The era of the judges was kind of a goofy time. The people of God had, in general, lost the connection to their Head . . . they had lost their way . . . “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 18:6) . . . they did whatever they felt like doing (MSG). You know, I might have excluded this stuff from Scripture . . . it’s kind of embarrassing . . . both for Israel . . . and, in a way, for God. This is the sort of stuff from the past you want to forget . . . these are the “photo’s” you’d just as soon loose. Apparently, according to a the commentators I read this morning, some of the early transcribers of Scripture felt this way as well.

You don’t notice it if you’re reading the NIV or ESV . . . and you wouldn’t notice it if you only read the NKJV or NASB . . . but read them together and, apparently, in some of the early manuscripts, the transcribers tried to change the names to protect the innocent . . . rather to protect the revered. Here’s what I’m talking about . . .

NKJV: “Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.” (Judges 18:30)

NIV: ” There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.” (Judges 18:30)

Notice the difference? In the manuscripts used by the NKJV translators it’s “Manasseh” . . . in the manuscripts used by the NIV translators it’s “Moses”. I guess it’s widely held that out of reverence for his reputation, some transcribers purposefully altered the spelling just enough such that Moses could be understood as Manasseh. So what were they trying to protect?

As I said, it was a goofy time . . . with a lot of goofy stuff being done by God’s chosen people. You read Judges 17 and 18 and you read of a guy named Micah who steals a bunch of silver form his mom, and then gives it back for fear of the curse she’s pronounced on the thief. Mom then takes some of the silver and has some idols made. Micah takes these idols and decides to set up his own “mini temple” . . . all he’s missing is a priest. Enter a young Levite . . . aka Jonathan . . . who’s out of work (what does that tell you about the state of worship in Israel at the time) . . . and Micah offers him a salary, food, and lodging if he will be Micah’s priest. So you have a thief who has set up worship to a idol made of silver who has bought himself a priest and he concludes, “Now I know the Lord will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!” (Judges 17:13) Weird. Everyone doing what was right in his own eyes.

But it gets weirder as you read chapter 18 . . . a bunch of guys from Dan find out about Micah’s priest and offer him a promotion. They rip off the idols at Micah’s place and reason with the Levite, “Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and family in Israel?” And the young priest likes the offer, his “heart was glad” (18:19-20). Everyone’s doing what’s right in their own eyes.

And this young Levite was the son of Gershom . . . looks like the same Gershom who had been born to Moses (Ex. 18:3). The grandson of the great deliverer of Israel . . . the one who talked to God “face to face, as a man speaks to a friend” (Ex. 33:11) . . . this grandson was now a priest for hire . . . his marketing slogan might have been, “Have stolen idols, will worship” . . . or “Rent-a-religion . . . looks like the real deal . . . kinda . . .”

No wonder some scribe may have decided to disguise the name a bit . . . to protect the reputation of a such a revered icon of Israel’s past. But God doesn’t gloss over sin . . . He graces over sin. He doesn’t pretend it didn’t happen . . . He paid the price for it’s atonement with His one and only Son. He knows the goofy stuff . . . and He’ll chastise and there will be consequences . . . but He’ll also forgive and restore when His people call to Him in repentance. The stuff I might exclude . . . or the stuff some scribe might try to hide . . . is the stuff Jesus came to die for. His grace if sufficient even for the goofy stuff. Truly His grace is greater than all our sin . . . amen?