Judges 18:28

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) In the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob.—At the foot of the lowest range of Lebanon, and at the sources of the Jordan (Numbers 13:21), north of Lake Huleh. It is probably the Rehob of Judges 1:31, Joshua 19:30; and later it belonged to Syria (2Samuel 10:6) The name means “house of spaciousness.” Robinson (Bibl. Res. Iii. 371) identifies it with Hunîn, a fortress which commands the plain of Huleh.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:7-13 Micah thought it was a sign of God's favour to him and his images, that a Levite should come to his door. Thus those who please themselves with their own delusions, if Providence unexpectedly bring any thing to their hands that further them in their evil way, are apt from thence to think that God is pleased with them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Rehob (as Dan afterward) is mentioned as the northernmost point of the land of Canaan Numbers 13:21, and its position is defined with reference to the entering in of Hamath.

A city - Rather, "the" city. They rebuilt Laish, which they had burned down Judges 18:29.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28, 29. they built a city, and … call the name of that city Dan—It was in the northern extremity of the land, and hence the origin of the phrase, "from Dan to Beer-sheba."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Beth-rehob; a place near Libanus and Hamath; of which see Numbers 13:21 Joshua 19:28 21:31 Judges 1:31.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon,.... Under whose government and protection they seem to have been; and that city being at a distance from them, and the Danites coming upon them suddenly, there was no time to send to them for help, or any to come in to their assistance, and save them from their enemies, see Judges 18:7.

and they had no business with any man; that could have given them notice of the design of the children of Dan against them, nor to the Zidonians to come soon enough for their protection and defence; none there were in alliance with them except them:

and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob; which lay in the northern border of the land of Canaan, as you go to Hamath of Syria; see Gill on Numbers 13:21.

and they built a city to dwell there; not a new one altogether, but they rebuilt and enlarged Laish, and made it convenient for them to dwell in.

Geneva Study Bible

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. See on Jdg 18:7. The city was too far off from the suzerain power to obtain any help; and as no alliances had been made with the Syrians (again reading Aram for adam = ‘any man’), there were no friendly neighbours to come to the rescue.

the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob] or that belongeth to B. The depression through which the Jordan flows begins to open out at the S.W. foot of Hermon; this seems to be the valley alluded to. If, as is probable, Laish-Dan occupied the site of Tell el-Ḳâḍi, Beth-rehob may be identified with Bânias. According to 2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8 Beth-rehob was a Syrian state.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - Because it was far, etc. He reverts again to the description given in ver 7. That lieth by Beth-Rehob. It is literally, which belongeth to Beth-Rehob, i.e. the valley here spoken of was part of the territory of the Syrians of Beth-Rehob in the time of David (and very likely earlier), as we read in 2 Samuel 10:6. It seems to have taken its name, House of Rehob, from Rehob the father of Hadadezer, king of Zobah (2 Samuel 8:12), and to have been called Beth-Rehob very much as Micah's settlement was called Beth-Micah. It was also called for shortness Rehob, as Numbers 13:21; Judges 1:31; 2 Samuel 10:8. It was situated, as we learn from Judges 1:31, in the bounds of the tribe of Asher, in the extreme north of the Holy Land, near the entering in of Hamath, the site of which, however, is unknown (see Numbers 13:21). The valley is that through which the Leddan fountain flows (ver. 7, note), and is the upper part of the plain called el-Hulleh, which is the northern continuation of the Jordan valley. They built a city. Rather, they rebuilt the city. Judges 18:28

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

And they (the Danites) had taken what Micah had made, i.e., his idols and his priest, and they fell upon Laish (על כּוא, to come over a person, to fall upon him, as in Genesis 34:25), a people living quietly and free from care (vid., Judges 18:7), smote them with the edge of the sword (see at Genesis 34:26), and burned down the city (cf. Joshua 6:24), as it had no deliverer in its isolated condition (Judges 18:28; cf. Judges 18:7). It was situated "in the valley which stretches to Beth-rehob." This valley is the upper part of the Huleh lowland, through which the central source of the Jordan (Leddan) flows, and by which Laish-Dan, the present Tell el Kadi, stood (see at Joshua 19:47). Beth-rehob is most probably the same place as the Rehob mentioned in Numbers 13:21, and the Beth-rehob of 2 Samuel 10:6, which is there used to designate a part of Syria, and for which Rehob only is also used in Judges 18:8. Robinson (Bibl. Res. pp. 371ff.) supposes it to be the castle of Hunin or Honin, on the south-west of Tell el Kadi; but this is hardly correct (see the remarks on Numbers 13:21, Pent. p. 709). The city, which lay in ashes, was afterwards rebuilt by the Danites, and called Dan, from the name of the founder of their tribe; and the ruins are still to be seen, as already affirmed, on the southern slope of the Tell el Kadi (see Rob. Bibl. Res. pp. 391-2, and the comm. on Joshua 19:47).