Judges 18:22-31
What aileth Gen 21:17; 1Sam 11:5; 2Sam 14:5; 2Kgs 6:28; Ps 114:5; Isa 22:1 comest Heb. art gathered together what have Judg 17:13; Ps 115:8; Isa 44:18-20; Jer 50:38, Jer 51:17; Ezek 23:5; Hab 2:18-19; Acts 19:26; Rev 17:2 angry Heb. bitter of soul, 1Sam 30:6; 2Sam 17:8; Job 3:5, Job 27:2 *marg. Laish Judg 18:7, Judg 18:10 they smote Deut 33:22; Josh 19:47 burnt Josh 11:11 And there 2Sam 14:6 *marg. Ps 7:2, Ps 50:22; Dan 3:15-17 far from Probably the people of Laish were originally a colony of the Zidonians; who being an opulent people, and in possession of a strong city, lived in a state of security, not being afraid of their neighbours. In this the Leshemites imitated them, though they appear not to have had the same reason for their confidence; and though they might naturally expect help from their countrymen, yet as they lived at a considerable distance from Sidon, the Danites saw they could strike the blow before the news of the invasion could reach that city. Judg 18:1, Judg 18:7; Josh 11:8; Isa 23:4, Isa 23:12 Bethrehob Num 13:21, Rehob, 2Sam 10:6 Dan Judg 20:1; Gen 14:14; Josh 19:47; 2Sam 17:11; 1Kgs 12:29-30, 1Kgs 15:20 who was Gen 30:6, Gen 32:28; Laish, or Dan, was situated at the northern extremity of the land of Canaan, in a beautiful and fertile plain, at the foot of mount Lebanon, on the springs of Jordan, and, according to Eusebius, four miles from Cesarea Philippi, or Paneas, now Banias (with which some have confounded it), towards Tyre. Burckhardt says, that the source of the river El Dhan, or Jordan, is at an hour's distance from Banias, which agrees with Eusebius. set up Exod 20:4; Lev 26:1; Deut 17:2-7, Deut 27:15, Deut 31:16, Deut 31:29; Josh 19:40-48; Ps 78:58-61; God had graciously performed his promise, in putting these Danites in possession of that which fell to their lot, obliging them thereby to be faithful to him who had been so to them; they inherited the labour of the people, that they might observe his statues. Ps 105:44-45. But the first thing they do after they are settled is to break his laws, by setting up the graven image, attributing their success to that idol, which, if God had not been infinitely patient, would have been their ruin. Thus a prosperous idolater goes on to offend, imputing this his power unto his God. Instead of Manasseh, some would read Moses; as it is found in some manuscripts, in the Vulgate and in the concessions of the most intelligent Jews. But Bp. Patrick takes this to be an idle conceit of the Rabbins, and supposes this Jonathan to be of some other family of the Levites. Yet Kimchi acknowledges, that the Jews, deeply concerned for the honour of their lawgiver, to whom they thought it would be a great dishonour to have a grandson who was an idolater, suspended the letter, π, noon, over the word ξωΡ H4872, H4873, Moses, thus ξπωΡδ H4519, as it is found in the Hebrew Bibles; which, by means of the points, they have changed into Manasseh. until Judg 13:1; 1Sam 4:2-3, 1Sam 4:10-11; Ps 78:60-62 the land Houbigant contends, that, instead of haaretz, "the land," we should read haaron, "the ark;" for the ε, wav, and ο, noon final, might easily be mistaken for υ, tzadday final; which is the only difference between the two words. This conjecture is the more likely, as the next verse tells us, that Micah's graven image continued at Dan "all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh;" which was till the ark was taken by the Philistines. all the time Judg 19:18, Judg 21:21; Josh 18:1; 1Sam 1:3, 1Sam 4:4; Jer 7:12
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