Judges 18:21

Study note

Setting — The six hundred armed Danites advance from Micah’s house after the priest joins them, positioning noncombatants at the front of the column as they leave the hill country of Ephraim.

The words — וַ/יָּשִׂ֨ימוּ (va/i.ya.Si.mu) means “and they put,” and הַ/טַּ֧ף (ha./Taf) means “the little ones,” describing how the marchers placed children, livestock, and possessions ahead of the armed company.

The thread — The verse documents the tactical reordering of the Danite migration, a movement that directly precipitates the pursuit by Micah’s neighbors in Judges 18:22 and mirrors the tribe’s earlier pattern of taking the ephod and household idols in Judges 18:20.

Why it lands — The text demands the reader see that the tribe arranged its march for physical security rather than covenant fidelity, leaving the priest’s stolen objects and the armed rear guard to bear the immediate consequences of their departure.

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.