Dan

In the Bible

• Conquest and naming: According to Judges 18, the tribe of Dan failed to settle in the territory first allotted to it. The Danites went north and struck Laish, whose people lived in security, far from the Sidonians. They then renamed the city Dan after their ancestor Dan (Judges 18:27–29). Joshua 19:47 calls the same place Leshem. There the Danites set up the graven image they had taken from Micah in the hill country of Ephraim, and Jonathan the son of Gershom and his descendants became their priests (Judges 18:30–31).
• The golden calf: After the kingdom divided, Jeroboam made two golden calves so that the people would not go up to Jerusalem. He placed one in Bethel and the other in Dan, and Scripture passes judgment on the act: "And this thing became a sin" (1 Kings 12:28–30). Even Jehu did not remove these calves (2 Kings 10:29).
• Other references: When Ben-hadad king of Aram attacked the northern kingdom, he captured Dan (1 Kings 15:20). Amos 8:14 warns that those who swear, "Thy god, O Dan, liveth," shall fall. In Jeremiah 4:15 and 8:16, news of disaster coming from the north is heard from Dan.

Background

Dan lay at the southern foot of Mount Hermon, beside one of the springs that feed the Jordan River. The site was well watered and stood on a northern trade route. It is widely identified with Tel Dan (Arabic Tell el-Qadi) in northern Israel. Remains that appear to be an altar platform have been excavated there, and in the 1990s an Aramaic inscription containing a phrase read as "House of David" was discovered and drew wide attention. Scholars differ, however, on how to connect these remains with particular biblical episodes and how to date them.

The name Dan is related to a Hebrew word meaning "to judge" or "to vindicate." This connection appears in the account of Rachel naming her son Dan, saying, "God hath judged me" (Genesis 30:6).

Significance in the Whole Bible

The phrase "from Dan even to Beersheba" served as an idiom for the whole land of Israel, from its northern to its southern limit (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 24:2). At the same time, because of the golden calf worship, Dan became a symbol of the northern kingdom's idolatry. The books of Kings repeatedly assess the kings of the northern kingdom as rulers who did not depart from "the sins of Jeroboam."

The New Testament does not mention the city of Dan directly. The tribe of Dan is absent from the list of the twelve tribes of Israel in Revelation 7:5–8.

Interpretation and Debated Points

• "Dan" in early texts: Scripture records that Abram pursued Lot's captors "unto Dan" (Genesis 14:14) and that Moses was shown "all the land of Gilead, unto Dan" (Deuteronomy 34:1). Because the place was still called Laish in those periods, interpretations differ. Some hold that a later, more familiar place name was substituted; others regard it as a different place bearing the same name.
• Jonathan's lineage: Because of the Hebrew manuscript tradition, the priest Jonathan in Judges 18:30 is rendered in different translations as either "the grandson of Moses" or "the grandson of Manasseh."
• The omission of Dan in Revelation: The text gives no reason. Some interpret the omission as a consequence of the tribe's idolatry. A view that the Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan has also been handed down since the early church father Irenaeus, but this is not something the biblical text states directly.

In the Korean Church

Sermons in Korean churches frequently address Jeroboam's establishment of altars at Dan and Bethel, often citing it as an example of altering worship for political calculation or convenience. Visitors on pilgrimages to the Holy Land in Israel sometimes tour the Tel Dan site when visiting the northern Galilee region.