Laish - Afterward called “Dan” Judges 18:29. The exact site has not been identified, but it was the northern extremity of Israel, near the sources of the Jordan, and about four miles from Panium, or Caesarea-Philippi. It is thought to have stood where the village Tell-el-Kadi now stands.
After the manner of the Zidonians - The genius of the Zidonians being mechanical and commercial, not military, their colonists were apt to neglect fortifications and similar warlike precautions. In Solomon’s time the Zidonians were especially skillful in hewing timber 1Ki 5:6; 1 Chronicles 22:4, and it is highly probable, from their proximity to Lebanon, that such was the occupation of the men of Laish.
Quiet and secure ... - This is a very obscure and difficult passage. Translate thus: “Quiet and secure, and none of them doing any injury in the land, possessing wealth,” or “dominion.”