Judges 18:19-20
Put ... hand <07760 03027> [lay thine.]
This was the token of silence. These men were evidently very ignorant; and absurdly concluded that they should, by taking Micah's gods, secure the presence and favour of the God of Israel, in their expedition and settlement. They perhaps supposed the piety of their motives, and the goodness of their end, would justify the means. But it was a base robbery of Micah, aggravated by the Levite's ingratitude, and their menaces.
adviser <01> [a father.]
happy <03820> [heart.]
joined <0935> [went.]
He was glad of his preferment among the Danites; and went into the crowd, that he might not be discovered by Micah or his family.
Judges 18:29-31
Dan <01835> [Dan.]
sons <03205> [who was.]
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 C‘sarea 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.
worshiped <06965> [set up.]
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 MSS., 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, [N–wn,] {noon,} over the word [M“sheh <\\See definition 04872\\>"] <\\See definition 04873\\> Moses, thus [Menashsheh <\\See definition 04519\\>,] as it is found in the Hebrew Bibles; which, by means of the points, they have changed into Manasseh.
time <03117> [until.]
exile <0776> [the land.]
Houbigant contends, that, instead of {ha„retz,} "the land," we should read {ha„ron,} "the ark;" for the [Vƒv,] {wav,} and [N–wn, {noon final,} might easily be mistaken for [Tsƒdˆy,] {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.
time <03117> [all the time.]
