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Judges 18:30

in Judges 18

The Danites set up idols for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And the children of Dan set up for themselves the graven image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.

KJV

And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

This verse in Judges 18

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
And the children of Dan set up the graven image,.... In their new city Dan, and very probably had a house built for it, peculiar to it, in the same place where Jeroboam, in later times, set up one of his golden calves.

This site's exposition

Jonathan, the son of Gershom

Gershom is named as the son of Moses at Exodus 2:22 and 1 Chronicles 23:15, so on the plain reading of the descent this priest is the grandson of Moses. The Hebrew writes Manasseh here with the letter nun raised above the line, and lifting that letter out leaves Moses, which is the reading the Latin Vulgate gives and which the Talmud discusses at Bava Batra 109b as a covering laid over the name. Clarke says of the received spelling that the reading does not appear to be genuine, and Henry records the Vulgate reading and what it would mean for the posterity of a great and good man. The captivity of the land is read either as the Assyrian deportation that took this region at 2 Kings 15:29 or, taken with verse 31, as the day the ark was captured and Shiloh fell at 1 Samuel 4:11, and serious readers hold each.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Image - Having succeeded in their expedition according to the prediction which, as they supposed, they had from this image, they had a great veneration for it. The captivity - When the whole land of the ten tribes, whereof Daniel was one, was conquered, and the people carried captive by the Assyrian, 2 Kings xvii, 6, 23, which is called by way of eminency, the captivity.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The vulgar Latin reads it Moses. And if indeed Moses had a grandson that was rakish, and was picked up as a fit tool to be made use of in the setting up of idolatry, it is not the only instance (would to God it were!) of the unhappy degenerating of the posterity of great and good men.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The children of Dan set up the graven image - They erected a chapel, or temple, among themselves, as Micah had done before; having the same implements and the same priest. And Jonathan the son of Gershom - Either this was the name of the young Levite; or they had turned him off, and got this Jonathan in his place. The son Manasseh - Who this Manasseh was, none can tell; nor does the reading appear to be genuine.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיָּקִ֧ימוּand they set up

    vaiyakimuH6965628 times

  • לָהֶ֛םfor <the> themselves

    lahem

  • בְּנֵי־[the] descendants of

    benei-H11214930 times

  • דָ֖ןDan

    danH183570 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • הַפָּ֑סֶלthe carved image

    hapaselH645931 times

  • וִ֠יהוֹנָתָןand Jonathan

    vihonatonH3083

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • גֵּרְשֹׁ֨םGershom

    gereshomH1647

  • בֶּן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • מְנַשֶּׁ֜הManasseh

    menashehH4519146 times

  • ה֣וּאhe

    hu'H19311879 times

  • וּבָנָ֗יוand sons his

    uvanavH11214930 times

  • הָי֤וּthey were

    hayuH19613559 times

  • כֹהֲנִים֙priests

    khohanimH3548750 times

  • לְשֵׁ֣בֶטof [the] tribe of

    leshevetH7626190 times

  • הַדָּנִ֔יthe Danite[s]

    hadaniH18395 times

  • עַד־until

    ʾad-H57041261 times

  • י֖וֹם[the] day

    yomH31172304 times

  • גְּל֥וֹתwent into exile of

    gelotH1540

  • הָאָֽרֶץ׃the land

    haaretzH7762504 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 2:22

    And she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

    it leads to

    • Acts 7:29

      At this remark, Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he lived as a foreigner and had two sons.

    • Hebrews 11:13–14

      All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the…

    • Exodus 22:21

      You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 31:29

    For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will…

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 32:5

      His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse and crooked generation.

  • Through

    Judges 17:5

    Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.

    it leads to

    • Judges 8:27

      From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.

    • Genesis 31:30

      Now you have gone off because you long for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my gods?”

    • Genesis 31:19

      Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.

    • Judges 18:14

      Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image,…

About Judges

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.