According to the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
, Dan ( he, דָּן, ''Dān'', "judgment" or "he judged") was the first of the two sons of
Jacob
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
and
Bilhah
Bilhah ( "unworried", Standard Hebrew: ''Bīlha'', Tiberian Hebrew: ''Bīlhā'') is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis.For the etymology, see describes her as Laban's handmaid, who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marria ...
(Jacob's fifth son). His mother, Bilhah, was
Rachel's
handmaid, who becomes one of Jacob's
concubines
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubin ...
(
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
, ). In the Biblical account, he is the founder of the
Israelite
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
Tribe of Dan. He was the father of Hushim, according to Gen 46:23.
Samson was a descendant of Dan.
Name
The text of the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the s ...
explains that the name of ''Dan'' derives from ''dananni'', meaning "he has judged me", in reference to Rachel's belief that she had gained a child as the result of a judgment from
God.
Biblical references
Owing to the
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom i ...
, in the account of
Micah's Idol
The narrative of Micah's Idol, recounted in the Book of Judges ( chapters 17 and 18), concerns the Tribe of Dan, their conquest of Laish, and the sanctuary that was subsequently created there.
Biblical narrative
The narrative, as it stands in J ...
, describing the Tribe of Dan as having used
ephod and
teraphim
Teraphim ( he, תְּרָף ''tərāf''; plural: he, תְּרָפִים ''tərāfīm'') is a Hebrew word from the Bible, found only in the plural, of uncertain etymology. Despite being plural, ''Teraphim'' may refer to singular objects, using the ...
in worship, and
Samson (a member of the Tribe of Dan) being described as failing to adhere to the rules of a
Nazarite
In the Hebrew Bible, a nazirite or a nazarite ( he, נָזִיר ''Nāzīr'') is one who voluntarily took a vow which is described in . "Nazarite" comes from the Hebrew word ''nazir'' meaning "consecrated" or "separated". Those who put themselves ...
, classical rabbinical writers concluded that Dan was very much a ''
black sheep
In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...
''.
[''Jewish Encyclopedia''] In the
Book of Jeremiah
The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the boo ...
, the north of Canaan is associated with darkness and evil, and so rabbinical sources treated Dan as the
archetype
The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ot ...
of wickedness.
In the
apocrypha
Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...
l
Testaments of the Patriarchs
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Ort ...
, Dan is portrayed as having hated
Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, and having been the one that invented the idea of deceiving Jacob by the smearing of Joseph's coat with the blood of a kid. In the apocryphal
Prayer of Asenath, Dan is portrayed as plotting with the Egyptian crown prince, against Joseph and
Asenath
Asenath (, ; Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, ''Asenéth'') is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman. She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. There are two R ...
.
In the
Blessing of Jacob
The Blessing of Jacob is a prophetic poem that appears in Genesis at and mentions each of Jacob's twelve sons. Genesis presents the poem as the words of Jacob to his sons when Jacob is about to die.
Like the Blessing of Moses, Genesis 49 assess ...
, Dan is described as a ''
serpent
Serpent or The Serpent may refer to:
* Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes
Mythology and religion
* Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature
* Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts
* Serp ...
'', which seems to have been interpreted as connecting Dan to
Belial,
a connection made, for example, in the apocryphal
Testament of Dan
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Bible. It is believed to be a pseudepigraphical work of the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is part of the Oskan Armenian Ort ...
.
Early Christian writers, such as
Irenaeus
Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the dev ...
and
Hippolytus, even believed that the
Antichrist would come from the Tribe of Dan.
John the Apostle
John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee a ...
omits the Tribe of Dan when mentioning the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, in regard to the
144,000
144,000 is a natural number. It has significance in various religious movements and ancient prophetic belief systems.
Religion Christianity
Book of Revelation
The number 144,000 appears three times in the Book of Revelation:
* Revelation 7:3–8 ...
sealed Israelites.
Instead of Dan, the tribe of Joseph appears twice (being also represented by
Manasseh).
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Founders of biblical tribes
Children of Jacob
Burials in Israel
Book of Genesis people
Tribe of Dan