Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brethren: ''Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, household idols, and a carved image and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you will do.'' (וַיִּשְׁמְרוּ חֲמִשֶּׁת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר־הָלְכוּ לְרַגֵּל אֶת־הָאָרֶץ לַיִשָׁה וַיִּשְׁמְרוּ בֵּית־מִיכָה וְהַתְּרָפִים אֲשֶׁר־בַּבָּיִת וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֶל־אֲחֵיהֶם הֲיְדַעְתֶּם כִּי־יֵשׁ בַּבָּתִּים הָאֵלֶּה אֵפוֹד וּתְרָפִים וּפֶסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה וְעַתָּה דְּעוּ מַה־תַּעֲשׂוּ) — the five spies deliberately point out Micah's religious objects to the 600 armed Danites: an ephod, household idols (teraphim), carved image, and molten image. The spies' explicit identification of these objects suggests that theft is already contemplated or at least anticipated by the leadership. The spies' question—``Now therefore consider what you will do''—invites the assembled tribe to recognize opportunity: they can seize powerful religious objects and a priestly functionary for their own community.

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