Judges 18:12

12 And they go up and encamp in Kirjath-Jearim, in Judah, therefore they have called that place, `Camp of Dan,' till this day; lo, behind Kirjath-Jearim.

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 come in unto a people confident, and the land [is] large on both hands, for God hath given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything which [is] in the land.'

11 And there journey thence, of the family of the Danite, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, six hundred men girded with weapons of war.

12 And they go up and encamp in Kirjath-Jearim, in Judah, therefore they have called that place, `Camp of Dan,' till this day; lo, behind Kirjath-Jearim.

13 And they pass over thence [to] the hill-country of Ephraim, and come in unto the house of Micah.

14 And the five men, those going to traverse the land of Laish, answer and say unto their brethren, `Have ye known that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and graven image, and molten image? and now, know what ye do.'