The Danites Get Possession of a Sacred Image. Kiriath-jearim (the city of forests) is perhaps Kuriat el -' enab. There was a Mahaneh-dan (camp of Dan) between Zorah and Eshtaol, but more than one place might bear such a name.

Judges 18:14. Consider what he hath to do is the language of highwaymen. What had the Danites to do? To respect the rights of property? To avoid sacrilege? They knew better.

Judges 18:19. They stole not only the sacra but the priest, whose heart was glad, for was it not better to be the father and priest of a tribe than of a single family?

Judges 18:25. Unmoved by the despairing cry of one who had been robbed of his most sacred treasures, the Danites warned Micah that there were angry fellows among them, who might, if molested, proceed to extremities. Finding no redress, Micah turns back, and disappears from the scene. At least his life had been spared; but the angry fellows treat their next victims differently. They came unto Laish, and to a people quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and they burned the city with fire, and there was no deliverer. How modern it all seems with the exception of the last clause! Beth-rehob (house of the broad place) may be another name of Banias.

Judges 18:30. The name and descent of the young Levite, who was the first priest of the famous sanctuary, are stated at the end of the story. He was a grandson of Moses; but by the insertion of an n the great name was afterwards changed into Manasseh, the idolatrous king! The day of the captivity of the land was either 734 or 721 B.C.

Judges 18:31. It is nowhere stated how or when Shiloh lost its importance as a sacred shrine. The destruction of its temple is first distinctly mentioned in Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 7:14; Jeremiah 26:9.

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