Dan Embraces Micah's Idols
Judges 18, verse 1. In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days, the tribe of Dan sought for itself an inheritance to inhabit, because no inheritance had befallen it until that day in the midst of the tribes of Israel. Judges 18, verse 2. So the sons of Dan sent five men of their family from their territory, sons of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy upon the land and to search it out. They said to them, “Go, search the land.” And they went as far as Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and there they lodged. Judges 18, verse 3. While at the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned toward him and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?” Judges 18, verse 4. He said to them, “This is what Micah did for me. He hired me and I became his priest.” Judges 18, verse 5. So they said to him, “Ask now of God, so we may know if we will be successful on our journey that we go on.” Judges 18, verse 6. And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The way in which you go is before the Lord.” Judges 18, verse 7. So the five men departed and came to Laish. Here they saw the people in the midst of it, dwelling securely, as the affairs of the Sidonians were quiet. Here no one was perverting or shaming people or events in the land. There were no heirs extorting treasures; and the land was far from the Sidonians, with no ties of mutuality between them. Judges 18, verse 8. And the five men came back to their brethren at Zorah and Eshtaol and said to their brethren, “Why do you sit, preparing for nothing?” Judges 18, verse 9. And they said, “Arise, let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and indeed it is very good, yet you are unmotivated. Do not delay. Go and enter the land to possess it. Judges 18, verse 10. When you go, you will meet a people at peace, and the land is extensive, for God has given it into your hands, a place where there is nothing lacking in the land.” Judges 18, verse 11. And six hundred men of the family of Dan, armed with weapons of war, departed from Zorah and Eshtaol. Judges 18, verse 12. They went up and encamped in Kirjath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they call that place the camp of Dan to this day. There it is, behind Kirjath Jearim. Judges 18, verse 13. And they passed from there to Mount Ephraim and came to the house of Micah. Judges 18, verse 14. Then the five men who had spied upon the country of Laish spoke and said to their brethren, “Do you know that in this house there is an ephod, idols, and a carved and molten image? Therefore, consider what you should do.” Judges 18, verse 15. So they turned aside there and went into where the young Levite man stayed—into the house of Micah. In peace, they asked how he was. Judges 18, verse 16. The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, remained standing by the door of the gate. Judges 18, verse 17. Then the five men who had spied upon the land went up, Judges 18, verse 18. and they entered the house of Micah. The priest stood up as they took the carved image, the ephod, the idols, and the molded image, and said to them, “The priest asks what are you doing?” Judges 18, verse 19. And they said to him, “Be silent, put your hand over your mouth, and come with us; and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or to be a priest to a tribe and house for a family of Israel?” Judges 18, verse 20. The heart of the priest was glad, and he took the ephod, the idols, and the carved and molten image and came into the midst of the people. Judges 18, verse 21. Then they turned and departed, putting the children, the livestock, and the baggage in front of them. Judges 18, verse 22. When they had traveled far from the house of Micah, behold Micah and the men in the houses near the house of Micah cried out and overtook the sons of Dan. Judges 18, verse 23. And the sons of Dan turned their face and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you cry out?” Judges 18, verse 24. Micah responded, “Because you took away the carved image which I made, and my priest, and left. What remains for me? How is it you can say to me, ‘Why do you cry out?’” Judges 18, verse 25. And the sons of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest men bitter in soul fall upon us and take away your life and the lives of your household!” Judges 18, verse 26. Then the sons of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw they were far stronger than himself, he turned back toward his house. Judges 18, verse 27. So the sons of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who was with him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. Judges 18, verse 28. There was no deliverer, for the city was far from the Sidonians, and no agreements of mutuality. It is in the valley of the house of Rahab, and they restored the city and dwelt in it. Judges 18, verse 29. And they called the city Dan, after Dan their father, who was born to Israel. Formerly, the city was named Laish. Judges 18, verse 30. Then the sons of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of exile for the nation. Judges 18, verse 31. So they set up for themselves, for as long as the house of God was in Shiloh, the carved image Micah made.