In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them.
In those days ... ! The book of Judges is about a wild time in Israel’s history. The twelve tribes were lead into the Promise Land by Joshua. He died and gave them a design, a plan and a direction. In chapter 18 we have, yet, another story about the people of God doing whatever they wanted to do. There was no king, the above verse states. But, they did have a king. It was God. But, the book was written later in time when the nation did get kings. So, the narrator is telling us that this was the spirit of the day, meaning they were living in a time with no authority. They had God’s authority, of course. But, they did not recognize Him or his authority or, for that matter, any authority. These days were dark and distant from God. Even though Joshua had set up everything the tribes needed to inherit the land. But, they failed to do. In Judges we read the following:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
When we don’t recognize the authority of God or the authorities He puts in place, we read the above. Absent an authority structure, we tend to do what we want.
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