Today’s
Scripture Reading (January 22, 2019): Judges 18
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a
nightingale who sang happily in the forest, going about her duties, singing her
song, and making both man and animals happy. Everything went well for the
Nightingale until, one day, a Hawk spied the smaller bird sitting on a tree in
the forest. The Hawk dove from his place high in the sky and grabbed the
nightingale in his powerful talons. Then the Hawk flew back high into the air.
The higher the hawk flew, the louder the
smaller bird shrieked and cried. Finally, the hawk responded to the
nightingale. “You silly bird, why do you bother to scream? Someone much better
and more powerful has caught you. So you will go wherever I decide to take you,
regardless of how pretty the song that you sing might be. If I want to, I will
make you my dinner, or maybe I will decide to let you go, but the decision will
be mine. It is useless for anyone to go against the ones more powerful, because
you will never be victorious, and your cries just
multiply your own pain and grief.”
The original version of this story is found in the poem “Work and Days,” written
by the Greek poet Hesiod around 700 B.C.E. And Hesiod’s point was that right is
often defined by those who have power. In an age where Kings created the laws,
Kings were also above the laws that they created. Laws applied increasingly to
those who were without power. Those with power did not have to worry about
something as silly as law. They did what they wanted. It is an idea that is
summed up with the words “Might makes right.” If you are strong, you are right.
If you are weak and without power, then you are in the wrong.
The story of Micah and his idol highlights the
lawlessness of this period of Israel’s history. The lawlessness starts with
Micah and his idol. Idolatry is forbidden
in Mosaic Law, and yet Micah had created a family idol and had even hired a
priest in an attempt to legitimize his idol. The priest Micah hired did not
have any intention of conforming to the Law of the nation; his concern was money. Then the Danites enter
into the story and steal the idol and the priest away from Micah, and their
justification for their action is that they are more powerful than Micah. In
this story, the Danites play the role of the Hawk, and Micah is the
nightingale. And even Micah recognizes that he simply is not powerful enough to
protect his possessions from those more powerful than him.
I wish that our world had progressed past this kind
of lawlessness, but in reality, we all
know that it hasn’t. Headlines from our news sources show that those with power
are seldom held responsible for their crimes. This lawlessness is reflected in the racial differences in
conviction rates. The crimes of the dominant race and those with money and
power are often either ignored or given light sentences, while those without
power are made to pay heavily for similar crimes. And this is not the way that
it is supposed to be. The story of Micah and the Danites is not the way Israel
was supposed to be governed. But again,
the theme of judges, which is repeated
throughout what we have as the final chapters of the book, is simply stated: “In
those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Judges 19
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