Judges 18:12

_AND THEY WENT UP, AND PITCHED IN KIRJATH-JE'ARIM, IN JUDAH: WHEREFORE THEY CALLED THAT PLACE MAHANEHDAN UNTO THIS DAY: BEHOLD, IT IS BEHIND KIRJATH-JE'ARIM._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Verse Judges 18:12. _MAHANEH-DAN_] "The camp of Dan;" so called from the circumstance of this armament _encamping_ there. See Jdg 13:25, which affords some proof that this transaction was previous to the days of Samson....

KURJATH-JEARIM - “City of forests,” otherwise called “Kirjath-Baal” (marginal reference.), identified by Robinson with the modern “Kurit-el-Enab,” on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem and by Conder with Soba....

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

AND THEY WENT UP AND PITCHED IN KIRJATHJEARIM IN JUDAH,.... Of which place see Joshua 15:9. According to Bunting a it was sixteen miles from Zorah and Eshtaol, and this was their first day's march: WHEREFORE THEY CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE MAHANEHDAN UNTO THIS DAY; which signifies the camp of Dan, or of the Danites; so it was called in the times of Samson, Judges 13:25 and is a proof that this expedition was before his time; and it was so called, it seems, in the time of Samuel, the writer of this book: BEHOLD, IT IS BEHIND KIRJATHJEARIM; to the west of it; for though they are said to pitch in that place, the meaning is, that they pitched near it, in the fields adjacent to it, which were the most proper and convenient for a camp. a Ut supra. (Travels of the

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

JUDGES 17-18. This section is the first of two supplements. It explains the origin of the famous shrine at Dan, and the _naî veté_ of its moral and religious ideas proves how ancient it is. In not a few places the text has evidently been tampered with by scribes, who took offence at practices which were from a later point of view irregular. The events in question must have occurred before the time of Deborah (Judges 5:17)....

MAHANEH-DAN. camp of Dan (Judges 13:25)....

_Kiriath-jĕârim_ i.e. _city of woods_; cf. Joshua 9:17 P and 1 Samuel 6:21; 1 Samuel 7:1 f. Eusebius (_Onom_. 109, 27. 271, 40) places it 9 Roman miles from Jerusalem on the road to Lydda; hence it is generally identified with Ḳirjat el--enab, which is just this distance. The site would fit in well with the present narrative, making the first encampment a short day's march from the Danite seats. The identification cannot be regarded as certain; but there is more to be said for Ḳirjat el--enab than for -Erma, a ruined site to the S.W., which some prefer. -Erma has nothing whatever to do with _jearim. The camp of Dan_is said to have been _behind_, i.e. _west of_Kiriath-jearim; contrast...

_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