Bible Strands
Judges 18:1
In those days there was no king in Israel, and the tribe of the Danites was looking for territory to occupy. For up to that time they had not come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Judges 18:1 introduces the Danite tribe during the pre-monarchic period, noting they are actively searching for land because they have not yet received their tribal inheritance. The narrative moment occurs before the scouting mission described in Judges 18:2.
The words — The phrase אֵין מֶלֶךְ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל ('ein melekh be-Yisra'el) translates literally as "there is no king in Israel." The temporal phrase יָמִים הָהֵם (yamim ha-hem) means "in those days," establishing the historical timeframe of the account.
The thread — The declaration appears in Judges 17:6 and Judges 19:1 to mark the same era of decentralized leadership. The Danites' lack of inheritance directly echoes Judges 1:34, where Amorite pressure confined them to the hills and blocked their access to the plain.
Why it lands — The text states a political reality that functions as the direct cause for the tribe's subsequent territorial expedition. It asks the reader to track how the absence of centralized authority enables independent tribal action and sets the stage for the narrative's unfolding events.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Judges 1:34 The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain.
- Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
- Judges 19:1 Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
- Joshua 19:40 The seventh lot came out for the clans of the tribe of Dan:
- Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.