Bible Strands
Judges 18:30
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the conclusion of the Danite conquest as they establish a rival cult in the renamed city of Dan. This occurs immediately after they relocate Micah’s shrine and install a local priesthood.
The words — וַ/יָּקִ֧ימוּ (va/i.ya.Ki.mu) literally means “and they set up,” denoting the physical placement of the cultic object. גֵּרְשֹׁ֨ם (ge.re.Shom) identifies Jonathan’s grandfather, explicitly tying the new priestly line to Moses’ own family.
The thread — The name Gershom recalls Exodus 2:22 where Moses names his son after his foreign sojourn, creating a stark contrast with his descendant’s role. The priesthood’s duration extends “until the day of the captivity of the land,” a trajectory of national judgment outlined in Deuteronomy 31:29 and reflected in the military defeats of 1 Samuel 4:10.
Why it lands — The text states that apostasy becomes institutionalized when a covenant lineage substitutes idolatry for prescribed worship. It asks the reader to note how religious corruption operates within established structures without triggering immediate narrative intervention.
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
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.
Cross-references
- 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.”
- 1 Samuel 4:10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.
- 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 do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.”
- Judges 13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
- Judges 17:3 And when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I wholly dedicate the silver to the LORD for my son’s benefit, to make a graven image and a molten idol. Therefore I will now return it to you.”
- 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.
- 1 Samuel 4:2 The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.
- Psalms 78:60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men.
- Exodus 18:3 along with her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses had said, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”
- Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.