Dan(leshem)
“Judge”
Summary
The fifth son of Jacob and founder of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, whose territory later became a center of idolatry in the northern kingdom.
☩The Patriarch
Dan was the fifth son of Jacob, the first born to Bilhah, Rachel's maid. Rachel, grieved by her barrenness, exclaimed at his birth, 'God hath judged me and given me a son,' naming him Dan (meaning 'judge'). Dan was own brother to Naphtali and, as the son of Rachel's maid, stood in closer relation to Joseph and Benjamin than to Leah's sons. Only one son, Hushim (or Shuham), is attributed to Dan, yet his tribe became one of the most numerous.
☩The Tribe
At the Exodus, Dan was the second most numerous tribe with 62,700 fighting men, exceeding all except Judah. Their position during the wilderness march was on the north side of the tabernacle, the hindmost of the procession. Of Dan's tribe was Aholiab, the skilled craftsman who assisted Bezaleel in constructing the tabernacle. Their allotment in Canaan was on the coast west of Judah and Benjamin, a rich and fertile district, but the Amorites and later the Philistines forced them into the mountains.
☩Migration and Idolatry
Finding their original territory too small and harassed by enemies, 600 Danite warriors seized the city of Laish in the far north, renaming it Dan. They established there an idolatrous worship using an image stolen from Micah the Ephraimite, which continued 'until the day of the captivity of the land.' Later, Jeroboam chose Dan as one of two sites for his golden calf worship, perpetuating its association with apostasy.
☩Jacob's Prophecy
Jacob prophesied, 'Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.' This was fulfilled partly in Samson, Dan's great judge, whose guerrilla tactics against the Philistines exemplified the tribe's serpent-like warfare. Some have seen in the serpent imagery a darker prophetic significance, connecting Dan with future apostasy or the Antichrist—perhaps explaining Dan's omission from Revelation's sealed tribes.
Related Verses71 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Dan," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. II (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Dan (1)," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Dan," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 4.George Morrish, "Dan," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 5.James Orr (ed.), "Dan (1); Dan, tribe of," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).