Judges 18:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol,

NIV: Then six hundred men of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.

NASB: Then from the family of the Danites, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war set out.

CSB: Six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol armed with weapons of war.

NLT: So 600 men from the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol.

KJV: And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

NKJV: And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.

When Israel came into the Promised Land, the tribe of Dan was allotted territory (Numbers 3:5–10). However, they failed to complete their conquest (Judges 1:34–36). During the era of the judges (Judges 2:16–19), the tribe has come to feel overcrowded (Judges 18:1). They have sent scouts—five "spies"— to find a new homeland. Those men returned and made their report. Their strong and urgent recommendation to the people was to migrate north 100 miles, or about 160 kilometers. They could obtain land by attacking a group of peaceful, unprepared Sidonians living in a town called Laish.

The spies have pushed hard to convince the entire tribe that defeating the inhabitants would be easy and the land was perfect for them. Yet only a portion of the people appear willing to go. A group of six hundred men, armed for battle, set out along with their families. They leave the struggling Danite towns of Zorah and Eshtaol to begin the migration. Laish is in the far northern edge of the Promised Land, beyond the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, at the foot of Mount Hermon.

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 9/20/2024 9:01:02 PM