The Tribe of Dan Adopts Micah’s Idolatry

This chapter shows the way in which one person’s distortion of truth, turning it into a falsity, can have severe consequences on a larger scale.

The tribe of Dan – one of the twelve tribes of Israel – was given land to the west, by the coast, but they found it hard to hold on to. The name of the tribe of Dan means ‘to judge’, but if judgment isn't based on the Word there will be chaos. (Arcana Caelestia 842)

Faced with competition for their homeland, the tribal leaders of Dan went looking for a place for themselves elsewhere. They sent five men of valour to spy out the land. These men came to Micah’s house, and they recognised the voice of the young Levite there. They questioned him about his situation, and he told them that Micah had hired him to be a priest to his household. The men of Dan asked the Levite to ask the Lord if their search would be prosperous, and he told them that it would be.

The spiritual meaning of this part of the chapter is to do with an intensifying wrongness. At the textual level, there is reference to the Lord, and an apparent normality in what takes place. But underlying it, there's a wrongness, which will become apparent later in the chapter. The pointers to it here are the five men from Dan, them coming straight to Micah’s house, and the hiring of a priest.

The number ‘five’ has a good meaning in many parts of the Word, but it can also have a bad meaning, as it does here. In this context, it stands for only a little, for disunion and the destruction of the Word (Apocalypse Revealed 738).

Coming directly to Micah’s house and recognising the Levite brings together two evil intentions: Micah’s idol and the men of Dan’s search to take a home for themselves. An example for us could be where two people plot to seek the harm of a third person. (Arcana Caelestia 4724)

The hiring of a priest is something disallowed, for priests are there to serve the Lord and they are provided for by the people, not to be hired. Hiring, spiritually, stands for seeking reward for what you do, whereas the true reward is heaven for those who serve without expecting a reward. (Arcana Caelestia 8002)

The five men leave Micah's house, and go on to Laish in the far north, where there are people who dwell securely in peace and without rulers, far from others and with no ties. Laish means ‘fearless and kneaded together’. It is a picture of perfection, of heaven. (Divine Love and Wisdom 200)

The five men then return to their tribe of Dan and report about Laish. They say that it is ideal for the taking because it has plenty of land and its people are secure. They say that “God has given it into your hands”.

Six hundred men of the tribe of Dan set out and they too, come to the house of Micah. The five spies tell them about the idols and they meet and greet the young Levite. Then the five spies go in and take all the idols in the house. The Levite joins up with the men from Dan and they go on together.

One spiritual meaning in the story is that evil (Dan, gone bad) loves to destroy peace and innocence (Laish).

The complete loss to Micah of all his idols and his hired priest, shows, too, that in fully turning to evil, there is the final loss of everything that might bring a person back. (Arcana Caelestia 9039)

People living near Micah go and accost the men of Dan about what they have taken -- but Micah is told to stop complaining or his household will be killed.

The Danites leave, and go and capture Laish, killing and burning, and re-naming the city Dan. There they set up the images and appoint priests. These images remain in Dan all the time that the house of God is in Shiloh.

The spiritual meaning of one evil or falsity becoming greater or more numerous is in the way that we might hold a negative emotion or a distorted view in our mind where it then spreads to other emotions and views we have and brings them into greater evil and falsity. This is the intention of evil and also of hell’s influence, to extend it to be as widespread as possible.

This is the outcome of everything that has developed through this and the previous chapter. It describes the spread of evil to become a terrible force for destruction and spiritually, for an individual person, for self-destruction. In the context of the decline of Israel to where ‘everyone did what was right in their own eyes’ this progression presents the pathway and process of that spiritual loss. (Divine Providence 19)

2943. 'To all entering into the gate of his city, saying' means matters of doctrine through which one comes to faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'a gate' as a place of entry and so as that which, in the same way as a door, leads in, dealt with in 2145, 2152, 2356, 2385, and from the meaning of 'a city' as truth, which constitutes faith, dealt with in 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712. In the Ancient Church a city was not like the city of later or of modern times. That is to say, a city did not consist of a collection or gathering together of individuals but of separate families living side by side. A family descended from the same forefather constituted a city. The city of Nahor, for example, to which Abraham's servant went to betroth Rebekah to Isaac, Genesis 24:10, consisted of the family of Nahor which was there. And Shalem, the city of Shechem, to which Jacob came after his departure from Paddan Aram, Genesis 33:18 and the whole of Chapter 34, consisted of the family of Hamor and Shechem which was there. And the same was so with all other cities in those times.

[2] And as it had come down to them from the most ancient people that nations and families represented heavenly communities, and so the things of love and charity, 685, 1159, therefore when a city is mentioned instead of a family, and a people instead of a nation, truth that constitutes faith is meant. It is also why in the genuine sense the city of God and the holy city mean faith in the Lord. And as 'a city' meant faith, 'the gate of the city' means matters of doctrine through which one comes to faith. The same was also meant in the Jewish representative Church by the judges and elders sitting in the gate of the city and giving judgement there, as is evident from historical sections of the Word, and also in Zechariah,

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth, everyone to his companion; judge in your gates the truth and the judgement of peace. Zechariah 8:16.

And in Amos,

Hate evil, and love good, and establish judgement in the gate. Amos 5:15.

'A gate' also means the place of entry into the rational mind, and the rational mind is compared to a city, see 2851.