In John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), he writes: “Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.” Our sinful human hearts have a propensity for crafting and clinging to false gods.

As we begin our study of the book of Ruth, it is helpful to understand the spiritual struggles of God’s people. In Ruth 1:1, the author said this took place “in the days when the judges ruled.” During the period of the judges, Israel existed in a vicious cycle of apathy and sin, punishment and oppression, desperation and repentance, delivery and rest.

Judges 3–16 focuses on six major judges who were both heroic and deeply flawed. Chapter 17 recorded a key transition point. In the following five chapters, the author would describe the tragic results of this relentless sin cycle. Through blatant idolatry and violent wars, we learn just how far Israel had fallen.

Judges 17 provides one specific example through “a man named Micah” (v. 1). His name means “Who is like Yahweh?”—although his actions were far from godly. Micah confessed to his mother that he had stolen her eleven hundred shekels of silver (v. 2). Micah’s mother uttered a curse on the thief, and this motivated Micah to return the goods. Oddly, her response to his confession was a blessing from the Lord, but their resulting actions did not honor Him. She commissioned an idol to be designed. Micah erected a shrine in his home, and he installed his own son (not a Levite) to be the priest. Both mother and son blatantly disregarded the Law, and their list of sins multiplied. This story ends with a key observation about life in the days of Ruth: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (v. 6).