Kernan Community Groups
Sermon Discussion Guide
December 7, 2025
Judges // The King We Need
Case Study #1: Putting God in a box (literally)
Judges 17:1-2
[1] Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim [2] said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it.”
Then his mother said, “The Lord bless you, my son!”
How might your mother have responded to you in this situation?
Judges 17:3-6
[3] When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make an image overlaid with silver. I will give it back to you.” [4] So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol. And it was put in Micah’s house. [5] Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest. [6] In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
How does Micah’s mother respond?
How does Micah make it worse?
Exodus 20:4
[4] “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
Case Study #2: The depths of depravity
Judges 19:1
[1] In those days Israel had no king.
Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
Judges 20:46-48
[46] On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. [47] But six hundred of them turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. [48] The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.
Judges 21:25
[25] In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
1. We want to be king.
This isn’t a new problem for humanity. What is the first example of this in scripture?
We want to be our own authority, to rule over ourselves, but most of us don’t become full-blown atheists. Why do you think that is?
a) We try to make a customizable God.
For some of us, this may look like over-emphasizing some of God’s attributes at the expense of others. What are some of God’s attributes we might over-emphasize at the expense of others?
b) We do what is right in our own eyes.
The people of Israel were rescued out of Egypt and given the land promised to them so they could show the rest of the world what God is really like, but what happened?
2. Jesus is the King we need.
Judges closing with, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” gives us a clue of what’s to come. What two kings would later come to help unite Israel?
