Judges 18:22
And 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 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.
Judges 18:22 belongs to chapters 17-21, the concluding episodes that stand outside the main stories of the judges. Those events occurred in the early part of the judges period even though the main narrative ends with chapter 16. This passage is the account of a sanctuary being established at Dan.
Just before this verse the Danites had taken Micah's images and belongings and persuaded his Levite priest to go with them to their new home in the north. The verse places their departure with the priest and idols before any pursuit. It records that after the Danites had gone a good distance from Micah's house, the men from Micah's household and the houses near his house gathered together, pursued them, and overtook them.
After this encounter the Danites carried the idols and the priest to Laish, destroyed the city, renamed it Dan, and established idolatrous worship there that continued until the ten tribes were taken captive. Dan's established idolatry made it easy for Jeroboam later to set up a golden calf there and lead the people into its worship. The verse is part of the account of Israel's unsettled and disorderly period under the judges, a time of grave moral disorder when people did what seemed right to themselves. It illustrates that human judgment unaided by God's revealed standard is corrupted by selfishness and can make wrong appear right.
Judges 18 records the tribe of Dan's first apostasy, which is offered as a possible reason Dan was omitted from the tribes listed in the sealing of the 144,000. As part of Israel's backsliding, the verse gives no warrant for thinking backsliding can be done with impunity. Those God used for the deliverance of His people are not set before us as examples to follow, for He used the very best material at hand even when it was crude and rough.