And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?
The verse records the return of the five Danite scouts to their fellow tribesmen at Zorah and Eshtaol to report what they had found in their search for land on their northern journey. The events in chapters 17-21, including this verse, took place in the early part of the period of the judges, while the main narrative of the book ends with chapter 16. The verse belongs to the account of Israel's disorder when everyone did what was right in his own eyes, showing how human judgment without divine revelation and distorted by selfishness can make wrong appear right.
Upon their return the scouts urged their brethren to go with them and take possession of the northern land they had chosen. Their report led to sending an armed force to capture Laish, where the idolatrous worship afterward associated with Dan was established. The chapter containing the verse records the first apostasy of the tribe of Dan, suggested as the reason Dan was nearly lost and omitted from the tribes listed in the sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7:1-8. As part of Israel's backsliding, the verse gives no basis for thinking one may backslide without consequence, and those God used as deliverers are not presented as examples to imitate, since God worked with the very best crude and rough material available to Him, as in the case of Samson.
The verse records the return of the five Danite scouts to their fellow tribesmen at Zorah and Eshtaol to report what they had found in their search for land on their northern journey. The events in chapters 17-21, including this verse, took place in the early part of the period of the judges, while the main narrative of the book ends with chapter 16. The verse belongs to the account of Israel's disorder when everyone did what was right in his own eyes, showing how human judgment without divine revelation and distorted by selfishness can make wrong appear right.
Upon their return the scouts urged their brethren to go with them and take possession of the northern land they had chosen. Their report led to sending an armed force to capture Laish, where the idolatrous worship afterward associated with Dan was established. The chapter containing the verse records the first apostasy of the tribe of Dan, suggested as the reason Dan was nearly lost and omitted from the tribes listed in the sealing of the 144,000 in Revelation 7:1-8. As part of Israel's backsliding, the verse gives no basis for thinking one may backslide without consequence, and those God used as deliverers are not presented as examples to imitate, since God worked with the very best crude and rough material available to Him, as in the case of Samson.