In chapter eighteen we see that the Danites robbed Micah of his sculptured idol, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image with his priest.
In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites sought for themselves an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day the lot had not fallen for them on an inheritance among the tribes of Israel (v. 1).
The children of Dan sent five men from among all of them, men of valor, to spy out the land and search it out. They came to the country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they lodged there (v. 2).
The five men recognized the voice of the young Levite man, and they asked him, “Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what do you have here?” (v.3). When the Levite explained that Micah had hired him to be his priest, they said to him, “Inquire now of God that we may know if our way on which we are going will be prosperous” (vv. 4-5).
The priest ordained by Micah said to the five men, “Go in peace; your way on which you are going is before Jehovah” (v. 6).
The five men left and came to Laish. They saw the people who were in it, dwelling quiet and secure. Then they went back to their brothers and asked them to go to take possession of the land, saying, “God has indeed delivered it into your hand” (vv. 7-10).
Six hundred men girded with weapons of war set out from the family of Dan and came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim (vv. 11-13).
The five men who had gone to spy the land of Laish entered into the house of the young Levite, the house of Micah, with six hundred men girded with weapons of war standing at the entrance of the gate, to seize the sculptured idol, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image. When the priest asked them what they were doing, they said to him, “Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one man or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?” (vv. 14-19).
The young priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod, the teraphim, and the sculptured idol and went into the midst of the people. Thus, the Danites robbed Micah of all the idols and the priest with which he worshipped God (vv. 20-26).
Taking the idols which Micah had made and the priest that had been his, the Danites came to Laish, slew the people, burned the city, and called the name of the city Dan, according to the name of Dan their father (vv. 27-29).
The children of Dan erected the sculptured idol. Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons, became priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. They set up the sculptured idol that Micah had made the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh (vv. 30-31).