Judges 18:18-31 - Priest for Hire

Judges 18:18-31

18 When these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molded image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

19 And they said to him, “Be quiet, put your hand over your mouth, and come with us; be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?” 20 So the priest’s heart was glad; and he took the ephod, the household idols, and the carved image, and took his place among the people.

21 Then they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods in front of them. 22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. 

23 And they called out to the children of Dan. So they turned around and said to Micah, “What ails you, that you have gathered such a company?”

24 So he said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What ails you?’”

25 And the children of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry men fall upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household!” 26 Then the children of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.

Danites Settle in Laish

27 So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob. So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.

30 Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

We see the five spies who had been shown hospitality by Micah in his house on their way to war with the six hundred armed men had stolen the idols while the Levite hired priest stood at the entrance of the gate and watched for an opportunity for his own gain.  He was a priest for hire, not dedicated to the LORD to minister to others for His sake.  When he asked what they were doing as they gathered up the pilfered idols, they offered him a job if he kept quiet.  He was hired off to be a father and a priest to them with the promise it would better to be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel than a single man like Micah.  Prestige was offered and lured the Levite into immediate employment with the raiding Danites seeking a quick inheritance.  Micah ran after them as they left and was indignant that they took the false gods having no power which he made (Isaiah 44:9-10, 15, 17, 20) and the priest he himself had hired before finding this better employment opportunity, and he found he had no power to retrieve them under threat of death for him and his family.  The Danites made off with the false gods and priest for hire and killed all those in Laish and razed their city.  They then rebuilt the city and called it Dan.  What they did next was not the way gods would have given them that as their inheritance; they set up the idol carved by Micah and worshiped that lifeless handmade god instead of the Living LORD, even continuing this idolatry until the captivity (2 Kings 15:29) by Assyria with priests for hire from the sons of Jonathan of Manasseh.  So far had the children of Israel begun to spiral downward into the sins of idolatry and immorality by turning away from the LORD who had delivered them from the bondage of sin in Egypt with their multiple lifeless gods.  They really needed an effective Deliverer from sin whose work would not fail them, and God continued to send many temporary deliverers as judges until the promised Messiah (Micah 5:2, Luke 2:11, John 1:41) would later come to set them free (John 8:31, 36, Galatians 3:13, 4:4-5, 6-7) from lifeless idols (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, 1 John 5:21) and sin’s punishment of God’s just wrath indeed!  May we seek ministers of the gospel who are not for hire (1 Corinthians 9:18) or put in position for political gain, but devoted to the Lord alone and not any creation of their own minds and hands as substitute gods, but with unwavering commit and worship of no other to obtain the inheritance (Ephesians 1:11, 14) promised in His way by His work on the cross of our redemption and reconciliation.