Then the five men that had gone to spy out the country of Laish spoke and said to their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? And now ye know what to do.
The five spies have found Laish, and six hundred armed men are marching to take it. On the way they stop at Micah's house, point out the gods kept inside, and tell their brothers to think it over.
The men do not point out the shrine as a danger. They list what is in it the way a person lists an opportunity — and the Levite inside proves just as open to a better offer.
It is worth noting what they say to their brothers: "Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image?" These were clearly things that looked right in their eyes, and worth having. "Now therefore consider what you will do." After they talked it over, they seized everything at once, despite Micah's protest. They took the young Levite too, and he went along with it all. He thought it better to be a priest to a family and a tribe in Israel than to only one man.
Four objects are named. One writer counts what they add up to, and who wanted them.
The five men knew this was a house of idol worship. Instead of avoiding it, they told their company what was in it: an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a molded image — in other words, everything they needed for a well rounded-out religion! (v. 14). So Micah was not the only one who had given in to the idolatry of the Canaanite nations. Here it was all 600 men of Dan, and they were willing to boldly rob Micah so that they themselves could be religious!
These men wanted gods they could carry off. One writer says the trouble starts deeper than anything hands can make.
The root of all idolatry is self-will. It is making a god of our own. It starts with self and fashions a god — and not always out of silver or with our hands. In this enlightened age you would say there is very little danger of people fashioning gods with their hands. But there is a tool more cunning and skilful than the hands, and that is the intellect of man. Whenever a person puts self in the place of God's will, the human mind sets to work fashioning a god to please itself. And it does this in the name of the Lord, in the name of the true God.
Why does a robbery come wrapped in religious talk? One writer traces the piety back to what the men stood to gain.
Self-interest and self-flattery are powerful at producing a kind of religion. And the spies talk piously and fervently to their brothers.
At Micah's door the pious talk and the plundering meet.
Here the joining of superstition with immorality shows itself once more in a startling way. The spies recall their visit to the Levite. The chance of getting the images for themselves seems far too good to let pass.
The theft did not end at Micah's door. One writer follows the images into Dan and shows how long they stayed.
Micah resists, but it comes to nothing. He finds that the tribe is stronger than he is, and that its offers are stronger than any he can make. So the Levite goes off to his larger field with great gladness. He moves his idolatry, his image, his ephod and all the equipment he had, up into Dan. There this subtle form of idolatry continues in the tribe of Dan until the captivity of the land (significant words) — until God comes in judgment and takes the ark away from Shiloh. It continues there, and leavens the whole nation.
- Desired — The spies name the ephod and the images as things worth having. Then they tell the six hundred to decide what to do.
- Assembled — The four items make a complete religious kit. The whole company wanted one, not just Micah.
- Self-willed — The root is making a god to suit yourself. The mind can carve as well as the hands, and it works in God's name.
- Stolen — Self-interest breeds its own piety. The men talk religion to their brothers and rob a house on the same journey.
- Lasting — What they seized on the march stayed in Dan until the captivity of the land, and leavened the whole nation.
And they turned thither, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, the house of Micah, and inquired after his welfare.
Six hundred armed men of Dan are marching north. On the way they stop at a private house in the hill country of Ephraim. Five of their spies had already been there. They greet the young Levite who serves the house as priest. The greeting sounds friendly. The next five verses show what the visit was for.
Dan was on this road because of an earlier failure. Commentators trace the episode back to a tribe that never took hold of what God gave it.
No tribe fails so badly to take hold of its inheritance. This is the only way we can understand why their lot had not fallen to them. They had let the Philistines take back the cities on the sea-coast. The Amorites had forced them into the mountains. We lose what is our own, what we should have made our own. That loss is often the reason for much restless activity among God's people. It is also the reason for much that looks like success in other directions.
The verse turns on a small act: they turned off the road. Their journey there began earlier, with a search of their own.
From Zorah and Eshtaol they send out spies to search the land. If we refuse God's choice for us, then of course we must search out for ourselves. This becomes a snare to them through Micah's images: the path that is not with God is always exposed to Satan's ambushes.
The spies had already stopped here and asked this Levite for guidance. Writers point out who it was they were asking.
As these spies go, they recognise the voice of this Levite in the house of Micah. He is a priest, and they ask guidance on the basis of what he has set up. They ask direction from one who has himself departed from the path God had called him to. They ask guidance, as it were, of a god of man's own making, a god whose attributes have been clipped.
Ridout turns that into a test for anyone who says the Lord led them.
God does not act by providence only. And He certainly does not guide His people by impressions that His word does not support. You might say the Lord led me to do this or that. But if His holy word did not lead you, and if His Holy Spirit did not lead you through that Word, beware. It may be only your own inclination leading you.
The greeting sits between the spies' report of what was inside and the seizing of it. Their report was a shopping list.
They knew this was a house of idol worship. Instead of avoiding it, the five men told their company what was inside: an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a moulded image. In other words, everything they needed for a well-rounded religion! So Micah was not the only one who had given in to the idolatry of the Canaanite nations. Here all 600 men of Dan gave in too. They were willing to rob Micah outright so that they themselves could be religious!
The spies had not forgotten the house, and the priest they greeted turned out to be for sale.
The spies remember their visit to the Levite. The chance to get the images for themselves seems far too good to pass up. The hired priest shows himself to be nothing but a hireling. A greater personal gain for himself at once outweighs every obligation to his employer. He is "glad" of the robbery that will benefit him. For the Danites, as for other priest-minded people today, there is no need to respect the man himself, whose office is supposed to give him God's ear. Once again morality and religion are pulled apart. Those who draw near to God dishonour Him instead of glorifying Him.
The stop at this house was not a passing incident. It planted a system that outlasted everyone involved.
Micah resists, but it comes to nothing. He finds that the tribe is stronger than he is, and that their offers are better than any he can match. So the Levite goes off to his larger field full of gladness. He moves his idolatry, his image, his ephod and all his equipment up into Dan. There this subtle form of idolatry rules in the tribe of Dan. It rules until the captivity of the land — significant words — until God steps in with judgment and the ark is taken away from Shiloh. It rules there, and its influence spreads through the whole nation.
- Unfilled — Dan never took hold of what God gave it. An unfilled heart goes looking elsewhere. Restless activity can look like success in other directions.
- Turned aside — one small turn off God's path is where the ambush waits. Refuse God's choice, and you must search out your own.
- Asked — they asked direction from a man who had left the path God called him to. Guidance that is not grounded in God's word may be only your own inclination.
- Greeted — friendly words covered a planned robbery. People can collect religion like equipment while the conscience stays untouched.
- Established — one household's private idolatry became a whole tribe's religion. It lasted until God's judgment removed it.
And the six hundred men of the children of Dan, girded with their weapons of war, stood at the entrance of the gate.
Six hundred armed men stand at Micah's gate while five of them go inside to carry off his shrine. How did a tribe of Israel end up marching north under arms to steal another man's gods?
The march to the far north begins with land Dan already had and never claimed.
Dan had shown himself the weakest of the tribes of Israel. The Amorites forced him into the mountains (Judges 1:34). He lacked the faith to take possession of his inheritance, so he sent out five men to scout the portion he still lacked. … Dan had a battle to fight within his own borders, a victory to win over the Amorites of the valley. But this fight would have cost him too much. He preferred a conquest without danger, won at the far end of the land. It was far from the eyes of those who witnessed for Jehovah, and far from the place where his real enemy stood. That enemy was left undisturbed, still holding Dan's true inheritance.
The men at the gate and the men inside the house act together. No conscience stops them.
While the 600 men waited at Micah's gate the five men went in and took all the things they had spoken of (vv. 16-17). The consecrated Levite asked them what they were doing, and they told him to keep quiet and go with the 600 men. … But mere religion can make one a robber without conscience!
These men wanted gods that could not even keep themselves from being carried off.
The six hundred follow the road taken by the spies, and come to the house of Micah. Here superstition and immorality join once more in a startling way. The spies recall their visit to the Levite, and the chance to take the images for themselves looks far too good to let pass. These gods were helpless, yet thought to be generous, and the men had perhaps supposed they had already tested their power. In idolatry there is no denying that people credit the image with some power. … But the blindness here is absolute: "Those who make them become like them," says the inspired Word; "so do all who trust in them."
The spies had already told the others what the house held.
The five men knew this was a house of idol worship. Instead of avoiding it, they told their company what was in it: an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a molded image — in other words all they needed for a well rounded-out religion! (v. 14). So Micah was not the only one who had given in to the idolatry of the Canaanite nations. Here all 600 men of Dan did too, and they were ready to rob Micah so that they themselves could be religious!
The priest in that house was a hired man, and he acts like one.
The hireling priest shows himself to be nothing more than a hireling. A greater personal advantage to himself at once outweighs every obligation to his employer. He is "glad" of the robbery he is going to profit from. The Danites, like others who exalt a priestly class today, see no need to respect the man whose office is supposed to give him God's ear. Once again morality and religion part company, and He is not glorified but dishonoured in those who draw near to Him.
What was taken from one house did not stay in one house.
Dan, having settled in the north of the land of Israel, became guilty of the great spiritual evil of public idolatry. They took the idols that had belonged to one disobedient man, and they adopted a worship completely opposed to the law of the God of Israel. … Some men have real ability as servants of God and can preach. They have been given the place of go-betweens between the people and God, and in some denominations they are even called "priests" — that is, priests in contrast to the common people. The title may be "priest" or "reverend" or anything else. Either way it goes against the truth of Christianity, and it has an element of idolatry in it, because it takes God's place in the thoughts of people.
- Not taken: Dan would not fight for the inheritance God gave, and the whole march north grows out of that refusal.
- Taken cheaply: he chose a conquest without danger, far from the place where his real enemy stood.
- Taken by force: six hundred weapons at the gate while five men empty a house — religion and robbery in one act.
- Taken as a hire: the hired priest drops his duty to his employer the moment a better offer comes, and he is glad of the theft.
- Taken up by a tribe: one man's homemade gods became public idolatry for Dan. The same pattern — a man-made priesthood set between God and His people — still carries the mark of idolatry.
And the five men that had gone to spy out the land went up, entered in thither, [and] took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men that were girded with weapons of war.
Judges 17–21 turns from battles and rescues to what was going on inside Israel's homes. Here a whole tribe helps itself to another man's religion, and the paid priest at the gate says nothing.
The closing chapters of Judges do not follow time order. They come at the end to explain everything before them, and the theft in Micah's house is the sample.
We have now reached the last division of the book. Here we see the inner condition of the people, both toward God and toward one another. It lights up the whole history. So we go back to a time before the history, because this condition is not the result of that history but its cause — and a lasting cause. The idolatry of Dan lasts, as we are told, right through the whole period of the book. By itself it is no more than a sample of the general state. Its whole significance lies in that — it is only a sample.
The four items did not appear all at once. The shrine grew one piece at a time.
How it grew is very simple. He has an image, so he must have a house to put his image in. Then, as he has a house, there must also be an ephod, or priestly garment, and teraphim — minor images, you might say — connected with it. And over all these there must be a priest to preside. Micah appoints one of his own sons as priest. But he soon finds something better than a priest of his own making, for he gets one who is at least partly a priest of God.
(The ESV calls the teraphim "household gods.") One writer adds that the ephod itself was a garment with no value at all once it was separated from the high priest who was meant to wear it:
"Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod and teraphim," associating the false gods with the ephod, a valueless part of Jewish worship when separated from the high priest who wore it.
The five men had passed this house before. They came back not to warn the others away but to tell them what was inside.
The five men did not avoid the place they knew to be a house of idol worship. Instead they told their company that in that house there were an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a molded image — in other words all they needed for a well rounded-out religion! (v. 14). So Micah was not the only one who had given in to the idolatry of the Canaanite nations. In this case all 600 men of Dan had too, and they were willing to rob Micah so that they themselves could be religious!
Men could lift these gods and carry them off.
The six hundred follow the spies' road to the house of Micah. Here superstition joined to immorality shows itself once more in a startling way. The spies remember their visit to the Levite. The chance to get the images for themselves looks to them far too good to pass up. Gods so helpless and so generous... But blindness here is absolute: "Those who make them become like them," says the inspired Word; "so do all who trust in them."
The man paid to serve Micah's shrine stands right where he could have blocked the way. He does not.
The hired priest shows himself to be nothing but a hired man. A greater personal advantage at once outweighs every duty to his employer, and he is "glad" of the robbery that will benefit him. For the Danites, as for others today who trust in a priestly class, there is no need to respect the man whose office is supposed to give him the ear of God. Once again, morality is separated from religion. He is not glorified but dishonored in those who draw near to Him.
Another writer notes what the promotion did to his sense of guidance:
So the Levite, under the expectation of such advancement, is quite glad, and considers it now a distinct leading of the Lord, that he should enter upon this larger field of usefulness.
The shrine did not stay in one house. A whole tribe took it over.
Micah resists, but with no effect: he finds that the tribe is stronger than he is. So the Levite goes off into his larger field with great gladness. He moves his idolatry — his image, his ephod and all the equipment he had — up into Dan. There this subtle form of idolatry rules in the tribe of Dan until the captivity of the land, and those are significant words. It lasts until God comes in judgment and the ark is taken from Shiloh. It rules there, and it works through the whole nation like leaven.
- Sample — The theft is no odd incident. It is a sample of Israel's inner condition, and the cause of the book's sad history.
- Assembled — The shrine grew item by item: an image, a house for it, an ephod and teraphim, then a priest to preside.
- Stolen — A tribe robbed a private house so that it could be religious. The four items made a complete-looking worship.
- Helpless — Gods you can pick up and carry off expose their worshippers. Those who make them become like them.
- Spread — One man's shrine became a tribe's religion. It worked through the whole nation and lasted until God's judgment fell.
And these came into Micah's house, and took the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest said to them, What do ye?
Six hundred armed men of Dan stop at Micah's house on their way north. While they wait at the gate, the raiders strip the shrine bare, and the priest hired to mind it manages only one question: "What are you doing?"
The four objects listed in this verse did not appear all at once. One commentator traces how each piece called for the next:
The details of the development are very simple. In the fifth verse we find that he has an image, so he must have a house to put his image in. Then, as he has a house, there must also be an ephod, or priestly garment, and teraphim, minor images, as you might say, connected with it; and over all these there must be a priest to preside.
Another commentator turns that growth into a warning about small beginnings:
Yet there is development: the thing is a living seed that grows. All this was still "right" in Micah's eyes. Once we are committed to the guidance of our own minds, we can easily build up a whole system. The further we go, the more completely we go astray. How careful we need to be about beginnings!
The five men told their company what was in the house. Their interest was not in exposing Micah's idolatry but in owning it:
The five men knew the place was a house of idol worship. Instead of avoiding it, they told their company what was in that house: an ephod, household idols, a carved image and a moulded image — in other words, all they needed to have a well-rounded religion! (v. 14). So Micah was not the only one who had given in to the idolatry of the Canaanite nations. In this case all 600 men of Dan had given in too, and they were willing to rob Micah openly so that they themselves could be religious! What a condition was this, so soon after Israel's entering into the land as recorded in the Book of Joshua!
His protest lasts one sentence. What silences it is not an argument but an offer:
The consecrated Levite asked them what they were doing. They told him to keep quiet and go with the 600 men. For they asked him if it was not better for him to be a priest to a tribe of Israel than only of one man (vv. 18-19). When he heard this the pseudo-priest was glad. It meant nothing to him to steal from the man who had consecrated him, or to leave his job for a better paid one! (v. 20). But mere religion can make one a robber without conscience!
One writer notes what never came up in the discussion at all:
They dangled the promotion in front of him in the most dazzling way. He got a call to a more influential and better paid position. As to the will of God in the matter, that never entered the mind of the priest.
Nobody in the scene sees a clash between worship and robbery. That, one commentator argues, is the real exposure here:
The hired priest shows himself to be nothing more than a hired hand. A greater personal advantage to himself outweighs at once all obligations to his employer, and he is "glad" of the robbery by which he is to benefit. For the Danites, as for others today who rely on a priestly class, there is no need to respect the man whose office is supposed to give him the ear of God. Once again, morality is separated from religion, and those who draw near to Him dishonour Him instead of glorifying Him.
One commentator sums up the whole raid in a single line:
The gainers have lost; the loser, if he knows it, has gained.
What Dan carried home stayed there:
Micah resists, but it comes to nothing. He finds that the tribe is stronger than he is, and that their offer is stronger than anything he can hold out. So the Levite goes off into his larger field with great gladness. He moves his idolatry — his image, his ephod and all the equipment he had — up into Dan. There this subtle form of idolatry rules the tribe of Dan until the captivity of the land — significant words. It lasts until God comes in with judgment and the ark is taken away from Shiloh.
- Grown — the image needed a shrine, the shrine a garment, the garment a priest. Each step seemed right in Micah's own eyes, and a whole system grew from a small start.
- Carried — gods you can lift are gods that thieves can lift from you. Dan wanted all four items, because they made a religion look complete.
- Bought — the priest's one question dies the moment Dan offers him a bigger post. God's will never entered his decision.
- Divorced — here religion sits beside theft without a protest, and the man who should speak for God dishonours Him instead.
- Lost — the thieves carried off what could only harm them, and the robbed man was better off empty. What they gained stayed in Dan until judgment fell.
And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest for the house of one man, or to be priest for a tribe and a family in Israel?
Six hundred men from the tribe of Dan have just stripped Micah's house of its idols. Now they turn to the Levite who served there, and their few words work as a warning, a bribe and a job offer at once.
Before the men mention promotion, they tell the Levite to be quiet. He had asked what they were doing. Their answer was a hand over his mouth. One commentator links that silence to what he was willing to walk away with:
The consecrated Levite asked them what they were doing and was told to keep quiet, and go with the 600 men. When he heard their offer the false priest was glad. It meant nothing to him to steal the property of the man who had consecrated him and to leave his employment for a more lucrative job! But mere religion can make one a robber without conscience!
The men dangle a bigger job: one household against a whole tribe. Nobody mentions God at all:
They set the promotion before him in the most dazzling way: "Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?" He got a call to a more influential and better-paid position. As for the will of God in the matter, that never entered the priest's mind. His "heart was glad" when they called him away to a new post. He took "the ephod and the household gods and the carved image" and went along with the people.
The move can sound respectable. A man leaves a small work for a large one and calls it the Lord's leading:
So the Levite expects such advancement and is quite glad. He now considers it a clear leading of the Lord that he should enter this larger field of usefulness. In other words, he gets a call to a place of more service, of wider usefulness, and he thinks he is led to go. I am not saying a single word against true, godly, devoted service to Christ, whatever name it goes by. I am speaking of that state of things which makes it possible for a man to push himself into the priesthood.
The same writer warns that a strong impression is not God's guidance:
God does not act by providence only. He certainly does not guide His people by impressions that His word does not support. You might say the Lord led me to do this or that. But if it has not been His holy word that led you, if it has not been His Holy Spirit that led you through that word, be careful. It may only be your own inclination leading you.
Micah had put this Levite on a salary. The moment a better salary appeared, the arrangement showed what it was worth:
The hired priest shows himself to be nothing but a hired man. A greater personal advantage to himself at once outweighs all his obligations to his employer. He is "glad" of the robbery he is going to profit from. The Danites saw no need to respect the man who, because of his office, was supposed to have the ear of God. Others who hold to a priestly class do the same today. Once again morality is divorced from religion.
He took the offer at once. Its effects outlasted him by centuries:
Driven by greed and ambition, it seems, he began and established that line of idolatrous priesthood. It continued in the tribe of Dan for many centuries, "until the day of the captivity of the land." That is, it lasted until the Assyrians carried away the ten northern tribes some six centuries later. Remember that when Jeroboam set up the two golden calves to be the gods of Israel, he placed one in Dan and one in Bethel. But at the beginning a Levite, the grandson of Moses, was the chief organiser of this idolatry!
One commentator draws a line from this scene to any arrangement that puts a man between God and His people:
Some men have ability as servants of God and can preach. They have been given the place of spiritual go-betweens between the people and God. Some denominations even call them "priests" — that is, priests as distinct from the common people. They may be called "priest" or "reverend" or given some other special title. Either way, this is contrary to the truth of Christianity. It has an element of idolatry in it, because it really takes God's place in people's thoughts.
- Bigger, not better. The Danites argue only from size — one house against a whole tribe — and the Levite never asks what God wants.
- Bigger silences. The offer comes with a hand over his mouth. A man moving up stops asking what the men are carrying off.
- Bigger pays. A hired priest acts like a hired man. A better offer outweighs every obligation.
- Bigger feels like guidance. A wider field of work can look like the Lord's leading. Only His word can tell you if it is.
- Bigger lasts. One glad "yes" set up a line of idol priests in Dan. It lasted for centuries, until the land went into captivity.
Then the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
Six hundred armed men of Dan have stripped Micah's shrine, and they invite its young Levite priest to come and serve their whole tribe. The shock is not the theft but the priest's reaction: his heart was glad, and he carried the stolen images out himself.
The one question never asked in this verse is whether God wanted any of it. Rossier sets out the offer the Danites make, and what the priest never asks:
They made the promotion sound as dazzling as they could: "Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?" So he got a call to a more influential and better-paid position. As to the will of God in the matter, that never entered the priest's mind. His "heart was glad" at the call to a new post. He took the ephod, the household gods and the carved image, and went along with the people.
The man does not weigh the offer. He just likes it.
Gladness looks like confirmation. The offer is bigger, so the Levite treats its size as proof that God is behind the move:
So the Levite expects this advancement and is quite glad. He now treats it as a clear leading of the Lord that he should enter this larger field of usefulness. In other words, he gets a call to a place of more service, of wider usefulness, and he thinks the Lord is leading him to go.
Ridout adds a caution. He is not speaking against true, devoted service to Christ. He is speaking about a man who pushes himself into a priesthood that was never his.
Micah had hired this Levite and paid him. A better offer now shows what a hired man really is:
The hired priest shows himself to be nothing but a hired man. A greater personal advantage to himself at once outweighs every obligation to his employer. He is "glad" of the robbery he is going to profit from. The Danites feel no need to respect the man whose office is supposed to give him God's ear. Others today who hold to a priestly class are no different. Once again morality is divorced from religion. God is not glorified but dishonoured in those who draw near to Him.
He walks away from the man who fed him, carrying that man's property, and feels nothing.
Up to this verse the idols belonged to one household. Once the priest carries them into the middle of a marching tribe, they belong to a nation. One writer follows the images from Micah's house into Dan's long history:
Micah resists, but it comes to nothing. He finds that the tribe is stronger than he is, and that their offers are better than any he can make. So the Levite goes off to his larger field with great gladness. He moves his idolatry, his image, his ephod and all his equipment up into Dan. There this subtle form of idolatry continues in the tribe of Dan. It lasts until the captivity of the land (significant words) — until God steps in with judgment and the ark is taken away from Shiloh. It leavens the whole nation. I have no doubt it also makes possible that deeper form of idolatry which grows out of it: the two calves that Jeroboam the son of Nebat set up. He put one in Ephraim, where the idolatry began, and the other in Dan, where it reached its height.
Rossier puts it in one line. With this man, whom the Danites call "their priest," idolatry in Dan became official.
This did not die with Dan. Ridout names what a man displaces when he takes a priestly place among God's people:
If there is anything we should resist and hate with all the energy of our souls, it is this. It contradicts the presence of the Holy Spirit in every believer. It contradicts the absolute and sole priesthood of Christ on high. And it contradicts the precious fact that every believer has access into the holiest place by the blood of Jesus.
- Glad, not guided. The priest's heart was glad — and that gladness replaced any question about what God wanted. A glad heart is not the same as God's guidance.
- Glad at a promotion. A bigger sphere, a better wage and a wider influence were enough to convince him the Lord was in it.
- Glad at a robbery. A hired man serves whoever pays more. Personal advantage cancelled every obligation to the man who had kept him.
- Glad, and the nation paid. One household's idolatry became a tribe's official religion. It spread through the whole nation and lasted until God's judgment took the land away.
- Glad in a place that was never his. The warning lasts: one man stands where Christ alone stands as priest. Yet the Holy Spirit lives in every believer, and every believer already has access to God.