The Tribe of Dan — the name, the blessing and the land

דָּן

Dân · pronounced dawn · Strong's H1835 · named 63 times

The judge — a serpent by the way, a lion's whelp leaping

What the tribe was

Dan 'shall judge his people' — the name itself means judge, and Samson the Danite judged Israel twenty years. The tribe's first lot lay on the coastal plain by Joppa, but the Amorites pressed them (Judg 1:34), and most of Dan marched north to take Laish at the foot of Hermon — which is why the land runs 'from Dan to Beersheba.' Fierce, restless, and vulnerable to idolatry (Judg 18), Dan is both a warning and a testimony that Jacob's dying prayer — 'I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD' — was uttered over this son.

Jacob's blessing — Gen 49:16-18

Moses' blessing — Deut 33:22

Who came out of Dan

Samson — Judg 13:24Aholiab, craftsman of the tabernacle — Exod 31:6

Moments in the story

Josh 19:40The lot by the coast

Judg 1:34Amorites force Dan to the hills

Judg 18:27The Danites take Laish

Judg 15:20Samson judges Israel

1Kgs 12:29Jeroboam's calf set in Dan

Every mention

Gen 14:14Gen 30:6Gen 35:25Gen 46:23Gen 49:16Gen 49:17Exod 1:4Exod 31:6Exod 35:34Exod 38:23Lev 24:11Num 1:12Num 1:38Num 1:39Num 2:25Num 2:31Num 7:66Num 10:25Num 13:12Num 26:42Num 34:22Deut 27:13Deut 33:22Deut 34:1Josh 19:40Josh 19:47Josh 19:48Josh 21:5Josh 21:23Judg 1:34Judg 5:17Judg 13:25Judg 18:2Judg 18:16Judg 18:22Judg 18:23Judg 18:25Judg 18:26Judg 18:29Judg 18:30Judg 20:11Sam 3:202Sam 3:102Sam 17:112Sam 24:22Sam 24:151Kgs 5:51Kgs 12:291Kgs 12:301Kgs 15:202Kgs 10:291Chr 2:21Chr 21:21Chr 27:222Chr 2:132Chr 16:42Chr 30:5Jer 4:15Jer 8:16Ezek 48:1Ezek 48:2Ezek 48:32Amos 8:14

After the allotments of Joshua 13–19 · outlines adapted from the “12 Tribes of Israel” map (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0).

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