{"id":6369,"date":"2023-05-01T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T07:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=6369"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:48:54","slug":"judges-176-in-those-days-there-was-no-king-in-israel-everyone-did-what-was-right-in-his-own-eyes-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/?p=6369","title":{"rendered":"Judges 17:6: \u201cIn those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was no sovereign reigning over any hearts in the land of Israel. God’s people did what was right in their own eyes, and that is a very dangerous place to be in any time or place. Living without a reference point, other than what seems good to self, leaves one with no absolutes; and where there are no absolutes, confusion reigns. The concept of \u201cno absolutes\u201d is a ridiculous one, as anyone working in the hard sciences would confirm. Try convincing a NASA astronaut of this idea. Space shuttles and satellites are designed completely dependant on the laws of physics being predictable and reproducible. Try convincing a nuclear physicist that there are no absolutes, and he or she will laugh in your face. Thermonuclear weapons and nuclear reactors are based on absolutes. The same is true in aeronautical or automotive engineering since commercial airlines and automotives all work safely because<\/em> of absolutes. In any area of physical science, absolutes are assumed, but in the arena of morals and ethics, many try to convince us otherwise.<\/p>\n

We can see just how far the people had strayed from God\u2019s law when Micah, an Ephramite\u2014not a Levite, boldly set up a shrine (literally a “house of god”) to household gods right in his home. This is religion for rent and a sad perversion of true worship. The Holy Spirit bemoaned the fact that in those days everyone did as he saw fit, and that sobering assessment also closes this book in Judges 21:25. We must think clearly about this subject. God\u2019s word is our reference point and the foundation for all our absolutes; we must take His Word seriously and live by it. Then and only then will life make sense and will we find the peace of<\/em> God and peace with<\/em> God. So what leads your life today? Is it human reasoning or the Word of God? If your peace seems to be slipping away, maybe it\u2019s because human reasoning has replaced what God says it true. Turn around, get back to the Book, and peace will again flood your soul.<\/p>\n

“LORD, we confess that You are God and we are not. Forgive us for not letting You be God and please take Your rightful place now.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Judges 17 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>\u00a0And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Micah.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred\u00a0shekels\u00a0<\/em>of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed\u00a0be thou\u00a0<\/em>of the\u00a0LORD, my son.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And when he had restored the eleven hundred\u00a0shekels\u00a0<\/em>of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the\u00a0LORD\u00a0from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred\u00a0shekels\u00a0<\/em>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.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.\u00a0\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0In those days\u00a0there was\u00a0<\/em>no king in Israel,\u00a0but\u00a0<\/em>every man did\u00a0that which was\u00a0<\/em>right in his own eyes. 7<\/sup>\u00a0And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah of the family of Judah, who\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>a Levite, and he sojourned there.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah to sojourn where he could find\u00a0a place:\u00a0<\/em>and he came to mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0And Micah said unto him, Whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find\u00a0a place\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten\u00a0shekels\u00a0<\/em>of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0Then said Micah, Now know I that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>priest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was no sovereign reigning over any hearts in the land of Israel. God’s people did what was right in their own eyes, and that is a very dangerous place to be in any time or place. Living without a reference point, other than what seems good to self, leaves one with no absolutes; and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6369"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16101,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6369\/revisions\/16101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}