GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
JUDGES 18:28b-31
They rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 They named it Dan, after the name of their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel. This was the city formerly called Laish.
This location is fifteen miles from the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. There were at this time several long snaking streams winding through the hills and gathering water from brooks and creeks until they converged into the mile-wide pond known as Lake Huleh, which is not mentioned in the Bible. From there, the Jordan flows straight south a couple of miles into the Sea of Galilee. This was the land possessed by the tribe of Dan. To the west of this northern Jordan valley was the tribe of Naphtali, and to the east of it was Manasseh and the land of Bashan.
When Lieutenant Lynch explored this area in 1849, he described it as a place with deep gorges through which these clear streams still flowed, the ruins of many towns from Roman or Crusader times, and olive orchards. He says that at that time “much dhourra (millet) and rice, but little wheat, was cultivated in the plain” (Narrative of the United States Expedition to the Jordan and the Dead Sea, 1849, p. 232).
He describes Laish, now captured and called Dan, this way: “It is an oblong hill, with swelling sides and a flattened summit, about eighty feet above the plain. Over the crest is a hollow, where the fountain bubbles up. There were a great many oak-trees scattered about; and to the south-west, a ruined stone-house, not very ancient; and, in the same direction, on a smaller elevation, a ruined village. There was much tufa [a kind of limestone], and some quartz, and the whole hill bore traces of volcanic characters. On the west side, a short distance from the fountain, a stream, or rather many streams, gushed out so copiously from the hill-side as, in an instant, to form a river; the water clear, sweet and cool. This was long supposed to be the highest source of the Jordan, and from it the name is said to have been derived. The only objection (although unconfessed), of many to the derivation is that it is too simple. The Hebrew words Jor and Dan, as rendered in our language, mean River and Judge. Dan, in Hebrew, being the same as kadi in Arabic. To this place, as related in Genesis, Abraham pursued the kings [Genesis 14:14].” (Ibid., p. 232-233).
Lt. Lynch’s etymology of the word “Jordan” is an excellent example of a layman’s quest for truth in his simple faith, and as a pastor I am proud of his attempt. I had always taken “Jodan” (Hebrew yarden) to be taken from the word for “ditch,” but maybe Lynch is right.
30 The Danites set up the carved image there for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the captivity of the ark. 31 They set up Micah’s carved image that he had made, yet all the while the house of God was in Shiloh.
Verse 30 has two famous and ancient textual issues. The first is with the name of Moses. The Masoretes (the scribes who copied the text) quite obviously altered the name to “Manasseh” by adding the letter N into the middle of the name, but all of the manuscripts have a raised N here so that it’s clear what happened. This was done so that Moses (the “man of God,” Psalm 90 Title) “should not have an ignominious descendant.”
The second issue in verse 30 is with the “captivity of the ark.” The Hebrew text reads “until the captivity of the land.” Here again one letter changes the meaning of the passage. Later scribes very naturally thought of the famous captivity, when the northern tribes were carried off by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:23). However, David and Solomon destroyed syncretistic worship like that described here centuries before the Assyrian crisis, so we know that these idols did not last beyond David’s kingship which was just decades away. The solution to the dilemma comes by noticing that the words arets (אֶרֶץ, “land”) and aron (אֲרֹן, “ark”) are identical except for one letter. The captivity of the ark of the covenant was the capture of the ark by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:21-22), an incident which overlaps with Samson’s judgeship, which we have already pointed out. This also corresponds to the house of God being at Shiloh up until the same event. Then “he abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy” (Psalm 78:60-61).
There are two times in these chapters when our author pointed out that Israel had no king in those days. Although the kings were not always much better in their walk of faith, some of them were truly godly men and led Israel in godly living in many ways. What we need to remember most is that sins like these sins of religious syncretism of pluralism (religious unions that aren’t based on a common confession of faith) can be temptations at any time. We must be vigilant. Jesus told his disciples to “watch and pray,” not only in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:41) but in his regular preaching in the temple (Luke 21:36). This is why we keep reading and studying God’s word, and why we keep remembering and visiting the Catechism. Then we will recognize our sins, and our need for forgiveness. Luther said very plainly:
“How can we recognize these sins? Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments. Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, or employee? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you hurt anyone by word or deed? Have you been dishonest, careless, wasteful, or done other wrong? How will the pastor assure a penitent sinner of forgiveness? He will say, ‘By the authority of Christ, I forgive you your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’” (Small Catechism, Confession thirdly and fourthly).
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