Tribe of Dan

Tribe of Dan was also a band from the mid 1990s.

The Tribe of Dan (Hebrew: דָּן, Modern: Dan, Tiberian: Dān, "Judge") was one of the Tribes of Israel. At its height, the territory it occupied was the most northerly region occupied by the Israelite tribes, and was situated to the north of the Galilee, and west of the Jordan, stretching north as far as Laish, Dan's main city (which became known as Dan in consequence).

In the Biblical census of the Book of Numbers, the tribe of Dan is portrayed as the largest Israelite tribe. Some textual scholars regard the census as being from the Priestly Source, dating it to around the 7th century BC, and more likely to reflect the biases of its authors, though this still implies that Dan was one of the largest tribes at a point fresh to the memories of the 7th century BC. In the Blessing of Moses, which some textual scholars regard as dating from only slightly earlier than the deuteronomist, Dan is seemingly prophesied to leap from Bashan; scholars are uncertain why this should be since the tribe are not recorded as having ever been resident in the Bashan plain, which lies to the east of the Jordan.

Origin

According to the Torah, the tribe was founded by an individual, Dan a son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant (Genesis 30:4) from whom it took its name. In the Biblical account, Dan is one of the two descendants of Bilhah, a handmaid of one of Jacob's wives (Rachel), the other child of Bilhah being Naphtali; scholars see this as indicating that the authors saw Dan and Naphtali as being not of entirely Israelite origin (hence descendants of handmaids rather than of full wives). It is worth noting that the territory of the handmaid tribes happens to be the territory closest to the north and eastern borders of Canaan; they were the most exposed to Israel's immediate enemies - Assyria and Aram.

According to the biblical narrative, the tribe had originally tried to settle in the central coastal area of Palestine, but due to enmity with the Philistines who had already settled there, were only able to camp in the hill country overlooking the Sorek Valley, the camp location becoming known as Mahaneh Dan ("Camps of Dan"). The region they were trying to settle included the area as far north as Joppa, and extending south into the Shephelah in the area of Timnah; as a result, the modern state of Israel, as well as some zionists, refer to the region as Gush Dan (the Dan area). However, as a consequence of the pressure from the Philistines, the tribe abandoned hopes of settling near the central coast, instead migrating to the north of the country, and after conquering Laish, refounded it as their capital (renaming it Dan).

"Dan" Modern artists use the "scales of justice," a pagan symbol, to represent the Tribe of Dan due to Genesis 49:16 referencing Dan judging his people. However, more traditional artists use a snake to represent Dan, based on Genesis 49:17. The most famous Danite was Samson.

Modern analysis

Some Biblical scholars, however view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.

The tribe of Dan is suspected by biblical scholars to have evolved from the Denyen, one of the groups of Sea Peoples; thus the reason that in the time period in which the Book of Judges is set, the Song of Deborah describes the tribe of Dan as residing in ships, and another narrative in Judges describes the tribe as being without a fixed abode until conquering Laish. The Philistines are also regarded by scholars as having been one of the Sea Peoples, specifically the Peleset, and so the particular enmity between the Philistines and Dan, as portrayed in the narrative of Samson, could simply be one in which each group views the other as traitors. In a similar vein to the etymological link between the term Philistine and the term Peleset, Denyen is thought by scholars to be the origin of the name Dan, the biblical etymology being a later guess at the name's origin.

Fate

As part of the Kingdom of Israel, the territory of Dan was conquered by the Assyrians, and exiled; the manner of their exile led to their further history being lost. In modern day Ethiopia, a country which was isolated from much of the world from the Muslim conquest of north Africa until the 19th century, are the Beta Israel, a group of Jews claiming to be descendants of the Tribe of Judah, through King Solomon and Makeda, Queen of Sheba and their son Menelik I, the first Solomonic Emperor of Ethiopia.

According to the Book of Revelation (7:4-8), the tribe of Dan is the only original tribe of Israel which is not included in the list of tribes which are sealed. No mention is made of why they are excluded. It could be a textual error (Menasheh substituted for Dan) or it could be because of their pagan practices.

This made Hippolytus of Rome and Millennialists claim that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan.

Dan is not the only tribe not mentioned in Revelation 7:5-8: neither is the tribe of Ephraim. The tribes of Joseph and of Levi are mentioned in Revelation 7:5-8, while they were not commonly counted as tribes elsewhere. In most listings of the twelve tribes Levi is omitted, since the inheritance of Levi are the sacrifices of Israel and not an allotment of territory. Ordinarily Ephraim and Menasseh take the place of Joseph to keep the number of tribes at twelve once Levi is excluded. If Dan were excluded from Revelation 7:5-8, due to its being a seat of idolatry in the Northern Kingdom, perhaps the same reasoning might account for the exclusion of Ephraim since the other seat of idolatry in the Northern Kingdom was Bethel, situated in the territory of Ephraim. However, in Numbers 1:32, the tribe of Ephraim is clearly referenced as representing the "children of Joseph," thus, Ephraim appears to be a euphemism for Joseph, explaining Ephraim's apparent omission in Revelation chapter 7.

See also

• Dan (biblical figure)
• Ten Lost Tribes
• Danes
• Eldad Ha-Dani
• Dan (Liberian Tribe, West Africa)
• Beta Israel
• Danaus