Judges Chapter 18 Part One (Verses 1-13)

MICAH'S IDOLATRY AND THE MIGRATION OF THE TRIBE OF DAN

A. Dan spies out Laish

1. (Judges 18:1-2) The tribe of Dan sends spies to look for land to take among the people of Israel
In those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danite was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel. So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it; and they said to them, "Go, search the land." And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there.

In those days there was no king of Israel: As we begin chapter 18, here again are the same words, reminding us that Israel had no king. We should not just read these words at face value. This is not just an editor reminding his reader that from a purely factual standpoint, Israel did not have a king at this time. (This was common knowledge. Words in the Bible are precious. They need not be wasted here on trivial information.) Rather, the point is to explain WHY things were about to occur. It is to explain that without a king, without a person of strong authority over them, men will do as they please. Israel was in a state of spiritual anarchy and the only restraint they placed upon themselves since there was no strong or central human authority over them were mostly man-made philosophies. These were beliefs and behaviors in which most nations of that era considered "moral".

Time Frame
The time frame of this chapter is placed very early in Dan's migration from central Canaan to the north near the Lebanese border. Thus, this story occurred a couple hundred years before the days of Samson. And this continues to explain why Samson, who was from the tribe of Dan, did not live in his own tribal territory but rather inside the border of the territory of Judah, even though the village he lived in consisted of Danites.

Although the land of Israel was divided into twelve territories, one for each of the sons of Israel, not everyone in the territory of Judah were members of the tribe of Judah. The same thing was true for all territories. In the territory of Asher, there were people from various clans living in that region, not just the descendants of the tribe of Asher. Individuals, families and clans moved into various territories for all kinds of reasons. There was no law of God which prohibited this. Generally speaking, it was allowed and happened regularly as long as the family or clan was no bother to the tribal prince.

An inheritance had not been allotted to them for a possession among the tribes of Israel: In verse one we are told the reason Dan was on the move was that they had not been given any territory of their own among the tribes of Israel. That is a strange statement which is troubling and contradictory because the other tribes were in place. Before Israel even entered the Promised Land, each tribe was given a territory by Moses. Later, Joshua set the boundaries (the size) of each of these territorial allotments. We are now at a time in which Joshua had died.

However, it is one thing to be assigned a territory, and it is another thing to be able to wrestle it away from the Canaanites who held it. Recall that while on the surface this allotted territory seemed like a modern day lottery (we buy a ticket and if our number is selected we simply show up for the prize), that is not at all what was in store for Israel. The land lottery served two purposes. One was to divide up the land so that the tribes would not be constantly squabbling over who should live there. The second purpose was to give responsibility to each tribe to deal with the Canaanites residing within the assigned area. In other words, each tribe was given a portion of Canaan, and it was their duty to eject the Canaanites from it.

The consequence for NOT doing what they were supposed to do was the tribe lost some or all of their assigned territory. Dan was up against the Philistines, who proved to be the toughest enemy Israel would face over the course of time. Dan finally threw in te towel and moved away from their allotted territory. They decided to move to a territory whicch had not been assigned to any other Israelite tribe. Dan's view was that they "had not been given" territory. To the Danites, this probably meant from a spiritual viewpoint, God had not vanquished the Philistines ahead of Dan's army and thus the conclusion was that God had not given the territory over to the Danites. (This would have been a typical ancient thought pattern regardless of what culture was involved or god worshiped.)

So the sons of Dan sent from their family five men out of their whole number, valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol: Five men were sent out as scouts to look over some territory to the north which the leaders of Dan thought might be a good place to settle. The five men were from Zorah and Eshtaol. These were the only two cities the tribe of Dan controlled at the time. And even then they were on the border lands of Judah and were most likely actually within Judah's tribal territory allotment. No doubt Judah, a very dominant and powerful tribe at the time, was gracious to allow the small and weak tribe of Dan a little room in their territory to call their own.

It seems as though the tribe of Dan was not satisfied with the current state of affairs and sought to find another place for their people to call their own. As the five scouts moved north, they arrived in the hill country of Ephraim where Micah lived. The spies sought out hospitality on their journey. This led to some longer term consequences.


2. (Judges 18:3-6) The Danites meet with Micah's Levite
When they were near the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man, the Levite; and they turned aside there and said to him, "Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?" He said to them, "Thus and so has Micah done to me, and he has hired me and I have become his priest." They said to him, "Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous." The priest said to them, "Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the LORD'S approval."  

When they were near the house of Micah: As the men from Dan were relaxing at Micah's house (with Micah's blessing of course), they met Micah's young private priest. They immediately noticed the priest has a different accent. It would have been a different accent from what Micah and the rest of the people living in Ephraim had. Immediately, they wondered what the priest was doing at Micah's house.

As we read this story, it is incredible to think that accents and dialects has already developed within Israel. The accents and dialects were very distinct for each tribe and region of Israel.

Most Rabbis think since it is not recorded, the Danite's already knew the name of the Levite because it is not recorded they asked for his name. This most likely was due to the priest having already stopped off in Eshtaol or Zorah before he traveled to Ephraim. (Remember this priest wanted to practice pagan religion. The Danites were very intertwined with the Philistines and freely practiced paganism.) The men from Dan probably knew the priest well enough for his voice to be recognizable.

Who brought you here, what are you doing in this place, what do you have here: The Danites were a little surprised to find the priest at Micah's house. So they ask him three questions. These are reasonable questions which would come up in normal conversation. The Levite obliges and answers the questions. He says Micah hired him and pays him a wage. The Levite acts as a priest to Micah.

They said to him, "Inquire of God": The Danites immediately revert to typical superstitions of the pagans and ask the Levite to divine the future. They want to know how their scouting expedition will turn out. The priest tells them what they want to hear--the LORD will be with them.

Everything was quite satisfactory and normal; they stayed (probably just overnight). They ate and then continued their northward journey until they arrived at a place called Laish.


3. (Judges 18:7-10) The Danites choose a city for expansion: Laish
Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were in it living in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no ruler humiliating them for anything in the land, and they were far from the Sidonians and has no dealings with anyone. When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, their brother said to them, "What do you report?" They said, "Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you sit still? Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land. When you enter, you will come to a secure people with a spacious land; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth."

Laish: Laish was a tranquil city full of content and peaceful people. The residents probably were originally citizens of Sidon, who moved for some unknown reason. But, they probably moved like the folks of the USA who moved west in covered wagons to find a better life and settle the wild outdoors.

For there was no ruler humiliating them for anything in the land: The comment about there was no one exercising authority over them meant there was not a king or other sovereign who would bring shame to the people and exact taxes from them. The citizens of Laish were fully independent, and no one was ruling over them.

Apparently, the citizens of Laish were from Sidon, but the people of Laish did not have an alliance with Sidon nor were they considered an official outpost of Sidon. Thus, even if the nation of Sidon had some sympathy and attachment to the people of Laish, they were too far away and would not be able to be rescued if they needed to be. This was the perfect situation for Dan. The location was well watered, fertile and substantial in size. It was far from anyone who might try to rule over the place. The place is simply ideal. It is at the headwaters of one of the sources of the Jordan River. It is rich in trees.  

The scouts from Dan must have thought they had found paradise. All they had to do is gather the people of Dan, attack and take it from an unsuspecting and unprepared people who seemed to have no allies to help them.

When they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol: The scouts from Dan returned back to their land. They reported their great discovery and urged the leadership to move to Laish at once.

For God has given it into your hand: In verse 10, the Danite scouts assumed the God of Israel had given them Laish and arranged for its taking from a people who would offer little resistance. This seems to be the same mindset as when Micah asked the Levite to be his priest. They both assumed God was blessing their actions. However, both groups were acting on superstitions and not God. It was the oracle from the Levite telling the scouts that their mission would be blessed by God, and it would be successful. These were only empty words which helped confirm what the hearers wanted to hear.

4. (Judges 18:11-13) They assemble an army of 600 to take possession of Laish

Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out. They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim. They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah. 

Six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out: Verse 11 describes the military force the tribe of Dan sent to Laish. It was a very small size, only 600 soldiers. This tells us how little regard Dan had for the military capability of Laish. This was not the total size of Dan. It was only the amount of men who would be used to protect the Danite migrants and attack the city of Laish. Accompanied by their own women and children, they set off for Laish.


Kiriath-jearim: They stopped at a place in the territory of Judah called Kiriath-Jearim, which was subsequently called Mahaneh-dan. This merely means "the camp of Dan". From here, they went along a path which took them into the hills of Ephraim and right passed Micah's house. But it was not his hospitality they were seeking this time.