Here we are in the district where Samson was born and lived (see chapter 13, verses 2 and 25), but earlier than his time, as it would appear (see Joshua 19:4747And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. (Joshua 19:47)).
The tribe of Dan seek their inheritance, sending out five valiant men to search out the land. These came to Micah's house, and finding the young Levite there, they asked him to inquire of God about the success of their trip. The Levite, apparently without seeking to learn God's mind, told them to go in peace; their way he said was before the Lord. The Danites then go on to Laish (in Joshua 19:4747And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. (Joshua 19:47) called Leshem) in the far north, and return to tell their brethren its capture is easy, the land spacious and very productive.
Verse 14 seems to indicate that the use of idols was not then limited to Micah and his family, of the children of Israel. How ready man is and has ever been to turn from the living and true God! By show of force, Micah's instruments of idolatry and his man-constituted priest were carried away to serve the desires of the six hundred warriors bound for Laish, the priest being indeed glad to go with them. There is no mention of God as being on the side of the children of Dan in this expedition; how could God act for them when their security lay in idols and other devices of their own? If we compare the account in verses 27-28 with the conquests of Joshua's day when God was with His people in power, and they were measurably obedient to Him, the difference is evident.
Naming the city Dan, after the name of their father, seems a parallel case to the act of Cain, that first fruit of a sinful parentage, in going away from the presence of God to a distant land, and there building a city which he named after his son (Gen. 4:16-1716And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. (Genesis 4:16‑17)). Cain knew nothing he reckoned more worthy of memory than this (for God was not in his thoughts), and so exalted man, upon whom God's judgment had been expressed and would inevitably fall.
The children of Dan take however a further step, setting up the image which Micah had made, and establishing a spurious priesthood of their own, founded upon a descent from the honored leader Moses, but nevertheless independent of the order which God had established of the sons of Aaron. Here again we may observe a similarity to what God had provided; the Danites were religious, but far from God and disobedient to His Word. We are told prophetically that this priesthood continued "until the day of the captivity of the land" (verse 30)—no doubt the time when the Assyrians carried away the ten tribes (2 Kings 17:66In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. (2 Kings 17:6)).
Micah's image was set up all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh, which brings the record down to Samuel's day. Among these people God raised up Samson. He would not leave the world without a testimony to Himself, but how little heeded!
Reader, have you peace with God? All is not well with this world, and its judgment has been foretold in the Bible, not once, but many times. Flee from the wrath to come!