GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
JUDGES 18:1-7
In this chapter, we find that the peculiar account of Micah’s idols and the renegade Levite was also part of a larger story, the migration of the tribe of Dan to the extreme north. This is in contrast to certain Danites like Manoah and his son Samson who remained in the south to confront the Philistines as God had originally commanded them to do when Joshua cast lots for the territories (Joshua 19:40-46). It was in connection with this chapter that one passage was appended to Joshua’s account, which read: “When the territory of the Danites was lost to them, the Danites went up and fought against Leshem, and after capturing it and putting it to the sword they took possession of it and settled in it, calling Leshem ‘Dan’ after the name of Dan their ancestor” (Joshua 19:47).
Dan’s Invasion and Idolatry
18 In those days, there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of Dan was looking for a territory to live in. Up to that time among the tribes of Israel no inheritance had fallen to them. 2 So the Danites sent out five men from all their clans, from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. They said to them, “Go and explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim as far as the house of Micah and spent the night there. 3 While they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the accent of the young Levite. So they approached him and asked, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here? ” 4 He told them, “This is what Micah has done for me: He has hired me. And this: I have become his priest.”
This is not the first time we have heard about the villages of Zorah and Eshtaol. Samson was born in Zorah, where the angel had appeared to his mother and father (Judges 13:2-3). And later, Samson was buried between the towns in the tomb of his father (Judges 16:31). Now, some time in the days before Samson, five men went out to see if they could find some other place for the tribe of Dan to live. It seems as if Zorah and Eshtaol were about all that was left of Dan in the south.
Recognizing the “voice” (Accent? Turn of phrase?) of the young man, they grilled the Levite like the sailors interrogating Jonah during the storm. “Who are you? Where do you come from? What are you doing here?” It’s not that they knew him personally; they recognized his value professionally. Here was a Levite! If they took him along with them, their tribe would have a teacher, a rabbi, for their children!
Priests were supposed to begin their ministry when they were thirty years old (Numbers 4:3; Ezekiel 1:1). This man was a na’ar, a lad; a young man. He was not yet thirty. But he had been hired by Micah and his presumptuous mother, and now he had met up with the tiny, desperate clan of Dan, grasping at straws even for a place to live.
The priest let them know what Micah had done for him. Maybe, just maybe, these Danites could do even better.
5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God for us to find out if we will have a successful journey.” 6 The priest told them, “Go in peace. The journey you take is before the LORD.”
How would the priest have been able to tell them anything? He had at least two possible sources. First, he might have used the teraphim or divination-dolls that Micah’s mother had made. Or he might have used the ephod, the special silver breastplate. The existence of this ephod implies the presence of some ‘yes-no’ rocks similar to the actual Urim and Thummim used by the true high priest at the tabernacle (Leviticus 8:8). In this case, he was not using anything that was divinely sanctioned, and therefore who was he getting his information from? “The Spirit clearly says that… some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Paul was talking about the end times, but this Levite was way ahead of his time when it came to idolatry.
7 The five men left there and went to Laish. They saw a people who were living there securely, in the manner of the Sidonians. They were quiet and unsuspecting. They lacked nothing. There was no humiliating treaty in that land. No one possessed them or oppressed them. They were very far from the Sidonians, and they had no treaty with anyone.
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18:7 “anyone” or “with the Arameans.”
Verse 7 is complicated and challenging to the translator, but the feeling we have is that the author wants us to understand several important things about the people of Laish. They seemed to be Sidonians, and therefore they fell under the condemnation of God for the Canaanites (the destruction of Sidon had been assigned to the tribe of Asher, Joshua 13:4; Judges 1:31). The city of Laish might have been named for the lion, but it was as easy a prey as a lamb. The people were far from any help from Sidon and did not have any “word” (treaty) with anybody else. If one letter in the last word is changed to another similarly-shaped letter, similar to the difference between our b and d or between E and F, then the reference might be to having no treaty with “Aram” rather than “adam” (any man). Either way, they seemed like an easy target. Far away from the trade routes, it would also be a pretty safe place for the Danites to live, once the Sidonian settlers were dealt with.
It might not be easy for you and me to sort out what it right and wrong in this account. To some, the religious “variations” don’t seem like a big deal, and yet they were a huge deal to God because they rejected him by rejecting his word. To others, the intention of the Danites to destroy the sitting duck Laish seems atrocious, and yet the act fell completely within the bounds of God’s command to Israel regarding the Canaanites. Understand: The Canaanites (Sidonians) were condemned because of their idolatry. The Levite working for Micah stood condemned because he condoned the idolatry going on there in Ephraim. Everyone is at least a little in the wrong, here. There are plenty of times in our lives when everybody on every side of an issue is wrong. When nobody is blameless, nobody is righteous, nobody who speaks the truth; when everybody slanders, everybody does wrong, everybody slurs everybody else, and nobody fears the Lord (Psalm 15:2-4). Then there’s the need for repentance. Turn from your sin, and turn to Jesus for forgiveness. Then proceed in the light of the gospel, and trust your Savior.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota