What does Judges 18:19 mean?
With a small army of reinforcements outside (Judges 18:16–17), the five scouts of the tribe of Dan are looting Micah's house shrine (Judges 17:1–5). They are taking all his religious artifacts, wrongly believing those objects will give them some supernatural advantage in their quest for a new homeland (Judges 18:1).Micah's hired family cleric has finally questioned them, asking what they are doing (Judges 18:18). The Danites respond harshly, saying something like the modern English expression "shut up!" or "keep your mouth shut!" They might be trying to make the robbery quick and quiet.
Their response doesn't end there, however. The Danites also tell the Levite (Judges 17:13) to come with them. They want him to be their spiritual leader and the priest of their tribe. From their perspective, it's more prestigious to be the priest of an entire clan, instead of just one family. These opportunistic scouts are excited about this young Levite man for the same reasons as Micah. They superstitiously believe Levites had a special connection to the Lord. Surely, they thought, the God of Israel would bless a family who employed a Levite priest to see to all their religious needs.
It's true that God designated the tribe of Levi as the only suitable priests (Numbers 3:5–10). Yet this did not mean every Levite, by mere virtue of birth, had supernatural access to the Lord's endorsement. This was especially the case for those who had obviously stopped obeying the Lord's commands. This Levite had been all too happy to receive money and a home (Judges 17:7–12) for helping a family commit crass idol worship (Exodus 20:1–5). Rather than steering them towards truth, he cynically took their money and told them what they wanted to hear.
Many centuries later, Jesus would pronounce a series of "woes" against Israel's religious leaders. In Matthew 23, He called them hypocrites and blind guides. This was a well-deserved condemnation for all the ways they served themselves and failed to lead God's people to understand who He was and what He wanted.
