1 The Danites send five men to seek out an inheritance
3 At the house of Micah they consult with Jonathan, and are encouraged on their way
7 They search Laish, and bring back news of good hope
11 Six hundred men are sent to surprise it
16 In their way they rob Micah of his priest and his consecrated things
27 They win Laish, and call it Dan
30 They set up idolatry, wherein Jonathan inherits the priesthood.

no king. The word mailech, which generally means a king, is sometimes taken for a supreme ruler, governor, or judge (see Ge. 36:31, De 33:5;) and it is probable it should be so understood here, and in the parallel passages. Jud 17:6 19:1 21:25

the tribe Jos 19:40-48

for unto Jud 1:34

2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.

men. Heb. sons. Zorah Jud 18:8,11 13:2,25 16:31 Ge 42:9 Jos 19:41

to spy Nu 13:17 Jos 2:1 Pr 20:18 Lu 14:31

mount Jud 17:1 19:1,18 Jos 17:15-18

3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?

they knew. They knew by his dialect or mode of pronunciation, that he was not an Ephraimite; see the parallel texts. Jud 12:6 Ge 27:22 Mt 26:73

and what hast Isa 22:16

4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

hired me Jud 17:10 Pr 28:21 Isa 56:11 Eze 13:19 Ho 4:8,9 Mal 1:10 Joh 10:12,13 Ac 8:18-21 20:33 1Ti 3:3 Tit 1:11 2Pe 2:3,14,15

5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

ask counsel 1Ki 22:5 2Ki 16:15 Isa 30:1 Eze 21:21 Ho 4:12 Ac 8:10

of God Jud 18:14 17:5,13

6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.

go in peace 1Ki 22:6,12,15 Jer 23:21,22,32

before De 11:12 Ps 33:18 1Th 3:11

the Lord. As the Levite uses the word Jehovah, and as the Danites succeeded according to the oracle delivered by him, some learned men are of opinion, that the worship established by Micah was not of an idolatrous kind.

7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

Laish Jos 19:47

Called. Leshem. how they Jud 18:27,28 Re 18:7

magistrate. Heb. possessor or heir of restraint 1Sa 3:13 1Ki 1:6 Ro 13:3 1Pe 2:14

and had no. In the most correct copies of the LXX, this clause stands thus; 'and they had no transactions will Syria; ' evidently reading instead of adam, aram, Syria; words so nearly similar that the only difference between them is in the raish, and daleth, which in both MSS. and printed books is sometimes indiscernible. Laish was situated on the frontiers of Syria.

8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

Zorah and Eshtaol Jud 18:2,11 13:2 16:31

9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

arise Nu 13:30 14:7-9 Jos 2:23,24

are ye still 1Ki 22:23

be not Jos 18:3 1Sa 4:9 2Sa 10:12 Joh 6:27 Heb 6:11,12 2Pe 1:10,11

10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

secure Jud 18:7,27

God hath De 2:29 4:1 Jos 6:16

where there Ex 3:8 De 8:7-9 11:11,12 Eze 20:6 1Ti 6:17

11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

appointed. Heb. girded

12 And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.

Kirjath-jearim. A city of Judah, on the confines of Benjamin; distant nine miles from Aelia or Jerusalem, in going towards Diospolis or Lydda, according to Eusebius Jos 15:60 1Sa 7:1 1Ch 13:5,6 2Ch 1:4

Mahaneh-dan Jud 13:25

13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

mount Ephraim Jud 18:2,3 17:1 19:1 Jos 24:30,33

14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.

then 1Sa 14:28

in these Jud 18:3,4 17:5

now therefore Pr 19:27 Isa 8:19,20

15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.

saluted him. Heb. asked him of peace Ge 37:14 43:27 1Sa 17:22 2Ki 4:26 Mt 10:12,13 Lu 10:4-6 Joh 14:27

16 And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.

six hundred Jud 18:11

17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

five men Jud 18:2,14

the graven Jud 6:31 17:4,5 Ex 32:20 1Sa 4:11 6:2-9 2Ki 19:18,19 Isa 46:1,2,7

18 And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?

19 And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?

lay thine. This was the token of silence. These men were evidently very ignorant; and absurdly concluded that they should, by taking Micah's gods, secure the presence and favour of the God of Israel, in their expedition and settlement. They perhaps supposed the piety of their motives, and the goodness of their end, would justify the means. But it was a base robbery of Micah, aggravated by the Levite's ingratitude, and their menaces. Job 21:5 29:9 40:5,6 Pr 30:32 Mic 7:16

a father Jud 17:10 2Ki 6:21 8:8,9 13:14 Mt 23:9

20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.

heart Jud 17:10 Pr 30:15 Isa 56:11 Eze 13:19 Ho 4:3 Ac 20:33 Php 3:19 2Pe 2:3,15,16

went. He was glad of his preferment among the Danites; and went into the crowd, that he might not be discovered by Micah or his family.

21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.

and put. These men were so confident of success, that they removed their whole families, household goods, cattle, and all. The carriage. to be heavy, denotes the luggage or baggage.

22 And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.

23 And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?

what aileth Ge 21:17 1Sa 11:5 2Sa 14:5 2Ki 6:28 Ps 114:5 Isa 22:1

comest. Heb. art gathered together

24 And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?

what have Jud 17:13 Ps 115:8 Isa 44:18-20 Jer 50:38 51:17 Eze 23:5 Hab 2:18,19 Ac 19:26 Re 17:2

25 And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.

angry. Heb. bitter of soul 1Sa 30:6 2Sa 17:8 Job 3:5 27:2

26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.

27 And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

Laish Jud 18:7,10

they smote De 33:22 Jos 19:47

burnt Jos 11:11

28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.

and there 2Sa 14:6 Ps 7:2 50:22 Da 3:15-17

far from. Probably the people of Laish were originally a colony of the Zidonians; who being an opulent people, and in possession of a strong city, lived in a state of security, not being afraid of their neighbours. In this the Leshemites imitated them, though they appear not to have had the same reason for their confidence; and though they might naturally expect help from their country-men, yet as they lived at a considerable distance from Sidon, the Danites saw they could strike the blow before the news of the invasion could reach that city. Jud 18:1,7 Jos 11:8 Isa 23:4,12

Bethrehob Nu 13:21

Rehob 2Sa 10:6

29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.

Dan Jud 20:1 Ge 14:14 Jos 19:47 2Sa 17:11 1Ki 12:29,30 15:20

who was Ge 30:6 32:28

Laish, or Dan, was situated at the northern extremity of the land of Canaan, in a beautiful and fertile plain, at the foot of mount Lebanon, on the springs of Jordan, and, according to Eusebius, four miles from Caesarea Philippi, or Paneas, now Banian, (with which some have confounded it,) towards Tyre. Burckhardt says, that the source of the river El Dhan, or Jordan, is at an hour's distance from Banias, which agrees with Eusebius.

30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

set up Ex 20:4 Le 26:1 De 17:2-7 27:15 31:16,29 Jud 18:30

God had graciously performed his promise, in putting these Danites in possession of that which fell to their lot, obliging them thereby to be faithful to him who had been so to them; they inherited the labour of the people, that they might observe his statues. Ps 105:44,45

But the first thing they do after they are settled is to break his laws, by setting up the graven image, attributing their success to that idol, which, if God had not been infinitely patient, would have been their ruin. Thus a prosperous idolater goes on to offend, imputing this his power unto his God. Instead of Manasseh, some would read Moses; as it is found in some MSS., in the Vulgate and in the concessions of the most intelligent Jews. But Bp. Patrick takes this to be an idle conceit of the Rabbins, and supposes this Jonathan to be of some other family of the Levites. Yet Kimchi acknowledges, that the Jews deeply concerned for the honour of their lawgiver, to whom they thought it would be a great dishonour to have a grandson who was an idolater, suspended the letter, noon, over the word Moses; which, by means of the points, they have changed into Manasseh. until Jud 13:1 1Sa 4:2,3,10,11 Ps 78:60-62

the land. Houbigant contends that instead of the land we should read the ark.

31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

all the time Jud 19:18 21:21 Jos 18:1 1Sa 1:3 4:4 Jer 7:12