Judges 18:8
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When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
On their return, the spies said to their fellow-citizens, in reply to the question אתּם מה, "What have you accomplished?" "Up, let us go up against them (the inhabitants of Laish), for the land is very good, and ye are silent," i.e., standing inactive (Kg1 22:3; Kg2 7:9). "Be not slothful to go (to proceed thither), to come and take possession of the land!"
Open source ↗How idolatry crept into the family of Micah we read in the preceding chapter, how it was translated thence into the tribe of Dan we have an account in this chapter, and how it gained a settlement in a city of note; for how great a matter does a little fire kindle! The tribe of Dan had their lot assigned them last of all the tribes, and, it happening to be too strait for them, a considerable city in the utmost corner of Canaan northward was added to it. "Let them get it, and take it;" it was called Laish or Leshem, Jos 19:47. Now here we are told, I. How they sent spies to bring them an account of the place, who, by the way, got acquainted with Micah's priest (Jdg 18:1-6). II. What an encouraging report these spies brought back (Jdg 18:7-10). III. What forces were sent to conquer Laish (Jdg 18:11-13). IV. How they, by the way, plundered Micah of his gods (Jdg 18:14-26). V. How easily they conquered Laish (Jdg 18:27-29), and, when they had it, set up the graven image in it (Jdg 18:30, Jdg 18:31).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
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So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.
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.
Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
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.