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. Ver. 1. _There was no king._] See Judges 17:6 . _ All their inheritance had... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 2. _To the h... [ Continue Reading ]
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? Ver. 3. _When they were by the house of Micah,_] _sc., _ In or near unto th... [ Continue Reading ]
And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. Ver. 4. _And hath hired me, aud I am his priest._] He should have been ashamed to tell them thus, since it was directly against God's word that he had done. But sin had added an impudency in his face... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 5. _Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God._] _Videntur non minus leves fuisse quam Levita ille,_ saith Lavater. These Danites were as wise as this wandering Levite; and hear... [ Continue Reading ]
And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD [is] your way wherein ye go. Ver. 6. Go in peace: before the Lord is your way.] A doubtful answer; as the wary devil useth to be λοξις, equivocal, in his oracles: _a_ that, which way soever things go, he may save his credit; as 1 Kings 22:... [ Continue Reading ]
Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, 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 h... [ Continue Reading ]
And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What [say] ye? Ver. 8. _What say ye?_] _Quid vos?_ So hasty they were to hear the news, that they utter imperfect speeches.... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 9. _Be not slothful to go, &c._] Thus do these spies notably and manfully encourage their _contribules... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 10. _A place where there is no want of anything._] And might therefore have been called _Macaria,_ or Blessed; as th... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war._ Ver. 11. _Six hundred men._] Picked out for the purpose, and very well appointed: they and their families, a whole colony of them, set forward for Laish, by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, [it is] behind Kirjathjearim._ Ver. 12. _Called that place Mahanehdan._] That is, The camp of Dan. See Judges 13:25. Here dwelt Samson's parents, and here were his _Specimin... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah._ Ver. 13. _And came unto the house of Micah._] Whom the five spies ill requited for his former hospitality and courtesy: _Perraro grati reperiuntur,_ saith Cicero. A thankful man is a rare bird. Ungrateful persons are but... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 14. _Consider what ye have to do._] Here they... [ Continue Reading ]
And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, [even] unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. Ver. 15. _The house of the young man the Levite._] _See Trapp on "_ Jdg 18:3 _"_ And saluted him.] And so did soon insinuate into him who - _levitate plus quam desultori... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 16. _Stood by the entering of the gate._] To aid the thieves, if there should be any opposition made against them. So that here met those two ways of theft menti... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 17. _And took... [ Continue Reading ]
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? Ver. 18. _What do ye?_] And with it, perhaps, he was about to call to the neighbourhood, and to raise as great an uproar as Demetrius after... [ Continue Reading ]
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? Ver. 19. _Lay thine hand upon thy mouth._] _Digi... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 20. And the priest's heart was glad.] Every wind can raise a bubble: profit and preferment carry those any way that are worldly minded in the ministry. It was th... [ Continue Reading ]
So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them. Ver. 21. _And the cattle and the carriage before them._] For they feared Micah's pursuit more than any other enemy that was before them. For "carriage" some render _preciosa,_ the precious things, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 18:22 [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. Ver. 22. The men that were in the houses near to Micah's.] The whole neighbourhood; and those were not a few, by re... [ Continue Reading ]
_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?_ Ver. 23. _What aileth thee, that thou comest?_] They knew well enough what ailed him, and yet they expostulate an injury. This is one of the miseries... [ Continue Reading ]
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? Ver. 24. _My gods which I made._] Goodly gods that were made by man, and could not save themselves from being stolen! See Isa... [ Continue Reading ]
And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. Ver. 25. _Let not thy voice be heard._] _Tace, si sapis._ The noise of weapons drowns the voice of right. Lam 2:9 The law is no more... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 26. _He turned and went back unto his house._] But took no notice that God punished him for his idolatry by those injurious Danites. "Lord, when thy hand is l... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 27. _And they took the things._] Chuckering themselves, to think what... [ Continue Reading ]
_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._ Ver. 28. _Because it was far from Zidon._] See on Judges 18:7 .... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 29. _The name of the city was Laish at the first._] Laish, or Leshem. Jos 19:47 Afterwards it was called Cesarea Paneadis, and Cesarea... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 30. _And the children of Dan set up the graven image._] Animated, doubtless, by their good succes... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh._ Ver. 31. _All the time, &c,_] Till Samuel threw down this and other idols. 1Sa 7:3... [ Continue Reading ]