Judges 18:17-31; Judges 21:25
The taking of Laish has nothing in common with the conquests of faith in Joshua’s times. What can we see in Dan? We see covetousness for "a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth" (v. 10), trust in their own strength, also cowardice, ingratitude, stealing, bad faith and to crown it all, the establishment of idol worship. What a picture! We pass over the next few chapters (which paint an even darker picture) until we reach the last verse of the book which is a repetition of Judges 17:6, "Every man did that which was right in his own eyes". This sentence summarizes the condition of Israel in the times of the judges. And sadly it also summarizes the state of Christendom in our own day. If the book of Joshua has been likened to Ephesians, the book of Judges reminds us most of 2 Timothy (especially chapter 3). But this succession of high and low periods, of failures and restorations, happens only too often in the story of our lives. Let us guard against doing that which is good in our own eyes, in which we cannot place our trust. Let us rather apply ourselves to doing what is acceptable to the Lord (Ephesians 5:10; Hebrews 13:21).