Judges 18:12

12 And they went up and pitched camp in Kirjathjearim in Judah; therefore, they called that place the camp of Dan unto this day; 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 has 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 there of the family of Dan, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

12 And they went up and pitched camp in Kirjathjearim in Judah; therefore, they called that place the camp of Dan unto this day; it is behind Kirjathjearim.

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

14 Then the five men that had gone to spy out the land of Laish 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.