1. (Judges 18:14-18) On their way to Laish, the army of 600 men take Micah's shrine for themselves
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish said to their kinsmen, "Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod and household idols and a graven image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you should do." They turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took the graven image and the ephod and household idols and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. When these went into Micah's house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, "What are your doing?"
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish: The five scouts intentionally brought the camp of Dan along this route because they knew they needed gods and images to worship at their new tribal home in Laish. Also, Micah had a Levite priest presiding over the worship center. It would be so easy to stop along the way and take along these essential goods.
Teraphim: In addition to the silver image of God in Micah's house, there were also teraphim. Teraphim were other household gods which served all sorts of purposes, including acting much like the Urim and Thummim. The Urim and Thummin gave yes and no answers to questions directed at God (or in this case, they gave "answers" for the pagan gods). Teraphim were strictly pagan items. They were outlawed by the Law of Moses, but Micah and the Levite used them as part of their worship service.
In these houses: Notice the term "houses" is used in verse 14 instead of the singular word "house". The Hebrew word is bayith and it is written in the plural. This means that the private sanctuary of Micah was a separate building from his living quarters. This indicates Micah's family was very well off.
Here again, we see how the Israelite tribes have gone so quickly away from God. Do you think any of the players in this story thought of themselves as purposely doing something against God? Do you think they thought of themselves as intentionally doing something wicked in the LORD'S eyes but did it anyway? Not at all. The characters in this story were following common doctrines and practices everyone did. No one questioned anything, no one including a Levite. They did not bother to check with Scripture. I suspect they did it because they either firmly believed what they were doing would be authorized by God, or they preferred to remain ignorant and not have to deal with having to justify their wrong thinking and actions with truth.
Many Christians believe the Bible says that God helps those who help themselves, that the Bible says drinking alcohol is prohibited, or that the Jews were required to ritually wash before eating, or that being in debt is a sin. The list could go on and on. In fact, the Bible says no such things. They are just long held erroneous beliefs which are so embedded in Christians culture that I don't think anything short of Jesus returning will ever get these false beliefs out of the church.
We are also guilty of imitating those who we consider to be righteous or pious. Those we believe "ought to know" the Bible. We just emulate their actions and think and believe what we are doing is divine truth.
Micah, the Levite and the leaders of Dan were not given any slack by God because it seems they did not know any better. They were given a means to know what God commanded. They were given the Torah, but they were not interested in inquiring of it. We can never know all the divine consequences for a modern Christian that has the means to find out the truth at his fingertips, with no danger of persecution for it, but prefers to rely on tradition, customs and what people tell them. I am certain there is an eternal cost as well as an earthly cost.
2. (Judges 18:19-21) The Levite goes with the army from the tribe of Dan
They said to him, "Be silent, put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?" The priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and went among the people. Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the livestock and the valuables in front of them.
They said to him, "Be silent, put your hand over your mouth and come with us: The five scouts decided to steal Micah's idol and take the Levite to be their own priest. Micah's priest was not kidnapped. He was offered a bigger and more prestigious job. The Levite would be a priest over an entire city and tribe. Currently, he was only a priest for a single family. It was an offer too tempting to not accept.
3. (Judges 18:22-24) Micah's foolish idolatry comes to nothing
When they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house assembled and overtook the sons of Dan. They cried to the sons of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, "What is the matter with you, that you have assembled together?" He said, "You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what do I have besides? So how can you say to me, 'What is the matter with you?'"
When they had gone some distance from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house assembled and overtook the sons of Dan: When Micah discovers his idols and priest are gone, he rallies his friends and neighbors to go after the Danites. Micah and the Danites have a few words. Micah is clearly very upset by the whole situation. The idol to God is worth 200 pieces of silver--that is quite a large sum of money.
4. (Judges 18:25-26) The army of the tribe of Dan refuses to give Micah his god back; so Micah goes home empty-handed
The sons of Dan said to him, "Do not let your voice be heard among us, or else fierce man will fall upon you and you will lose your life, with the lives of your household." So the sons of Dan went on their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
The sons of Dan said to him, "Do not let your voice be heard": Since Dan had 600 men who were ready to fight, and it seemed they were ready and able to do so; the Danites threatened Micah and his posse with death if they did not drop the subject about wanting their idols and ritual implements back. Micah and his men knew they were far out numbered. They decided to go let the Danites go. Micah and his contingent return home empty-handed.
5. (Judges 18:27-29) The army from the tribe of Dan conquers the city of Laish and rename it Dan
Then they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and struck them with the edge of the sword; and they burned the city with fire. And there was no one to deliver them, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone, and it was in the valley which is near Beth-rehob. And they rebuilt the city and lived in it. They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born in Israel; however, the name of the city formerly was Laish.
Verses 27-29 summarize the events of the Danites. They took the idols and Micah's priest, continued to Laish. They easily conquered the city. No one came to the aid of the city of Laish. The attack was a success. The city of Laish was renamed Dan after their forefather, as was customary.
6. (Judges 18:30-31) The tribe of Dan officially adopts the idolatry that began with Micah
The sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the sons of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribes of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh.
The sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image: The Danites set up the silver image they had stolen from Micah and began their cult worship with the young Levite presiding over it.
Earlier in the study, I told you that the Levite was not a real God-authorized priest because he was not from the proper priestly line (sons of Aaron) of the tribe of Levi.
Jonathan, the son of Gershom: In verse 30, we are told this young Levite is named Jonathan. He is of the clan of Gershom. Gershom was a clan of regular Levites. Only those from the clan of Aaron could be priests. But there is also a confusing reference to Manasseh continued within the Levite's identity. Manasseh is in no way connected to the tribe of Levi. (Manasseh was the son of Joseph.) So why is there this confusion?
There is a translation error which is somewhat intentional. The consonants which form the name of Jonathan's family line translated in many Bibles was Manasseh are mem-shin-heh. These are the same consonants which form the name Moses. (Remember the original Hebrew script only uses consonants and no vowels.)
However, what we actually find is that a tiny nun was written between the mem and the shin in some ancient texts. This would create the word Manasseh (mem-nun-shin-heh). The nun did not belong there; it was added at some later date by an editor who did not want to corrupt the text, but in a strange way of thinking by making the letter nun tiny and placing it above the other letters, it allowed the reader to choose to say Moses or Manasseh.
Why would they do that? Well, if left alone, the text would say Jonathan was of the clan of Gershom, son of Moses. By adding the nun, it says Jonathan was of the clan of Gershom, but Gershom was the son of Manasseh.
Bottom line: whoever edited the oldest Hebrew Scriptures we currently have felt it was disrespectful to link Moses and this Levite who served as a pagan priest. Since Manasseh was known to be idolatrous, it was better to assign this corrupt priest to Manasseh's family line instead of sullying Moses' family tree.
Interesting, the Greek Septuagint (written about 250 years before Jesus) did not offer this option. They more accurately say Jonathan was indeed a descendant of Moses. This is not the only place this kind of thing happens in the Bible. There are other places small changes are made to keep the text more palatable.
Micah's image and the house of God at Shiloh: The chapter ends with an interesting reference to Micah's idol being used by the tribe of Dan as long as the house of God was in Shiloh. Shiloh was where the Wilderness Tabernacle (called generically the house of God) was erected and semi-permanently located when Israel entered the Promised Land. It was there where the official priesthood operated. Almost immediately after the death of Joshua, every element of Hebrew society began backsliding at an alarming rate. Thus the resounding and repeated underlying premise for the entire Book of Judges, "There was no king in Israel, so every man did what was right in his own eyes."
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