In 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.
In those days ... the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in. The Danites had a territory assigned them as well as the other tribes. But they were the last of the tribes to whom, in the division of the land, an allotment was assigned. Their portion was small, and, small as it was, it suffered diminution by the encroachments of their powerful neighbours, the Amorites (Judges 1:34), and still more of the Philistines. It was the most exposed part of the country, not only on the seacoast, where at Joppa (Jaffa) foreign invaders might easily at any time debark to attack them, but on the side of the Philistines; because the plain of Sharon is only a continuation of their country, and there was no kind of barrier or protection between them and the Shephelah.
In consequence of this annoying exposure, and also of being straitened for room, a considerable number resolved on trying to effect a new and additional settlement in a remote part of the land. A small deputation being despatched to reconnoitre the country, arrived on their progress northward at [bª-, near] the residence of Micah; and recognizing this priest as one of their former acquaintances, or perhaps by his provincial dialect, they eagerly enlisted his services in ascertaining the result of their present expedition. His answer, though apparently promising, was delusive, and really as ambigious as those of the pagan oracles. This application brings out still more clearly and fully thin the schism of Micah the woeful degeneracy of the times. The Danites expressed no emotions either of surprise or of indignation at a Levite daring to assume the priestly functions, and at the existence of a rival establishment to that of Shiloh. They are ready to seek, through means of the teraphim, the information that could only be lawfully applied for through the high priest's Urim; and, being thus equally erroneous in their views and habits as Micah, showed the low state of religion, and how much superstition prevailed in all parts of the land.