1st Week of September Adult Sunday School Class Judges 18

Judges chapter 18

We have at the start of this chapter the tribe of Dan going out to seek and find an inheritance. While on their journey to spy out a new land they come across the Levite who is the priest to Micah. The reading of the chapter makes you believe that they know him and recognize his voice. So as the Levite explains to the choicest of the tribe of Dan how he came to be there and what his job is. So the men of Dan ask if their mission will be prosperous. They want this Levite, who is not a priest in the manner the law provides, to ask God whether they will succeed in their mission. We have to remember that this is a time in Israel when everyone did right in their own eyes. Micah's priest tells them they will do well and they depart.

When the spies go out and see a good piece of land occupied by the seemingly careless Zidonians, they know they have an opportunity to claim their own land. They give this good report back to the elders in Eshtaol and Zorah. The elders of Dan decide to get six hundred men together to go down and take the land form the Zidonians.

Along the way back to take their inheritance, they pass by Micah's home in Ephraim. They meet the priest and tell him that they would be happy if he would be their priest over their company, and oh by the way, wouldn't that be a greater honor than being priest for just one man? He takes them up on their offer, so this priest not only disregards God's laws as priest but also has a vanity problem. He has agreed to be the priest of Micah for an agreed payment and now leaves him without a second thought.

Of course none of this sits well with Micah and he chases down the army of the Danites to see why they have done such a things as this. The Danites don't like Micah's tone, regardless of his justification, and tell him more or less to watch his mouth around them. Micah new he was not strong enough to take his priest and idols back by force and he wisely went home.

The soldiers from Dan go down to Laish and lay waste to the inhabitants of the city. These particular Zidonians were separated from the rest of their people who lived further away. The city was conquered and the name changed to Dan in honor of their father. After they settle into the land they make the golden images part of their worship for years if not centuries. It is interesting that the Zidonians were defeated in large part because they were so far away from the rest of their own people. Now, the tribe of Dan suffers in their relationship to God because they are separated by distance from the customs and laws of their own people.