Difference between revisions of "Dan"

&nbsp;Judges 1:1&nbsp;Genesis 30:6 <p> 2. The biblical city of Dan is often mentioned in the description of the land of Israel, namely “from Dan even to Beersheba” (&nbsp;Judges 20:1 ). It has been identified with modern tell el-Qadi (or tell Dan). The tel, which covers about 50 acres, is situated at the northern end of the richly fertile Huleh Plain at the base of Mt. Hermon. The abundant springs of the site provide one of the three main sources of the [[Jordan]] [[River.]] </p> <p> The city was formerly named [[Laish]] (&nbsp;Judges 18:7 or Leshem in &nbsp; Joshua 19:47 ) when occupied by the Canaanites. This city is mentioned in the [[Egyptian]] execration texts and Mari tablets from the eighteenth century B.C. Later [[Thutmose]] III listed Laish among the cities conquered in his 1468 B.C. campaign. The name Dan was applied to the city conquered by the [[Israelite]] tribe in its northern migration (&nbsp;Judges 18:1 ). </p> <p> Excavation of tell Dan has been led by A. Biran of [[Hebrew]] University in [[Jerusalem]] since 1966. Laish was founded at the end of the Early Bronze II [[Age]] (about 2700 B.C.) near the springs and flourished until about 2300 B.C. [[Significant]] pottery remains of this era were uncovered along with remains of floors and walls. The city probably remained unoccupied until the Middle Bronze II period (about 2000 B.C.), when a large, well-fortified city was constructed. A massive earthen rampart similar to that of [[Hazor]] was built for defensive purposes, and set into the rampart (about 1750 B.C.) was a well-preserved, mudbrick “triple-arched gate.” The fifteen meter square gate system stood twelve meters above the surrounding plain and contained the earliest arched entryways known in the world. The gate was blocked and covered within a century for reasons unknown. The earthen ramparts continued to be the primary defense fortification through several wars and conquests until the Israelite period. Other significant finds from the period include jar burials, tombs, and pottery. </p> <p> The Late Bronze Age is represented by a richly-supplied tomb containing Mycenaean and Cypriote imported wares; ivory inlaid cosmetic boxes; gold, silver, and bronze objects; and forty-five skeletons of men, women, and children. </p> <p> Iron Age Laish was rebuilt by local inhabitants in the late thirteenth century B.C. but destroyed about 1100 B.C. by the migrating tribe of Dan. [[Scripture]] describes the conquest of the city as if the local people were unsuspecting of the coming invasion. [[Danites]] utilized the earlier rampart for defense and built their homes on the ruins of the previous city. The first [[Danite]] city, which contained some [[Philistine]] pottery remnants, was destroyed a century after its founding. The city was soon rebuilt and became a prominent Israelite city of the Iron Age. </p> <p> Following the establishment of the Israelite kingdom under David and Solomon, [[Jeroboam]] led the Northern tribes in revolt against [[Rehoboam]] (about 925 B.C.). As an alternative to worship in Jerusalem, Dan and [[Bethel]] were fortified as border fortress/sanctuaries (&nbsp;1 Kings 12:29 ) with temples containing golden calf representations of Yahweh. This may have represented a combination of [[Baal]] worship with worship of Yahweh. The extent to which the Baal cult influenced Northern [[Israel]] is seen in the reign of Jehu, who did not destroy the altars at Dan and Bethel, despite eradicating the Baal priests from the land (&nbsp;2 Kings 10:32 ). Excavations at Dan have uncovered the “high place” of Jeroboam along with a small horned altar, the city gate (with royal throne) and walls (12 feet thick), hundreds of pottery vessels, buildings, and inscribed objects. This city was soon taken by Ben-hadad of [[Aram]] and then recaptured by Jeroboam II in the eighth century B.C. (&nbsp;2 Kings 14:25 ). The Israelite city of Dan fell to the [[Assyrians]] under Tiglath-pileser III (Pul of Old Testament) about 743 B.C. (&nbsp;2 Kings 15:29 ). He annexed the city into an [[Assyrian]] district. Many Danites were deported to Assyria, Babylon, and Media following the fall of [[Samaria]] in 722 or 721 B.C. (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:6 ) to [[Sargon]] II. [[Foreigners]] were brought in from Babylon, Aram, and other lands to settle Israel's territory. The writer of Kings ascribed the fall of the kingdom to the worship of gods other than Yahweh (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:7-20 ), and Dan was one of the key centers of this idolatry. </p> <p> As [[Josiah]] came to the throne of [[Judah]] in 639 B.C., [[Assyria]] was on the decline. Josiah incorporated the former Northern [[Kingdom]] territories into a united country, restoring the classical borders of Israel to “from Dan to Beersheba.” An upper gate to the city was built during this period, and the inscription found at this level, “belonging to Ba'alpelet,” demonstrates that Baal worship continued to influence this area after the Assyrian destruction. The partially rebuilt city survived until the onslaught of the [[Babylonian]] army of [[Nebuchadnezzar]] (about 589 B.C.; compare &nbsp;Jeremiah 4:14-18 ). </p> <p> Dan again was occupied in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. In the area of the high place, statues and figurines of Greco-Roman and Egyptian gods such as Osiris, Bes, and Aphrodite have been excavated. The Greek and [[Aramaic]] inscription, “To the god who is in Dan, Zoilos made a vow,” further evidences the religious significance of the city. </p> <p> Dennis Cole </p>

<p> '''Dan.''' (a judge). </p> <p> 1. The fifth son of Jacob, and the first of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. &nbsp;Genesis 30:6. (B.C. After 1753). The origin of the name is given in the exclamation of Rachel. The records of Dan are unusually meagre. Only one son is attributed to him, &nbsp;Genesis 46:23, but his tribe was, with the exception of Judah, the most numerous of all. In the division of the [[Promised]] Land, Dan was the last of the tribes to receive his portion, which was the smallest of the twelve. &nbsp;Joshua 19:48, But notwithstanding its smallness, it had eminent natural advantages. </p> <p> On the north and east, it was completely embraced by its two brother tribes, [[Ephraim]] and Benjamin, while on the southeast and south, it joined Judah, and was thus, surrounded by the three most powerful states of the whole confederacy. It was a rich and fertile district; but the Amorites soon "forced them into the mountain," &nbsp;Judges 1:34, and they had another portion granted them. Judges 18. In the "security" and "quiet," &nbsp;Judges 18:7; &nbsp;Judges 18:10, of their rich northern possession, the Danites enjoyed the leisure and repose which had been denied them in their original seat. </p> <p> In the time of David, Dan still kept its place among the tribes. &nbsp;1 Chronicles 12:35. [[Asher]] is omitted, but the "prince of the tribe of Dan" is mentioned in the list of &nbsp;1 Chronicles 27:22. But from this time forward, the name as applied to the tribe vanishes; it is kept alive only by the northern city. In the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2-12, Dan is omitted entirely. Lastly, Dan is omitted from the list of those who were sealed by the angel in the vision of St. John. &nbsp;Revelation 7:5-7. </p> <p> 2. The well-known city, so familiar as the most northern landmark of Palestine, in the common expression "from Dan even to Beersheba." The name of the place was originally '''Laish''' or '''Leshem''' . &nbsp;Joshua 19:47. After the establishment of the Danites at Dan, it became the acknowledged extremity of the country. It is now Tell el-Kadi, a mound, three miles from Banias, from the foot of which gushes out one of the largest fountains in the world, the main source of the Jordan. </p>

<p> The tribe of Dan was descended from the elder of two sons whom Rachel’s maid [[Bilhah]] bore to Jacob (&nbsp;Genesis 30:1-6). In the original division of Canaan, Dan received its tribal portion on the Philistine coast between Judah and Ephraim (&nbsp;Joshua 19:40-48; &nbsp;Judges 5:17; &nbsp;Judges 13:1-2; &nbsp;Judges 14:1; &nbsp;Judges 16:23; for map see TRIBES). </p> <p> Besides being squeezed between Israel’s two most powerful tribes, the Danites were pushed back from the coast by the [[Philistines]] and the Amorites. The tribe therefore sent representatives north to look for a better place to live (&nbsp;Judges 1:34; &nbsp;Judges 18:1-2). The place they decided upon was Laish, located in the fertile region of the Jordan headwaters in the far north of Canaan. With the swiftness and ruthlessness that had characterized the tribe from the beginning, they slaughtered the people of Laish and seized the town for themselves, renaming it Dan (&nbsp;Judges 18:7-10; &nbsp;Judges 18:27-29; cf. &nbsp;Genesis 49:16-17; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:22). </p> <p> From that time on, the towns of Dan and [[Beersheba]] marked respectively the northern and southern limits of the land of Israel (&nbsp;Judges 20:1; &nbsp;1 Samuel 3:20; &nbsp;2 Samuel 17:11; &nbsp;2 Samuel 24:2). When the nation was split in two after the death of Solomon, the southern tribes of Judah and [[Benjamin]] were separated from the northern tribes, who still called themselves Israel. The new limits of Israel were now Dan in the north and Bethel in the south. The breakaway king of Israel set up his own shrines in these two towns, in opposition to Judah’s shrine in Jerusalem (&nbsp;1 Kings 12:28-30). </p> <p> Dan’s isolated location meant that it was open to enemy attack from the north (&nbsp;1 Kings 15:20). It was one of the first parts of Israel to fall when Assyria conquered the land and took the people into captivity (&nbsp;2 Kings 15:29). </p>

<p> '''Dan''' (dăn), &nbsp;Judges 1:1-36. A son of Jacob by bis concubine Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid. &nbsp;Genesis 30:6; &nbsp;Genesis 35:25; &nbsp;Exodus 1:4; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 2:2. Of Dan's personal history we know nothing, except that he had one son, Hushim or Shuham. &nbsp;Genesis 46:23; &nbsp;Numbers 26:42. He shared with Ms brethren the prophetic blessing of Jacob, &nbsp;Genesis 49:16-17, fulfilled, perhaps, in the administration of Samson, and in the craft and stratagem which his descendants used against their enemies. Other explanations, however, have been given. Those descendants multiplied largely; for at the first census after quitting [[Egypt]] the tribe numbered 62,700 males above 20 years of age; and, when numbered again on their coming to Jordan, they were 64,400. &nbsp;Numbers 1:38-39; &nbsp;Numbers 26:42-43. Moses ere his death, like Jacob, pronounced a prophetic blessing on the tribe: "Dan is a lion's whelp: he shall leap from Bashan," &nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:22, fulfilled in the predatory expeditions of which one at least is recorded in their subsequent history. 2, The territory in [[Canaan]] allotted to Dan was on the seacoast, west of Benjamin and between Ephraim and Judah. It embraced a broad plain, 14 miles long, near the sea. The Amorites kept them from the plain and forced them into the mountains. Hence they had another portion granted them, near Mount Hermon, &nbsp;Judges 18:1-31, where they set up a graven image stolen from &nbsp;Micah 3:1-12. Dan, city of, the chief city of the northern district held by this tribe. &nbsp;Judges 20:1. It was originally called Laish, &nbsp;Judges 18:29; noted for idolatry, &nbsp;Judges 18:30; now called Tel-el-Kâdy, or "Mound of the Judge," three miles from Banias, north of the waters of Merom. 4. The Dan of &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:19, R. V. "Vedan." is possibly the same as No. 2. but some identify it with Dedar, others with Aden, in Arabia. </p>

<p> The fifth son of Jacob, and by Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel. (&nbsp;Genesis 30:4-6) I notice this man more with a view to make an observation on his father's prophecy concerning his tribe, than from any thing particularly to be recorded relative to Dan himself. Jacob, when dying, prophesied concerning Dan in these remarkable words: (&nbsp;Genesis 49:16-17) "Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward." This prophecy was accomplished in the person of Samson, who descended from Dan. It is worthy farther remark, that though in the first instance of Dan there were no very promising prospects of a numerous race, Dan himself having but one son, (&nbsp;Genesis 46:23) yet, at the children of Israel's leaving Egypt, the tribe of Dan amounted to "threescore and two thousand, seven hundred men," all that were able to go forth to war. (&nbsp;Numbers 1:38) </p>

<li> This name occurs in &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:19 , Authorize Version; but the words there, "Dan also," should be simply, as in the Revised Version, "Vedan," an [[Arabian]] city, from which various kinds of merchandise were brought to Tyre. Some suppose it to have been the city of Aden in Arabia. (See MAHANEH-DAN.) <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated [[Bible]] Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Dan'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/d/dan.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> '''(1):''' ''' (''' n.) A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir. </p> <p> '''(2):''' ''' (''' n.) A small truck or sledge used in coal mines. </p>

<p> '''Bibliography Information''' McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Dan'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and [[Ecclesiastical]] Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/d/dan.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870. </p>