Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Judges 18:1-31
Judges 18:3 'It, is a vain thought,' says Dinah Morris in Adam Bede, 'to flee from the work that God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing to our own souls, as if we could choose for ourselves where we shall find the fullness of the Divine Presence, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found, in loving obedience.' Judges 18:7 A man's own safety is a god that sometimes makes very grim demands. George Eliot. Security, as commonly understood, is the state in which one... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Judges 18:19
(19) Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.—Comp. Job 21:5; Job 29:9; Proverbs 30:32. The laying of the finger on the lip is one of the most universal of gestures. It is the attitude of Horus, the Egyptian god of silence. (See Apul. Metamorph. 1: at ille digitum, a pollice proximum ori suo admovens . . . tace. tace, inquit.)A father and a priest.—Judges 17:10.Unto a tribe and a family.—Both to a shebet and a mishpecah. (See Note on Judges 18:1.) read more