Listen carefully. The Bible says, "...and walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel that they had made." So they walked in the laws and the statutes of the heathen. That is, they forsook God and His law and began to follow the laws and the statutes of the heathen. And, he said, "of the kings of Israel which they made." And may I point out the fact: the kings of Israel were all in the northern kingdom. They were all apostate.
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You remember Jeroboam was the first one, and he's the one that made the two golden calves, put the one in Dan, the other in Bethel. And all of the kings of Israel basically, after that, followed Jeroboam and worshiped those calves as well. So the only alternative that you have to God's law is the law of man. And so when you refuse to worship and obey God and His law, inevitably, the result is you end up obeying man and basically worshiping the state. In other words, you become a little state.
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This is what it amounts to. So, you must have to, in order to understand chapter 18, you've got to see chapter 17. And so what I want to do is this. I want to show you in verse 6, the theme of the book of Judges. You will also find this exact same verse in Judges chapter 21 and verse 25. So if you look in Judges 17 and verse 6, here's the theme of the book of Judges.
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"In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Now, the truth of the matter is, yes, there was a king in Israel, but they did not acknowledge God as king. You'll remember in 1 Samuel chapter 8, when they demanded a man for a king, God said to Samuel, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." So when you look at the choice of man and man's law, it must be seen as a rejection of God and His law. And then Samuel said the same thing in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. He said this: "And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the Lord your God was your king." So, what they have done, they have rejected God as king. At this point in their history, they did not have a man over them as king.
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However, they did have a king. That king happened to be each individual because they were rejecting God's law, and now they are turning into self-law. That's why the Bible says in verse 6, "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Consequently, this is the exact point where we are today in our nation. This is the exact point where most of us are in relationship to Christianity. Most Americans and most Christians find themselves today in nothing less than total rebellion against God, because they have rejected God, they've rejected His law, and they're doing what is right in their own eyes. They're doing that which is according to their feelings, their emotions, what they think best, and what they believe is best for them.
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I want to show you the insanity and the stupidity. I want you to look in Judges chapter 17 at the first six verses. I'm going to break this down before we get to chapter 18. "And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee"—or stolen from thee—"about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it."
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That is, I stole it. "And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image."
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"Now therefore, I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money to his mother, and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah." Now watch carefully. "And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim." An ephod is a priestly garment. Teraphim would be just simply a family god. It would be an image of some type.
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"And consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." So, to begin with, Micah stole from his mother. He stole these 1,100 pieces of silver. In one act, he violated the 8th commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." He violated the 5th commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother." He violated the 10th commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." And he certainly violated the 1st commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," because he elevated himself above God and certainly stole.
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So when he restored the money, it was a restoration without genuine repentance on his part. Now, I want you to notice verse 3, what his mother said when he gave her back the money. "And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image."
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"Now therefore, I will restore it unto thee." Now here is the first instance of insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. The money was dedicated to Yahweh or to Jehovah. If you look at that word "Lord," it is all totally capitalized, which means Yahweh or Jehovah. The money had been dedicated to him, and she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and make a molten image and a graven image, which was contrary to the first and second commandments.
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"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." And yet, she was going to take this money that was dedicated to God and use it for a purpose that was contrary to God and contrary to His law. So here's the question: How can you use something that is holy in an unholy manner, and it still be pleasing unto the Lord? Well, the word "dedicated" happens to be the word "qadash" in the Hebrew, and it means to be hallowed, to be sanctified, be consecrated, and to be holy. So she was going to take all of this that was holy and consecrated to God, and use it for an unholy and an ungodly purpose.
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May I point out that this is exactly where we are in the church today. When you look around at the average church, and I understand there are exceptions, but the average church uses the money that God has allowed it to have, oftentimes for unbiblical as well as purely wicked purposes. We have many times in our local churches youth programs. And I'm not against helping the youth, I'm certainly for the youth, but a lot of times these youth programs are nothing more than sensationalism, nothing more than entertainment, nothing more than appeasing the flesh. By the way, nowhere in the scripture does the Bible tell us that one of the purposes or the missions of the church is to entertain. We are to educate. We are to teach. And a lot of these youth programs are nothing more than entertainment. We are failing to give the young people biblical discernment and godly counsel and godly teaching as well. And usually in the average youth group, and oftentimes in the average church, you cannot tell where the world ends and the church begins.
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They are literally meshed together. Then, of course, you can look at the average church today and how they respond and how they've embraced the LGBT agenda. They've allowed sodomites to pastor and to lead in the church. And you need to pay careful attention to the church's stance on critical race theory, political correctness, and social justice. In fact, in the average church, you can look around and we have everything but the Word of God being preached and expounded.
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The truth of the matter is this: There is a denial of God's law in the average church. There's a failure to exegete the scripture, explain it, and apply it. And of course, there is a refusal to stand for the absolute truth of the Word of God.
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Now, you look, if you would, here's another illustration of how church music has changed. We no longer have choirs; now we have bands. We no longer sing psalms and hymns and sacred songs.
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Now what we do, we sing choruses and we sing tunes that elevate man. I remember years and years ago hearing some songs that were just absolutely outrageous. For instance, I thought of one song they used to sing, "I'm Building a Bridge." Well, you can build your bridge all you want; it's going to collapse, it's not going anywhere. And then there's another one, I remember this part of it: "I feel a feeling stealing over me." Oh boy. Really? Yeah, "I feel a feeling stealing over me."
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You compare the hymns to what we're singing today. Just take "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," and look at the doctrine that is being taught. Look at the music today, and let me tell you something: all music teaches doctrine. It is not biblical doctrine, but it is teaching something. Alice and I have been around a bunch of little kids, and I remember one of them was singing this: "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer." The little kid was three or four years old. It was just a catchy tune. We were at another festival, it was a Mule Days festival, and here this woman was pushing her little baby, about two years old, two and a half, and he was singing "Outback Steakhouse, Outback," you know, that little catchy tune. You can teach doctrine with music. And it's either going to be biblical doctrine or it's going to be worldly and unbiblical doctrine, but you can do it. But you look, if you would, at even the beats. The beats of the honky-tonks and the saloons have now come into the church.
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And so, here this woman was going to take something that was holy and use it for an unholy purpose. Here's the second instance of insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. It's found in verses 4 and 5. Watch this: "Yet he restored the money unto his mother, and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod"—a priestly garment—"and teraphim"—a family god—"and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest." Now, I want you to note that Micah had, first of all, a house of gods. Moreover, he made an ephod, a priestly garment.
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The question you have to ask is this: Did he make it according to Scripture? Did he make it according to the way God demanded that the ephod be made in the Word of God? And then, notice if you would, he consecrated one of his sons to be his priest. Really? Go back to verse 1 in Judges 17. Watch this: "And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah." Micah was an Ephraimite, which means his son was an Ephraimite.
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He was not a Levite. He was not of the priestly caste of Aaron. And so Micah now, he's not only taken it upon himself to make him some gods, he's taken it upon himself to consecrate one of his sons to be his own priest. Evidently, he didn't learn from Numbers chapter 16, when Dathan, Abiram, and Korah, and some others wanted to intrude into the priesthood, and God killed them in a very unusual manner.
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Of course, you have to understand this: When you're a law unto yourself, when you're doing that which you think is right, then biblical requirements do not get in your way. You can make yourself a god, you can make yourself a garment, you can make yourself a priest, you can do whatever. So, you just simply do that which is right in your own eyes, which is the theme of this book.
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Now, here's another point before we get to chapter 18. Look in Judges chapter 17 at verses 7 through 13. Watch carefully: "And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man: and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest."
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Now here's an obviously insane, stupid, and apostate statement. Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." In light of the fact in reality that Micah had systematically denied and disobeyed God in his law, he made images contrary to God's law, he consecrated his own son to be a priest, contrary to God's law, and now he thinks somehow that God is going to bless him just because he has a Levite there, and he has consecrated him to be a priest as well. He now has this Levite to assist him in his idolatry. So he says, "God's going to bless me." Do you realize that same insane, stupid thinking is prevalent in modern-day Christians? We take the attitude, "Well, God's going to bless me."
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"I've got a lucky rabbit's foot." Well, it wasn't lucky for the rabbit, was it? He lost it. "Well, I know God's going to bless me. I found a four-leaf clover." "I know God's going to bless me because of that fortune in my fortune cookie at the Chinese restaurant." "Well, I know God's going to bless me because I've got my grandpa's Bible and my grandpa read the Bible every day." "Well, I know God's going to bless me because I prayed for 15 minutes straight today." "Well, I know God's going to bless me because I've been to church two Sundays in a row."
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Yeah, we think things like that. Our lives can be in absolute, total disarray and disobedience and rebellion to God, and we do something that we think might be pleasing to God, and we say, "Well, God's going to bless me now because I have done this." Really? That is insane. That is stupidity. That is apostasy. Blessings always follow obedience. And curses always follow disobedience. Someone's subjective thinking does not change God's objective truth.
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Now, I want to give you a quote from Matthew Poole, and he's commenting on this verse where Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest." Listen to what Matthew Poole said: "So blind and grossly partial he was in his judgment to think that one right circumstance would answer for all of his substantial errors in making and worshipping images against God's express command, in worshipping God even in a forbidden place, and that he, being an Ephraimite, presumed to make a priest." Now, it is true this young man was a Levite.
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But may I remind you that not all Levites were priests. Not in the sense that Aaron was a priest. Only Aaron's family could actually be the real priest. In other words, you had to be a descendant of Aaron's family. Now, the Levites did priestly service, but that does not mean that they were the ones who went to the Holy of Holies, that they did certain things. No, no. Only Aaron could do that. And so here is Micah, an Ephraimite, and he is now consecrating this young Levite to be his priest. He was thinking that somehow this was going to be a meritorious act for him and he was going to acquire and receive God's blessing because he now had this young man who was a Levite and he made him a priest.
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Let me explain something to you. If you don't learn anything else today, learn this: There's no right way to do a wrong thing. There is no right way to violate the law of God. Let's see. Steve has a million dollars.
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Now, how can I steal that and honor God at the same time? It's impossible. It's impossible. There's not a right way to do a wrong thing. There's not a right way to violate the law of God.
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Now, this is the background of Judges chapter 18. Micah is here with his house of gods and now this Levite. And we read the first six verses, but now the children of Dan, which was one of the twelve tribes, needed more land. And so they send out five men to scout out Laish and its surroundings and to see if they might possibly conquer the people there. So these five men actually come to Micah's house.
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And of course, they hear the voice of the young man who happens to be now the priest. And I want you to look, if you would, at verses 5 and 6. And after they're there, and they say unto him, "Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous." And the priest said to them, "Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go." Wow.
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Now, the interesting thing is, before that, they wanted to know how he got there. They wanted to know how much he made and what he had there going for him. When he told them, they said, "Alright, now you ask of the Lord as to whether or not our way should be prosperous."
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Now, I want you to listen to what he said: "Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go." Do you realize that I can answer any question like that? I can! And I will always be correct. So, Brother Gary could ask me, "Pastor, I'm thinking about getting a new car. Should I buy that new car?" And I could answer him, "Go in peace. Before the Lord is your way wherein ye go." Hmm? Carol could ask me, "Should I buy a new house?" I could say, "Go in peace. Before the Lord is the way wherein ye go."
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Well, is that not true? I want you to go in peace. And is not the Lord eternal, infinite, omniscient? He knows everything. He knows every way that you're going to go. How these people could derive any consolation or any instruction from this answer, I have no earthly idea. At any rate, these five men go and check the surroundings around Laish, and they determine that the people are going to be easy prey. In fact, they determine that 600 men are sufficient to take care of the business, and they're not going to make everybody work.
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So, look if you would in verse 11 in Judges 18: "And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war." So 600 men now are going to conquer this land. The first thing the 600 do is they come to the house of Micah. You remember now the five men who scouted out the land are now with these 600.
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And they make up their mind what needs to be done before they ever get there. And here's what they determined what needed to be done: They needed to steal Micah's gods, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and get the priest. Hmm. Well, look in verse 14. Judges chapter 18, verse 14: "Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image?"
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"Now therefore consider what ye have to do." Lord, we have to get this for ourselves. We have to take this. This would be absolutely hilarious if it were not so insanely stupid. I mean, they're going to steal another man's gods. The gods could not protect the other man. They could not even protect themselves. They could not stop themselves from being stolen. So what makes these Danites think that these gods are going to do them any good whatsoever?
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I have had a pastor friend for years, he's now dead, but I preached in his church many times, and he lived in the Atlanta area, and I would go up there, and he had a fenced-in backyard, and he had three huge German shepherds in the backyard, and I asked him about those German shepherds. He said, "Oh," he said, "they're for protection, they protect me and they protect this property." And I said, "Well, that's good," you know. And so I came back a few months later to preach there again, and the dogs were gone. I said, "Earl, what happened to your dogs?" "Oh, they were stolen." I thought, "What?" They weren't too good of watchdogs or too much protection because they were stolen.
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Somebody just went in and picked them up and walked off with them. Well, you know, that's the way it was here. These gods, they were just there, and these Danites, they just simply went in and took them and walked out. And you think, the gods had no power. The gods had no life. They couldn't fight. They couldn't protect themselves. They couldn't protect Micah. How insanely stupid is something like this?
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Now, I want you to skip down to Judges 18 and look at verses 17 through 20. Watch this. It even gets worse. "And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war."
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So now the priest is being detained, the Levite is being detained. He's talking to the six hundred men, while the five are inside stealing everything. Now watch: "And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?" What are you doing? "And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?" Watch: "And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people." Now, originally, it was just these five men that were doing the stealing. Now, when he finds out that they want him, he takes them and goes into the midst of the people.
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It's like, "Okay boys, I'm your leader. I've got everything now. You just follow me." So it was not just the five men who were doing the stealing, not the Levite, the priest who's doing the stealing as well.
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Now, this incident reminds me of another incident that happened in America. In fact, it happened over and over unhappily during the War of Northern Aggression. And you can check it out for yourself. You can study on the raid on Osceola, Missouri. Senator Jim Lane and James Montgomery, who were with the Kansas Jayhawkers or the Kansas Red Legs, they raided Osceola, Missouri. Osceola, Missouri had absolutely no military connection whatsoever.
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There were no soldiers in that town. There was no military significance in that town. And yet, Jim Lane and James Montgomery raided Osceola, Missouri. The men there were brought into the town square, they were court-martialed, they were shot, they were hanged, the town was burned to the ground. Out of 800 buildings, only three were left standing when Jim Lane and James Montgomery and the Kansas Red Legs left. The people had been left homeless, 3,000 people, homeless without food. All their mules, all their horses, all their goods, anything of value was stolen and taken back to Lawrence, Kansas. In fact, Lawrence, Kansas had a nickname. It was known as the City of Stolen Goods. Let me show you how devastated this town was. In 1861, the town had 3,000 residents. In 1865, there were only 183 residents.
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And oddly enough, the chaplain of the Kansas Red Legs under Jim Lane, James Montgomery, was Reverend Hugh Fisher. And the Reverend Hugh Fisher looted the churches before he put the torch to them and burned them to the ground and took everything and furnished his church in Kansas. That's a fact. That is a reality. And so that's exactly what this young man is doing. He's stealing everything from Micah, and he's doing it with energy.
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And of course, he is obviously ready to go. Now look, if you would please, what they said to him in verse 19. Here's what they said: "And they said unto him, when he questioned them what they were doing, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?" Wow.
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Now, I want you to stop and think about this. What they're telling this young man is, you are about to get a tremendous promotion and a tremendous increase in your provision and in your monetary needs. Because you see, biblically, the priest always got parts of the sacrifice. He got many times the first fruits. Everything that the priest wants to get biblically was now going to be given to this man, not just from one man in one family, but from a whole tribe in Israel. I remember hearing years ago about a man who went to see the pastor, and he knocked on the door, and the little boy answered the door. And he said, "Son, may I speak to the pastor, your father?"
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He said, "I'm sorry sir, I cannot interrupt him." He said, "He's in the study praying." He said, "He's been offered a larger church with a much larger salary, and he's in there praying about it." Well, he said, "Son, I don't have to talk to him. I can talk to your mother." He said, "Oh no, she can't come either." "So why not?" "Well, she's in the back room packing right now." Well, in other words, the point I'm trying to make is larceny was in the heart of this young man anyhow. He had no character.
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He had no moral integrity. In other words, Micah had not defrauded him. Micah had evidently kept his word to him. In fact, the Bible said he was as a son unto Micah. But, he's willing to steal from Micah now, and he's willing to go with these people and help them steal as well.
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Now, obviously it would be foolish for him to have disagreed with 600 armed men, that is for sure. But when he heard about the promotion, he was more than willing to go with them. You know, the Bible tells you in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 10, that the love of money is the root of all evil. And then the Bible warns about Balaam, the false prophet who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
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Now, the two verses I'm going to quote are from the New Testament. But you have to remember that Balaam was in the Old Testament. He was in the book of Numbers. Then there was Deuteronomy, Joshua, and now Judges. So everything to this Levite did not know anything about Bible history. But the Bible says in 2 Peter 2 and verse 15, "Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness." And Balaam was a false prophet, and he was willing to go against God for money. And then Jude 1, verse 11, he says, "Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core."
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Now, while we understand that the love of money is the root of all evil, there's a vast difference between knowing and needing funds to live on and just loving money for the sake of loving money. I know one man, in fact, he just recently died, just this month. And he told me years ago, he said, "My hobby is making money." He said, "I just love to make money." Well, it didn't do him a bit of good when he died, but I'm just simply saying.
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So if you look in Judges chapter 18, verse 20, here's what happened to that young man when he found out that he was going to be a priest to an entire tribe: "And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people." In other words, he was willing to steal at that particular point. So it seems that if now he is the leader in the theft and he proudly took that which did not belong to him.
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Now, when Micah finds out that his gods are stolen, the priest is gone, he gets his men together and some neighbors and runs and rides after these Danites. And if you look in verse 22, he catches up with them. "And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan." I love this passage. "And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee?"
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What's wrong with you that thou comest with such a company? What are you trying to do, start a war? And he said, look what Micah said: "Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?" Micah said, "You've stolen my gods. You've stolen everything. I made these, they're mine."
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I'm simply saying, insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruled and reigned. That's all there is to it.
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Now, the interesting thing is, look in verse 25: "And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his own house."
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In other words, he says, "They may be my gods and I may have made them, but I can't whip 600 armed men, and so I'm going to lose my gods." That's all there is to it. You're talking about insanity, stupidity, apostasy. Now, you're going to ask me, what is the point of all of this that I'm sharing with you? Well, first of all, I want you to look at verse 30. Look at verse 30.
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"And the children of Dan"—that is the tribe of Dan now—"the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land." Israel went into captivity in 722 BC. So for a number of years, the Danites were not only apostates, but idolaters.
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Now what's so important about this verse? Well, look at it: "And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan the son of Gershom." Does anybody remember the name Gershom? Gershom was the son of Moses. Hang on. Jonathan would either be a grandson or a great-grandson. Now, you're going to say in verse 30, it says, "the son of Manasseh." I want to give you two quotes right quickly.
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The first one is from Albert Barnes. And here's what he said: "In the Hebrew text, the name here rendered Manasseh is written M-N-S-H, without the N, the Nun, suspended over the line. The word may be read Moses, whose son was Gershom (Exodus 2:22), whose son or descendant Jonathan clearly was." And then John Trapp, the old Puritan, said this: "Of Moses by nature, but of Manasseh, that notorious idolater, by imitation." So Manasseh was the most wicked, vile king in Judah. So he's saying, Jonathan was of Moses by nature, but of Manasseh by imitation. Then he goes on to say this: "To save the honor of Moses, lest it should reflect upon so good a man to have so bad a grandson as would rather have been steamed Manasseh than Moses. Manasseh is written in the Hebrew with the nun elevated above other letters, and this mark O upon the top and a note in the margin." So here's the point.
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Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant. Just look at the book of the kings of Judah. You are going to find here's a godly king, and his son is a wicked rebel and apostate. Then you'll find a wicked rebel and apostate is king, and he'll end up having a godly son. So the truth of the matter is, here we have apostasy affecting even the family of Moses. Here's the second thing. I want you to look in verse 31.
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This is absolutely astounding to me. "And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh." It is insanely stupid to apostatize when you have truth. Do you remember when Joshua and the people came into the land? What did they do? They set up the tabernacle in Shiloh. You could worship God in Shiloh. You could offer sacrifices in Shiloh. The true priesthood was in Shiloh. Everything was there, and yet the people were doing that which was right in their own eyes. Why? They were following the subjective standard, their own thinking, their own emotions, their own feelings, what they thought, rather than what God had said.
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Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 2. We're not through just yet, almost, but look in Jeremiah chapter 2 again if you would. Jeremiah chapter 2, and I want us to go back and read the passage that we read at the very beginning of this message. Look in Jeremiah chapter 2, beginning there with verse 11. And I want you to think with me, please. Look at this verse. Look at the question: "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?" Look at what our country has done. This country was founded on biblical Christianity. Have we changed gods?
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And the answer is yes. Now we're worshiping the god of political correctness, the god of convenience, the god of Molech, power, state religion. He says, "But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." We've changed the glorious God of heaven and earth into that which is worthless. And then he says in verse 12, "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils."
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"They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Let me put it to you like this: When you forsake God and His law, you're going down the drain. That water starts leaving that broken cistern. Anything in it is going out. So here's what I'm trying to tell you: Don't be stupid. Don't be insane. Don't apostatize. Don't leave the pure, true Word of God for feelings and emotions and circumstances, political correctness, or anything. Do not do so. Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.
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May I remind you of a passage that most of you can quote, or at least part of it. Proverbs 3, verses 5 through 7. Listen to it: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil." Now, I want you to listen to me. I want you to just, in your mind, take a broad overview of this country.
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Think about Chicago, New York. Think about Atlanta, Tallahassee. Think about Washington DC. Okay?
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Now that you've done that, I want you to think about the state of the churches that we're in. How most churches hardly ever expound or exegete the Word of God or apply the truth of God. Most people cannot even quote the Ten Commandments. I'm talking about most Christians. Go back, if you would, and look, if you would, at verse 31 of Judges chapter 18. Look at it. Look at verse 31.
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This is what is astounding to me: "And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh." Look at it. All the time that our governments are apostatizing, we have the truth. All the time that our churches are wicked and apostatizing, we have the truth. And we've turned from the truth. We have to come back and worship God in spirit and in truth. The true worship of God is bounded on two sides. On the one side, it's bounded by spirit. It must be spiritual worship in the Holy Spirit, in our spirit. And on the other side, it must be in truth. If you do not have spiritual worship, you can run in the ditch on that side. If you don't have truth, you're going to run in the ditch on that side. If you don't have either, it doesn't matter where you are, you're still in the ditch.
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How did they become insanely stupid and apostates? The answer is, they rejected the objective standard. They rejected the objective standard, God's Word, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. We must come back to this truth. I think the message next week will demonstrate this 100%. We are in more trouble than you can shake a stick at. We know we're in deep trouble, but we really do not comprehend how deeply we have sunk until you hear what is being planned for us next week.
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Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to be sane. Help us, Lord, to be truthful and honest. Give us integrity and character. Enable us, Lord, to stand for Thee and not to be stupid, and not to apostatize, and not to turn from Thee or Thy Word. Give us grace, Lord, that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and may we hold fast Thy truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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you
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T18:53:16Z

Insanity, Stupidity And Apostasy

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver examines Judges 18, arguing that the events demonstrate insanity, stupidity, and apostasy as the root causes of Israel's idolatry. He connects this to modern Christianity, warning that rejecting God's objective law leads to subjective self-rule and idolatry. The message calls for a return to biblical truth and obedience.

Introduction to Insanity, Stupidity, and Apostasy

Weaver introduces the title and reads Judges 18:1-6, asserting that the chapter reveals insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruling Israel.

Judges chapter 18. The title of the message is Insanity, Stupidity, and Apostasy. Insanity, stupidity, and apostasy. Look, if you would, in Judges 18, verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:1-6

"In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days, the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coast, men of valor from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. And they said to them, Go, search the land. Who, when they came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite."

Jeremiah's Indictment of Idolatry

Weaver turns to Jeremiah 2:11-13 and 18:13-17 to show that forsaking God for idols is both stupid and insane, like trading a fountain for broken cisterns.

Forsaking God's Law Leads to Idolatry

Weaver explains that rejecting God and His law inevitably results in following man's law and idolatry, citing 2 Kings 17:7-8.

The Theme of Judges: Every Man Did Right in His Own Eyes

Weaver highlights Judges 17:6 as the book's theme, showing that rejecting God as king leads to self-law, paralleling modern America.

Micah's Idolatry and Self-Made Religion

Weaver analyzes Judges 17:1-6, detailing Micah's theft, his mother's misuse of dedicated silver for idols, and the consecration of his son as priest, all contrary to God's law.

I want to show you the insanity and the stupidity. I want you to look in Judges chapter 17 at the first six verses. I'm going to break this down before we get to chapter 18.

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:1-6

"And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee"

—or stolen from thee—

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:1-6

"about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it."

That is, I stole it.

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:1-6

"And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image."

Modern Church Parallels to Micah's Insanity

Weaver draws parallels between Micah's actions and modern churches using holy resources for unholy purposes, such as entertainment-focused youth programs and embracing unbiblical agendas.

Micah's False Assurance of Blessing

Weaver examines Judges 17:7-13, where Micah hires a Levite as priest and assumes God will bless him despite his disobedience, illustrating insane, subjective thinking.

Now, here's another point before we get to chapter 18. Look in Judges chapter 17 at verses 7 through 13. Watch carefully:

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:7-13

"And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem-judah to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man: and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest."

The Danites' Theft of Micah's Gods

Weaver recounts Judges 18:11-20, where the Danites steal Micah's idols and priest, highlighting the absurdity of stealing powerless gods and the priest's gladness at a promotion.

So, look if you would in verse 11 in Judges 18:

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war."

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image?"

Now, I want you to skip down to Judges 18 and look at verses 17 through 20. Watch this. It even gets worse.

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war."

Scripture Reading — Judges 18:11-20

"And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people."

In other words, he was willing to steal at that particular point. So it seems that if now he is the leader in the theft and he proudly took that which did not belong to him.

Micah's Powerless Confrontation

Weaver describes Micah's pursuit and his inability to recover his gods due to the Danites' superior force, underscoring the insanity of trusting in man-made idols.

Apostasy's Reach and the Presence of Truth

Call to Return to God's Objective Standard

Weaver applies Jeremiah 2 and Proverbs 3:5-7, urging a return to God's Word and warning against subjective self-rule, concluding with a prayer for faithfulness.

Insanity, Stupidity And Apostasy

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	KebpMrToOJA
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover: As Yet
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-11-06
Dictation Name
Book	Book 079: Exodus: Bondage, Deliverance, and Passover - Volume 2 — Chapter 34
Source Timed Segments	84

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction to Insanity, Stupidity, and Apostasy: Weaver introduces the title and reads Judges 18:1-6, asserting that the chapter reveals insanity, stupidity, and apostasy ruling Israel.
Jeremiah's Indictment of Idolatry: Weaver turns to Jeremiah 2:11-13 and 18:13-17 to show that forsaking God for idols is both stupid and insane, like trading a fountain for broken cisterns.
Forsaking God's Law Leads to Idolatry: Weaver explains that rejecting God and His law inevitably results in following man's law and idolatry, citing 2 Kings 17:7-8.
The Theme of Judges: Every Man Did Right in His Own Eyes: Weaver highlights Judges 17:6 as the book's theme, showing that rejecting God as king leads to self-law, paralleling modern America.
Micah's Idolatry and Self-Made Religion: Weaver analyzes Judges 17:1-6, detailing Micah's theft, his mother's misuse of dedicated silver for idols, and the consecration of his son as priest, all contrary to God's law.
Modern Church Parallels to Micah's Insanity: Weaver draws parallels between Micah's actions and modern churches using holy resources for unholy purposes, such as entertainment-focused youth programs and embracing unbiblical agendas.
Micah's False Assurance of Blessing: Weaver examines Judges 17:7-13, where Micah hires a Levite as priest and assumes God will bless him despite his disobedience, illustrating insane, subjective thinking.
The Danites' Theft of Micah's Gods: Weaver recounts Judges 18:11-20, where the Danites steal Micah's idols and priest, highlighting the absurdity of stealing powerless gods and the priest's gladness at a promotion.
Micah's Powerless Confrontation: Weaver describes Micah's pursuit and his inability to recover his gods due to the Danites' superior force, underscoring the insanity of trusting in man-made idols.
Apostasy's Reach and the Presence of Truth: Weaver notes that Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, served as priest to the Danites' idolatry, and that this occurred while the true house of God was in Shiloh, showing apostasy despite available truth.
Call to Return to God's Objective Standard: Weaver applies Jeremiah 2 and Proverbs 3:5-7, urging a return to God's Word and warning against subjective self-rule, concluding with a prayer for faithfulness.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Stupidity and insanity cause apostasy

Weaver contends that irrational thinking leads people to abandon God for worthless idols.

Weaver says, 'one has to be either stupid or insane, probably both, to trade the fountain of living water for a bucket with holes in it.'

Rejecting God's law means embracing man's law

There is no neutral ground; forsaking divine law always results in following human statutes and idolatry.

Weaver states, 'the only alternative that you have to God's law is the law of man.'

Modern America mirrors Judges-era Israel

Weaver argues that contemporary society and churches are in rebellion, doing what is right in their own eyes.

Weaver says, 'Most Americans and most Christians find themselves today in nothing less than total rebellion against God.'

Churches misuse resources for unbiblical purposes

Like Micah's mother, modern churches often use God's money for entertainment and worldly agendas rather than biblical teaching.

Weaver notes, 'the average church uses the money that God has allowed it to have, oftentimes for unbiblical as well as purely wicked purposes.'

There is no right way to do a wrong thing

Weaver asserts that violating God's law cannot be justified by any circumstance or intention.

Weaver says, 'There's no right way to do a wrong thing. There is no right way to violate the law of God.'

Idols are powerless and trusting them is foolish

The Danites' theft of Micah's gods demonstrates the absurdity of worshiping objects that cannot protect themselves.

Weaver remarks, 'the gods had no power. The gods had no life. They couldn't fight. They couldn't protect themselves.'

Apostasy can affect even godly lineages

Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, became an idolatrous priest, showing that no family is immune to apostasy.

Weaver notes, 'Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant.'

Truth is available but often rejected

Despite having God's Word and true worship, people choose subjective self-rule and idolatry.

Weaver says, 'All the time that our governments are apostatizing, we have the truth. All the time that our churches are wicked and apostatizing, we have the truth.'

Scripture References

Judges 18:1-6: Introduction of the Danites seeking land and encountering Micah's Levite priest.
Jeremiah 2:11-13: God's indictment of Israel for exchanging their glory for worthless idols, forsaking the fountain of living waters.
Jeremiah 18:13-17: God's astonishment at Israel's horrible act of forgetting Him and burning incense to idols.
2 Kings 17:7-8: Israel sinned by fearing other gods and walking in the statutes of the heathen.
Judges 17:6: The theme of Judges: no king in Israel, every man did right in his own eyes.
1 Samuel 8: Israel's demand for a human king was a rejection of God as their king.
1 Samuel 12:12: Samuel reminds Israel that the Lord was their king when they demanded a human king.
Judges 17:1-6: Micah's theft, his mother's dedication of silver for idols, and Micah's house of gods and self-made priesthood.
Exodus 20:3-4: The first and second commandments against other gods and graven images, violated by Micah's mother.
Numbers 16: The rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who intruded into the priesthood and were killed by God.
Judges 17:7-13: Micah hires a Levite as his priest and falsely assumes God will bless him.
Judges 18:11-20: The Danites steal Micah's idols and priest, and the priest gladly joins them.
1 Timothy 6:10: The love of money is the root of all evil, applied to the Levite's greed.
2 Peter 2:15: False prophets follow the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
Jude 1:11: Woe to those who run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.
Judges 18:22-26: Micah confronts the Danites but is powerless to recover his stolen gods.
Judges 18:30-31: The Danites set up the graven image, and Jonathan, descendant of Moses, served as priest until the captivity, while the house of God was in Shiloh.
Exodus 2:22: Gershom was the son of Moses, referenced to identify Jonathan's lineage.
Proverbs 3:5-7: Trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding, and fear the Lord, applied as a call to reject subjective self-rule.
John 4:24: True worship must be in spirit and in truth, used to emphasize the need for both spiritual and truthful worship.

Historical References

Jeroboam's golden calves in Dan and Bethel: Weaver mentions Jeroboam as the first apostate king of Israel who made golden calves, leading Israel into idolatry.
Raid on Osceola, Missouri by Kansas Red Legs: Weaver compares the Danites' theft to the Civil War raid where Union forces looted and burned Osceola, and chaplain Hugh Fisher stole church goods.
Manasseh, wicked king of Judah: Weaver references Manasseh as a notorious idolater, used in the commentary on Jonathan's lineage.
Israel's captivity in 722 BC: Weaver notes that the Danites' idolatry continued until the Assyrian captivity.

Important Quotes

the truth is that stupidity and insanity precede apostasy and are actually the cause and motivator of apostasy.

Establishes the central thesis that irrational thinking leads to apostasy.

It is impossible to forsake God and His law without at the same time apostatizing and turning to idolatry.

Key argument that rejecting God's law inevitably results in idolatry.

In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

The theme verse of Judges, used to diagnose modern rebellion.

There's no right way to do a wrong thing. There is no right way to violate the law of God.

Emphasizes the impossibility of justifying disobedience.

Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.

Illustrates Micah's false assurance of blessing despite his lawlessness.

Apostasy is no respecter of persons. The godliest may have an ungodly descendant.

Highlights that even Moses' lineage fell into idolatry.

All the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Shows that apostasy occurred despite the availability of true worship.

Stay faithful and be obedient to the Word of God.

The concluding application and call to action.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the statement 'stupidity and insanity precede apostasy' challenge our understanding of why people turn away from God?

[Context]

Weaver argues that irrational thinking leads to apostasy.

[Question]

In what ways do modern Christians trade the 'fountain of living waters' for 'broken cisterns'?

[Context]

Weaver uses Jeremiah 2 to illustrate forsaking God for worthless things.

[Question]

How does the theme 'every man did that which was right in his own eyes' manifest in today's church and culture?

[Context]

Weaver applies Judges 17:6 to contemporary society.

[Question]

What are some examples of churches using holy resources for unholy purposes, and how can we guard against this?

[Context]

Weaver criticizes modern church practices like entertainment-focused youth programs.

[Question]

Why is it impossible to do a wrong thing in a right way, and how does this apply to ethical dilemmas?

[Context]

Weaver asserts there is no right way to violate God's law.

[Question]

What does the Danites' theft of Micah's gods teach us about the futility of idolatry?

[Context]

Weaver highlights the powerlessness of idols.

[Question]

How can we remain faithful when apostasy seems prevalent even among those with godly heritage?

[Context]

Weaver notes that Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, became an idolatrous priest.

[Question]

What practical steps can we take to ensure our worship is both in spirit and in truth?

[Context]

Weaver concludes with the need for true worship bounded by spirit and truth.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:11:13Z