Judges 18:8

Translations

Modern

When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”

Traditional

And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

Literal

And they came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you say?”

Latin

Reversique ad fratres suos in Saraa et Esthaol, et quid egissent sciscitantibus responderunt:

Original

Hebrew

English

When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”

Notes

Judges 18:1–31

The migration of the Danites (compare Joshua 19:40–48) shows the tribe's failure to follow God's covenant and reflects Israel's decline. Micah's personal heresy (Judges 17:4–5) grew into the apostasy of the entire tribe (18:30–31). The initial covenant failure (Judges 17:19–36) led to social breakdown during the time of Jephthah and Samson (Judges 11–16). Eventually, law and order gave way to banditry and pillaging (Judges 18:27–28).

Judges 17:1–21:25

These two epilogues (Judges 17–18 and 19–21) show that inspired but unstructured leadership cannot last. As society moved toward chaos and civil war, the phrase, In those days there was no king in Israel appears four times. The phrase, everyone did what was right in his own eyes is added twice (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). The era of inspired leadership declined and ended in disorder. Something important was missing.

Theme notes and profiles

Social Chaos in Judges

Related verses

Judges 18:11
So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.
Judges 18:2
So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.
Judges 13:2
Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
Judges 16:31
Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

Places

Eshtaol: City allotted to Judah and Dan; associated with Samson Zorah: A town in the Shephelah, home of Samson

Glossary

Allotment of the Land Eshtaol Idols, Idolatry Jeroboam Joshua, Book of Judges, Book of Laish (Place) Micah (Person) Priests and Levites Travel Tribe of Dan Zorah, Zorathite

Topics

Armies: March in Ranks of Laish Eshtaol: Allotted to Dan Jonathan: A Levite of Bethlehem, Who Becomes a Priest for Micah Reconnoissance: Laish the Tribe of Dan: A Part of Tool Laish and Called It Dan

Judges 18:8

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