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Judges 18:13
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11 And six hundred men of the family of the Danites went from there, from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.
12 Then they went up and encamped in aKirjath Jearim in Judah. (Therefore they call that place bMahaneh Dan to this day. There it is, west of Kirjath Jearim.)  
13 And they passed from there to the mountains of Ephraim, and came to athe house of Micah.  
14 aThen the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish answered and said to their brethren, “Do you know that bthere are in these houses an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image? Now therefore, consider what you should do.”  
15 So they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man—to the house of Micah—and greeted him.
16 The asix hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate.  
17 Then athe five men who had gone to spy out the land went up. Entering there, they took bthe carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men who were armed with weapons of war.  
18 When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
19 And they said to him, “Be quiet, aput your hand over your mouth, and come with us; bbe a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”  
20 So the priest’s heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people.
21 Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them.
22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan.
Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
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Judges 18:11-21

there went from thence of the family of the Danites . . . six hundred men—This was the collective number of the men who were equipped with arms to carry out this expeditionary enterprise, without including the families and furniture of the emigrants (Judges 18:21). Their journey led them through the territory of Judah, and their first halting place was "behind," that is, on the west of Kirjath-jearim, on a spot called afterwards "the camp of Dan." Prosecuting the northern route, they skirted the base of the Ephraimite hills. On approaching the neighborhood of Micah's residence, the spies having given information that a private sanctuary was kept there, the priest of which had rendered them important service when on their exploring expedition, it was unanimously agreed that both he and the furniture of the establishment would be a valuable acquisition to their proposed settlement. A plan of spoliation was immediately formed. While the armed men stood sentinels at the gates, the five spies broke into the chapel, pillaged the images and vestments, and succeeded in bribing the priest also by a tempting offer to transfer his services to their new colony. Taking charge of the ephod, the teraphim, and the graven image, he "went in the midst of the people"—a central position assigned him in the march, perhaps for his personal security; but more probably in imitation of the place appointed for the priests and the ark, in the middle of the congregated tribes, on the marches through the wilderness. This theft presents a curious medley of low morality and strong religious feeling. The Danites exemplified a deep-seated principle of our nature—that men have religious affections, which must have an object on which these may be exercised, while they are often not very discriminating in the choice of the objects. In proportion to the slender influence religion wields over the heart, the greater is the importance attached to external rites; and in the exact observance of these, the conscience is fully satisfied, and seldom or never molested by reflections on the breach of minor morals.


 
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