Judges 18:24

_AND THEY CRIED UNTO THE CHILDREN OF DAN. AND THEY TURNED THEIR FACES, AND SAID UNTO MICAH, WHAT AILETH THEE, THAT THOU COMEST WITH SUCH A COMPANY?_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

Verse Judges 18:24. _YE HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY GODS_] As Micah was a worshipper of the true God, as we have seen, he cannot mean any kind of idols by the word אלהי _elohai_ here used. He undoubtedly means those _representations_ of Divine things, and symbols of the Divine presence such as the teraphim, ephod, c. for they are all evidently included under the word _elohai_, which we translate _my_ _gods_....

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 HE SAID, YE HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY GODS THAT I MADE,.... Meaning his graven and molten images, which he had made, or caused to be made, out of the silver his mother gave him, or however had paid for the making of; and though this might be an argument proving his right unto them, it was a very poor one in favour of their deity; and it is astonishing he should call them gods he knew the making of, and who could not save themselves from being stolen and carried off: AND THE PRIEST AND YE ARE GONE AWAY; they had not only took away his gods, but the priest that sacrificed for him unto them, and assisted him in acts of devotion to them, or to God by them, and were gone off with both: AND WHAT HAVE I MORE? signifying, that all he had in the world, wife, children, and substance, were all nothing in comparison of these; there was nothing he so much valued as he did these, nor could he take any...

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)....

_my gods which I made_ Cf. Genesis 31:30 ff. E, a passage which shews several points of resemblance to the present. For _my gods_, Vulgate deos meos, we might render _my God_, offensive though the idea is to us; Micah was a worshipper of Jehovah, see on Judges 17:5. The LXX paraphrases -my graven image....

YE HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY GODS, &C.— The word rendered _gods_ is _elohim,_ which, as in other places, would be more properly rendered, my god; and must, undoubtedly, mean the symbol of the Divine presence; as we cannot conceive that Micah, who was a worshipper of Jehovah, could have been so absurd as to think that he could make _his_ god. REFLECTIONS.—The priest, surprised to see the men return with his treasure, expostulates with them against the theft; but his complaints are easily silenced: no sooner do they propose to him to go along with them, and set in his view better wages and greater preferment, than he very readily consents to follow, and leave a private cure for a fee, little concerning himself about the charge, or the infamous means of his advancement. _Note;_ (1.) When a priest's heart is more anxious after his preferment, than concerned about the weight of his office, it is a s...

_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

THE DANITES GO IN QUEST OF AN INHERITANCE. THEY ROB MICAH OF HIS IMAGES, CAPTURE AND SETTLE IN LAISH, AND SET UP IDOL-WORSHIP THERE 1-10. The Danite Spies....