A. Perverted Conquest (17:1-18:31)

This account castigates the worship, tribe, and city of Dan. Dan later became one of the two shrines established for the northern kingdom by Jeroboam, thus earning him the epithet “he who caused Israel to sin” (1Ki 12:25-33). This narrative, no doubt, directs its critique at the heretical northern center. Danite worship originated in theft and flagrantly violated Yahweh’s prohibition of images (17:1-6). The thief’s ordination of his son as priest for his idolatrous shrine could also censure the northern kingdom’s irregular priesthood (1Ki 12:31). The scene closes by observing that such events could happen only in the absence of a king, where everyone becomes his own standard for right. In 17:7-18:1a Micah hires a traveling Levite to serve as his priest. The only claim to legitimacy held by this shrine is a Levite, who comes from Bethlehem—David’s home city. The scene concludes, repeating the reminder that in those days, Israel had no king.

The stage being set, 18:1b-31 returns to the landless Danites of 1:34-35. Impotent before the Amorites, Dan’s defeat epitomized the collapse of the conquest in the North. Their trek northward embarked from precisely the places, Zorah and Eshtaol, that witnessed Samson’s early urgings by the spirit. The great charismatic left his tribesmen without an inheritance. This story has close parallels to several Conquest narratives in Numbers and Joshua, identifying 18:1b-31 as a conquest story (Malamat). But what kind of conquest? The mission of the spies suggests that this is a perverted conquest. The cities confronted by the Danites' forebears were strong, fortified, and populated by the daunting Anakim, making the spies feel like grasshoppers (Nu 13:28-33). The Danite spies gleefully characterize Laish as wide open, unsuspecting and defenseless, the perfect victim (18:1-10). Conquest narratives typically begin with inquiry at a divine oracle to receive assurance of victory. This ritual, however, involves idols tainted by theft and an opportunist priest. Removing all the sacred trappings from Micah’s shrine with the Levite’s consent suggests that neither the priest nor the Danites were overly concerned with the opinion of the idol or its oracle (vv.11-21). Once clear of their Amorite enemies and fortified by their newfound religious resources, the Danites intimidate the pitiable Micah (vv.22-26) and ruthlessly slaughter the defenseless occupants of Laish (vv.27-28a). Conquest stories often culminate in the erection of a monument or holy place to commemorate Yahweh’s assistance. The Danites, who needed little help from God in defeating the Laishians, establish a city in their own name and install their own priesthood there. Ironically, the opportunistic, idolatrous priest has Moses as a grandfather! In the context of 1:1-2:5, this story reveals that God’s people, when they fail in their mission through compromise, tend to erect a perverted substitute, a caricature of the sacred task given them by God. Such arrogant anarchism testifies to the absence of a king in a time when everyone did as he saw fit.