The big picture
Dan, a tribe of God's people Israel, seeks a place to settle. Its towns send scouts to explore. They meet a hired priest in the home of Micah, a man with a private shrine. They then find Laish, a peaceful town with little outside help. Six hundred armed men follow their report. The men take Micah's worship objects and priest on the way to seize Laish, joining theft, conquest and false worship.
In this chapter
- Scouts Find an Isolated and Wealthy Town Judges 18:1-10
Five scouts from Dan stay at Micah's house.
- The Priest Accepts a Larger Position Judges 18:11-20
Six hundred armed men from Dan travel to Micah's house.
- Micah Loses His Gods and Laish Falls Judges 18:21-31
Micah and his neighbours pursue Dan's men.
Central truth
Dan secures a new town through force and carries stolen images into its worship, while a hired priest chooses the larger position.
Scripture beside the summary
Judges · King James Version · 31Judges 18:1-10
Scouts Find an Isolated and Wealthy Town
Five scouts from Dan stay at Micah's house. They recognise the Levite's voice and ask how he came there. He explains that Micah hired him as priest. They ask him to seek God's guidance, and he assures them of a safe course. At Laish they find people living quietly, far from allies and without strong outside ties. The scouts return and urge immediate action. They describe a broad land with abundant resources and people unlikely to resist. Their claim that God has given it rests within their own eager report.
In everyday life
A property developer studies a small district whose residents have little access to legal help. He tells investors that the site is valuable and opposition will be weak. Their approval treats the residents' lack of support as an advantage. The sales pitch leaves their lives out of view. Dan's scouts propose armed conquest and invoke God's gift.
Notice
Judges 18:7 Laish's quiet life is described together with its distance from possible help. The qualities that give the residents peace also make them vulnerable to the scouts' plans.
Judges 18:1-10
King James Version1In 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.
2And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, 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.
3When 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?
4And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.
5And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
6And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.
7Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.
8And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
9And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.
10When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.
Judges 18:11-20
The Priest Accepts a Larger Position
Six hundred armed men from Dan travel to Micah's house. The scouts point out the shrine and its images. While the armed group stands at the gate, the five men enter and take the worship objects. The priest asks what they are doing. They tell him to be quiet and offer him a larger role as priest to a whole tribe. He gladly accepts, takes the sacred objects and joins them. His concern over the theft gives way to pleasure at promotion. Micah's paid priest now leaves with those robbing him.
In everyday life
The research consultant stands by a lab freezer as a client takes his former employer's files. He starts to object, then hears an offer to head a much larger team. His tone changes, and he leaves with the files. A better post has displaced the duty he first recognised. The Levite also carries away images used in Israel's false worship.
Notice
Judges 18:20 The priest's glad response follows the offer of service to a whole tribe. Greater status draws him into the theft he had begun by questioning.
Judges 18:11-20
King James Version11And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.
12And they went up, and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah: wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim.
13And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.
14Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.
15And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
16And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
17And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
18And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?
19And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?
20And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
Judges 18:21-31
Micah Loses His Gods and Laish Falls
Micah and his neighbours pursue Dan's men. He protests that they have taken his gods and priest, leaving him nothing. Threatened with death, he sees their greater strength and turns back. The armed men reach Laish, kill its people and burn it. No ally comes to rescue the isolated town. They rebuild it and name it Dan. Jonathan and his sons serve as priests, and Micah's image stands there. This false worship continues while God's house is at Shiloh, another town. Micah's private shrine has become a tribal practice.
In everyday life
The displaced shopkeeper points to a cabinet emptied by armed men and asks what remains of the life he built. His neighbours want to help but fear the weapons still nearby. He returns home because protest offers no protection. Loss becomes sharper when strength decides the answer. Micah loses gods he made, and Laish later suffers killing and fire.
Notice
Judges 18:24 Micah describes the missing objects as gods he himself made. His helpless complaint exposes how little protection those objects can give either themselves or their owner.
Judges 18:21-31
King James Version21So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
22And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan.
23And 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?
24And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
25And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household.
26And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
27And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.
28And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.
29And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.
30And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
31And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Judges 18:1 begins with “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…”
Where the chapter turns
Judges 18:14 forms a natural hinge: “Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and…”
The final note
Judges 18:31 leaves the reader with “And they set them up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words house, image, Micah, priest, land, children help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- behold
- look, or pay close attention
- unto
- to
- thee
- you
- thou
- you
- thy
- your
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
