Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 18:21

"So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them." — Judges 18:21 (ASV)

The little ones and the cattle. —It is only in this incidental way that the fact of this being a regular migration is brought out . The women are, of course, included, though not mentioned (Genesis 34:29; 2 Chronicles 20:13).

And the carriage —that is, “the baggage” . The word is hakkebodah, which the Septuagint (Cod. A) render “their glorious possession,” and the Vulgate “everything which was precious,” that is, the valuables. But as cabîd means “to be heavy,” the rendering of the Vatican manuscript of the Septuagint—“the weight,” that is, “the heavy baggage” (impedimenta)—may be right. The word has no connection with that similarly rendered in 1 Samuel 17:22.

Before them. —Because they expected pursuit.