Judges 18:30

The object of the whole story has been to trace the origin of the famous sanctuary at Dan. In this and the next verse the setting up of Micah's image is told twice over, and a double note of time is given. The repetition suggests that we have here the two conclusions of the two narratives which have been woven together in the story. Moore thinks that Judges 18:30 belongs to the narrative which alludes to the man the Levite the priest(Judges 17:8; Judges 17:11 a, Judges 18:12 b, Judges 18:3 b, Judges 18:4-6; Judges 18:18 b etc.), whose name now turns out to have been Jonathan, a grandson of Moses, and that Judges 18:31 closes the other document, of which a characteristic feature is the young Levite(Judges 17:7; Judges 17:11 b, Judges 17:12 a, Judges 18:3; Judges 18:15 etc.). This may be so, but no kind of certainty is possible. The name of the Levite comes rather oddly at the end, instead of at the beginning of the story. If the original narrator had wished to mention it, he would have done so at Judges 17:8; the omission is now supplied, apparently by a later hand. Thus the second half of Judges 18:30 seems to be an editorial addition.

the graven image Only one image is mentioned in the sequel; see on Judges 17:3.

Jonathan … Moses The Levite and his descendants, the priests of Dan, claimed descent from Moses. The margin notes another reading; in the Hebr. text the letter nis -suspended," or inserted above the line, thus turning Mosheh(משה) into Manasseh(מנשה). The Jews admit that the text was altered in order to repudiate the Levite's claim; he acted, not like a son of Moses, but like the impious king Manasseh, to whom the Rabbis apply the principle, -every corruption is fastened upon (i.e. is named after) him who started it"; Talm. Bab. Baba Bathra109b. Possibly the Jewish scribes had another Manasseh in their minds, the renegade priest who first ministered in the Samaritan temple on Mt Gerizim; Josephus, Ant.xi. 8, 2 ff. The LXX reads Manasseh(a group of cursives both Mosesand Manasseh); the Vulgate Moysi; the Syr. Manasseh. For Gershom see Exodus 2:22; Exodus 18:3.

until the day of the captivity of the land Either the captivity of N. Israel under Tiglath-pileser in 734 b.c., 2 Kings 15:29; or the exile after the fall of Samaria in 722 b.c., ib.Judges 17:6 ff.