According to the Book of Genesis, Dan was the 5th of Jacob's 12 sons, born in Paddan-Aram, and the 1st born of the two sons of his mother Bilhah, the maidservant of her barren mistress Rachel, who substituted for her as a secondary wife to Jacob (30:6).
The name 'Dan' derives from 'Dananni', meaning 'God has acted as my judge .. so that He gave me a son', in reference to Rachel's belief that she had gained a child as the result of a judgment from God.
Bilha, Dan's mother is described as Laban's handmaid, who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. Laban was Rachel and Leah's father. When Rachel failed to have children, Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob to bear him children. Bilhah gave birth to Jacob 2 sons, who Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali.
By the time Jacob moved down into Egypt, taking along the whole household, Dan himself had a son named Hushim (Genesis 46, called Shusham at Numbers 26). Some 2 centuries later after coming out of slavery the Tribe numbered 62,700 men twenty years old and upward (Numbers1). It was the 2nd most populous Tribe as to 'men of battle age'. Hushim became the forefather of the Shushamites, the only tribal family enrolled for Dan.
In the wilderness Dan's Tribe, with Ahiezer as chieftain (who was with Moses when he numbered the 'assembly' of Israel), was assigned to camp on the 'North' of the 'Tabernacle' alongside the tribes of his full brother Naphtali and of Asher, the 8th son of Jacob and 2nd of two sons and full brothers (Gad) through Zilpah, Leah's maidservant, that occupied adjacent areas (Numbers 2). Asher was not prominent among the 12 sons of Jacob. However, in his father's deathbed prophecy, Asher was promised a life blessed with an abundance of rich foods, and the history of his descendands demonstrates the fulfillment of this prediction. Prior to entry into Canaan, Moses' prophetic blessing again predicted a prosperous portion for Asher.
On the move the Tribe of Dan marched in the 'highly' important position as 'rear guard', a compliment to their courage, loyalty, and dependability (Num.2; 10).
When the Promised land was divided up, the chieftain named Bukki the son of Jogli represented Dan, and as matters turned out, the Tribe got one of the smallest territories despite the fact that it was still the 2nd largest in number. Its lot, however, the 7th, fell on very desirable soil, bordering the Tribes of Judah, Ephraim and Benjamin, a land extending from the fertile Valleys of the Shephelah to the Sea Coast Plains of the Mediterranean. Initially the Danites attempted to settle 'in the South', in the vicinity of Zorah and Eshtaol (Joshua 19). This attempt failed in a region crowded with Amorites (Judges 1) and immigrant Philistines (chapters 13-16). But because of not driving out these squatter nations, as God had commanded, Dan suffered severely (Numbers 26; 34; Joshua 19; Judges 1). As a result, part of the Danites migrated during the period of the Judges to 'the extreme North'(Judges 18) of Palestine.
In the course of this event, 5 Danite spies set out, and by consulting a Levite priest in Mount Ephraim along the way, they discovered Laish, a city both rich in resources and vulnerable to attack. A war party of 600 warriors soon followed and took the city, which they renamed 'Dan' in honor of their tribal ancestor. The Danites forced the Levite priest to accompany them. Then they robbed the man named Micah of his carved image and set it up as their own god, and founded a sanctuary at Dan. Not-with-standing that members of Dan had been chosen years earlier to stand for the 'maledictions' from Mount Ebal, which included, "Cursed is the man who makes a carved image or a molten statue, a thing detestable to God"(Deuteronomy 27). Then the Danite territory was largely confined to this single urban center. Some of the Danites that remained 'in the South', made the core of which Solomon's 2nd administrative district preserved (1 King 4).
Judges 18 tells about the capture and destruction of Laish, and the rebuilt of the new city over the same foundation of the 'old city' and renamed 'Dan' and of its 'sanctuary'. A 'priesthood', which traced its 'roots' to Moses, served at the 'Danite shrine'. After the split of the monarchy, the Israelite king Jeroboam made 'the shrine of Dan' (along with Bethel) one of the 2 sanctuaries for the Northern Kingdom in his effort to divert his subjects from the Temple in Jerusalem. The prophet Amos condemned 'these shrines' (chapter 8), in which Jeroboam installed 'images of bull calves' (1Kings12; 2Kings10).
Second-millennium Mesopotamian and Egyptian records mention the 'city of Laish' or 'Leshem' meaning 'the Lion city' to its inhabitants, its real name prior its invasion by the Danites, who renamed it.
(Joshua 19; Judg.18). Four centuries earlier, in the account of Abraham's pursuit of Chedorlaomer and his allies, the extreme place that Abraham reached in the pursuing was "Dan"(Gen.14). A river has its source just below the city and its symbolic position in the narrative signal the coming of the Messiah.
The name "Dan" again appears in Deuteronomy 34, where it is included among the extremities of the territory seen by Moses in his final view of the Promised Land from his position on Mount Nebo.
In many aspects the Danites are unusual. They did not have many clans (only one is listed in Num.26), and sometimes they are referred to as a 'clan'(Judges 13;18) rather than as a 'tribe'.
The Danites were 'the only tribe' who 'failed' to hold (Judg.1; Josh.19) or receive a 'tribal allotment'. They are criticized in the Song of Deborah for conspicuously failing to give support in joining the Israelite coalition against the Canaanites (Judg.5).
In the Scripture, certain individuals of the Tribe of Dan distinguished themselves. There was Oholiab, son of Ahisamach, who was given divine wisdom to assist Bezalel; he was a man highly skilled in embroidering and weaving costly materials for the Tabernacle furnishings (Ex.31; 35; 38).
The best known Danite, Samson, the faithful servant of God, was the most uncharacteristic of the Judges (13-15). As 'judge' of Israel for 20 years proved Moses' prediction true: "Dan is a lion cub" (Deut.33; Judg.13; 15). When David became king, 28,600 Danites were numbered among his loyal troops. Later, Azarel the son of Jeroham is mentioned as the chief prince of the Tribe (1Chron.12; 27).
The mother of the "skillful man" that the king of Tyre sent to assist Solomon in building the Temple was of the tribe of Dan (2Chron.2).
Seventeen years later from the time Jacob moved down into Egypt, taking along the whole household, dying Jacob called his sons to his bedside, at this specific moment, Dan had 'full legal' status along with the other 11 as 'family heads' of the 12 tribes of Israel. In blessing him Jacob's deathbed 'words about Dan' were the following: "Dan shall judge his people 'as one' of the tribes of Israel. Let Dan prove to be a serpent by the roadside, a horned snake at the wayside, that bites the heels of the horse so that its rider falls backward. I shall indeed wait for salvation from You, O God" (Gen.49).
As a frontier post, Dan was memorilized in the common phrase "from Dan to Beersheba"(Judg.20; 1Sam 3) which marked, respectively, the Northern and Southern limits of Israel.
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