Judges 18:26
And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house. And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his house.
Chapters 17-21, to which this verse belongs, record events that occurred in the early part of the history of the judges, though they are placed at the end of the book, whose main narrative ends with chapter 16. They are studied together with Joshua 23-24 and Judges 1-10, coming after Joshua draws near his end, rehearses God's dealings before the people, solemnly charges them to choose, and declares that he and his house will serve the Lord.
Micah turned back to his house when he saw the Danites were too strong for him, yielding because they were stronger than he was. He could not recover his household gods or his priest from them, after they had taken his priest and idols and the objects of worship and carried them away. They continued north with the Levite they had taken, on their journey to seize Laish.
The verse stands in the latter part of Judges that tells one of two stories of awful idolatry, part of the sad record of the transgressions of God's people and their constant lapsing into idolatry, backsliding with resulting disgrace and punishment. The chapter shows the tribe of Dan's first apostasy, which is suggested as a reason Dan was omitted from the tribes named in the sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7:1-8.
The book is named for the leaders God raised up from time to time in great national crisis when the nation had gone into captivity, who are called saviours, the last of the line being Samuel. Comparing Judges 17:1 with Judges 18:1,31 fixes the writing of the book to about the time that there was a king in Israel, by Samuel or Nathan.