Judges 18:13 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And they passed on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

NIV: From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

NASB: And they passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

CSB: From there they traveled to the hill country of Ephraim and arrived at Micah’s house.

NLT: Then they went on from there into the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah.

KJV: And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

NKJV: And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

The migration of the tribe of Dan (Judges 18:1–2, 7) from their allotted territory in central Israel (Numbers 3:5–10) to the north continues. The six hundred armed men and their families camped first in Judah (Judges 18:11–12). They arrive at a house visited earlier by the five scouts sent to search out suitable territory (Judges 18:3–6).

Based on what happens next, the five Danite spies remember Micah's house. They also recall the extensive collection of valuable idols, totems, and sacred objects. Even more importantly, they recall Micah's personal Levite priest. They have plans for all of them (Judges 18:19–20).

Judges 18:1–13 finds five scouts from the tribe of Dan seeking a new place to live. They stop at Micah's house in Ephraim and get to know his Levite priest (Judges 17:1–5). They continue north and identify Laish as a soft target, as well as a good place to live. Before long, six hundred armed Danite men set out with their families and belongings. The entire company arrives at the home of Micah in Ephraim to camp for the night.

The people of the tribe of Dan want to relocate because they failed to take their allotted territory in the Promised Land. They send five scouts to find land. The men stop at Micah's home (Judges 17:1–5, 13) and meet his priest before continuing north. They find Laish and realize it's a soft, vulnerable, peaceful town. A six hundred-man army and their families stop at Micah's home to steal his house gods and hired priest. When they arrive at Laish, the Danites slaughter the Sidonians living there, burn the city, rebuild it, and move in. Dan becomes a center of false worship.

In the prior chapter, Micah hires a personal cleric for his family religion. Judges 18 describes how he loses all his religious objects and that priest to raiders from the tribe of Dan. That convoy continues north to their target, the town of Laish. This town was selected, in part, for being helpless against attackers. The raiders rename the city "Dan." The people and the priest establish a center for false worship which lasts for centuries. Joshua 19:40–48 describes how Dan moved from their allotted land into this unapproved territory (Joshua 17).

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).

Accessed 12/21/2024 10:12:19 PM