Judges 18:21

MICAH'S FUTILE ATTEMPT TO RECOVER HIS TREASURE

"So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them. When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah's house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? And he said, Ye have taken away my gods, which I made, and the priest, and are gone away, and what have I more? and how then say ye unto me, What aileth thee? And the children of Dan said unto him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back into his house."

"They put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them" (Judges 18:21). This meant that the six hundred armed men provided the rear-guard, indicating that they expected Micah to pursue them and that they were determined to fight him if he did so.

"They were a good way from the house of Micah" (Judges 18:22). It had taken Micah some time to round up all of his neighbors and put together a company for the pursuit of the Danites, but the Danites were easily overtaken due to the nature of their group, which included wives, little children, cattle, baggage, etc.

"Ye have taken away the gods which I made" (Judges 18:24). "How sad that an Israelite should assume that he could make a god; and how strange that a man should have to rescue his god! How deplorable that Micah's life was so wrapped up in his so-called gods that he considered that he had nothing left when they were taken away from him."[9]

"Let not thy voice be heard among us" (Judges 18:25). This was indeed a brutal answer. What the Danites said, if we may paraphrase it, was, "Look, Bud, you had better keep your mouth shut and quit crying after us, and if you don't, we shall simply knock you down and kill you and then return to your residence and exterminate your whole generation!"

"Micah realized his helplessness against an armed force of six hundred fighting men; and with a heavy heart he returned to his empty house and empty life. He was a disillusioned and misguided Israelite who had forsaken the faith of his fathers and justly suffered the consequences of his grievous apostasy."[10]

"Lest angry fellows fall upon you" (Judges 18:25). "In the Hebrew, the literal words from which the words angry fellows are translated are literally, `men of acid temper.' It is suicidal folly to provoke such men."[11]

"And thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household" (Judges 18:25). "Literally (from the Hebrew) this reads `You will gather in your life and the lives of your household,' the same being the equivalent of, `you will cash in your chips.'"[12]

The shameful deeds of the Danites here exactly fulfilled Jacob's prophecy when he bestowed this blessing upon him:

"Dan shall judge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent in the way,

An adder in the path,

That biteth the horse's heels,

So that his rider falleth backward.

I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah." (Genesis 49:16-18)

Paraphrasing this "blessing," we read the prophecy of Jacob as a declaration that Dan would not only be a snake, but a POISONOUS one at that, who would bring disaster to those whom he might encounter, concluding that Jacob had prayed and waited for God to bring salvation to Dan.

"This blessing of Jacob is the mirror image of this prose account (in Judges) of Dan's instrumentality in heaven's justice for Micah, on the way to Dan's own treacherous achievements elsewhere."[13]