Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament · Judges Capitolo 18

This took place at a time when Israel had no king, and the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance for themselves to dwell in, because until that day no such portion had fallen to them among the tribes as an inheritance. To the expression נפלה לא (had not fallen) we must supply נחלה as the subject from the previous clause; and בּנחלה signifies in the character of a nachalah , i.e., of a possession that could be transmitted as hereditary property from father to son. נפל , to fall, is used with reference to the falling of the lot (vid., Numbers 34:2; Joshua 13:6, etc.). The general statement, that as yet no inheritance had fallen to the tribe of Dan by lot, has its limitation in the context. As the Danites, according to Judges 18:2, sent out five men from Zorea and Eshtaol, and, according to Judges 18:11, six hundred men equipped for fight went out to Laish, which the spies had discovered to be a place well fitted for a settlement, and had settled there, it is very evident from this that the Danites were not absolutely without an inheritance, but that hitherto they had not received one sufficient for their wants. The emigrants themselves were already settled in Zorea and Eshtaol, two of the towns that had fallen to the tribe of Dan by lot (Joshua 19:41). Moreover, the six hundred equipped Danites, who went out of these towns, were only a very small part of the tribe of Danites, which numbered 64,400 males of twenty years old and upwards at the last census (Numbers 26:43). For a tribe of this size the land assigned by Joshua to the tribe of Dan, with all the towns that it contained, was amply sufficient. But from Judges 1:34 we learn that the Amorites forced the Danites into the mountains, and would not allow them to come down into the plain. Consequently they were confined to a few towns situated upon the sides or tops of the mountains, which did not supply all the room they required. Feeling themselves too weak to force back the Canaanites and exterminate them, one portion of the Danites preferred to seek an inheritance for themselves somewhere else in the land. This enterprise and emigration are described in Judges 18:2. The time cannot be determined with perfect certainty, as all that can be clearly inferred from Judges 18:12, as compared with Judges 13:25, is, that it took place some time before the days of Samson. Many expositors have therefore assigned it to the period immediately following the defeat of Jabin by Barak (Judges 4:24), because it was not till after the overthrow of this powerful king of the Canaanites that conquests were possible in the north of Canaan, and the tribe of Dan at that time still remained in ships (Judges 5:17), so that it had not yet left the territory assigned it by the sea-shore (Josh 19). But these arguments have neither of them any force; for there is nothing surprising in the fact that Danites should still be found by the sea-shore in the time of Deborah, even if Danite families from Zorea and Eshtaol had settled in Laish long before, seeing that these emigrants formed but a small fraction of the whole tribe, and the rest remained in the possessions assigned them by Joshua. Moreover, the strengthening of the force of the Canaanites, and the extension of their dominion in the north, did not take place till 150 years after Joshua, in the days of Jabin; so that long before Jabin the town of Laish may have been conquered by the Danites, and taken possession of by them. In all probability this took place shortly after the death of Joshua, as we may infer from Judges 18:30 (see the exposition of this verse).

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To spy out and explore the land for the object mentioned, the Danites sent out five brave men “ out of their (the Danites') ends,” i.e., from their whole body (vid., 1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:33, and the commentary on Genesis 19:4). They came up to the mountains of Ephraim, and as far as Micah's house, where they passed the night.

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Thus the five men proceeded to Laish, which is called Leshem in Joshua 19:47, and was named Dan after the conquest by the Danites-a place on the central source of the Jordan, the present Tell el Kadi (see at Joshua 19:47)-and saw the people of the town dwelling securely after the manner of the Sidonians, who lived by trade and commerce, and did not go out to war. יושׁבת is the predicate to את־העם , and the feminine is to be explained from the fact that the writer had the population before his mind (see Ewald, §174, b.); and the use of the masculine in the following words וּבטח שׁקט , which are in apposition, is not at variance with this. The connection of יושׁבת with בּקרבּהּ , which Bertheau revives from the earlier commentators, is opposed to the genius of the Hebrew language. וּבטח שׁקט , “ living quietly and safely there.” וגו ואין־מכלים , “ and no one who seized the government to himself did any harm to them in the land.” הכלים , to shame, then to do an injury (1 Samuel 25:7). דּבר מכלים , shaming with regard to a thing, i.e., doing any kind of injury. עצר , dominion, namely tyrannical rule, from עצר , imperio coercere . The rendering “riches” ( θησαυρός , lxx), which some give to this word, is founded simply upon a confounding of עצר with אוצר . ירשׁ does not mean “to possess,” but “to take possession of,” and that by force (as in 1 Kings 21:18). “ And they were far from the Sidonians, ” so that in the event of a hostile invasion they could not obtain any assistance from this powerful city. Grotius draws the very probable conclusion from these words, that Laish may have been a colony of the Sidonians. “ And they had nothing to do with (other) men,” i.e., they did not live in any close association with the inhabitants of other towns, so as to be able to obtain assistance from any other quarter.

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“ When ye arrive, ye will come to a secure people (i.e., a people living in careless security, and therefore very easy to overcome); and the land is broad on both sides (i.e., furnishes space to dwell in, and also to extend: vid., Genesis 34:21; 1 Chronicles 4:40); for God has given it into your hand.” They infer this from the oracular reply they had received from the Levite (Judges 18:6). “ A place where there is no want of anything that is in the land (of Canaan).”

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From this point they went across to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to Micah's house, i.e., to a place near it.

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Then the five men who had explored the land, viz., Laish ( Laish is in apposition to הארץ , the land), said to their brethren (tribe-mates), “ Know ye that in these houses (the village or place where Micah dwelt) there are an ephod and teraphim, and image and molten work (see at Judges 17:4-5)? and now know what ye will do. ” The meaning of these last words is very easily explained: do not lose this opportunity of obtaining a worship of our own for our new settlement.

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Then they turned from the road thither, and went to the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, and asked him (the Levite) concerning his health, i.e., saluted him in a friendly manner (see Genesis 43:27; Exodus 18:7, etc.).

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The 600 men, however, placed themselves before the door.

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Then was the priest's heart glad (merry; cf. Judges 19:6, Judges 19:9; Ruth 3:7), and he took the ephod, etc., and came amongst the people (the Danites). The first clause of this verse is attached to the supplementary statement in Judges 18:18, Judges 18:19, for the purpose of linking on the further progress of the affair, which is given in the second clause; for, according to Judges 18:17, the priest could only receive the ephod, etc., into his charge from the hands of the Danites, since they had taken them out of Micah's God's house.

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The 600 Danites then set out upon their road again and went away; and they put the children, the cattle, and the valuable possessions in front, because they were afraid of being attacked by Micah and his people from behind. הטּף , “the little ones,” includes both women and children, as the members of the family who were in need of protection (see at Exodus 12:37). כבוּדה is literally an adjective, signifying splendid; but here it is a neuter substantive: the valuables, not the heavy baggage. The 600 men had emigrated with their families and possessions.

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Then the Danites went their way; but Micah, seeing that they were stronger than he, turned back and returned home.

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