30 (And the children of Dan put up the pictured image for themselves; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of the Danites till the day when the ark was taken prisoner.)
And she gave birth to a son, to whom he gave the name Gershom: for he said, I have been living in a strange land.
And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
And the man Micah had a house of gods; and he made an ephod and family gods and put one of his sons in the position of priest.
And the Philistines put their forces in order against Israel, and the fighting was hard, and Israel was overcome by the Philistines, who put to the sword about four thousand of their army in the field. And when the people came back to their tents, the responsible men of Israel said, Why has the Lord let the Philistines overcome us today? Let us get the ark of the Lord's agreement here from Shiloh, so that it may be with us and give us salvation from the hands of those who are against us.
So the Philistines went to the fight, and Israel was overcome, and every man went in flight to his tent: and great was the destruction, for thirty thousand footmen of Israel were put to the sword. And the ark of God was taken; and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were put to the sword.
So that he went away from the holy place in Shiloh, the tent which he had put among men; And he let his strength be taken prisoner, and gave his glory into the hands of his hater. He gave his people up to the sword, and was angry with his heritage.
And her two sons, one of whom was named Gershom, for he said, I have been living in a strange land:
Do not make images of false gods, or put up an image cut in stone or a pillar or any pictured stone in your land, to give worship to it; for I am the Lord your God.
If there is any man or woman among you, in any of the towns which the Lord your God gives you, who does evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, sinning against his agreement, By becoming a servant of other gods and worshipping them or the sun or the moon or all the stars of heaven, against my orders; If word of this comes to your ears, then let this thing be looked into with care, and if there is no doubt that it is true, and such evil has been done in Israel; Then you are to take the man or woman who has done the evil to the public place of your town, and they are to be stoned with stones till they are dead. On the word of two or three witnesses, a man may be given the punishment of death; but he is not to be put to death on the word of one witness. The hands of the witnesses will be the first to put him to death, and after them the hands of all the people. So you are to put away the evil from among you.
And the Lord said to Moses, Now you are going to rest with your fathers; and this people will be false to me, uniting themselves to the strange gods of the land where they are going; they will be turned away from me and will not keep the agreement I have made with them.
For I am certain that after my death you will give yourselves up to sin, wandering from the way which I have given you; and evil will overtake you in the end, because you will do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of your hands.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Judges 18
Commentary on Judges 18 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 18
How idolatry crept into the family of Micah we read in the preceding chapter, how it was translated thence into the tribe of Dan we have an account in this chapter, and how it gained a settlement in a city of note; for how great a matter does a little fire kindle! The tribe of Dan had their lot assigned them last of all the tribes, and, it happening to be too strait for them, a considerable city in the utmost corner of Canaan northward was added to it. "Let them get it, and take it;' it was called Laish or Leshem, Jos. 19:47. Now here we are told,
Jdg 18:1-6
Here is,
Jdg 18:7-13
Here is,
Jdg 18:14-26
The Danites had sent out their spies to find out a country for them, and they sped well in their search; but here, now that they came to the place (for till this brought it to their mind it does not appear that they had mentioned it to their brethren), they oblige them with a further discovery-they can tell them where there are gods: "Here, in these houses, there are an ephod, and teraphim, and a great many fine things for devotion, such as we have not the like in our country; now therefore consider what you have to do, v. 14. We consulted them, and had a good answer from them; they are worth having, nay, they are worth stealing (that is, having upon the worst terms), and, if we can but make ourselves masters of these gods, we may the better hope to prosper, and make ourselves masters of Laish.' So far they were in the right, that it was desirable to have God's presence with them, but wretchedly mistaken when they took these images (which were fitter to be used in a puppet-play than in acts of devotion) for tokens of God's presence. They thought an oracle would be pretty company for them in their enterprise, and instead of a council of war to consult upon every emergency; and, the place they were going to settle in being so far from Shiloh, they thought they had more need of a house of gods among themselves than Micah had that lived so near to it. They might have made as good an ephod and teraphim themselves as these were, and such as would have served their purpose every whit as well; but the reputation which they found them in possession of (though they had had that reputation but a while) amused them into a strange veneration for this house of gods, which they would soon have dropped if they had had so much sense as to enquire into its origin, and examine whether there were any thing divine in its institution. Being determined to take these gods along with them, we are here told how they stole the images, cajoled the priest, and frightened Micah from attempting to rescue them.
Jdg 18:27-31
Here is,