The author of Judges begins with the words, ‘in those day Israel had no king’, Judges 18:1, which implies there’s no leadership and what we’re about to read isn’t going to be God led, Judges 17:6 / Judges 18:1 / Judges 19:1 / Judges 21:25. Israel has the appearance of formal religion, but their religion isn’t based upon God’s Word.
Remember, in the Book of Joshua we find that the tribe of Dan had the least success in conquering their allotted territory, Joshua 19:47, so they seek out other lands, Judges 18:1 / Joshua 19:40 / Joshua 19:47.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Danites indeed had been allotted their inheritance in Canaan, but their distress was due to the encroachment against their territory: (1) first by the Amorites, Joshua 3:10 and (2) also by the Philistines, Judges 13:1 / Judges 13:5 / Judges 14:4 / Judges 15:11.’
Wolf, in his commentary, says the following.
‘They clearly felt that the boundary lines had not fallen for them ‘in pleasant places’, Psalms 16:6. Their desire to move revealed a lack of faith in the Lord who had allotted to them their original territory.’
And so in these lawless circumstances, a group of Danites are looking for a place to settle down with their families and they send out five strong men to find a suitable spot, Judges 18:2. While they’re in Micah’s town, they recognise his Levite priest, whom they had bumped into before, Judges 18:3. When they see that he’s become a priest, Judges 18:3-4, they ask him to counsel with God to see where they should go to find a home, Judges 18:5, even though God had already told them where to live, Joshua 19:40-46. The Levite tells them that God has given his approval, Judges 18:6.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The spies should have sought God’s counsel before leaving on their journey, but finding it so convenient to do so here, they asked the Levite to seek an answer from God as to whether their journey would be successful.’
The Danites found a city nearby that was not occupied by Israelites called Laish, Judges 18:7. Laish was a Canaanite city about seventy-seven miles north of Mount Ephraim. Notice they lived in safety like the Sidonians, Judges 18:7. This was a group that God told Israel to drive out of the land of Canaan, Joshua 13:4. Seeing that the land was good and the city was not heavily defended, the Danites believed this would be a good city to conquer and take as their own territory, Judges 18:7.
Block, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Unlike most Canaanite cities of the time, Laish was not defended by stone walls but by huge ramparts consisting of alternating layers of soil from the surrounding region and debris from previous settlements.’
The residents of this village made the same mistake as the Israelites at this time in their history. They lived independently from anyone with whom they could unite if they were attacked by others, Judges 18:7. Because of their desire to live so independently from others, they were more prone to attacks from raiders as no one would come to their help. When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them how things were, Judges 18:8. They tells them to attack them because they have seen the land, and it is very good, Judges 18:9.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The spies’ use of the phrase ‘to possess the land’, KJV, Judges 18:9, appears to have been a pious ploy to convince their brethren that this self-seeking plan was God’s will. Moses and Joshua had repeatedly urged the Israelites to ‘possess the land,’ but only the land that was God’s will for them to possess.’
They ask, aren’t they going to do something? And encourage them to go there and take it over, Judges 18:9. They tell them when they get there, they will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into their hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever, Judges 18:10.
The spies decide that Laish is the place for them, and they return to their families and gather six-hundred warriors, Judges 18:11. They set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah, Judges 13:25, and we are told that this is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day, Judges 18:12. On their way to conquer Laish, they came Micah’s house and so, the spies ask their fellow Danites, do they know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods and an image overlaid with silver? And tell them they know what to do, Judges 18:13-14.
Constable, in his commentary, says the following.
‘What they should have done was execute Micah and the Levite since they were idolaters, Deuteronomy 13:6-11, but they too had departed from God. Instead they stole Micah’s images and his priest.’
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In the list of the redeemed from each of the ‘Twelve Tribes of Israel,’ mentioned in Revelation 7, it appears as a mystery that the name of Dan is conspicuously omitted from that sacred list. We cannot resist the thought that that omission might have something to do with what is recorded here.’
The five spies go with their army to say hello to their Levite friend and then the army stood at the entrance of the gate, Judges 18:15-16. While they’re there, the five spies decide to steal Micah’s idol, the ephod and the household gods, Exodus 20:15, while the priest and the army stood at the entrance of the gate, Judges 18:17.
When the Micah’s priests discovers what has happened, he asks them what they are doing, Judges 18:18. The priest is told to be quiet and say nothing and then gets an invite to go with them and be their father and priest, Judges 18:19. Then the priest is asked, isn’t it better that he serves a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household? Judges 18:19.
The priest was happy about this and so he takes the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people, Judges 18:20. And so, they put their little children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left, Judges 18:21.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘These men were so confident of success that they removed their whole families, household goods, cattle, and all.’
When the Danites took Micah’s silver idols and graven images, and his priest, they had essentially taken his riches and his religious security. Micah has no idea that his priest has betrayed him, he has no idea that his priest has left for a better offer. And so, as they’re making off like bandits, the men who lived near Micah chase them, Judges 18:22. As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and ask Micah, what’s the matter with him that he called out his men to fight? Judges 18:23.
Micah tells them they are thieves who stole the gods he made and his priest and so he asks them, what else do he have? How can they ask, what’s the matter with me? Judges 18:24. The Danites now threaten Micah and tell him not to argue with them or the Danites or he and his family will die, Judges 18:25. Micah and his men went back home when they realised that the Danites were simply too strong for him, Judges 18:26. What the Danites did here fulfils Jacob’s prophecy when he blessed the tribe of Dan, Genesis 49:16-18.
What Micah had was a perversion of religion, it was a mixture of pagan idolatry and Judaism. And if he was alive today, he would be the type of man who would likely consult his daily horoscope or call a psychic. But his problem began long before his assets were stolen, he had next to nothing anyway, he just didn’t realize it.
The irony in all this is, is that Micah’s name means ‘who is like God?’ yet God was far from being involved in his life. Micah had long lost God before he lost his idols and so it shouldn’t be a surprise to him when his things get stolen, after all, ‘in those days Israel had no king’, Judges 18:1 / Judges 17:6 / Judges 18:1 / Judges 19:1 / Judges 21:25.
After taking Micah’s idols, graven images and priest, the Danites go on to conquer Laish and move in because there were no kings or judges, there was no one to stop them, Judges 18:27-28. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob, Numbers 13:21, and the Danites rebuilt the city, settled there and also rename the city and call it Dan, Judges 27:28-29. The city of Dan became the northernmost outpost of the nation of Israel in the land of Palestine, Judges 20:1 / 1 Samuel 3:20.
The Danites now set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land, Judges 18:30. Note that the KJV says, Gershom, the son of Manasseh. Jonathan was probably the name of Micah’s Levite priest, Judges 17:7-13. The Jew believe that Gershom was indeed the son of Moses.
Cundall and Morris, in their commentary, say the following.
‘It is universally agreed that the reference (to Manasseh) was originally to Moses. The reason for the amendment may have been to safeguard the reputation of this great leader by excluding him from the pedigree of this time-serving and idolatrous Levite.’
They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh, Judges 18:31. It’s interesting to note that the house of God, that is, the tabernacle was in Shiloh. In other words, because the Danites had set up their own place of worship, there were two places of worship, one for the true God and one for idolatry.
Inrig, in his commentary, says the following.
‘In the book of 1 Chronicles, when the list of the tribes and families of Israel is given, Dan is the only tribe which is totally ignored. Zebulun’s genealogy is also not chronicled, but it is mentioned elsewhere, 1 Chronicles 6:63 / 1 Chronicles 6:77 / 1 Chronicles 12:33 / 1 Chronicles 12:40. Dan appears only as a geographical name, not as a tribe. They had vanished into obscurity, probably because of intermarriage with the Philistines, E.g. 2 Chronicles 2:14. Dan did not take what God had given to them, and they took what God had not given them. In the process, they lost all that they had.’
This was the beginning of established idolatry in Israel in the Promised Land. What started as individual idolatry in Micah’s home, Judges 17:1-6, led to the tribe of Dan becoming idolaters. All this happened because ‘in those days Israel had no king’, Judges 18:1 / Judges 17:6 / Judges 18:1 / Judges 19:1 / Judges 21:25.