Judges 18:2

17:7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

According to Abarbinel one out of a family, as Moses sent one out of a tribe to spy the land; and so there must be five families concerned in this affair: from their coasts, men of valour from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; these men were sent from the borders of the tribe, the extreme parts of it, as the word may signify, where perhaps they were the most pressed and overcrowded: Zorah and Eshtaol are particularly mentioned, and were the first cities in their lot, and were the coast of their inheritance; see Gill on Joshua 19:41 some take the phrase rendered "from their coasts" to signify persons of extreme meanness, men of the lowest class among them; but the above mentioned writers interpret it to a quite contrary sense, by "Katzinim", princes, such as Moses sent to spy the land; and this better agrees with the next clause, "men of valour": and the word used signifies not only magnanimity and fortitude of mind, but wealth and riches; and these were sent not to spy the land of Canaan, but such places as fell to this tribe, but were possessed by the Canaanites; and their errand was to observe in what condition they were, and whether fit for their purpose, and easy to obtain, and how they might get the possession of any of them: and they said unto them, search the land; and see if some convenient place cannot be found out to enlarge their inheritance, and give them more room and liberty for their families, now pent up, and a pasturage for their

Jdg 18:2-5 . They lodged there — Not in the same house, but near it. They knew the voice of the young man — Having been acquainted with him before he came to live with Micah. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God — By thine ephod and teraphim, or image, which they knew he had. This and the following verse show that this sanctuary of Micah was dedicated to the true God, and not to idols. But how ignorant were these Danites, to suppose God would be consulted here as well as in his house at Shiloh!

And 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, {b} Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. (b) For the portion which Joshua gave them, was not sufficient for all their tribe.

CHAPTER 18 Jud 18:1-26. The Danites Seek Out an Inheritance. 1-6. In those days … the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in—The Danites had a territory assigned them as well as the other tribes. But either through indolence, or a lack of energy, they did not acquire the full possession of their allotment, but suffered a considerable portion of it to be wrested out of their hands by the encroachments of their powerful neighbors, the Philistines. In consequence, being straitened for room, a considerable number resolved on trying to effect a new and additional settlement in a remote part of the land. A small deputation, being despatched to reconnoitre the country, arrived on their progress northward at the residence of Micah. Recognizing his priest as one of their former acquaintances, or perhaps by his provincial dialect, they eagerly enlisted his services in ascertaining the result of their present expedition. His answer, though apparently promising, was delusive, and really as ambiguous as those of the heathen oracles. This application brings out still more clearly and fully than the schism of Micah the woeful degeneracy of the times. The Danites expressed no emotions either of surprise or of indignation at a Levite daring to assume the priestly functions, and at the existence of a rival establishment to that of Shiloh. They were ready to seek, through means of the teraphim, the information that could only be lawfully applied for through the high priest's Urim.

(2) From their coasts. —Literally, their ends ( Genesis 19:4 ; 1Kings 12:31 ). Some explain it to mean “from their whole number.” Men of valour.—Literally, sons of force (Judges 21:10). To spy out the land.—As in Joshua 2:1. They came to mount Ephraim.—It would have been an easier journey to pass along the Shephelah, but that was mainly in the hands of the original inhabitants. To the house of Micah.—There is no necessity for the supposition that they did not actually lodge in the house, or, at any rate, in the khan which doubtless formed part of the settlement. The centre of a new and gorgeous worship was sure to have places around it where those could lodge who came to consult the pesel-ephod (see Judges 18:18), just as even the ordinary synagogues had lodgings for wayfarers.