Dan Takes the Idols
1 In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. 2 The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they went over there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What do you do in this place? What do you have here?” 4 He said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” 5 They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before Yahweh.” 7 Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else. 8 They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them, “What do you say?” 9 They said, “Arise, and let’s go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. 10 When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is on the earth.” 11 The family of the Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol with six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 12 They went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim in Judah. Therefore they call that place Mahaneh Dan to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim. 13 They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah. 14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a carved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do.” 15 They went over there and came to the house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he was doing. 16 The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 18 When these went into Micah’s house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” 20 The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people.
A tribe that failed its inheritance goes looking for an easier one, and on the way it takes Micah's religion the way it takes everything else — because it is stronger.
In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
The sentence is carefully worded, and the book's first chapter already told the truth behind it: Dan had an allotment and was driven out of it into the hills Judges 1:34 Joshua 19:40–46. What Dan lacks is not an inheritance but the faith to take the one assigned — so the tribe goes shopping for a weaker target instead, which is this chapter's whole method in miniature.
5 They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.” 6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before Yahweh.”
The five spies lodge at Micah's house, recognize the young Levite's voice, and ask for an oracle. His answer is instant, smooth, and costs him nothing — exactly what a salaried priest produces on request.
Then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else.
The target is described three times over as peaceful, isolated, and undefended Judges 18:10 Judges 18:27–28 — the narrator pressing the point until it cannot be missed. This is not the conquest resumed; the Canaanite strongholds Dan was actually assigned had iron chariots Judges 1:19. Laish is chosen because it can be beaten, and the spies' report even borrows conquest language — God has given it into your hand Judges 18:10 — for a land God never gave.
Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a carved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do.”
On the march north with six hundred armed men, the spies remember the shrine. The theft is staged with cold efficiency — five men inside collecting the gods while the six hundred stand at the gate with the priest Judges 18:16–17 — and when the Levite protests, the answer is a career offer: is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? Judges 18:19.
The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people.
One verse settles the man: offered a bigger congregation, he carries the stolen idols out of his employer's house himself. The hired priest of chapter 17 was never loyal to Micah, or to Yahweh, or to anything but the better position — religion for hire scales to the highest bidder, and a tribe outbids a household.
held with reason What this mark means