Judges 18

Judges 18:1

B. Micah and the Danites (Chap. 18)18:1-6 At about this same time, the people of the tribe of the Danites decided to look for additional territory in which to dwell. (When verse 1 says that Dan did not have an inheritance, it does not mean that they weren’t given any land when Canaan was originally divided [Jos_19:40-48], but rather that their portion, the smallest of the twelve, was too little for them.) When some of their spies came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim, they recognized the voice of the young Levite and asked him for assurance of the divine blessing on their plans. 18:7-13 Five men of Dan spied out the northern town of Laish, finding it quiet and secure. What is more, the town had no ties with anyone, that is, they were a peace-loving community with “no treaty of mutual aid with any neighbouring people.” Taking their unprotected condition as a gift from God, six hundred fully armed Danites set out for Laish. 18:14-26 Later, when the five men of Dan were marching north to capture Laish, they entered the house of Micah and seized all the idols. After a mild protest, the Levite gladly obeyed their order to serve the tribe of Dan as a priest rather than to serve just the house of Micah. When Micah and some of his townsmen went out to the Danites to protest this theft of his gods, he was told to keep quiet and was sent home empty-handed. 18:27-31 The Danites then struck the peaceful town of Laish and changed the name of the city to Dan. They set up the carved image there and appointed Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses (NKJV marg.) and his sons as priests. It is generally admitted that, in Judges, for ‘Manasseh’ (KJV, NASB) we should read ‘Moses’the name having been disguised by Jewish copyists to prevent supposed disgrace to Moses resulting from the idolatry of his grandson. Presumably, Jonathan is the name of the Levite previously mentioned. The city of Dan became an idolatrous city from this time onward. It was here that Jeroboam later set up one of the golden calves. It is not known whether the captivity mentioned in verse 30 refers to a Philistine captivity of that area (e.g., 1Sa_4:11) or the Assyrian captivity (2Ki_15:29). Not all the Danites went to Laish (v. 11) or sank into idolatry. Some stayed in their land, between Judah and Ephraim. Samson, the most famous member of this tribe, was from this latter group of Danites.