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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Dan</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04615c.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The fifth son of Jacob, being the elder of the two sons born to him by Bala, the handmaid of Rachel, and the eponymous ancestor of the tribe bearing the same name"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="04615c.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/d.htm">D</a> > Dan</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Dan</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>(<a href="../cathen/07176a.htm">Hebrew</a> <em>dn</em>, Sept. <em>Dán</em>),—(1) The fifth son of Jacob, being the elder of the two sons born to him by Bala, the handmaid of Rachel, and the eponymous ancestor of the tribe bearing the same name. Etymologically, the word is referred to the Hebrew root <em>dyn</em> signifying "to rule" or "judge", and in the passage, <a href="../bible/gen019.htm#vrs17">Genesis 19:17</a>, it is interpreted "judge", but in <a href="../bible/gen030.htm#vrs6">Genesis 30:6</a>, the explanation of the name rests rather on the passive sense of the word—the child Dan being represented as the result of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> judgment in favour of Rachel. In accordance with the meaning expressed in the latter passage, <a href="../cathen/08522a.htm">Josephus</a> (Antiq., I, xix, 7) gives as the equivalent of the name Dan the Greek <em>Theókritos</em>. A cognate feminine form of the same word, likewise in the passive sense, is recognized in Dina (<em>dynh</em>), name of the daughter of Jacob by Lia, doubtless with reference to the judgment or vindication she received at the hands of her two brothers Simeon and Levi (<a href="../bible/gen034.htm">Genesis 34</a>). Apart from the account connected with his birth in <a href="../bible/gen030.htm">Genesis 30</a>, the <a href="../bible">Bible</a> gives very little information concerning Dan the son of Jacob. In <a href="../bible/gen035.htm#vrs25">Genesis 35:25</a>, his name is mentioned together with those of the other sons of <a href="../cathen/08261a.htm">Israel</a>, and in <a href="../bible/gen046.htm">Genesis 46</a>, which contains a genealogical list of their immediate descendants, we read (23), "The sons of Dan: Husim". This last, being a Hebrew plural form, refers most likely not to an individual, but to a clan or tribe. In <a href="../bible/num026.htm#vrs42">Numbers 26:42</a>, we find "Suham" instead of "Husim". In Jacob's blessing (<a href="../bible/gen049.htm">Genesis 49</a>), as well as in <a href="../bible/deu033.htm#vrs22">Deuteronomy 33:22</a>, and various other passages, the name Dan refers not to the son of the patriarch, but to the tribe of which he was the acknowledged father.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p id="II">(2) One of the twelve tribes of <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israel</a>. According to the census related in <a href="../bible/num001.htm">Numbers 1</a> (a section ascribed to the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priestly</a> writer), there were reckoned among the "sons of Dan" in the second year after the Exodus, 62,700 men "able to go forth to war", being the largest number given to any of the tribes except that of Juda. Confining ourselves to the Biblical data, and prescinding from all criticism of sources, it would appear from these figures that the tribe must have suffered a considerable diminution ere its establishment in <a href="../cathen/03569b.htm">Canaan</a>, where, from various indications, it appears as one of the smallest of the twelve. The territory occupied by the tribe lay to the southwest of Ephraim; it was bounded on the south by Juda and on the west by the Shephela. Whether the Danites occupied also the latter or were confined to the mountainous inland district is uncertain. A passage of the Canticle of Debbora (<a href="../bible/jdg005.htm#vrs17">Judges 5:17</a>) would seem to indicate that the territory extended down to the sea, and moreover, among the towns enumerated in Josue, xix, 40-48 (P.) mention is made of Acron and <a href="../cathen/08268a.htm">Joppe</a>. Be that as it may, it was doubtless because of their narrow territorial limits that later the Danites undertook an expedition northward and created a new settlement at Lais. For, notwithstanding the narrative contained in Josue, xix, 40- 48, indicating with detail the district and the cities allotted to Dan in the distribution after the conquest, we find later in <a href="../bible/jdg018.htm">Judges 18:1</a> that "the tribe of Dan sought them an inheritance to dwell in: for unto that day they had not received their lot among the other tribes". This was perhaps another way of conveying the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> already set forth in the first chapter, viz. that "the <a href="../cathen/01433c.htm">Amorrhite</a> straitened the children of Dan in the mountain, and gave them not place to go down to the plain". Being thus cramped and restricted in their territory, they resolved to seek a home elsewhere. The interesting story of this expedition is told, with many traits characteristic of that period of Hebrew civilization, in the eighteenth chapter of Judges. Having previously sent spies to reconnoitre the ground, the Danites sent a detachment of six hundred men who plundered and burnt the city of Lais, and butchered its inhabitants, after which they "rebuilt the city and dwelt therein". At least a remnant of the tribe must have remained in the south, as is evidenced in the story of Samson, who was a Danite. Several references to the activities of the tribe of Dan in the early period of the monarchy are found in the Books of Chronicles. Thus, 28,600 armed men of the tribe are represented as taking part in the election of <a href="../cathen/04642b.htm">David</a> in Hebron (<a href="../bible/1ch012.htm#vrs35">1 Chronicles 12:35</a>), and among the skilled artists sent by Hiram of <a href="../cathen/15109a.htm">Tyre</a> to Solomon was the metal-worker Hiram, whose mother was of the tribe of Dan (<a href="../bible/2ch002.htm#vrs13">2 Chronicles 2:13 sq.</a>).</p> <p id="III">(3) A city of Palestine, originally Lais, or Lesem, and called Dan after it had been destroyed and rebuilt by the six hundred emissaries from the tribe of that name (<a href="../bible/jdg018.htm">Judges 18</a>). Its location marked the northern boundary of Palestine as did Bersabee the southern extremity, whence the popular expression "from Dan to Bersabee" used to designate the entire extent of the country. Although nothing now remains of the city of Dan, its situation on the confines of <a href="../cathen/10749a.htm">Nephthali</a> has been pretty accurately determined by means of various Scriptural and other ancient indications. That Lais was a Sidonian settlement at a distance from the parent city is clear from Judges, xviii, 7, 28, and the great fertility of the spot is affirmed in the same chapter (9, 12). <a href="../cathen/08522a.htm">Josephus</a>, who calls the town <em>Dána</em>, and elsewhere <em>Dánon</em>, places it "in the neighbourhood of Mt. Libanus, near the fountains of the Lesser Jordan, in the great plain of <a href="../cathen/13777a.htm">Sidon</a>, a day's journey from the city" (Antiq., V, iii, 1). According to <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> and <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a>, the village of Dan was situated within four miles of Paneas (Banias, or Cæsarea-Philippi), on the road to <a href="../cathen/15109a.htm">Tyre</a>, at the rise of the <a href="../cathen/08501a.htm">Jordan</a>. Its proximity to Paneas has led to a confusion of the two towns in certain ancient works, as, for instance, in the <a href="../cathen/02179b.htm">Babylonian</a> Talmud; and a few modern scholars, among whom is G. A. Smith, still identify Dan with Banias, but the generally received opinion places it at Tell el-Qadi, and this identification has in its favour, among other reasons, the practical identity of the name, as "Tell el-Qadi" signifies the "hill of the Judge". This quadrangular mound is situated about a mile and a half southwest of <a href="../cathen/07288a.htm">Mt. Hermon</a>, and to the west of Banias. The site and surroundings are remarkably picturesque, and close to the mound on the west is a spring from which clear, cold water flows in abundance, forming a <em>nahr,</em> or torrent, which the <a href="../cathen/01663a.htm">Arabs</a> call <em>Nahr Leddân</em>—probably a corruption of <em>ed-Dân</em>. This torrent is the main source of the <a href="../cathen/08501a.htm">Jordan</a>, and it is doubtless the "Lesser Jordan" mentioned by <a href="../cathen/08522a.htm">Josephus</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Dan is mentioned in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis in connection with the expedition of Abraham against Chodorlahomor, but it is <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubtful</a> if the place there referred to is the same as the ancient Lais. Though the identification is affirmed by both <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> and <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">Jerome</a>, many modern scholars place the Dan of <a href="../bible/gen014.htm">Genesis 14</a> in the vicinity of Galaad, and identify it with Dan-Yuan mentioned in <a href="../bible/2sa024.htm#vrs6">2 Samuel 24:6</a>. The conquest of Lais by the Danites, referred to above under (2), is related in <a href="../bible/jdg018.htm">Judges 18</a>. The portion of the tribe which took up its abode there was addicted to certain forms of <a href="../cathen/07636a.htm">idolatry</a> from the beginning (cf. <a href="../bible/jdg018.htm#vrs30">Judges 18:30, 31</a>), and it was in this frontier town that Jeroboam set up one of the golden calves which were intended to draw the <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israelites</a> of the Northern Kingdom away from the Sanctuary in <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> (<a href="../bible/1ki012.htm#vrs29">1 Kings 12:29-30</a>; <a href="../bible/2ki010.htm#vrs29">2 Kings 10:29</a>).</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">For (1) VIGOROUX, for f(2) and (3) LEGENDRE, both in <em>Dict. de la Bible,</em> s.v.; also for (1) and (2) PEAKE, for (3) MACKIE, both in HASTINGS, <em>Dict. of the Bible,</em> s.v.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Driscoll, J.F.</span> <span id="apayear">(1908).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Dan.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04615c.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Driscoll, James F.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Dan."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 4.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1908.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04615c.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by WGKofron.</span> <span id="dedication">With thanks to St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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