Judges 18:12

12 And they went up and pitched camp in Kirjathjearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day; behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.

Judges 18:12 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 18:12

And they went up and pitched in Kirjathjearim in Judah
Of which place see ( Joshua 15:9 Joshua 15:60 ) . According to Bunting ^F1 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Ut supra. (Travels of the Patriarchs p. 112.)

Judges 18:12 In-Context

10 When 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."

11 And 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.

12 And they went up and pitched camp in Kirjathjearim in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahanehdan unto this day; behold, it is behind Kirjathjearim.

13 And they passed from thence unto Mount Ephraim and came unto the house of Micah.

14 Then answered the five men who 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."