No King in Israel (41)

The tribe of Ephraim was contrary, rebellious and idolatrous. The half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead refused to obey the judges God raised up to defend Israel, provoking a brief civil war. The histories in Judges reveal the persistent moral failings of Joseph’s children during this period.

However, Ephraim and Manasseh were hardly the only Israelite tribes whose cultures bottomed out during the rule of the judges.

The Holy Spirit does not go out of his way to stress the level of sheer depravity into which the tribe of Dan had also fallen, but it’s quite evident if we start counting the various violations of the Law of Moses scattered throughout the text of chapter 18. The list is lengthy, though perhaps not quite as heinous as the crimes of the tribe of Benjamin recounted in the last few chapters of Judges, which approximate those for which Sodom remains legendary.

We rejoin the story of Dan’s northern migration as its army passes through Ephraimite territory with the goal of conquering the city of Laish in the north.

III. Two Historical Vignettes from the Period (continued)

a. Micah and the Danites (continued)

Judges 18:14-20 — A Stop on the Way

“Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, ‘Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.’ And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and asked him about his welfare. Now the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. And when these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, ‘What are you doing?’ And they said to him, ‘Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?’ And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.”

The Danite army stopped at the gate of Micah only because their scouts drew attention to the wealth they had seen there in passing on their first visit, including the religious hardware Micah had fashioned from his mother’s donated silver. The text also references a carved image repeatedly. All these items must have been sufficiently valuable to entice thieves.

Asking the young Levite about his welfare was probably disingenuous. The narrative reads as if the inquiry at the gate served to distract him so the scouts could more easily help themselves to Micah’s loot without anyone sounding the alarm. When the priest saw what they were up to, he initially objected, but the Danites quickly allayed his concerns with a better job offer. Off he went with his new friends, glad of heart, breaking his agreement with Micah.

Judges 18:21-26 — Too Strong

“So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the goods in front of them. When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, ‘What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?’ And he said, ‘You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, “What is the matter with you?” ’ And the people of Dan said to him, ‘Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.’ Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.”

Once Micah discovered the Danite theft, he gathered his neighbors and gave chase, hoping to retrieve his stolen property and recover his priest. However, he had underestimated the size and determination of the band. Faced with passive aggressive threats to his life and household (who were these “angry fellows” if not the ones making the threats?), Micah reluctantly abandoned his property and rights and headed home.

That’s the last we hear of Micah, but it’s notable that his sin had a domino effect, as sin often does, provoking bad choices in others. His own nature also came back to bite him: he starts by stealing, and ends as the victim of theft.

Judges 18:27-31 — Multiple Errors

“But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first. And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.”

Far from Sidon

The scholarly consensus that Phoenicians rather than Canaanites inhabited Laish prior to Dan’s arrival comes mostly from this phrase “far from Sidon”, which implies the Sidonians, at that time ethnically Phoenician, may have had an interest in defending the city of Laish if they knew it was under attack. This would definitely be the case if their relatives had settled there. The thought is that only distance prevented timely communication between the cities. A later passage indicates the valley of Beth-rehob surrounding the city was (or became) Syrian territory. The area was definitely not part of Israel’s original land mandate from God.

Levels of Evil

In addition to institutionalizing a rival priesthood and center of worship in Laish, Dan now formally engaged in idolatry. Micah and his Ephraimite relatives kept idols in the home (“household gods”). That’s a different level of evil than establishing idol worship as the ongoing practice of an entire tribe, in the same way that establishing the legal right to universal, taxpayer-funded abortion is a greater level of evil than the individual sort quietly practiced throughout history by desperate women with makeshift abortifacients. It’s society thumbing its nose at God’s standards.

The result was a Jeroboam-like insult to YHWH, and it helps explain why Jeroboam saw Dan as the optimal northern location for one of his golden calves many generations later: in addition to being a convenient location for worshipers in northern Israel, Dan also had a history of rival priesthood.

Two Disputed Readings

The narrative says the priesthood persisted “until the captivity of the land”. If we take that statement at face value, that would have been hundreds of years later when Assyria overran the northern kingdom. However, some commentators dispute the word “land”, believing it should read “captivity of the ark” instead. The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant much earlier, when Eli was judge, and this would jibe with the statement that the carved image was prominent in Danite worship while the house of God was in Shiloh, which was roughly the same period.

The writer of Judges names the young priest for the first and last time. Jonathan was the son of Gershom. There is yet another dispute among translators (involving a suspended Hebrew letter nun) as to whether the text here actually says Gershom was the son of Moses or Manasseh. Given that Jonathan was a Levite, chances are the writer’s intention was to name Moses, who had a son named Gershom. There is no guarantee that is the case, however: both the names “Gershom” and “Manasseh” were relatively common in Old Testament accounts. Some other lineage may be involved.

The Sins of Dan

Shall we itemize the sins of Dan? Guile, opportunism, theft, bribery, ingratitude, threats, murder, institutionalizing a counterfeit priesthood and center of worship … have I missed any? Yes. Finally, idolatry. Considering the dreadful law-violating performance of the Danites, the Holy Spirit’s commentary is remarkably restrained. Compared to these sins, the vanity of renaming Laish as Dan is a relatively small and predictable matter, but it reminds us that though we can call things whatever we like, God always knows the truth.

Truly, Israel in the time of the judges was a chaotic mess.