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Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king of Israel;
and in those days the tribe of the Danites 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. |
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IN THOSE DAYS THERE
WAS NO KING OF ISRAEL: There was no king in Israel. It was a time of utter confusion.
There was no spiritual leadership by the true King, God Himself.
Donald Campbell makes
this interesting association between Jdg17,18:
" It seems apparent there is
a direct relationship between the story of Micah & the story of the
migration of the tribe of Dan. The record of Micah's idolatry is graphically
explained in order to show how the tribe of Dan became an idolatrous tribe."
AND IN THOSE DAYS: The plight of the tribe of Dan was first mentioned
in [Judges 1:34,35 which records that the godless...
Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the
hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley; yet
the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim;
but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced
labor. Amorites prevented the Danites from taking
possession of their rightful inheritance. Is there some "Amorite" in your
life that is preventing you from taking hold of your blessings in Christ,
Paul reminding us that our heavenly Father has
"blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3)
The Danite allotment was at the west end of
the strip of land between Judah and Ephraim (Joshua 19:41-46), but caught in a
squeeze between the Amorites (Judges1:34) and the Philistines to the west and
the territory of Judah to the south, the Danites refused to lay hold of
their inheritance by faith, letting their sight (of the Amorites) force them
to seek out a new homeland.
They clearly felt that the boundary lines had not fallen for them "in
pleasant places" (Psalms 16:6). In short, the Danite's desire to move
was a testimony to their lack of faith in the promises of the Covenant
Keeping Lord who had allotted them their original territory. As detailed in
this chapter the Danites instead end up in
[Jdg18:30,31] capturing Laish, renaming it Dan and setting up idolatrous
images for worship. The had sowed the wind, but Israel would reap a
whirlwind from this faithless Danite detour, for years later, the wicked
king Jeroboam I made Dan a center for idolatrous calf
worship to keep the northern 10 tribes from wanting to go back to Jerusalem
to worship Jehovah. God has a sure law of reaping what one sows and so you
cannot help but wonder if this "Danite detour" has anything to do with the
failure to find the tribe of Dan to be mentioned in the 144,000 in Revelation
7:4ff? This thought comes close to home. We sin and we think nothing of it.
No consequence is obvious. Just a twinge of guilt on our conscious. But how
frightening it should be to think about how far reaching the consequences of
our sin can extend and how many people are eventually affected. It behooves
us to pay careful attention to Solomon's warning...
"Because the sentence against an evil
deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among
them are given fully to do evil." (Ecclesiastes 8:11)
The wicked man lulls himself to sleep spiritually being deceived by his own
heart which...
says to himself, "I shall not be moved.
Throughout all generations I shall not be in adversity." Psalm 10:6
THE TRIBE OF THE DANITES WAS SEEKING AN INHERITANCE FOR THEMSELVES TO
LIVE IN:
Click
for a discussion of the
tribe of Dan.
Most of the other tribes were able to conquer the enemy,
dispossessed them, and claim their land, but the Danites coveted somebody
else’s land instead and took it in a violent manner.
As mentioned above, the Danites failure to defeat and dispossess the Amorites was not a matter of
not enough strength of numbers (Numbers 26:43 says that the tribe of Dan had
64,000 men) but of not enough faith in an omnipotent,
covenant keeping God. The Danites had two choices: they could have taken the
humble road and yet the high road of repentance and laying hold of God's
promises by faith that He would go before them and drive out their enemies.
God's sovereign promises always demand man's responsible choice to obey &
move out in faith. The second choice the Danites had was to reject
God's promises and seek their own land, looking for a new territory where
the occupants would be unprepared and vulnerable to attack. God let them
have their latter choice but this "success" does not signify He blessed
their efforts. In fact subsequent history of the abominations set up at Dan
suggest that He cursed them rather than blessing them! Mark it down
beloved...
Success does not always signify God's blessing!
Recall too that Samson
was from the tribe of Dan. Samson, the strongest man, came from Dan, the
weakest tribe that by sheer numbers should have been one of the strongest
tribes!
FOR UNTIL THAT DAY AN INHERITANCE HAD NOT BEEN ALLOTTED TO THEM AS A
POSSESSION AMONG THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL:
Does this curious
statement mean that God had simply forgotten about the tribe of Dan? That
they would have to go it on their own? Clearly that is not
the implication -- The Lord had assigned the tribal allotments under the
direction of Joshua, with the help of Eleazar the high priest and the elders
from the tribes at Shiloh (Joshua 19:41, 51). As He did with the nations
(Ac17:26 God "determined...the boundaries of the habitation" of every nation
on the face of the earth), so He did with the tribes: God put each tribe just where He
wanted it. For the tribe of Dan to reject God’s assigned territory and covet
another place was to oppose His divine will.
Isn’t it this "Danite Defiant" attitude that causes most of the trouble in
our society today? Instead of submitting to God’s will, people want somebody
else's "greener grass" and they are willing to do almost anything to get it
(see the caustic comment by James 4:1-3). Peter labels this universal malady
"the corruption that is in the world by lust." (2 Peter 1:4). |
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Judges 18:2 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. |
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TO SPY OUT THE LAND AND TO SEARCH IT:
This Hebrew word for spy is related to the word for foot, the idea being
that spies went quietly on foot, scouting what they could see. Such
reconnoitering was contrived to help the conquest of enemy territory.
AND THEY SAID TO THEM, "GO, SEARCH THE LAND (See Jos19:47): Five
spies were sent from the same area where Samson grew up, Zorah and Eshtaol
(Jdg13:2) and were assigned to search for a new location to the north,
much like the twelve men commissioned by Moses (Numbers 13:2). |
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Judges 18:3 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?" |
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WHEN THEY WERE NEAR
THE HOUSE OF MICAH, THEY RECOGNIZED THE VOICE OF THE YOUNG MAN, THE LEVITE:
How so? We cannot be absolutely certain but perhaps they recognized him by his dialect or accent (cf. Jdg12:6
where Ephraimites were detected because "[the Gileadites] would say to [the
Ephraimites who were crossing the fords of the Jordan], "Say now,
'Shibboleth.'" But he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it
correctly.")..
Jonathan’s dialect may have attracted the attention of the five spies,
because he didn’t speak quite like a man from Ephraim.
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: The rapid
fire, repetitive questions reveal their surprise at finding a Levite in that
locale but the fact that he had become a hireling did not seem to bother
them at all. Compromise, Complacency, & Confusion all make for a spiritually
deadly combination.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS PLACE? A good question (if he is actually
a Levite priest), which he answered truthfully (truthfulness is difficult to
find in these last chapters), saying in the next verse that he was hired to
do the job! Since somebody else was paying the bill, the spies thought it
was permissible to get “spiritual counsel” from Jonathan, and he told them
what they wanted to hear. The fact that Jonathan’s words came true doesn’t
absolve either him or the spies from being involved in activities outside
the will of God. Jonathan’s "prophecy" came true because the Danites were
strong and the people of Laish were weak and unprotected.
If the tribe of Dan
had really wanted God’s counsel, they could have consulted with the high
priest who was also in Ephraim at Shiloh (Jdg 18:31). But they were already
outside of God's will by refusing to remain in the land He had assigned to
them. Therefore, it wasn’t likely God would have revealed anything to them.
This spiritual principle that knowing spiritual truth is related to
obeying spiritual truth is seen in Jesus' declaration in John...
"If any man is willing to do
His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or
whether I speak from Myself."
(John 7:17). |
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Judges 18:4 And he said to them, "Thus and so has Micah
done to me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest." |
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HE HAS HIRED ME: GOD NEVER
HIRES HIS SERVANTS; they work for him freely out of love and
thanksgiving and He rewards them for faithfulness out of His grace.
AND I HAVE BECOME HIS PRIEST: Even though he was not of Aaron's line
(as far as we can tell from the text) and had no Biblical basis for assuming the role of a
priest. He was deceived thinking that what was wrong in God's eyes was
really "right" because that's what he believed to be right. This is the
ultimate in willful deception and no man is immune to this spiritual trap
when he begins to wander from the highway of holiness and soon right is
wrong and dark is light (cp Isa5:13,20,21).
J. Vernon McGee
writes:
"This is a period of compromise, corruption, and confusion, which are the
marks of apostasy at any time. We are in a state of apostasy today. The
church has compromised. It is in a state of corruption and confusion. Our
problem is that it is not returning to its authority, which is the Word of
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ who is revealed in the Word of God."
This is why it is so
critical in what are quite likely the very "last" of the last days to hold
fast to the faithful word so that we "may be able both to exhort in sound
doctrine and to refute those who contradict" (Titus1:9). |
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Judges 18:5 And they said to him, "Inquire of God,
please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be
prosperous." |
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AND THEY SAID TO
HIM, INQUIRE OF GOD, PLEASE: God had already
revealed his will by the allotments given to the various tribes
(Jos19:40,41). They were searching for an oracle that would guarantee the
success of their journey. Isn't this the tendency of each of our desperately
sick hearts to seek opinions until we hear what we want to hear?
THAT WE MAY KNOW WHETHER OUR WAY ON WHICH WE ARE GOING WILL BE PROSPEROUS:
Unable to possess their allotment of land, because they failed to drive
out the enemy, the Danites sought God's blessing on their search for other
territory. Jonathan, the pseudo-priest, told them what they wanted to hear
(a "priest for hire" spouting pious platitudes to pander, please and
placate). |
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Judges 18:6 And the priest said to them, "Go in peace;
your way in which you are going has the LORD'S approval." |
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AND THE PRIEST SAID
TO THEM, "GO IN PEACE: The pseudo-priest gave them the message they wanted to
hear. He was even careful to use the name of Jehovah to give the message
credibility and authority. This is the sweet talk of a hired preacher who
says what people want to hear, reminding us of Paul's warning that...
"the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will
accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and
will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths." (2Ti 4:3-4)
Jeremiah also recorded this
lamentable state writing that Jerusalem's...
"prophets have seen for you false and
foolish visions; and they have not exposed your iniquity so as to restore
you from captivity, but they have seen for you false and misleading
oracles." (Lamentations 2:14)
YOUR WAY IN WHICH YOU ARE GOING HAS THE LORD'S APPROVAL: literally
"your way is before the LORD." He would view their actions with favor, which
was the opposite of the truth. The Levite sent them on their way with a
blessing, claiming their journey was "before/in front of the Lord." Though
he uses the Lord's name in formulating his blessing, the text makes no
mention of his inquiring of the Lord. His oracle is actually ambiguous. The
phrase "before/in front of the Lord" does not necessarily convey a positive
idea. In its only other use in the Hebrew Bible (Pr 5:21) it simply means
that one's actions are in full view of Yahweh, who examines their ethical
quality |
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Judges 18:7 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 had no
dealings with anyone. |
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AND SAW THE PEOPLE WHO WERE IN IT LIVING IN SECURITY: The five spies
had traveled 100 miles north from their encampment at Zorah to Laish (“Leshem”
in Jos19:47), a town inhabited by the Sidonians, about 30 mi E of the Med Sea.
These were a peaceful people who minded their own business and had no
treaties with anybody. They were “unsuspecting and secure” and “prosperous”
(NIV), an isolated people, who were a perfect target for the warlike tribe
of Dan. Their town was also isolated from the Sidonians by the Lebanon range
of mountains, and from Syria by Mt Hermon and the Anti-Lebanon range, so
that they were without close military allies.
AFTER THE MANNER OF THE SIDONIANS, QUIET (“rest” as in
Jdg 3:11) AND SECURE: These folks were "quiet and secure"
but in the days of the judges it was a false sense of security.
Arthur Lewis comments on the beauty of the area around the modern day
tourist site of Tell Dan which includes a replica of pagan altar:
"Travelers
who have visited the Huleh Valley and the vicinity of Dan expound on the
natural resources and the fertility of the area. Water comes from every rock
and hill, pouring down from the nearby mountains of Lebanon. Like Scotland,
this part of Galilee is green and overgrown with all forms of vegetation.
The tribe of Dan had seized upon a veritable paradise on earth!"
FOR THERE WAS NO RULER HUMILIATING THEM FOR ANYTHING IN THE LAND, AND
THEY WERE FAR FROM THE SIDONIANS AND HAD NO DEALINGS WITH ANYONE: There,
at the foot of beautiful snow capped Mt Hermon, they discovered a highly
desirable location, a long distance from potential enemies and furnished
with an excellent supply of water--springs that formed one of the sources of
the Jordan River. The Lebanon range protected it from interference from
either Syria or Phoenicia. The residents of Laish enjoyed their secure
position and had not built any defenses against invaders. It was an ideal
situation for the land-hungry Danites |
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Judges 18:8 When they came back to their brothers at
Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, "What do you report?" |
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X |
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Judges 18:9 And 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. |
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Their positive and
unanimous report, recommending an immediate attack, contrasted sharply with
the pessimistic majority opinion of the spies sent by Moses to explore the
entire land (cf. Nu 13:25-33). The claim of divine approval (v10), however,
based on the consultation of [v6], was hardly justifiable. |
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Judges 18:10 "When you enter, you shall 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." |
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A SPACIOUS LAND: "Spacious" is
literally "broad of hands"; hence the land stretched "wide to right and
left" This expression was used by the leaders of Shechem in an attempt to
convince the people that there was room for the family of Jacob to live
among them (Ge34:21).
FOR GOD HAS GIVEN IT INTO YOUR HAND: It is easy and convenient to
rationalize selfish desires by saying that the opportunity to fulfill them
is God’s guidance to do so. The Danites claimed divine support, but their
confidence was based on an oracle that was sought almost as an afterthought
and was acquired from a rogue priest at an idolatrous shrine. This is a good
example of a character's point of view not necessarily reflecting that of
God/the narrator.
|
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Judges 18:11 Then from the family of the Danites, from
Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out. |
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SIX HUNDRED MEN ARMED WITH WEAPONS OF WAR SET OUT: Compare this
figure with the 62,700 Danite soldiers in Numbers 1:38, 39 and the 64,400 in
Numbers 26:42, 43.
Responding to the challenge of the spies, the Danites quickly set out for
this new "promised land." Yet one wonders why only six hundred are mentioned. Were they only part of a larger migrating group, or does this low
number reflect the toll taken by their wars with the Philistines and
Amorites? Compare the 600 men who constituted the remnant of the tribe of
Benjamin (Judges 20:47)] |
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Judges 18:12 And 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. |
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Judges 18:13 And they passed from there to the hill
country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah. |
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X |
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Judges 18:14 Then the five men who went to spy out the
country of Laish answered and 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." |
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The casualness of this decision to steal Micah’s gods stands out.
None of the religious restraints God's 10 Commandments deter the Danites.
Even worse, there is no feeling that a god who can be stolen is, for that
reason, undesirable. |
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Judges 18:15 And 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. |
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X |
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Judges 18:16 And the six hundred men armed with their
weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the
gate. |
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Judges 18:17 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. |
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Judges 18:18 And 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 you doing?" |
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While the armed men stood at the
gate of the city, the five spies, who knew Jonathan, invaded the shrine and
stole the gods.
When the five men, with their religious loot, arrived back at the city gate,
Jonathan the "priest" was shocked to see what they had done. But the Danites
silenced him by hiring him; and since he was a hireling, Jonathan was ready
for a better offer. In short, the Danites not only broke into Micah's shrine and stole
his gods, but they also stole his chaplain. They did what was right in their
eyes but evil in God's eyes! |
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Judges 18:19 And 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?" |
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Only one clan from the tribe of Dan is ever mentioned--Shuham (Nu26:42;
called Hushim in Ge46:23). The Danites appealed to the Levite's vanity and
materialism. It should be noted that a man who would be willing to hire his
services out in the first place would always be willing to accept a better
offer from someone else. He was a religious mercenary, a preacher for hire
to the highest bidder! |
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Judges 18:20 And the priest's heart was glad, and he
took the ephod and household idols and the graven image, and went among the
people. |
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AND THE PRIEST'S
HEART WAS GLAD: His love for money cheered his spirit when he heard the Danites' proposal.
It should have been the precepts of the LORD which brought joy to his heart,
but not in the days of the Judges.
With the prospect of a
higher salary and increased influence, he quickly forgot his loyalty to
Micah and agreed to their terms. Instead of losing his religious equipment
and perhaps his life, he gained a new position. No wonder he "cheered up" so
quickly. His fickle and mercenary attitude reflects the state of the
priesthood during this period. Equally deplorable is the fact that one tribe
would steal from another with apparent impunity. The treacherous behavior of
the tribe of Dan in dealing with Micah and the city of Laish illustrates the
"serpent" nature predicted by Jacob in Ge 49:17 prophesying
that...
"Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A
horned snake in the path, That bites the horse's heels, So that his rider
falls backward." |
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Judges 18:21 Then they turned and departed, and put the
little ones and the livestock and the valuables in front of them. |
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THE VALUABLES ["heavy
goods" cognate kabod ("glory") = "wealth" in Ge31:1]: Anticipating that
Micah might pursue them, the Danites sent their families and possessions on
ahead of them and formed a rear guard. The Danites put the women and children in the front
since that was the safest place, because any attacks would come from the
rear. So this was for protection in case of attack; (see Ge 33:2-3).
|
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Judges 18:22 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. |
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The Danites were
forced to travel at a moderate pace because of the children and the
livestock; so they were easily overtaken by Micah and his men. |
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Judges 18:23 And 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?" |
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The Danites pretended to be
innocent of the charge hurled by Micah; but, unlike Jacob in Ge31:31-32,
they did not invite a search. |
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Judges 18:24 And 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?'" |
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YOU
HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY GODS WHICH I MADE: Can you see the irony? Micah was
concerned about the loss of gods that could not even protect themselves.
WHAT DO I HAVE BESIDES: The agonizing cry of one whose faith is
centered in helpless gods, reflecting the emptiness of
idolatry -- the folly and the tragedy of religion without the true and
living God. Idolaters worship gods they can carry, but Christians worship a
God who carries them! Isaiah describes this spiritual dichotomy recording
that...
1 Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that
you carry are burdensome, A load for the weary beast. 2 They stooped
over, they have bowed down together; They could not rescue the burden,
But have themselves gone into captivity. 3 "Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me
from birth, And have been carried from the womb; 4 Even to your old age, I
shall be the same, And even to your graying years I shall bear you! I have
done it, and I shall carry you; And I shall bear you, and I shall deliver
you. 5 "To whom would you liken Me, And make Me equal and compare Me,
That we should be alike? 6 "Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh
silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow
down, indeed they worship it. 7 "They lift it upon the shoulder and carry
it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from
its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot deliver him
from his distress." (Isaiah 46:1-7). |
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***************************
Judges 18:24
F B Meyer
Our Daily Homily
Ye have taken away my gods, and the
priest.
Whatever can be taken
from us has the mark and signature of man upon it. Since the Jewish priests
were not permitted to continue, by reason of death, it was evident that they
were men at the best; and nothing that man makes is adequate to supply the
immortal cravings of the soul which, having come from God, craves for God.
Change cannot take
away our High Priest. — All around us is in a state of flux. No two days in
the most brilliant summer are quite the same. The hues are deepening towards
autumnal decay. But He continueth ever, and hath an unchangeable priesthood.
All that He was years ago, He is still, and will be. What to our
forefathers, that to us — “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.”
The concerns of other
souls cannot take Him away. — It is not difficult to conceive of the
attention of a human priest being diverted from those who once claimed all
his help, to fresh interests and younger generations. But, however many they
be who flock as doves to the windows of Christ’s mercy, they will never be
able to divert an atom of his love and sympathy from us.
Sins and failure
cannot rob us of Him. — Indeed, they make Him nearer, dearer, more
absolutely necessary. The bands of Danites left Micah wailing when he wanted
the comfort of his priest most, lo, he was gone; but neither principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature, can separate us from Him who ever liveth to make
intercession. “Having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” |
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Judges 18:25 And the sons of Dan said to him, "Do not
let your voice be heard among us, lest fierce men fall upon you and you lose
your life, with the lives of your household." |
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LEST FIERCE MEN:
"Fierce" = lit "bitter of soul." Used to describe those on the verge of
perishing. This expression (lit., "bitter of soul") is also used in 2 Sam.
17:8 of David and his warriors, who are compared there to a bear robbed of
her cubs. When combined with nepesh, "soul," the term mar, "bitter,"
suggests strong emotions.
LOSE YOUR LIFE: To "lose your lives" is actually to "gather up your
soul." This same idiom is often used of one who is "gathered to his people" in death (Nu20:24). If Micah
wanted to die a natural death, retreat was the best policy.
The response of the Danites amounts
to blatant extortion, the obtaining of something of value from a person by
force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power & suggests a wringing or
wresting from one who resists strongly. Once again, moral principle is
irrelevant; the Danites possess the power to enforce their theft if
necessary and make no attempt to be subtle in their threat to use this
force. Covenant disobedience, religious syncretism, and social anarchy go
hand in hand. |
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Judges 18:26 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. |
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X |
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Judges 18:27 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. |
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STRUCK THEM WITH THE EDGE OF THE SWORD AND THEY BURNED THE CITY WITH
FIRE: These peaceful people minding their own business and with no
treaties with anyone were "unsuspecting and secure" and "prosperous",
isolated and in short, were were a perfect target for the warlike tribe of
Dan. With 600 armed men, plus their women and children they
marched north and captured Laish, killing all the inhabitants and burning
the city.
Someone has said that there are only three philosophies of life in today’s
world: (1) “What’s mine is mine, I’ll keep it”; (2) “What’s yours is mine,
I’ll take it”; and (3) “What’s mine is yours, I’ll share it.” The Danites
followed the second philosophy, and so do too many other grasping people.
One of the current booming industries in the US is the installing of
security systems in private homes. The number of shooting sprees in shopping
malls, schools & fast-food restaurants prompted Time magazine Aug 23, 1993
to nickname our country as “America the Violent.” |
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Judges 18:28 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. |
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Judges 18:29 And 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. |
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Then they rebuilt it
and proudly called it Dan, after the name of the founder of their
tribe.
Click to
read about the city of
Dan situated at the northern extremity of the land of Canaan,
in a beautiful and fertile plain, at the foot of mount Hermon, on the
springs of Jordan, and, according to Eusebius, four miles from Cesarea
Philippi, or Paneas towards
Tyre. Dan was Israel's northernmost settlement which gave rise to the expression
"from Dan to Beersheba" to describe the extent of the land (cf. Jdg20:1;
1Sa3:20; 2Sa3:10). |
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Judges 18:30 And the sons of Dan set up for themselves
the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he
and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the
captivity of the land. |
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The tribe of Dan was
the first tribe in Israel to officially adopt an idolatrous system of
religion. Even though there was a house of God in Shiloh, they preferred
their images and idols. Years later, when the kingdom divided, Jeroboam I of
Israel would set up golden calves in Dan and Beersheba and encourage the
whole nation to turn away from the true and living God (1Ki12:25-33).
The willful spiritual deception which produced the complacent syncretism of
Micah’s household spread throughout an entire tribe and raised the
corruption of the nation to a new level.
AND JONATHAN, THE SON OF GERSHOM THE SON OF MANASSEH:
Jonathan is here identified as the son of Gershom, who is well
known as the son of Moses, rather than of Manasseh (Ex2:22). Text critics
generally conjecture that the veneration of Moses caused later scribes to
substitute the name "Manasseh" for the original "Moses," which still appears
in the some versions of the LXX and Vulgate. Virtually all
authoritative sources agree that the original Hebrew reference was to Moses,
but that the ancient scribes added the supralinear "n" (nun) thus causing
the reading to be "Manasseh" rather than Moses (Hebrew has no
vowels). Further support is that several of the popular Bibles including
NIV, RSV, 1901 ASV translate it as "son of Moses". One version of the
Septuagint translates it "Mouses" (Moses) rather than as "Manaseh". Finally,
the Latin Vulgate translates it as "Moses" rather than "Manasseh".
In any case, Moses was
not responsible for the idolatry in which Jonathan participated. Comment
from Expositors:
"Gershom was a son of Moses (Ex2:21,22), but the Masoretes inserted the
letter "nun" in his name so that "Manasseh" was read instead...In the
consonantal text the difference between Moses-- mosheh (mosheh)--and
"Manasseh"-- menasheh (menashsheh)--is only the one letter. The nun (n ) was
raised above the line to show that it was a later editorial
insertion....Their intention was doubtless to remove any taint of idolatry
from Moses' revered name, but one only has to read about the golden calf of
his brother Aaron to realize the family's potential for idolatry!"
UNTIL THE DAY OF
THE CAPTIVITY OF THE LAND:Either a reference to the
deportation by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria in 733-732 (2Ki15:29) or to
the time of the exile of the ark from Shiloh in the eleventh century B.C.
(1Sa 4:11).
Expositors
comment:
"If the reference [to the captivity] is to the deportation by
Tiglath-pileser III in 733-732 B.C., the verse may be a later editorial
addition. Archer favors the view that this was a local captivity in the area
around Dan after a border defeat during the latter period of the judges.
Cundall (p192) prefers to relate this captivity to the widespread Philistine
control of Israel after the death of Saul (2Sa2:8-11)"
John MacArthur:
"This idolatrous priestly service continued until the captivity. This is
most likely 1) the captivity of Israel by Assyria in 722 b.c. (2 Ki15:29;
17:1-6), or possibly 2) the Philistine captivity of the ark from Shiloh (see
Judg. 18:31) in 1 Sa4:11"
BKC:
"Many scholars refer this to either the Assyrian captivity of Israel in 722
b.c. (2 Ki 17:6) or the captivity of the Galilean population under
Tiglath-Pileser III in 733-732 b.c. (2 Ki15:29)."
KJV commentary:
"Throughout its history, Dan was known as a center of idolatry and became a
symbol of the apostate tribe of Israel. Thus, it is not named in Revelation
7 as one of the twelve tribes of the future kingdom. In the list that
appears in the Apocalypse, the tribe of Levi appears in the inheritance in
the place of Dan, and the tribe of Ephraim is referred to as the tribe of
Joseph. Thus, in the irony of history, the tribe of Dan, which stole the
Levite and the image from an Ephraimite, is replaced in the list of God’s
people by those very tribes. It is not improper to suggest that the tribe of
Dan is a type of Judas Iscariot, the apostate disciple. It is certainly
interesting to note that while we also normally speak of twelve apostles, in
reality there were thirteen. Judas, the apostate disciple, corresponds to
Dan, the apostate tribe, both of whom lose their true inheritance in the
kingdom of God. |
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Judges 18:31 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. |
What a way to find a new home! The Danites kidnapped the hireling priest of
the false religion and stole the idols. Then they killed innocent people who
were living in ignorant isolation, a dangerous thing in that day. The climax
came when they set up their own center of idolatrous worship, in open
disobedience to the Word of God.
They were living in a
place where there was “no lack of anything that is on the earth” (v10);
yet they lacked everything that God wanted to give them from heaven! Their
false prosperity gave them false security that could not last.
The account of Micah, Jonathan, and the Danites is more than a story from
ancient history. It's a revelation of the wickedness of the human heart and
the hopelessness of human society without God. Our modern world has
substituted idols for the true and living God and has devised its own
humanistic religion, complete with "priests"-the experts who tell us that
the Bible is wrong but their way is right. But neither their idols nor their
priests have any power against the violence of the human heart.
This chapter is like a preview of coming attractions for America. The home,
the ministry, and society are disintegrating before our eyes, and people
don't want to hear the truth! But whether they want it or not, the world
must be told that Jesus Christ died for lost sinners, and that the power of
Christ can transform hearts, homes, churches, and society if people will
only trust Him.
English preacher John Donne wrote
"Christ beats His drum, but He does not press men. Christ is served with voluntaries." Are you available?
SHILOH:
Click
for discussion of
Shiloh.
Shiloh was a small village about 20 miles north of
Jerusalem and was important because it served as the religious center for
Israel during the period of the judges before the kingdom was
united under the leadership of David. Numerous references are made to Shiloh
during this period as the city where the “house of God” was located
(Jdg18:31). These references are probably to the tabernacle with its ark of
the Testimony—or perhaps a permanent building that housed the
tabernacle—because the temple was not constructed until about 960 b.c.
during Solomon’s time. Hannah prayed for a son at Shiloh. God granted this
request by sending Samuel. During his boyhood, Samuel worked with the high
priest Eli at Shiloh. One of the most beautiful stories of the Old Testament
is about Samuel’s response to the voice of the Lord. Thinking his master Eli
was calling him, he awakened the high priest to find out what the high
priest wanted (see illustration). Finally, it dawned on both that God was
calling Samuel in a unique revelation of His will for the boy. Samuel’s
response to God’s next call was, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears” (1
Sa3:1–10). Samuel eventually succeeded Eli. The
tabernacle was located in
Shiloh during Samuel’s early years as priest (1 Sam. 1:9; 4:3, 4). However,
during a battle with the Philistines, the ark of the Testimony was captured
by Israel’s enemies because God had forsaken Shiloh as the center of worship
(Ps78:60). When the ark was returned to Israel by the Philistines, it was
not placed at Shiloh (2 Sa 6:2–17). It was lodged instead at Kirjath
Jearim
(1 Chr. 13:3–14).After the ark was moved to another city, Shiloh gradually
lost its importance. This loss was made complete when Jerusalem was
established as capital of the kingdom in David’s time. In the days of the
prophet Jeremiah, Shiloh was in ruin (Jer 7:12, 14). It became an inhabited
town again in the days of the Greeks and Romans several centuries later. |
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Judges 18.31
G Campbell
Morgan
So they set them up Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that
the house of God was in Shiloh. Judges 18.31.
Whether intentionally on the part of the writer or no, there is a touch of
satire in this declaration. There, at Shiloh, was the true centre of the
national life, the house of God. In connection with its worship, all the
resources of national strength were to be found. Nevertheless, at Dan they
gathered about the false, and rendered a worship which was destructive. The
terrible decadence of the religious idea is very startlingly revealed in
this whole story. The consciousness of the importance of religion was deeply
embedded in the mind of the people. Micah must worship, and the Danites felt
the necessity of maintaining some kind of relationship with God. Then why
did .they turn from the true, to a perversion which was utterly false? The
answer is found in the revelation of motive. In each case there was a
prostitution of religion to purposes of personal prosperity. Micah hoped by
the maintenance of some form of worship, and the presence of a priest, that
Jehovah would do him good, by which he evidently meant that material
prosperity would come to him. The Danites, going forth on the enterprise of
providing more territory for themselves, were anxious for the maintenance
of religion. Whenever religion is acknowledged and adopted merely in order
to ensure material prosperity, it suffers degradation. Thus do men try to
serve God and Mammon. It cannot be done. The attempt always fails. All
history proves the folly of leaving the true God for the false, in the ruin
which results to those who do so. God is not mocked. (Morgan, G. C. Life
Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible)
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