1. A Levite who served as priest in connection with false worship at the house of Micah in Ephraim and later with the Danites. The account in Judges chapters 17 and 18 repeatedly refers to a young Levite who, at Judges 18:30, is called “Jonathan the son of Gershom, Moses’ son.” That he was earlier described as “of the family of Judah” may refer simply to the fact that he resided in Bethlehem in the territory of Judah.​—Jg 17:7.

Jonathan “and his sons became priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the land’s being taken into exile.” (Jg 18:30) Some commentators have applied this to a conquest of the district, such as by Tiglath-pileser III, or all of the northern tribes in 740 B.C.E. (2Ki 15:29; 17:6) However, since Samuel evidently wrote Judges, an earlier application must be intended. Judges 18:31 mentions that the Danites kept the carved image “set up for themselves all the days that the house of the true God continued in Shiloh.” This suggests a time period for the application of the preceding verse, and it strengthens the view that Jonathan’s family served as priests until the Ark was captured by the Philistines. It has been contended that verse 30 should read, ‘until the day of the ark’s being taken into exile.’ (1Sa 4:11, 22) But this conclusion about the duration of the priesthood of Jonathan’s family may be correct even without altering the reading, for verse 30 may be taking the view that the land, in a sense, was carried into exile when the Ark was captured.