Daily Reading: Judges 18-19
Text: “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25, KJV)
Brethren, as we open the infallible Authorized King James Bible this morning, the Holy Ghost pulls back the curtain on the very birthplace of false religion. No king in Israel—every man doing that which was right in his own eyes—and immediately we see the devil’s blueprint: stolen money, carved idols, a hired preacher, and the proud boast, “Now know I that the LORD will do me good” (Judges 17:13).
This is not just ancient Israel. This is the foundation of the Roman Catholic system.
The Original “Clergy Career Move” – Mocked by the Holy Ghost
Micah hires a wandering Levite: “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” (Judges 17:10). The Levite is content.
Then the men of Dan come along with a sweeter deal: “Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?” (Judges 18:19).
“And the priest’s heart was glad.” (Judges 18:20)
Here is the very first clergy career move—leaving a small family shrine for a bigger tribe, better pay, and wider influence. Same compromise, just a larger crowd. Same devils behind the altar, just more pews to fill the offering plate.
Sound familiar, brethren?
How many popish priests have left some dusty little parish for a grand cathedral with bigger collections, finer vestments, and more prestige? Their “heart was glad” at the promotion—just like this Levite.
But let us not leave the Baptists out of this mess either! In our own circles it may be called a “green lead”—that sweet-sounding opportunity when a bigger church with a fatter salary, a nicer parsonage, and a larger platform comes calling. Suddenly the preacher hears from the Lord: “It’s time to move on, brother!” The heart is glad, the résumé is updated, and off he goes—leaving behind the small work for the “bigger blessing.”
The Holy Ghost is grieved watching all of this. Whether it is a Roman priest chasing cathedrals or a Baptist preacher chasing a “green lead,” it is the same spirit: hireling religion. The Lord Jesus warned us plainly:
“But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the hireling fleeth, because he careth not for the sheep.” (John 10:12-13)
The Levite cared not for Micah’s little shrine once a bigger offer appeared.
The Idols That Cannot See, Speak, or Save
While the priest is busy advancing his career, the people are busy with their idols. Micah’s graven image and molten image get stolen and carried off to Dan. Micah runs after them crying, “Ye have taken away my gods which I made… and what have I more?” (Judges 18:24).
What a laughable tragedy! A god you carved with your own hands, a god you can steal with your own arms, a god that needs bodyguards—is no God at all!
The Bible mocks such foolishness with holy fire:
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” (Psalm 115:4-8)
Rome’s statues, crucifixes, and relics are no better. They cannot see, cannot hear, cannot save. And the poor souls who trust them become just as blind and dead.
It’s the same spirit that shows up in Baptist circles when men trust buildings, programs, famous preachers, or big offerings instead of the living God. Anything that takes the place of simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and obedience to the word of God becomes an idol.
Dan’s Idols Become a Continual Curse
The Danites set up Micah’s stolen gods in their new city and make Jonathan (grandson of Moses!) their priest. “And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh” (Judges 18:31).
That idolatry became a curse that followed Israel for generations. Dan turned into a center of calf worship under Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:28-30). The tribe is even missing from the sealed 144,000 in Revelation 7—its name blotted out because of persistent idolatry.
Brethren, false religion started in Judges 17–18 has never stopped spreading its curse. Rome is the full-grown daughter of this harlotry.
The Hellish (not holy) Roman Church, that great whore of Revelation 17:1-6, is the direct spiritual descendant of the idolatrous system born in Judges 17-18, where stolen silver funded graven and molten images, a hired Levite priest followed bigger pay check, a larger tribe, and where every man could openly do that which was right in his own eyes.
She is Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth, decked in purple and scarlet, holding a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication, drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. This is the same system that sets up carved images that cannot see, speak, hear, or save (Psalm 115:4-8; Isaiah 44:9-20), sells spiritual favors through indulgences and masses for the dead, exalts a man in Rome as “Vicar of Christ” who sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), practices the witchcraft of transubstantiation, confesses sins to a priest instead of to Christ the only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), and has shed the blood of millions of Bible believers across the centuries.
She is ground zero for the Antichrist of the Great Tribulation, the final Pope who will head the one-world false church, enforce the mark of the beast, and fulfill every prophecy of the man of sin while the world wonders after the beast (Revelation 13; 17:8-18). This is not the bride of Christ but the great harlot riding the beast, destined for destruction when the Lord Jesus returns in glory.
Let us take warning from the Authorized Version. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is Head of the church. He alone calls and equips true shepherds—not bigger salaries or greener pastures.
“Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:4)
May the Holy Ghost keep us from every form of idolatry—whether Roman statues or Baptist programs. Let every man do that which is right in God’s eyes, not his own.
“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20)
Tomorrow’s Reading: Judges 20 – Ruth 1
Continue reading because tomorrow’s reading from JUDGES 20–RUTH 1 will show the bloody fallout of the moral filth in Judges 19, as Israel tears itself apart in civil war, and then—like a shaft of light through a storm cloud—the book of Ruth opens to remind us that when the nation is collapsing, God is still quietly working through faith, loyalty, and grace to bring in His purpose. After the madness of Benjamin, the butchery of civil war, and the wreckage caused by every man doing that which was right in his own eyes, Ruth 1 will be a blessed reminder that God can still bring hope out of ruin and a future out of famine.
Until tomorrow, Stay in the Book. 📖
Brother Tony