Judges 18:1

Judges 18:1. In those days … in Israel An excuse for the irregularity of Micah's proceedings as described in the foregoing verses. See Judges 17:6 n.

and in those days … to dwell in At first the Danites tried to settle on the low land between the coast and the hills (Judges 1:34). Then they were forced into the hills (ib.), and we find them, both in this ch. and in the story of Samson, settled at Zorah and Eshtaol, on the W. of Judah. Now comes a migration to the sources of the Jordan in the North, cf. Joshua 19:47 JE. As we have seen, ch. Judges 5:17 implies that Dan was already established in its northern home at the time of Deborah; the present narrative therefore carries us back to the early days.

for unto that day … of Israel On the theory of an allotment of territory among the tribes (Joshua 13-24), a wholly different reason for the migration is suggested by these words; note the technical fallen, i.e. by lot, cf. Numbers 34:2; Joshua 17:5; Ezekiel 47:14: obviously the comment of a later hand. The awkwardness of the original is disguised by the RV.