Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / September 23, 2026 - Judges 17 & Proverbs 15:30-33

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September 23, 2026 - Judges 17 & Proverbs 15:30-33 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Boboing Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with God's word letting the way.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Josiah Smith joined by Tyler Sanborn.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: Today is Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Listen intently to God's written word.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Judges 17.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah, and he said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: I took it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: And his mother said, Blessed be my son by the Lord.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And his mother said, I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a carved image and a metal image.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now therefore I will restore it to you.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith, who made it into a carved image and a metal image, and it was in the house of Micah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: In those days there was no king in Israel.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there, and the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim, the house of Micah.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And Micah said to him, Where do you come from?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I might find a place.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: And Micah said to him, Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of clothes, and your living.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the Levite went in.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Then Micah said, Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Proverbs fifteen, verses thirty through thirty-three.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: The ear that listens to life giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever ignores instruction despises himself.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Judges 17 is a wild ride, Mr.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Tyler.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: It is crazy.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it starts with this guy named Micah, and he's the thief right off the bat.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: He stole from his own mother 1100 pieces of silver.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: What an intro.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is that's a lot of money.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: 1100 pieces of silver.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: And his mother clearly was upset.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And whatever prompted him, we're not sure doesn't tell us.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: But he goes and confesses to his mother, hey, you know the silver that's been missing.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I was the one that took it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Now, things get really, really interesting after that because his mother responds in verse two and said, Blessed be my son by the Lord.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And how does she showcase that blessing?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: How is she going to show that the Lord is with him and the Lord's on their side?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no other way than to dedicate the silver to the Lord to make a carved image and a metal image.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: What better way to show that the silver and the situation and their house and their family is dedicated to the Lord than by breaking one of the ten commands?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that is literally what she says.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: I dedicate the silver.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to just the oxymoron that this sentence is.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand, for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is literally one of the first two ten commands.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: You shall not have any other gods before me, you shall not make in any graven image, is what the Ten Commands say.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: The first two at least.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have just a violation of God's command, and it gets worse.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: It just gets worse and worse and worse.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so in verse four, this is what happens, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: The mother takes 200 pieces of silver, gives it to a silversmith, and he does what is asked of him.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: He is making a carved image, a graven image, and it's put in the house of Micah.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: And if that wasn't enough, it says, and the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, that's a priestly garment in household gods, plural.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: And just because he was already going down this road, might as well just keep going.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: He ordained one of his sons who became his priest, violation after violation after violation of the law.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't know if you remember this, but there is a big conflict, Tyler, back in the book of Numbers over who could be a priest.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And there were people that were challenging Aaron and they were saying, Well, wait a minute, our families should be priests, and then we have all this whole big rebellion.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, God swiftly puts that to an end and makes it clear that no, no, no, no, Aaron is the priest, and only Aaron and those after Aaron, his sons, as his posterity, can be priests.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then there are people who revolted even after that sign of judgment from God, and they got sick, so they got plagued with sickness.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so there was just a very clear, definitive no, no, no, no.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron is the priest.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, anyone can just raise their hand, elect themselves as priests.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: God chooses who the priest is.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then if we fast forward, I don't remember the names of the tribes, but on the east side of the Jordan, if you remember where they built that altar, that altar that was said to be a memorial, and then the west side, that the tribes on the west side of the Jordan, they hear about the altar, and what do they do?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, let's get the troops together.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're riding over there, we're gonna put a stop to this, because they thought that those on the east side, the tribes that had their allotment there given to them by Moses before they entered into the promised land, they thought that they were trying to create their own priesthood, that they were trying to create their own altar, and they were literally ready to put them to death.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where the misunderstanding is ultimately cleared up.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: They say, No, no, no, this is just a memorial.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're not offering burnt offerings here, we're not trying to create our own priesthood.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we recognize that that is something that only the Lord institutes, the Lord chooses, the Lord uh ordains his priest for his ministry.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so there was just this clarity.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And even as they charge in there, they say, Have we not have enough?
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the sin of Achan?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember uh those who were whoring after other uh women and other gods and things like that?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Stop it.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: We can't we can't do this.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now, fast forward here to Judges 17, and what do we see happening?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Their fears have been realized, their uh commands that the covenant is being broken.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: This man Micah, uh, for whatever reason, not sure what his motivation is.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: He he wants a priest, he wants his own priest, he wants his own altar.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: That says in verse 5, and the man Micah had a shrine and he made an ephod.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's a priestly kind of garment in household gods and ordained one of his sons.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, he's not of the tribe of Levi, right?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's not a one of the sons of Aaron.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just a random guy named Micah who's got a random son who's like, you know what, you're my priest.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it says in verse six, this really sums it up well.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: In those days, there was no king in Israel.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone, it's a free-for-all.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're just breaking the covenant, they're just making stuff up, they're literally creating priests, and then it gets worse.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Someone actually from the tribe of Levi who was in service at the tabernacle, who would often assist the priest uh in their priestly role, because remember, priests were only uh in the lineage of Aaron.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron was a part of the tribe of Levi, but uh only those who were the sons of Aaron could be priests, and then the Levites could help and they could guard the entrance to the tent of meeting, and they'd be out in the courtyard and things like that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: So this guy from the tribe of Levi, who's supposed to be in service uh to the priests.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: If you remember, they don't actually have an official land allotment because it says in the the book of Moses uh that the Lord is their portion.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: So this guy from the tribe of Judah, he's a Levite.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm a Levite of Bethlehem and Judah, and I'm going to sojourn where I may find a place.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: And Micah, this crazy guy who's just violating every command you can think of, racking up offense after offense, says in verse 10, Well, stay with me, be to me a father, and you know what, a priest.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I will give you 10 pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, another violation, because the Levites they weren't to work, they they they didn't have land allotments.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: God was to be their portion, God was to provide for them.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: But this guy, this Levite, is being made all these promises by this guy, Micah.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so he he's like, All right, and the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: And Micah, this random dude who has no authority whatsoever, self-proclaimed authority, he ordains, falsely, I might add.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is not an actual ordination, only God does that.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: But he ordains the Levite, and the young man became his priest.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: It was in the house of Micah.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: And to top it all off, Tyler, he says, Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as a priest.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the things that's really just despicable about this chapter is the amount of times that the Lord's name is invoked to co-sign their sin, their rebellion, their rejection of God's clear commands, God's clear laws.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's just one thing after another.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So the spiral is getting really intense at this point.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: We are in a full-fledged we we are picking up speed, headed in towards the abyss of just rebellion and rejection.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Again, there's so many violations.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and there's only 13 verses in this chapter.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many violations of the law.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it just shows, really summarized well in verse six, right there in the middle.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: I want my own priest, I want my own altar.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and in fact, there's even this leveraging of, oh, well, a Levite, right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because we remember uh the the Levites had their portion was the Lord, they weren't given land allotments that they they were provided for in other ways through their service in the temple or the tabernacle.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: But this guy's like, Oh, I've got myself a Levite.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: I've the Lord is going to prosper me.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've made my own priest, I've got my own plans, he's got his false graven image, again, violation after violation.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it just goes to show how quickly sin and sinfulness descends deeper and deeper and deeper.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, sin is never static, right?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: The human condition wants to go further, wants to violate more, wants to rebel to greater degrees.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: And we see that in a very pronounced way here in Judges 17.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this this chapter might as well be called Micah's Rebellion, as we are talking back to uh to Numbers, and you can you can see where that happens, where there's where there's that rebellion against uh Moses and Aaron, Numbers, uh chapter 16, and going on into 17, and yeah, just uh an evidence of of sin and pride in the heart, seeking what is right in their own own eyes.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and as we we move away from this chapter to get a breath of fresh air, I mean it's it's a dark and heavy one, um, but it is God's word, and we we have to we have to sit with with man's wickedness, even if it is um from within God's people in Israel.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um we look to the Proverbs chapter um 15.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna wrap up the chapter here today, uh starting in verse 30.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: The light of the eyes re rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: And though there's not a whole lot of good news in our chapter in Judges today, we can think about the things that that God does call us to dwell upon, the things that he calls us to think about, things that would be honoring to him, uh and encouraging to God's people.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh those those things as we consider the things that are above, the the truths of God, the the encouragements that we have as we look around and see God's people following after God's voice, uh following instruction that he would give us, uh, these things are going to bring joy to our heart, going to encourage us further to love and good works and thinking about the things that God calls us to dwell on.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be refreshing.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna encourage us, it's gonna build us up and give us more momentum, more energy to look after, like, well, what's next?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be good for me.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and I as I think about our our past weekend, uh heavenward, we had uh an equipping weekend and just seeing so many people uh growing and learning together and and dwelling on eternity, that was a great encouragement to me.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: It brought um it rejoiced my heart as I heard the word of God preached, and I as I saw the the ways that um fellowship was being just thoroughly enjoyed, whether it was at Bernie Fisher Park or um at Initial Point High School and just uh the good food, the uh the good uh fellowship there, that that was something that was uh a real encouragement uh to me.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um moving on to verse 31.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: The ear that listens to life giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a person that's seeking to follow after the Lord, seeking wise counsel, uh seeking uh correction, instruction, and at times um we need to be reproved.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be a people that are are receiving God's word and and receiving it in a way that's like, hey, this is gonna be this is gonna be good for you right now.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're close, but you're not quite on the right track.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Consider these things.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh these are these are things that uh in a in a year-end review, you might say, Hey, hey boss, what what can I do to improve?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: What are the things I need to be working on?
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when you're hanging around people that are studying God's word, that are faithful to him and understanding uh what the Bible says and what we are to do with it, there's gonna be life-giving, there's gonna be sanctificate sanctification that is um that is gonna be happening through happening through God's God's word, through faithful uh brothers and sisters in Christ that are wanting the same thing.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: We want to grow, we want to grow in obedience, we want to grow in our our love and knowledge of the Lord, and these are things that are gonna happen.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we that these ears that we have, uh the the people that God has given us, we in our lives, we want to be using them well.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be in in good company, in good counsel, uh, and dwelling on what the Bible tells us to do.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's really how the chapter ends as a whole.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 31, 32, and 33 are all kind of centered on the idea of listening, receiving instruction.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: You can see that in verse 31, the ear that listens, verse 32, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: And even verse 33, the fear of the Lord, which of course implies listening to what God has said, listening to what he has commanded, is instruction and wisdom and humility comes before honor.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so the last three verses of Proverbs, and I hope that you're you're starting to get this sense of God cares that we listen, God cares that we receive instruction, God cares that we humble ourselves before him and before his word.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because in the book of Proverbs, it seems like one of the main obstacles to wisdom is a lack of listening, is a lack of receiving instruction, reproof, correction.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so we've read Proverbs like this, I mean, it's several times already.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to life-giving reproof.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Those who do will dwell among the wise.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: The fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so, again and again, God's word is telling us listen, humble yourself before the word.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Do not respond pridefully to what God has said.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Do not respond pridefully to those who might come and try to correct you, uh, speaking the truth in love.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Humble yourself.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Humility comes before honor.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: We are to give honor to whom honor is due, but humility comes before honor.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's this even sort of natural progression that we see of God opposes the proud, but he gives grace, he exalts the humble.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's even reiterated here in this wisdom proverbial kind of way.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: For the the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so we want to make sure that we are listening to God's word, that we are actually doing what he says, humbling ourselves before him, uh, being humble before what he has commanded, and uh receiving instruction and correction from those who are seeking to follow after the Lord, because in a plurality of counselors, there is safety that we've even seen in the book of Proverbs as well.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure that you're listening, you're listening up to what God has said in his word, uh, that you're listening to those who are godly, who can speak truth and love to you that is grounded in the scripture, that's of course fueled by the fear of the Lord, and recognize that humility comes before honor.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: For more information about Compass Bible Church, South Valley, visit compass bible sv dot org.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.