Judges 18:1-31
Q.1. – Why was the tribe of Dan looking for territory? How did they know the Levite? Did the priest give them God’s direction? Where did they go on their way to Laish? (Jdgs.18:1-13 c.f. Josh.19:40-48)
Joshua had instructed the High Priest, Eleazar to cast lots before the Lord at Shiloh. The tribe of Dan had been given its portion in the Promised Land (c.f. Josh.18:8; 19:40-48). However, their inheritance had not been claimed (Heb. – fallen to them), because of their failure to trust God and conquer the neighbouring Philistines and Amorites. They then appointed five valiant men to seek out a new tribal territory (Jdgs.18:1-2). The footloose Levite who was employed by Micah’s household, was well-known to the men (Jdgs.18:3-4 c.f. Jdgs.17:8-9). They asked him – … Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be prosperous (Jdgs.18:5). Without consulting the Lord, he responded – … Go in peace; your way in which you are going has the Lord’s approval (Jdgs.18:6). In due time the five men found some vulnerable people at Laish, and reported back to the Danites – … When you enter, you will 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 (Jdgs.18:10). The tribe then detoured – … to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah (Jdgs.18:13).
Q.2. – What motivated the Danites to take the idols and ephod? How did they get the priest’s agreement? What do we learn about the character of the Levite? (Jdgs.18:14-20 c.f. Jdgs.17.7-11)
To claim Laish, the Danites had amassed an army of – … six hundred men armed with weapons of war (Jdgs.18:11 c.f. 18:16). The five men told the army on the way to Laish – … 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 (Jdgs.18:14). They decided to have their own private priest and idols (Jdgs.18:15-17). When the Levite protested, they made him a better offer – … 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? (Jdgs.18:19). The Levite showed his true colours. – The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod and household idols and the graven image and went among the people (Jdgs.18:20). He complied with their request, in order to gain money and prestige.
Q.3. – How did he Danites stop Micah from retrieving his gods? What did the Danites do to claim Laish? How did they slide further into idolatry? What happened to Dan? (Jdgs.18:21-31 c.f. Exo.2:22; 18:3)
The Danites were soon apprehended by Micah. However, they threatened to take his life, and he was no match for the army of Dan (Jdgs.18:21-26). Laish was defenceless – and there was no one to deliver them, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone (Jdgs.18:28). The army of Dan then invaded the city of Laish and slew all its inhabitants (Jdgs.18:27). They rebuilt the city and renamed it Dan (Jdgs.18:28-29). Sadly, they set up the graven image, and formed their own false religion, in opposition to God’s appointed place of worship at the time, which was in Shiloh – 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 (Jdgs.18:31). As Jeroboam, who caused Israel to sin, would do later, they also multiplied the priesthood – … 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 (Jdgs.18:30). Some ancient manuscripts identify Jonathan as the grandson of Moses through his son, Gershom (Exo.2:22; 18:3 c.f. 1 Kgs.12:25-33). NOTE: Dan settled outside the Promised Land. This may account for why Dan is missing from the twelve tribes in Revelation 7:4-8). In grace they will again be given a territory during the Millennial Reign of Christ (Ezk.48:1).