no king in Israel

Judges 17:1-6 (JDV)

Judges 17:1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.
Judges 17:2 He said to his mother, “The 1,100 pieces of silver taken from you, and that I heard you place a curse on – notice the silver. I took it.” Then his mother said, “My son, may you be empowered by Yahveh!”
Judges 17:3 He returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I personally consecrate the silver to Yahveh for my son’s benefit to make a carved image and a silver idol. I will give it back to you.”
Judges 17:4 So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took five pounds of silver and gave it to a silversmith. He made it into a carved image and a silver idol, and it was in Micah’s house.
Judges 17:5 This man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household idols, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.
Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever looked right to him.

no king in Israel

I just want to focus on this statement today “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever looked right to him” (6).

The book of Judges is a prelude to the books of the Kings and Chronicles. We discover in those books that the kings were not the solution to lawlessness that people hoped they would be. Even when we pledge our loyalty to an executive, we still seek to mold our world around ourselves, and we reap the results of that choice.

Even calling Jesus our king is not an immediate cure for that selfishness. If we call him Lord, yet refuse to obey his commands, we are living a lie. These stories highlight the mixed commitments and precarious lives of those who refuse to convert. Even their religion is a failure.

We need a king, but not just any king. We need King Jesus.

LORD, give us the courage to live for you, and to obey your commands.