(18:1-27) The Massacre of the Peaceful, Unsuspecting People
The story begins with the tribe of Dan (one of the 12 tribes of Israel) looking for a nice place to live. So they sent out five men to find some land.
(18:1) "The Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in."
(18:2) "And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts ... to spy out the land, and to search it."
(18:3-6) On their way, they stopped at a Micah's house and asked his priest to ask God where they should go to find some land. The priest
told them to just go looking for it, and that God would be with them wherever they went.
(18:3) "When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither."
(18:4) "He said unto them ... Micah ... hath hired me, and I am his priest."
(18:5) "They said unto him, Ask counsel ... of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous."
(18:6) "The LORD is your way wherein ye go."
(18:7) So they left there and came to a place called Laish, where the people lived peaceful, secure, carefree lives.
(18:7) "The five men ... came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, ...
quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing."
(18:8-10) Then the five men returned and told the other Danites to attack Laish, saying that God had given it into their hands.
(18:8) "They came unto their brethren ... and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?"
(18:9) "And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good ... go, and ... possess the land."
(18:10) "When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given
it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth."
(18:11-18) So the Danites steal the Levite priest's ephod and teraphim, round up 600 soldiers, and march off toward Laish.
(18:11) "There went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war."
(18:14, 17, 20) "The ephod and teraphim"
"One may guess that the teraphim is what the ephod covers. At any rate the teraphim may be supposed to have something of a
phallic shape since it serves to substitute more or less convincingly for the body of a man (when covered)." Jennings, T. W., Jr.,
Jacob's Wound: Homoerotic Narrative in the Literature of Ancient Israel, n. 11, p. 46
18:1
In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of
the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all
their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.
18:2And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts,
men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to
search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came
to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.
18:3When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man
the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee
hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here?
18:4
And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth
Micah with me, and hath hired
me, and I am his priest.
18:5
And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee,
of God, that we may
know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.
18:6
And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way
wherein ye go.
18:7
Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that
were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians,
quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put
them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no
business with any man.
18:8
And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol:
and their brethren
said unto them, What say ye?
18:9And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the
land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to
go,
and to enter to possess the land.
18:10
When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for
God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any
thing that is in the earth.
18:11
And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and
out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.
18:12
And they went up, and pitched in Kirjathjearim, in Judah: wherefore they
called that place Mahanehdan unto this day: behold, it is behind
Kirjathjearim.
18:13
And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of
Micah.
18:14
Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and
said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses
an ephod,
and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider
what ye have to do.
18:15
And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the
Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.
18:16
And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of
the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate.
18:17
And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in
thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the
molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six
hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
18:18
And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image,
the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto
them, What do ye?
18:19
And they said unto him, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and
go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for thee to be
a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe
and a family in Israel?
18:20
And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim,
and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
18:21
So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and
the carriage before them.
18:22
And when they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were
in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the
children of Dan.
18:23
And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and
said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
18:24
And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and
ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto
me, What aileth thee?
18:25
And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among
us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives
of thy household.
(18:26-27) When they get to Laish, they kill all of the peaceful, unsuspecting people, burn their city, and take their land.
Did God approve of the Danite slaughter of the quiet and unsuspecting people of Laish?
(See verses 6 and 10.)
(18:26-27) "The children of Dan ... came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and
they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire."
18:26
And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were
too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
18:27
And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he
had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and
they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.
18:28
And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no
business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And
they built a city, and dwelt therein.
18:29
And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their
father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at
the first.
18:30
And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of
Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of
Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.
18:31
And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time
that the house of God was in Shiloh.
(18:31) "They set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time
that the house of God was in Shiloh."
The Danites slaughtered the peaceful, unsuspecting people with the help of the ephod and teraphim.
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, n. 11, p. 46
Massacre of the Peaceful, Unsuspecting People