Judges 18, Danites Steal a Priest

We continue the story of a wealthy Ephraimite, Micah, and his hired Levite priest. The Levite provides personal worship for Micah, apparently at a silver idol set up in the home.

Judges 18: 1-6, Danites looking for a home.

In those days Israel had no king. 

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. So the Danites sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all their clans. They told them, "Go, explore the land." 

The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. When they were near Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, "Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?"

He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, "He has hired me and I am his priest."

Then they said to him, "Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful."

The priest answered them, "Go in peace. Your journey has the LORD's approval."

The theme of Judges is in the first verse, "In those days Israel had no king." 

The tribe of Dan has been residing southwest of Judah, near the Philistines.  The conflicts with the Philistines, described in the story of Samson, has made it difficult for the tribe of Dan to conquer their assigned land.  So abandon their assigned region and make plans to move north to better land and fewer enemies.  

The scouts "recognize the voice" of the Levite.  Do they know him? Had he earlier been in Dan, before moving on to Judah? Or do they recognize a southern, Danite accent?

Scouts from the tribe of Dan, seeking a permanent home, enter the area of Ephraim and meet Micah and his priest.  The priest blesses their search.

Judges 18: 7-10, Vulnerable Laish

So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.''

When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, "How did you find things?"

They answered, "Come on, let's attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren't you going to do something? Don't hesitate to go there and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever."

The Danites find a prosperous place in far northern Israel that appears to be isolated and settled by unsuspecting Sidonians (Canaanites.) They returned from their search and encourage their tribesmen to join them in taking over that land.  (The town, formerly called Laish, will then be called Dan -- see this Wikipedia article on that ancient city. In 1993 archaeologists digging in the tel there will uncover an ancient stone, the Tel Dan Stele, that describes the house of David.)

Judges 18: 11-15, Danites show up at Micah's home

Then six hundred men from the clan of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.  On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day. From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah's house.

Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their brothers, "Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, other household gods, a carved image and a cast idol? Now you know what to do."

So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah's place and greeted him.

Six hundred Danites, on the warpath to Laish, show up at the home of Micah. The five leaders know about Micah, the Levite priest and his silver idol.  They tell the other men, "You know what to do."  This is an ominous statement.

(Prior to showing up at Micah's house, they camp in Judah; the camp of 600 men is significant enough to give a name to that location.)

Judges 18: 16-19, Robbery

The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate. The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance to the gate.

When these men went into Micah's house and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods and the cast idol, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

They answered him, "Be quiet! Don't say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn't it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man's household?"

While an army of 600 men surrounds the compound of Micah, the five scouts enter the house and rob it.  The priest sees this happening and confronts the thieves.  We are reminded that there were 600 armed men outside the compound.  Obviously there is nothing the priest can do to stop this theft but he is invited to move with the Danites to serve as their priest in the new community to be built at Laish.

Judges 18: 20-26, Priest joins the robbery

Then the priest was glad. He took the ephod, the other household gods and the carved image and went along with the people. Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.

When they had gone some distance from Micah's house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites. As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, "What's the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?"

He replied, "You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, `What's the matter with you?'"

The Danites answered, "Don't argue with us, or some hot-tempered men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives."

So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.

The priest joins the Danites.  The small army put their small children, livestock and vulnerable possessions at the front of the band and begins to march away.  (Apparently the Danites have concerns about being attacked from behind by people from the compound.) Micah and some men chase them and the Danite leaders stop and confront Micah.  Their remark that "some hot-tempered men will attack you" is a threat -- Micah is told he can either accept the theft quietly or accept it after a violent confrontation.  Micah wisely gives up and returns home.

In this chaotic period, there seems to be a value to be an official Levite priest, regardless of the god that one serves. 

Judges 18: 27-31, Butchery

Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. 

The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob. The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel--though the city used to be called Laish. There the Danites set up for themselves the idols, 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.

They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

This band of Danites attacks Laish, brutally destroying the people and the town. (This is something they apparently could not do to the Philistines on the southwest borders of Israel.)  The Danites then use the priest and a lineage of descendants of Moses to set up a center of worship for the town of Dan.  

During this time the center of worship for Israel was in Shiloh, so this action, typical of the time of the Judges, describes a competing place of worship (with a silver idol) in Dan. Later, in II Kings 10: 28-29, we will see that there are golden calves set up at idols in both Bethel and Dan. Our story here may then describe the beginnings of the idolatry in Dan. (Some commentators even suggest that the name "Moses" may in fact be a typo; by adding the Hebrew letter nun to Moses one gets the name Manasseh, the king of Judah who reigned shortly after the northern kingdom of Isreal was conquered by the Assyrian empire.)