And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.
There went from thence of the family of the Danites ... six hundred men. This was the collective number of the men who were equipped with arms to carry out this expeditionary enterprise, without including the families and furniture of the emigrants (Judges 18:21). Their journey led them through the territory of Judah, and their first halting-place was "behind," that is, on the west of, Kirjath-jearim, on a spot called afterward 'the camp of Dan.' Prosecuting the northern route, they skirted the base of the Ephraimite hills; and on approaching the neighbourhood of Micah's residence, the spies having given information to the exploring party that a private sanctuary was kept there, the priest of which had rendered them important service when on their reconnoitering expedition, it was unanimously agreed that both he and the furniture of the establishment would be a valuable acquisition to their proposed settlement.
A plan of spoliation was immediately formed. They went to the residence of the young Levite, adjoining to the mansion of Micah, and while the armed men stood sentinels at the gate, the five spies broke into the chapel, pillaged the images and vestments, and succeeded in bribing the priest also, by a tempting offer, to transfer his services to their new colony. Taking charge of the ephod, the teraphim, and the graven image, "he went in the midst of the people" - a central position assigned him in the march, perhaps for his personal security; but more probably in imitation of the place appointed for the priests and the ark in the middle of the congregated tribes, on the marches through the wilderness. This theft presents a curious medley of low morality and strong religious feeling. The Danites exemplified a deep-seated principle of our nature-that mankind have religious affections, which must have an object on which these may be exercised, while they are often not very discriminating in the choice of the objects. In proportion to the slender influence religion wields over the heart, the greater is the importance attached to external rites; and in the exact observance of these the conscience is fully satisfied, and seldom or never molested by reflections on the breach of minor morals.