Judges 18:1

_IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL: AND IN THOSE DAYS THE TRIBE OF THE DANITES SOUGHT THEM AN INHERITANCE TO DWELL IN; FOR UNTO THAT DAY ALL THEIR INHERITANCE HAD NOT FALLEN UNTO THEM AMONG THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL._ In those days ... the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in. The Danites had a territory assigned them as well as the other tribes. But they were the last of the tribes to whom, in the division of the land, an allotment was assigned. Their portion was small, and, small as it was, it suffered diminution by the encroachments of their powerful neighbours, the Amorites (Judges 1:34), and still more of the Philistines. It was the most exposed part of the country, not only on the seacoast, where at Joppa (Jaffa) foreign invaders might easily at any time debark to attack them, but on the side of the Philistines; because the plain of Sharon is only a continua

CHAPTER XVIII _Some Danites, seeking an inheritance, send five men to search_ _the land, who arrive at the house of Micah_, 1, 2. _They employ the Levite, who served to his house as priest, to_ _ask counsel for them of God_, 3-5. _He inquires, and promises them success_, 6. _They depart, and go to Laish, and find the inhabitants secure_, 7. _They return to their brethren, and encourage them to attempt_ _the conquest of the place_, 8-10. _They send_ six hundred _men, who, coming to the place where Micah_...

EXPOSITION JUDGES 18:1 IN THOSE DAYS, etc. See Judges 17:6. THE TRIBE OF THE DANITES SOUGHT THEM AN INHERITANCE, etc. This does not mean that the whole tribe of Dan were still seeking their inheritance. The bulk of the tribe, as we read in Joshua 19:40-6, did receive their inheritance by lot before the death of Joshua (Joshua 19:49) and Eleazar (Joshua 19:51). But as long as any part of the tribe was not settled, the tribe as such, in its unity, was still seeking a settlement. The land for

IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL,.... No supreme magistrate, no judge, for it was before the time of the judges, after the death of Joshua and before Othniel the first judge; this is observed before, Judges 17:6 and here repeated to account for the evil things done by the Danites, their consulting Micah's oracle, taking away his priest and his gods, and setting up his graven image in Dan, by which means idolatry was spread in Israel, and brought on their servitude to Chushanrishathaim, from which Othniel the first judge was their deliverer: AND IN THOSE DAYS THE TRIBE OF THE DANITES SOUGHT THEM AN INHERITANCE TO DWELL IN; that is, a family of them, as in the next verse, not the whole tribe; for as a family is sometimes put for a tribe, Joshua 7:17 so a tribe for a family,...

CHAPTER 18 THE DANITE IDOLATRY _ 1. The Danites seek an inheritance (Judges 18:1)_ 2. Their robbery (Judges 18:13) 3. Laish taken and idolatry consummated (Judges 18:27) The history of this chapter is closely linked with the preceding. The tribe of Dan had failed to take the God-given inheritance (Joshua 19:40). “The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley” (Judges 1:34). Then in self-will, entirely disregarding the will of God, they sent out spies to

THE DANITE SCOUTS AT THE HOUSE OF MICAH. This chapter is of great value as an illustration of the mode in which an Israelitish tribe found a settlement in the country. We are taken back almost to the time of the Conquest. On the difficulty which the Danites had in taking possession of the territory first allotted to them see Judges 1:34. Some of them determined to seek their fortune in fresh fields. Their five scouts passed the house of Micah on the way north. How they knew the Levite's voice we are not told. Either he was an old acquaintance, or the words mean that they heard a voice intoning, which they knew to be a Levite's. Seizing their opportunity, they bade him ask counsel of God for them, and obtained a gratifying response....

THOSE DAYS. Numbers 17 and Numbers 21, thought by some to record earlier events in the days of Othniel by Figure of speech _Hysteresis_ (App-6). See note on Judges 17:1, and Structure. NO KING. No true "house of God" religiously (Judges 17:5), leads to "no king" nationally (Judges 18:1); and nationally to apostasy. See note on Judges 18:6, above. DANITES. See note on Genesis 49:17....

Judges 18:1. _In those days … in Israel_ An excuse for the irregularity of Micah's proceedings as described in the foregoing verses. See Judges 17:6 _n._ and in those days … to dwell in At first the Danites tried to settle on the low land between the coast and the hills (Judges 1:34). Then they were forced into the hills (_ib._), and we find them, both in this ch. and in the story of Samson, settled at Zorah and Eshtaol, on the W. of Judah. Now comes a migration to the sources of the Jordan in the North, cf. Joshua 19:47 JE. As we have seen, ch. Judges 5:17

_THE DANITES SEEK AN INHERITANCE, AND IN THE JOURNEY ENTER INTO THE HOUSE OF MICAH, AND CARRY OFF HIS IMAGE AND HIS PRIEST: THEY TAKE THE CITY LAISH, WHICH THEY BURN, BUILD ANOTHER IN ITS PLACE, AND SET UP THERE MICAH'S GRAVEN IMAGE._ _Before Christ 1426._ _JUDGES 18:1. IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL_— The exact period here referred to is uncertain; but it is generally supposed to have been before there was a judge in Israel, between the death of Joshua and the elders who survived him, and the time of Othniel, who was the first judge raised up for them by God. See Josephus, Antiq. lib. 5: cap. 2 and the note on the first verse of the former chapter. Houbigant renders the latter part of this verse, _for not yet, even to this time, they had sufficient inheritance among the tribes of Israel._ Instead of _the tribe of the Danites,_ some would

_Micah and the Danites Judges 18:1-31_ In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. 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, 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? 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. 5 And they said un