Judges 17:6... everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Without accountability there is no peace.

God is a Father of order not chaos. Jesus came with shouts of peace, peace to the people on earth.

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel.

The priest, who has already proven himself to be breaking Yahweh’s regulations, proclaims that Yahweh will bless the Danites’ abandonment of their divinely given inheritance. 

Although the Danites are successful, as the priest proclaims, this does not mean that the priest spoke truthfully—the Danites’ success in the battle is predictable. After conquering the city of Laish later in this chapter, the Danites rename it Dan. Laish was at the foot of Mount Hermon in the northern region of Israel’s land. The city was the northernmost extent of Israel. The inhabitants apparently took no precautions against attack because of the relative isolation of the area. 

The Sidonians were Phoenicians from Sidon. Their city was on the Mediterranean coast northwest of Laish. The comparison with the Sidonians could mean that the people of Laish were also Phoenicians or that Sidon considered the area part of their territory. Since the spies make a point of emphasizing the distance Laish is from Sidon, there may have been some expectation that Sidon would defend the city if they knew of the threat in advance. The spies describe the lush land and its unsuspecting people.

The Danites presume God endorses their plan to violently invade Laish, perhaps because of God’s original conquest command, but more likely because of the priest’s proclamation. Since Laish was unguarded, a large army would be unnecessary. Faithlife Study Bible

The Danites decided to spy out the land, recalling the 12 spies who infiltrated Canaan in Moses’ day and the two spies that Joshua sent into Jericho. The Hebrew word for spy is related to the word for foot, the idea being that spies went quietly on foot, scouting what they could see.

The Danite spies found the city of Laish an attractive place to live and decided to seize it. The city was later renamed Dan. The Sidonians were quiet and secure. The word for quiet is the same one that describes the “rest” that covered the land periodically. However, the word can also be rendered “unsuspecting.” Six hundred men was either a small part of the Danite army or a remnant that had survived recent fighting. 

Rather than condemning Micah’s idolatry, the Danites took the gods for themselves. They then made Micah’s Levite their tribal priest. The Danites’ offer to Micah’s Levite—be a father and a priest to us—was the same plea Micah had made earlier. Yet their offer was more attractive, for it allowed him to be priest over an entire tribe. The Levite’s cynical acceptance of this opportunity for greater prestige indicates further how debased conditions had become. Even Levites were selling false spiritual services to the highest bidder. The Danites’ priest and his descendants served the tribe for many years. This notice, written much later than the book’s events, is a subtle reminder of Dan’s later apostasy. Jeroboam I would establish idolatrous shrines in Dan and Bethel. Micah’s image remained while the house of God was at Shiloh. Therefore, these events took place sometime before about 1050 b.c. when Shiloh was destroyed. The NKJV Study Bible

The Danites seek to enlarge their inheritance, and rob Micah. The Danites determined to take Micah’s gods with them. Oh the folly of these Danites! How could they imagine those gods should protect them, that could not keep themselves from being stolen! To take them for their own use, was a double crime; it showed they neither feared God, nor regarded man, but were lost both to godliness and honesty. What a folly was it for Micah to call those his gods, which he had made, when He only is to be worshipped by us as God, that made us! That is put in God’s place, which we are concerned about, as if our all were bound up in it. If people will walk in the name of their false gods, much more should we love and serve the true God! Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Joshua 19:47 And the border of the children of Dan went beyond these, because the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem and took it; and they struck it with the edge of the sword, took possession of it, and dwelt in it. They called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.

Judges 1:34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;