Commentaria in Judices
Chapter 18
The Danites steal the idols of Michas, and carry off the priest Jonathan; then rushing unexpectedly on the city Lais, they take it and set it on fire; and there fix their seats, calling it Dan from their own name, and place the idols in it.
1. In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of Dan sought an inheritance for themselves to dwell in; for until that day they had not received their lot among the other tribes. 2. The children of Dan therefore sent five of the strongest men of their race and family from Saraa and Esthaol, to spy out the land, and view it diligently; and they said to them: Go, and survey the land. And when they were going on, and were come to mount Ephraim, and had entered into the house of Michas, they rested there; 3. and knowing the voice of the young Levite, and lodging with him, they said to him: Who brought thee hither? what dost thou here? for what reason wast thou minded to come hither? 4. And he answered them: Thus and thus hath Michas done for me, and he hath hired me to be his priest.
5. And they asked him to consult the Lord, that they might know whether they should go on their way prosperously, and the thing should have effect. 6. He answered them: Go in peace; the Lord looketh on your way, and the journey that you go. 7. So the five men going on came to Lais, and saw the people that dwelt in it without any fear, after the manner of the Sidonians, secure and quiet, no one at all resisting them, and very rich, and separated far from Sidon and from all men. 8. And returning to their brethren in Saraa and Esthaol, and what they had done they answered, being asked: 9. Arise, let us go up to them, for we have seen the land exceeding rich and fertile, do not neglect, do not delay. Let us go and possess it, there will be no difficulty. 10. We shall enter in to secure men, into a most spacious country, and the Lord will deliver to us a place in which there is no want of any thing that grows upon the earth. 11. There went therefore of the kindred of Dan, that is, of Saraa and Esthaol, six hundred men girded with warlike arms. 12. And going up they abode in Cariathiarim of Juda, which place from that time is called the Camp of Dan, and is behind Cariathiarim. 13. From thence they passed into mount Ephraim. And when they were come to the house of Michas, 14. the five men who had been sent before to view the land of Lais said to the rest of their brethren: You know that in these houses there is an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven and a molten idol; see what you will do. 15. And when they had turned aside a little, they went into the house of the young Levite who was in the house of Michas, and saluted him with words of peace. 16. And the six hundred men, armed as they were, stood before the door. 17. But they who had gone into the house of the young man endeavoured to take away the graven idol, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten idol, and the priest stood before the door, the six hundred most valiant men waiting not far off. 18. They therefore who had entered took the graven idol, the ephod, and the idols, and the molten idol. And the priest said to them: What do you? 19. And they answered him: Hold thy peace, and put thy finger upon thy mouth, and come with us, that we may have thee for a father and a priest. Which is better for thee, to be a priest in the house of one man, or in one tribe and family in Israel? 20. When he heard this, he agreed to their words, and took the ephod, and the idols, and the graven image, and went with them. 21. And as they went on, and had made the little ones and the beasts and all that was precious go before them, 22. and were now far from the house of Michas, the men that dwelt in the houses of Michas, crying out, followed after them, 23. and began to cry out behind their backs. And they looking back said to Michas: What aileth thee? why criest thou? 24. And he answered: You have taken away my gods which I made me, and the priest, and all that I have, and do you say: What aileth thee? 25. And the children of Dan said to him: See that thou speak no more to us, lest men enraged in mind come upon thee, and thou perish with all thy house. 26. And so they went on the journey they had begun. But Michas seeing that they were stronger than he, returned to his house. 27. And the six hundred men took the priest, and the things we spoke of before, and came to Lais, to a people that was quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and delivered the city to the flames, 28. no one at all bringing them help, because they dwelt far from Sidon, and had no society or business with any man. Now the city was in the country of Rohob; and rebuilding it they dwelt therein, 29. calling the name of the city Dan, after the name of their father, whom Israel begot, which was before called Lais. 30. And they set up to themselves the graven idol, and Jonathan the son of Gersam the son of Moses, and his sons priests in the tribe of Dan, until the day of their captivity. 31. And the idol of Michas remained with them all the time that the house of God was in Silo. In those days there was no king in Israel.
1. THE TRIBE OF DAN SOUGHT AN INHERITANCE FOR THEMSELVES.—The tribe of Dan had received its possession by lot from Josue like the others, chap. xix, verse 40, toward the sea and the Philistines; but as these resisted sharply, and the Amorrhites straitened them on the other side, as was said chap. i, 34, the Danites could not occupy the whole lot assigned them by Josue: wherefore seeing that they dwelt too narrowly in it, they sought new seats, and led a colony into Lais; this is what is said here: “They had not received a lot,” that is, they had not been able to take and occupy it by arms.
6. THE LORD LOOKETH ON YOUR WAY.—“The Lord” he calls his idol, or teraphim: for of this he was priest; whence consulting it he received this answer from it, or certainly pretended to have received it.
7. THEY CAME TO LAIS,—which Josue xix, 49 (where by prolepsis or anticipation this history is told, since it happened later) is called Lesem, elsewhere Laisa, was afterwards called Dan by the Danites, and made the head of the tribe of Dan, and the two names joined Lesem-Dan, then was called Paneas from the fountain Paneades which washes it. Finally by Philip the Tetrarch in honour of Tiberius Caesar rebuilt and adorned, it was called Caesarea Philippi, where Christ said to Peter confessing him the Son of God: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,” Matt. xvi. This city was situated in a most pleasant place between two streams Jor and Dan, almost at the foot of mount Libanus. Hence Jeroboam placed his golden calves in it as in Bethel. For it was itself the boundary of the land of Israel toward the North, as Bersabee toward the South; hence it is said “from Dan to Bersabee,” that is through all Israel. Here rises the river Jordan; so called because it is formed from the confluence of two streams, namely Jor and Dan, or as it were yored middan, that is, descending from Dan. From this city was that woman with the issue of blood, whom Christ healed by the touch of his hem, Matt. ix, 20, who therefore erected a statue to Christ in the same place, at whose base a certain herb grew, which gradually growing, where it touched the hem of Christ’s garment, cured any diseases, as Eusebius testifies, book VII of the History chap. xiv. So Christ made the city Dan, which had been the seat of so many monsters and manifold idolatry, as it were the chair and throne of his faith.
AND THEY SAW THE PEOPLE THAT DWELT IN IT WITHOUT ANY FEAR.—Three enticements and causes are given here why the Danites invaded Lais: first, that the citizens dwelt in it secure, and therefore unarmed; secondly, that they were rich; thirdly, that they were separated from all men who could have helped them.
AND FAR FROM SIDON,—namely by a day’s journey, says Josephus.
Tropologically, learn here how dangerous is excessive security: for this enticed the Hebrews to destroy Lais. Again, that one must keep watch especially by night against enemies. Hence the Greeks took Troy by night. Hear Virgil, Aeneid book II:
They invade the city buried in sleep and wine.
So Cyrus attacked by night the Babylonians and their king Baltasar and slew him, Daniel v, 30; so he fell upon the enemy by night, and smote them, Gen. chap. xiv, 15; so Nisus attacking by night with Euryalus the camp of the enemies, says in Virgil, Aeneid IX:
Euryalus, we must dare with the right hand: now the very occasion calls.
So once the Romans also in Athenaeus, book V, observing a moonless night, attack and slay the drunken and sleeping Athenians. So finally Gracchus in Livy, book XXIII, setting out with silent column, attacks the Campanian camp, neglected as in a night watch, at all the gates at once, plunders (for those looking)
12. CARIATHIARIM (that is, city of forests; for the place was wooded) OF JUDA.—This city was therefore not in the tribe of Juda, but on the border of the tribes of Dan and Benjamin. Adrichomius therefore less rightly places it in the tribe of Dan.
14. TERAPHIM, AND (that is) A GRAVEN AND MOLTEN IDOL,—for “Teraphim” were idols carved, or cast of gold, silver or brass. Add that “Teraphim,” that is idols, were not only carved or cast, but also painted; beaten out with the hammer, formed of clay by a potter, or fashioned and formed by another art and manner, as if to say: There were in the house of Michas “Teraphim,” that is idols of various kinds variously made, but especially cast by the founder’s art and carved by the sculptor’s: for this verse 18 seems to require, where it is said: “They took the graven idol, the ephod, and the idols and the molten idol.” And verse 20: “the idols and the graven image.” Finally “Teraphim” were properly idols, from which divination was sought, as I said above.
SEE WHAT YOU WILL DO,—namely about this matter, whether you wish to take these idols of Michas, or leave them safe to him.
“Compress thy lip with thy finger,” keep silence: for a finger laid on the mouth is the symbol of silence. Hence Harpocrates, the god of silence, was painted as a naked, beardless boy, placing the forefinger of his right hand on his mouth, and holding in his left a cornucopia, crowned with a myrtle wreath. See Pierius.
30. AND THEY SET UP TO THEMSELVES THE GRAVEN IDOL, AND JONATHAN THE SON OF GERSAM THE SON OF MOSES, AND HIS SONS PRIESTS IN THE TRIBE OF DAN.—“The son of Moses.” So the Roman Latin and the rest constantly read. But the Septuagint, Chaldee and modern Hebrew read, the son of Manasses.
See here how “the sons of heroes are ruin,” and how they degenerate from the virtue of their parents, and become utterly lost, so that parents may well wish to die childless rather than leave behind them such infamous children. Behold Moses the lawgiver, leader and prophet of the people, founder of the Synagogue and of the faith of the fathers, left behind him a grandson Jonathan, who became the first priest of idols, and the chief of the rest who afterwards followed him in great numbers in Israel. Behold so holy a grandfather and so sacrilegious a grandson. So pious Adam begat after him the parricide Cain, Ezechias Manasses, Josias Joachim, Solomon Roboam, Ismael, Heli Ophni and Phinees, Samuel degenerate sons, on account of whom the people asked a king, whom God through Samuel gave, Saul.
UNTIL THE DAY OF THEIR CAPTIVITY.—In Hebrew, until the day of the migration of the land. So also the Septuagint.
You ask, what was this captivity of the Danites in which their idolatry ended? There are three opinions: The first takes the Assyrian captivity, by which the ten tribes, among which was Dan, were led away by Salmanasar into Assyria in the sixth year of king Ezechias, 4 Kings xvii, 6. So Seder Olam and Rashi.
The second holds that this was a peculiar captivity of the tribe of Dan, which Scripture does not narrate elsewhere. So Cajetan.
The third asserts that it was at the time when the ark of God was taken under the Pontiff Heli, and the Hebrews were slain with great slaughter and afflicted with great disaster by the Philistines (for then many were taken by them in war and led away into captivity), as well of the tribe of Dan as of the other tribes. So Lyranus, Abulensis, Vatablus, Arias, Serarius, Genebrard in the Chronology, Ribera on Osee chap. x. It is proved first, because the following words signify this, in which it says: “And the idol of Michas remained with them all the time that the house of God was in Silo.” But this was in Silo until Heli and Samuel. Where note that Josue placed the ark with the tabernacle in Silo, because Silo was in the tribe of Ephraim, of which Josue also was, that so more easily in his own tribe present, Josue might keep the worship of God pure. Josephus adds, book V of the Antiquities chap. x, that it was done on account of the beauty of the place. The ark remained in Silo from the sixth year of Josue to the last of Heli for 350 years.
Secondly, because this idol was not in the tribe of Dan until Salmanasar. For how would David, the most pious and most powerful king, have permitted this public idolatry in his kingdom? how Samuel? how Josaphat, Asa, Ezechias?
Thirdly, if the idol of Michas had been in Dan, Jeroboam would not have placed his golden calves there as idols; for the idol of Michas would have sufficed him to draw the people from Jerusalem to Dan. Moreover the golden calves were substituted for this idol of Michas, that they might be more easily received by the people, as having long before worshipped there the idol of Michas, strengthened by the authority of the priest Jonathan, who was the grandson of Moses, and of his descendants.
Cajetan therefore thinks less rightly that two times are named here: one, in which posterity lasted for the priest Jonathan, and this is until the Danite captivity, of which has been said; the other, in which the idol of Michas stood, and this was until the captivity of the ark by the Philistines and the death of Heli, as I have now said. For the very words of the text sufficiently indicate that one and the same time is noted here, especially the Hebrew, which reads thus: And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven idol, and Jehonathan the son of Gersan, the son of Moses. He (Jehonathan) and his sons were priests of the tribe of Dan until the migration of the land.
The term and end, therefore, of the Danites and of the idolatrous priest and priesthood, and consequently of the idolatry among those same Danites, was the same, namely the disaster of Israel and the captivity of the ark under Heli; for then very many of the Danites and of the other tribes were led away captive by the Philistines, and among others this idol of Michas with its priest, as is sufficiently gathered from 1 Kings iv, 10, and Psalm lxxvii, verse 61, where, speaking of this slaughter, he says: “He delivered their strength into captivity, and their beauty (the ark) into the hands of the enemy.”
31. IN THOSE DAYS THERE WAS NO KING IN ISRAEL,—who by his command and power could punish and overthrow this idolatry. It therefore ran unpunished, and lasted through the times of the Judges until Heli, because the Judges had not so great authority and command as was required to remove this evil. Hence it seems that Samuel, a most holy and most zealous prophet, when Saul had been made king, pressed him in every way to remove the remnants of idolatry from the house of Michas and from all Israel, together with its priests; which that he did is not doubtful, and Scripture sufficiently signifies it, 1 Kings xxvii, 9.