THE DOMINO EFFECT

8/12/2012

1.     DISINTEGRATION OF A FAMILY (JUDGES 17:1-6)

1 Now there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse in my hearing, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by the LORD."

See what mischief the love of money makes, how it destroys the duty and comfort of every relation. It was the love of money that made Micah so undutiful to his mother as to rob her, and made her so unkind and void of natural affection to her son as to curse him if he had it and concealed it. Outward losses drive good people to their prayers, but bad people to their curses.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Judges.

The son was so terrified with his mother's curses that he restored the money. Though he had so little grace as to take it, he had so much left as not to dare to keep it when his mother had sent a curse after it. He cannot believe his mother's money will do him any good without his mother's blessing, nor dares he deny the theft when he is charged with it, nor retain the money when it is demanded by the right owner. It is best not to do evil, but it is next best, when it is done, to undo it again by repentance, confession, and restitution.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Judges.

 3 He then returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I wholly dedicate the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son to make a graven image and a molten image; now therefore, I will return them to you." 4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith who made them into a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod and household idols and consecrated one of his sons, that he might become his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

NASB

2.     DISINTEGRATION OF A PRIESTHOOD (JUDGES 17:7-13)

2A. CORRUPTION OF A HIGH CALLING (JUDGES 17:7-8, 12-13)

7 Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he was staying there. 8 Then the man departed from the city, from Bethlehem in Judah, to stay wherever he might find a place; and as he made his journey, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah.

NASB

12 So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest."

NASB

3.     DISINTEGRATION OF A TRIBE (JUDGES 18:1-31)

·         You will recall in the Book of Joshua that none of the tribes took possession of all the land that had been given to them by the Lord.

·         That was true of the tribe of Dan way in the north.

·         The Danites had a real problem.

·         In fact, it was so bad that they took to the hills.

·         When they inquired of the Levite he told them what they wanted to hear.

·         This is the sweet talk of a hired preacher who says what people want to hear.

·         The five men left, and thought what the Levite told them was great.

·         A good report is brought back by the spies who suggest that the Danites should possess Laish.

·         On the way back to Laish, they stop by Micah's house and rob him of his idols and his priest.

·         Then the Danites capture Laish, burn it, rebuild it, and live in it.

·         They renamed the city Dan.

3A. DEGENERATION OF AN ENTIRE SOCIETY (JUDGES 18:30-31)

30 And the sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh.

NASB

4.     DEPRAVITY OF A NATION (JUDGES 19:1—21:25)

CHAPTER 19

·         In this chapter, moral awfulness is illustrated in the tribe of Benjamin.

·         This tribe engaged in gross immorality which led to civil war.

·         It began with the men of Benjamin abusing and finally murdering a Levite's concubine.

·         The other tribes try to exterminate the tribe of Benjamin.

·         This period ends in total national corruption and confusion.

CHAPTER 20

·         Following religious Apostasy, then moral awfulness, the next step downward in the life of Israel (and of every nation) is political anarchy.

·         We see this in the last two chapters of the Book of Judges.

·         When the tribes of Israel received a part of this dismembered woman (see the previous chapter) with the message of what had taken place in Bibeah, they were incensed with the tribe of Benjamin.

·         They gave the tribe of Benjamin an opportunity to deliver up the offenders, but instead Benjamin declared war against the other eleven tribes!

·         So the tribes assembled together and came against Benjamin.

CHAPTER 21

·         This chapter relates how that when the Israelites calmed down, and seriously to reflect on what had passed, they were sore grieved, and much lamented the case of Benjamin, and were particularly concerned what they should do for wives for those few men that remained, that the tribe might be built up again.