As appalling as the Danites shrine-building is, we have been expecting something like that since early on in the narrative. The real shock, however, is what the narrator has kept to himself till now: the priest has a name, Jonathan, the grandson of none other than Moses! This revealing of the family tree of the Levite comes as a complete surprise. Here is the crowning scandal of Micah’s idolatrous shrine: it brings dishonour even on the name of Moses!1 In a mere three generations the line of Moses has come to this (see Judges 2:6–10), as a grandson of Moses is ordained as a false priest, and the founder of a false priesthood.
30 And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land.