Judges 18: Man does not live by what benefits him alone

God had promised the Danites land to dwell in. He reassured them that He would aid them in battle. Yet up till Judges 18, they had not relied on Him to overcome their enemies and receive their promised inheritance. 

By the end of the chapter, Danites finally secured a city to dwell in. A victory, it seemed. They appeared to have the makings of successful men of God too. Like their forefathers, they spied out their land, had faith in their victory, and even inquired of God.

But a deeper analysis of the Danites’ relationship with God shatters this visage of godliness. Their faith was one of convenience rather than reverence. 

Rather than submit to the Lord’s directions in where to live, the Danites found in the people of Laish, who had neither rulers nor alliances, a soft target to abuse. Fundamentally, killing the people of Laish for their land misunderstood God’s heart. God promised Israel their inheritance not because of Israel’s goodness, but because the inhabitants of the land were evil (Deut 9:5). The Danites failed to execute God’s divine justice. Instead, they deceived themselves through an appearance of godliness and turned to evil. Evil was not only convenient, but also it benefitted them. 

Although the Danite spies inquired of God through Micah’s priest, again, this was not the way God had intended. One with a true heart of faith would have travelled to the tabernacle of meeting in Shiloh to inquire of God (Deut 12:5; Jos 18:1). Being on the mountains of Ephraim when they met the priest in Micah’s house, the Danites would not have been too far from Shiloh, a city of Ephraim. Yet they did not go there.

Did they lack the knowledge to seek God at His desired house? Even if they knew, perhaps they had lazily reassured themselves that their shabby standard of godliness was “good enough”. Micah’s priest was hardly a faithful messenger of God. Surrounded by household idols, he did not know or believe in God’s truth. 

What might have compelled the Danites to speak to the priest was that they recognised him. What a coincidence—someone they knew on the mountains of Ephraim of all places!

When our faith is weak, we may misunderstand a coincidence or piece of advice as being from God because it appeals to our hopes and wishes, even though pursing it is blatantly against God’s word. The friendly, romantic advances of an unbelieving colleague may appear as God’s solution to our loneliness. When we miss sermons, we might find ourselves being more “at peace” because we don’t feel rebuked by the sermon speaker (who, in fact, is a mere mouthpiece for God). 

But this faith is not result-oriented, in the sense that we do not determine whether something is from God based on its benefits and ease of doing. Man does not live by what benefits him alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is God’s will that we benefit by choosing to be governed by His word.

What was success to the Danites was not in God’s eyes. Their choice of what was convenient and self-beneficial led to severe spiritual consequences. In Elder John’s visions from God in Revelation, he heard the number of those who sealed from tribes of the children of Israel. A keen observer would notice this: the Danites were not sealed (Rev 7:4-8). In other words, the entire tribe no longer belonged to God. 

The world advocates fast-paced lifestyles of efficiency and prioritising what benefits ourselves. But convenience does not equate to reverence. The broad way leads to destruction. The narrow and difficult way—the way that God instructs—leads to life. Which path will you choose?

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