Day 50 - Judges 18

From: Chapter-A-Day: Volume 2 By: Norman W. Berry

Judges 18 • 1 min. read • grade level: 8

The tribe of Dan was the -first of the tribes of Israel to go into idolatry. It slowly got worse and worse, until all of Israel had turned to idols and away from the living God. Finally, God swept them out of their land. Today, we may not have images to worship as idols, but anything we believers have which keeps us from closely following the Lord can be an idol.

V.1 It is interesting to notice that this first sentence is in the book four times (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25⁶In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17:6)
¹In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. (Judges 18:1)
¹And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of mount Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah. (Judges 19:1)
²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25)). This tells us why things were so bad in this section in both the moral condition and the religious state.

V.2-31 These verses tell of the dreadful setting up of idols in Israel with such an appearance of holiness. It was, in reality, completely setting God to one side and shamelessly establishing a ritual to Him.

Click here to show subject links in the text for more information.