Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.
Judges 18:27–31
So they took the things Micah had made, and the priest who had belonged to him, and went to Laish, to a people quiet and secure; and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth Rehob. So they rebuilt the city and dwelt there. And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel. However, the name of the city formerly was Laish.
Then the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. So they set up for themselves Micah’s carved image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
Laish has no alliances, thus almost no defense, so they’re simply wiped out—no mercy. Then the Danites rebuild and rename the burned down city.
That’s bad enough, but the real disaster is in the second paragraph. The new city of Dan is set up with its own worship center, complete with non-Levite priests and a carved image.
The passage then concludes by noting that Shiloh is still the location of the house of God. That’s where Joshua set it up and where it remains.
Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. — Joshua 18:1
This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there. — 1 Samuel 1:3
Scripture concludes the story about the founding of the city of Dan by noting that Shiloh is still the true worship center. This is to highlight the great evil of what they’ve done.
Dan is now established as something akin to a rebellious counter-tabernacle.
Rebellion is not always wrong. The United States was founded in rebellion. So was the Protestant Reformation.
But those two things had an essential difference—articulated logic. The Reformation was kicked off by Luther’s 95 Theses (though that was preceded by many writings of Patrick, Hus and others). The US began with the Declaration of Independence, which is an amazingly thorough defense of that rebellion.
Hillsdale College has a fascinating video series on the Declaration of Independence as the first part of its on-line course titled “Introduction to the Constitution.” It’s free, but you might need to register.
These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:
https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community
The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:
https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.