The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 17 June 2020 – Decadence Through Idolatry
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TOPIC: Decadence Through Idolatry
READ: Judges 18:22-31(NKJV)
- When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who [were] in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan.
- And they called out to the children of Dan. So they turned around and said to Micah, “What ails you, that you have gathered such a company?”
- So he said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What ails you?’ “
- And the children of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry men fall upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household!”
- Then the children of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they [were] too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
- So they took [the things] Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.
- [There was] no deliverer, because it [was] far from Sidon, and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob. So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there.
- And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly [was] Laish.
- Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
- So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
THE MESSAGE:
As soon as the tribe of Dan conquered Laish, they institutionalised idol worship. The tribe of Dan was the first tribe in Israel to officially adopt an idolatrous system of religion. Even though there was a house of God in Shiloh, they preferred their images and idols. Years later, when the kingdom divided, Jeroboam 1 of Israel set up golden calves in Dan and Beersheba and encouraged the whole nation to turn away from the true and living God (1 Kings 12:25-33).
The account of Micah – the hired priest – and the Danites is a revelation of the wickedness of the human heart and the hopelessness of human society without God. Except we worship Him with our whole heart, every other god we turn to is a sinking sand. Idolatry and religious hypocrisy are the reasons for the decay in our society today. Let us therefore worship God in Spirit and truth – that way, we will save both our hearts and the society at large.
PRAYER: Lord, please deliver me from every form of idolatry.
