Judges 18:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war.

NIV: The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance of the gate.

NASB: Now the five men who went to spy out the land went up and entered there; they took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the cast metal image, while the priest was standing at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

CSB: Then the five men who had gone to scout out the land went in and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the silver idol, while the priest was standing by the entrance of the city gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.

NLT: the five scouts entered the shrine and removed the carved image, the sacred ephod, the household idols, and the cast idol. Meanwhile, the priest was standing at the gate with the 600 armed warriors.

KJV: And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.

NKJV: Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were armed with weapons of war.

With a small army of armed warriors standing at the gate to Micah's property (Judges 17:1–5; 18:16), the five scouts from Dan (Judges 18:1–6) do what they have come to do. On their first visit, they stopped here before investigating the northern town of Laish. Before arriving there, they noted Micah's extensive collection of expensive religious objects (Judges 18:14–15). Now they have returned to scoop up these items to take for their own.

The book of Judges notes often that Israel was without a king at this time (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). That was literally true; there was no central government or monarchy yet. Yet it also echoed Israel's deep spiritual anarchy. They rejected the will of their One True God, and depravity was the result. In this case, the army coming from Dan is committing theft (Exodus 20:15), but the theft is motivated by an even worse impulse: idolatry. That was among the main reasons God to repeatedly handed Israel over to subjection under their enemies (Judges 2:16–19).

Both Micah and the Danite spies believed these physical objects offered spiritual power to whomever possessed and worshipped them. In some cases, they believed that power to come from Yahweh: the God of Israel. For others, the power was believed to come from the other deities worshipped by the local nations (Deuteronomy 12:29–32). They had enough generic belief to accept the reality of supernatural power helping humanity in some way. They did not have true, submissive, faith leading them to trust the Lord. They did not remember or obey the commands He had given to them through Moses.

If these people respected any aspect of Yahweh's revelation, they would have known His command not to make religious images for use in worship, even for worshiping Him (Exodus 20:4–5). They would have remembered how seriously the Lord condemned even the suggestion of serving other gods (Deuteronomy 13:6). Instead, the army marching from Dan is more than happy to steal from Micah. They will take objects and idols, and soon a priest (Judges 18:18–20), since they believe these will bring them supernatural help.

Judges 18:14–31 describes how the migrating people of the tribe of Dan steal from Micah (Judges 18:1–5). They take his collection of expensive idols and religious totems. His hired Levite priest accepts the Danites' invitation to come along with the raiders. Micah and his neighbors desperately chase, but the Danite forces are too large to risk attacking. The Danites arrive at Laish, in the north, and slaughter its peaceful, unprepared Sidonian occupants. They take possession of the town, rename it Dan, and establish a nexus of false worship.

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).