Dan seizes Micah's cult and recruits his priest

Six hundred armed men take the road past the shrine

Six hundred men of Dan, appointed with weapons of war, go out from Zorah and Eshtaol, pitch by Kiriath-jearim in Judah, and call the place Mahaneh-dan. They pass from there to the hill country of Ephraim and come to Micah's house. The five spies tell their brethren that there is in these houses an ephod, teraphim, a graven image, and a molten image. Now consider what to do.

Theft under a gate guard, then a better job offer

They turn in that way, come to the young Levite's house, and salute him. The six hundred with weapons stand by the entering of the gate. The five who went to spy out the land go in, take the graven image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image. The priest asks them what they are doing. They tell him to hold his peace, lay his hand on his mouth, and go with them, to be a father and a priest. Is it better to be a priest to one man's house, or to a tribe and family in Israel?

Armed disparity makes the "invitation." He is glad, takes the ephod, teraphim, and graven image, and goes in the midst of the people. Gladness can be ambition, relief, or both; the career arithmetic is spoken aloud. A larger constituency does not clean stolen objects or an unauthorized priesthood. Scale is not repentance.