Judges 18:27 - Meaning and Application

Here is, I. Laish conquered by the Danites. They kept on their march, and because nothing went badly for them, they may have thought they had done no wrong in robbing Micah. Many people defend their sin by pointing to their success.

Notice, first, the condition they found the people of Laish in, both in the city and in the surrounding country. The people were quiet and feeling safe. They were not suspicious of the five spies who had come earlier to scout the land, and they had no warning that an enemy was near. That made them an easy target for this small band of men who came against them (Judges 18:27). Many people are destroyed because they feel too secure. Satan gains an advantage when we are careless and not watching. Happy, then, is the person who always lives in reverence and caution.

Second, see how complete their victory was. They put all the people to the sword and burned down as much of the city as they chose to rebuild (Judges 18:27, Judges 18:28). As far as the text shows, they met no resistance. The Canaanites had filled up the measure of their guilt, while the Danites were only beginning to add to theirs.

Third, see how the conquerors settled in the place (Judges 18:28, Judges 18:29). They rebuilt the city, or much of it, since the old buildings had fallen into decay, and named it Dan. In doing this, they left a public reminder that, though they were far from the rest of their brothers, they were still Danites by birth. Because they lived so far away, that might later be doubted. We should care not to lose sight of our place among God's people, and we should take every chance to confess it and pass that memory on to our children.

II. Idolatry was set up there right away. God had graciously kept his promise by giving them the land that fell to them, and that should have bound them to be faithful to him, since he had been faithful to them. They inherited the work of others so that they might keep his laws (Psalm 105:44, Psalm 105:45). But the first thing they did after settling down was to break those laws. As soon as they began to establish themselves, they set up the carved image (Judges 18:30). In a twisted way, they gave credit for their success to that idol, which would have brought about their ruin if God had not shown great patience. So a prosperous idolater keeps going in sin, giving the praise of his power to his god (Habakkuk 1:11).

Their Levite, who served as priest, is finally named here, Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Manasseh. In the Hebrew text, the word for Manasseh has a small letter placed above it. Some Jewish rabbis say this means the letter should be left out, so the name becomes Moses. Then, they say, this Levite was the grandson of Moses, who did indeed have a son named Gershom. They think the writer softened the name out of respect for Moses by partly hiding the letter. The Latin Bible reads Moses. If Moses really did have a grandson who went astray and was used to help set up idolatry, it would be another sad example of how badly the children of great and good men can turn out. A person's grandchildren are not always the joy of old age.

But Bishop Patrick thinks this rabbinic idea is empty speculation, and he believes Jonathan came from some other Levite family. The closing verses tell us how long these corrupt practices lasted. Jonathan's descendants continued as priests to this Danite family in Laish, and in the surrounding country, until the captivity (Judges 18:30). After Micah's image was taken away, this family still kept the name of priests, and the city honored them as such. It is very likely that Jeroboam later had them in mind when he set up one of his calves there, since they could give it some standing, and the priests of the Lord would have nothing to do with it. It is also likely that this family served among Jeroboam's priests.

We are also told that these images lasted until Samuel's time, while the ark of God remained at Shiloh. It is likely that in Samuel's time, effective steps were taken to end this idolatry. See how dangerous it is to let sin in at all, because spiritual sickness is not as quickly healed as it is caught.