Tribe of Dan

Biblical Record

The ancestor of the tribe of Dan was Dan, the son of Jacob. Dan was born to Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Rachel said, "God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son," and named him Dan (Genesis 30:6). The Hebrew name Dan is related to a verb meaning "to judge" or "to vindicate."

In his blessing before his death, Jacob said that Dan "shall judge his people" and "shall be a serpent by the way" (Genesis 49:16-17). In the blessing of Moses, Dan is portrayed as "a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan" (Deuteronomy 33:22). In the first census taken in the wilderness, the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700 (Numbers 1:39). The tribe camped on the north side of the tabernacle and served as the rear guard when the camp set out on the march (Numbers 2:25-31). Aholiab, who took part in making the tabernacle, was also a member of the tribe of Dan (Exodus 31:6).

Land Allotment and Northward Migration

According to Joshua 19:40-48, the tribe of Dan received the region around Zorah and Eshtaol, along with land to the west near Joppa. However, the Amorites forced the Danites back into the hill country and would not allow them to come down into the plain (Judges 1:34). The judge Samson was the son of Manoah, a Danite who lived in Zorah (Judges 13:2).

According to Judges 17–18, the tribe of Dan sent out spies and then attacked and captured Laish in the north (called Leshem in Joshua 19:47), renaming the city "Dan." In the process, the Danites carried off the graven image belonging to Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim, along with the Levite who served as his household priest, and set them up for their own worship (Judges 18:30). Thereafter the phrase "from Dan even to Beersheba" came to be used as an expression for the whole land of Israel (Judges 20:1). After the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28-30).

Place in Scripture as a Whole

It is often noted that the tribal genealogies of 1 Chronicles do not include a separate, detailed genealogy for the tribe of Dan. In the list of the tribes of those who were sealed in Revelation 7:5-8, Dan is omitted and Manasseh is included. By contrast, in the allotment of the restored land in Ezekiel 48, Dan receives the northernmost portion (48:1-2), and one of the gates of the new city also bears Dan's name (48:32).

Interpretations and Issues

• The omission in Revelation 7: The text does not explain why Dan is omitted, and interpretations vary. Some attribute the omission to the tribe's idolatry; others hold that Dan dropped out when both Levi and the Joseph tribes were included while the number was kept at twelve. Still others read the list itself symbolically.
• The Antichrist tradition: Early church writers such as Irenaeus, appealing to passages such as Jeremiah 8:16, held that the Antichrist would come from the tribe of Dan. This idea is not stated directly in the biblical text but is a later interpretation, and many commentators today regard its basis as weak.
• The textual issue in Judges 18:30: The Hebrew Masoretic Text adds a small raised letter to the name "Moses" so that it can also be read as "Manasseh." Jewish tradition has explained this notation as a way of avoiding drawing attention to the fact that a descendant of Moses became a priest of an idol. Consequently, some translations render the name as "Moses" and others as "Manasseh."
• "A serpent by the way": Interpretations of this expression in Genesis 49:17 differ. Some read it as describing the shrewdness by which a small tribe overcomes a larger enemy; others read it as a warning that foreshadows the tribe's later apostasy.