“And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Bethlehemjudah, 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.”  Judges 17:9-10.

Micah called his chapel a House of God but the Holy Spirit called it a house of idols.  Micah’s church, like many churches today, had a form of godliness.  He knew just enough about religion to be superstitious.  Along with all of Micah’s graven images, he had now bought himself a priest to consecrate his images.  “Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.” Judges 17:13, this is nothing more than superstition.  Israel had become morally bankrupt because the worship of Jehovah was neglected and the idolaters were busy building their idols.  A true House of God was as hard to find then as it is today.  The people build themselves a chapel, devise some methods, buy a priest and declare “the Lord will do me good”.

Then comes the Tribe of Dan, who recognize the voice of the Levite priest who Micah had hired, and asked him “…Ask counsel, we pray you, 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.” Judges 18:5-6.   Now we have superstition on Micah’s behalf, divination on the priest’s behalf and The Tribe of Dan.

Two things to note about the Tribe of Dan: 1) They should have never asked the priest to divine for them.  They could have very well prayed to God themselves and would have know His will.   How many priests do we have acting as diviners today?  They aren’t going to go by the name diviner but maybe prophet… you know, kind of like the wolf in sheep’s clothing, diviner/prophet.  Does God have prophets today? Absolutely!  Does man buy themselves a prophet today? Absolutely!  The prophet we receive will be determined by the object of our faith.  If our faith is in Jesus and His finished work for both Salvation and sanctification, then our trust is in God.  If God wants to give us a message, He will use a donkey if necessary – we don’t have to chase it down.  If our faith is in God for Salvation and in scheme’s of man for our sanctification – we will seek and we will find Micah’s diviner.  If you read my post yesterday, the itchy ears are the fruit of these diviners/prophets/priests.

The second thing to note about the Tribe of Dan discovering Micah’s house of idols and priest is what strikes me the most.  This is the glaringly obvious sign of the times we are in today.  When discovering Micah’s land, his chapel and graven images, the Tribe of Dan was not the least bit surprised, much less indignant.  Instead of tearing down Micah’s idols, the Danite’s in fact stole his idols and bought his priest.  How many Danite’s are in the church today?  They know the right way but don’t even blink an eye at the graven images and idols.  Today’s Danite’s  believe as long as the younger Danite’s  have a form of godliness in the church that they are okay.  While, in the meantime, the younger “Danite’s” remain in bondages and will never know the true grace of God because the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified is never preached.  Today’s apostate church presents Jesus as an example of godliness, which He ABSOLUTELY is, but they do not teach Jesus as the method of godliness.  Schemes of man (today’s idols)  are the methods of godliness taught in today’s church of idols.  Not only is Jesus Christ our example but He is our Way…the ONLY Way for Salvation and Sanctification.

So whatever happened to the Tribe of Dan?  Funny you should ask.  God does not mention them in the list of tribes saved during Daniel’s 70th week.  Some say it is because of their idolatry but that is speculative and therefore useless.  Where is the Tribe of Dan today?  Are they sitting beside you on Sunday mornings?  Do you see them sitting in the congregation while watching your favorite televangelist?  The compromising churches today with their flattering priests,  did they once belong to Micah?  We are warned time and time again of the apostasy in the latter days.  We are given example after example of such apostasy in the Old Testament, yet many don’t believe the Old Testament to be relevant.  And we remain blinded.  The Tribe of Dan…”Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14.

-Donna Warren