And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.
The verse records the Danites passing onward to Mount Ephraim and coming to the house of Micah while they were searching for a place to settle. It belongs to the closing chapters of Judges, which recount Israel's backsliding and the disgrace and punishment that followed. More particularly it belongs to the account of grave disorder in chapters 18 and 19, when people followed their own judgment rather than God's standard of righteousness.
It places the young Levite at Micah's house in Mount Ephraim after he had traveled north from Bethlehem seeking a place for himself. At that house the Danites encountered Micah's idols and the Levite he had hired as priest. They took the priest and the idols with them to Laish, where they established idolatrous worship in the city they renamed Dan.
The Levite's service first to Micah and then to the Danites is counted as an early fulfillment of Levi's scattering in Israel. The verse belongs to chapters 17-21, described as chapters 18 and 19, which record Israel's backsliding and grave disorder when people followed their own judgment rather than God's standard of righteousness, with disgrace and punishment following. The events in these chapters occurred in the early part of the history of the judges though they are placed at the end of the book, whose real story ends with chapter 16. The record of backsliding must not be taken to mean that anyone can backslide with impunity.
The verse records the Danites passing onward to Mount Ephraim and coming to the house of Micah while they were searching for a place to settle. It belongs to the closing chapters of Judges, which recount Israel's backsliding and the disgrace and punishment that followed. More particularly it belongs to the account of grave disorder in chapters 18 and 19, when people followed their own judgment rather than God's standard of righteousness.
It places the young Levite at Micah's house in Mount Ephraim after he had traveled north from Bethlehem seeking a place for himself. At that house the Danites encountered Micah's idols and the Levite he had hired as priest. They took the priest and the idols with them to Laish, where they established idolatrous worship in the city they renamed Dan.
The Levite's service first to Micah and then to the Danites is counted as an early fulfillment of Levi's scattering in Israel. The verse belongs to chapters 17-21, described as chapters 18 and 19, which record Israel's backsliding and grave disorder when people followed their own judgment rather than God's standard of righteousness, with disgrace and punishment following. The events in these chapters occurred in the early part of the history of the judges though they are placed at the end of the book, whose real story ends with chapter 16. The record of backsliding must not be taken to mean that anyone can backslide with impunity.