What does the (re)naming of the site as “Mahaneh-dan” indicate?
Judges 18:12 (ESV)
12and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.
The narrator shares very little about this temporary stop, which suggests it may have been without incident. Yet the location, or encampment, must have been impressive or significant enough for it to be memorialized by the renaming of the site to Mahaneh-dan,the camp of Dan.1
12 and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.