So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, "Go, explore the land." So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. – Judges 18:2

Today's Scripture Reading (April 17, 2025): Judges 18

A recent study revealed that the human race is hard-wired to find the easy way to do things. The study also stresses that we are not lazy; we are simply designed to find the easiest way. The study presented their subjects with a group of dots, and the participants had to indicate using a pair of levers placed in their right and left hands whether the dots were moving left or right. I am unsure if there was a correct answer to the question or whether the motion of the dots was part of an optical illusion and the dots could be perceived as going both ways. Still, the participants responded to the motion of the dots with the lever in the appropriate hand. However, the participants didn't realize that the amount of pressure it took to depress one of the levers was steadily increasing. This meant that choosing one of the levers began to require a little more effort. The study revealed that as one lever became more difficult to press, the subjects consistently began to choose the easier lever, a result of the way we seem to be wired. 

We search for the easy way or even just what seems easier. There is a second reality that we have watched historically over the past couple of centuries. Science has repeatedly given us devices that were supposed to make our lives easier. However, the reality is that our lives haven't gotten easier; instead, the standards have changed. A good example is the vacuum cleaner. It was initially advertised as a time-saving device that would make life easier, but the reality is that the standard for a clean home changed. Today, advertisements for Vacuum cleaners stress how much cleaner your house will be rather than how much time you will save. However, time-saving was advertised in the days that followed the invention of the vacuum cleaner. We probably spend the same time cleaning the house as they did generations ago, but our houses are significantly cleaner. More proof that while we might be hard-wired for the easy way, we are not lazy by design.

Dan had received an allotment of land with the other tribes of Israel. But they had decided that the effort needed to take that section of Canaan was too difficult for the tribe to undertake. And so, the leaders of Dan started to look for an easier way to settle in the land. Their attention fell on the hill country that had actually been part of the allotment given to the Tribe of Ephraim. Spies were sent into the land to evaluate the expected level of resistance in the hill country and to see if there was space that Ephraim was not utilizing where Dan could settle.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 19