Judges 18:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.”

NIV: Then they said to him, 'Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.'

NASB: Then they said to him, 'Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether our way on which we are going will be successful.'

CSB: Then they said to him, "Please inquire of God for us to determine if we will have a successful journey."

NLT: Then they said, 'Ask God whether or not our journey will be successful.'

KJV: And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

NKJV: So they said to him, “Please inquire of God, that we may know whether the journey on which we go will be prosperous.”

Both Micah (Judges 17:13) and the Danite spies see opportunity in coming across a Levite in the middle of Ephraim (Judges 18:1–4). Even among those who did not follow the Lord faithfully, many believed Levites had a special connection to God. After all, they were part of the priestly tribe (Numbers 3:5–10). Their job was to represent God to His people, and the people to the Lord.

The men should have asked this Levite "priest" how being Micah's personal family cleric could possibly fit with God's calling. Instead, they want the Levite to ask the Lord if their mission will be successful. They wonder if they will find new territory for the tribe of Dan, by taking it from another tribe of Israel. This, also, is a question which never should have been asked. Dan was allotted territory in the Promised Land (Joshua 19:40–46) but didn't accomplish their task of taking it from the enemies living there (Judges 1:34–36).

It's the wrong question, asked of the wrong person, and for the wrong reasons. Yet the Levite will not only answer, but he will also presume to speak on behalf of God (Judges 18:6).

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).