Judges 18:1-31
1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.
2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.
3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?
4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.
5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.
7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish,a and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.
8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.
10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.
11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointedb with weapons of war.
12 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.
13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.
14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.
15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and salutedc him.
16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?
19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine 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 unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
20 And 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.
21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.
23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angryd fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.
26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
27 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.
28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.
29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.
30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
Judges 18:1. Inheritance had not fallen to them. Dan had the seventh lot, but not enough for all his families.
Judges 18:5. Ask counsel of God. Here was another total breach, both with God's sanctuary and with the highpriest, whose right it was to consult the oracle. We marvel that Micah, cursed by his mother for sacrilege, should by some be washed white, and made a pure worshipper of the true God!
Judges 18:6. Go in peace. The young levite either gave this answer, or the devil spake through the idol, as Menochius observes. Though the name of Jehovah be used here, he could give an oracle against a Sidonian colony which was not of the seven nations, to surprise and exterminate an unoffending people against the Hebrews. If the Lord, the high and holy One, had given an oracle at all, it had not been to rob Micah, and set up the calf in Dan.
Judges 18:7. Laish, called Leshem. Joshua 19:47. They afterwards called it Dan, after the name of their father. It was pleasantly situate at the foot of mount Lebanon, and near the springs which form the little Dan or weaker arm of the Jordan. Jeroboam afterwards built a temple in Dan for the golden calf, for Dan was a friendly soil for the growth of idolatry. This city was in the northern extremity of the promised land, as Beersheba was in the south. The inhabitants lived at ease, in luxury, idleness, and vice. They had no king, and refused all restraints from the civil power. But though they lived like the Zidonians; yet as they had no allies, it is supposed they were a branch of the seven devoted nations.
Judges 18:17. Graven image, ephod, teraphim, in the plural number, molten image. This verse illustrates what is said above, that Micah had a house or temple of gods, which identifies him with idolaters. Laish, now Dan, being in the extremity of the land, it was not easy either for David or Solomon to put these idols down.
Judges 18:30. Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh. The Vulgate reads, the son of Moses. The apology for this variation is, that a letter is wanting in many Hebrew manuscripts. This family, it appears, kept their places as priests in the idol temple of Dan, until the day of the captivity of the land. Others read, as cited by Du Pin: “until the day of their transmigration, after the ark was removed from Shiloh.” It is evident enough, from Judges 1:21, that the Benjamites could not drive out the Jebusites, which dwelt in Jerusalem. The book of Judges was therefore written before David took the fortress of Jebus, to which he gave the name of Zion.
What then is meant by “the captivity of the land?” Not the partial advantages of Philistia, west of the Jordan, nor the captivity of the remains of the ten tribes by Salmaneser; but the final captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. Now when Ezra and others transcribed the sacred books, it is probable, if they did not find the frequent phrase until this day, that merely for the sake of illustration, they transcribed into the text what at first had stood as a marginal note.
REFLECTIONS.
Much of Dan's lot, through inaction and want of spirit, remained occupied by the Philistines; and being deficient of inheritance they sent out an armed colony towards Assyria. Before they left home they were prudent enough to send five men to explore a situation; and the inhabitants of Laish little thought, on seeing those men, that they were the harbingers of destruction. So it sometimes happens that vengeance bursts in a moment on those who are secure and rioting in sin.
Micah was the first to have his hopes blasted by this expedition. Happy if he had abode in the good old way, conformably to the covenant so often renewed. He discovered a sordid soul, and served God for the good things of this life; but the Lord, indignant at so mean a motive, requited him with shame and loss. Mark how the Danites deride his cries: “What aileth thee, what aileth thee?” Have thy gods forsaken thy temple? Were they so blind as not to apprize thee of danger: and so weak as not to protect thee when it came? So shall every man be derided who makes an idol of his gold, or places his hopes in an arm of flesh.
But the character of this young levite is most to be abhorred. He wandered in poverty to seek his bread; and had most need to adhere to his father's God, that he might enjoy the supports of piety. When Micah made the daring overture to this stranger, instead of advocating the cause of true religion, he had the art to combine his interest with his profession, an art worthy of execration. This man, having once betrayed his conscience and his God, betrayed next his generous benefactor. The moment a proposal of preferment offered, he joined himself to the emigrants, and became a principal in the plot for the robbery of Micah. How detestable is the ministerial character when destitute of all those virtues which constitute its real glory, and command the veneration of men. If he preach against vice, the wicked will soon say, hold thy peace, and go with us. But did the levite prosper in his treason? Did the Danites keep faith with a man who had kept no faith with heaven? No: they placed Jonathan in the new pontificate, and degraded this man to humble servitude. When was any man happy, faithless to his God, and apostate from his profession.
Mark also the dreadful contagion of apostasy and vice. An old woman, affected probably with some roots of Egyptian superstition, hoarded up money for an ephod, a teraphim, and a couple of idols. She corrupted her son, and her neighbours. The Danites also who robbed this temple became corrupted with the sacrilege to future ages, and involved themselves in greater punishments than Micah's loss. How zealous then should magistrates and ministers be for the suppression of vice, and the preservation of religion. By the vigorous suppression of a single vice in the bud, they may prevent calamities for ages to come.