Judges 18:9-19

9 They said, "Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And will you sit still? Do not delay to go, to enter, to possess the land.

10 "When you enter, you will come to a secure people with a spacious * land; for God has given it into your hand, ¹a place where * there is no lack of anything * that is on the earth."

11 Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out.

12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore * they called that place ²Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

13 They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

Danites Take Micah's Idols

14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish said to their kinsmen, "Do you know that there are in these houses ³an ephod and household idols and a graven image and a molten image? Now therefore, consider what you should do."

15 They turned aside there and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare.

16 The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.

17 Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there, and took ⁴the graven image and the ephod and household idols and the molten image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

18 When these went into Micah's house and took the graven image, the ephod and household idols and the molten image, the priest said to them, "What are you doing?"

19 They said to him, "Be silent, ⁵put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and be to us ⁶a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be a priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?"

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Judges 18:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 18

This chapter relates how the Danites, being overcrowed in their inheritance, sent out spies to search the land, and see if they could find any proper place to add unto it, and enlarge it, Jud 18:1-6 who returned and reported Laish as such, and encouraged the Danites to go and possess it; for which purpose they sent six hundred men up to it, Jud 18:7-12 and as they went, called at the house of Micah, and took away his priests and his gods, Jud 18:13-27 and having taken Laish, set up Micah's graven image there, Jud 18:28-31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 6

1. Deuteronomy 8:9
2. Judges 13:25
3. Judges 17:5
4. Genesis 31:19, 30; Isaiah 41:29; Micah 5:13
5. Job 21:5; Job 29:9; Job 40:4
6. Judges 17:10

Footnotes 6

[a]. Lit "be"
[b]. I.e. the camp of Dan
[c]. Lit "behind"
[d]. Heb "teraphim"
[e]. Heb "teraphim"
[f]. Heb "teraphim"