DA^'
DANCING
549
niUHt have been soon conipeUed to retreat. Not only so, but we learn that it was forced back even from the lowlands by the Aniorites (Jg l*""*"). Wellhausen thinks that it was really the Philis- tines who drove them back into the hill country. But it seems safer to accept the statement of the Mcxt, though possibly the Philistines forced back the Araorites, who, in turn, pushed Dan back. We find the tribe after this living in the vales of Aijalon and Surek, in and about the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol (Jg 18, cf. 13). The lot of the tribe as ^ven in Jos 19*''*' includes very much more. But it cannot be taken as proving that Dan's territory ever included, even in idea, during its actual history, all the towns mentioned. It is the work of the Priestly Writer, and therefore very lat«. Not only so, but the general account of the territories of the tribes makes it clear that the whole land of Palestine was regarded as occu- pied by the Hebrews, though the actual history waa very dillerent. In this case the metliod of the writer has been to specify places actually occupied by Dan (Zorah, Eshtaol, Shaalabbin, Aijalon), and to add all tlie adjacent places which were not a.ssigned to other tribes, though strangely Eshtaol and Zorah are assigned to Judah as border towns (IS^s).
Although the tribe still retained this small district, it was so cramped in it that it became necessary to seek a new home. We have a most valuable account of this expedition in .Ig 18. The narrative in this chapter and the preceding, of which it is a continuation, is probably composite. Budde prints his analysis (which has been fol- lowed in the main both by Kittel and by Moore) in his Rir.hier vnd Samuel. It ie not, however, important for our purpose to follow the analysis, as the outlines of the story are quite clear. A small party of spies wa-s sent nortliward, and found in LaLtli (Leahein, Jos 19", which Well- hausen thinks was originally Leshara), a city which from the fertility of the district was very inviting, and from its isolation, and the peaceful, unsuspecting cliaracter of the inhabitants, was likely to fall an ea-sy prey. Six hundred armed men with tlieir families and goods set out for Laish. On their way they plundered the sanctuary of Micah, an Ephraimite, of its images, and took his priest with them. lie pursued them with a few neighbours ; but his remonstrance was met with a grimly humorous warning that unless he was silent he might irritate them into killing him and his family, a hint whicli Micah discreetly took. The Danites then moved on to Laish, wliicli they captured and burnt, while they butchered the inhabitants. They built a new city and called it Dan. Probably only a small remnant was left behind in the south, but at least a remnant, with it« home between Zorah and Eshtaol in the canij) of Dan (Jg 13", in Jg 18''' Matianeh-dan is said to be in Kiriath-jearim, but this is less likely). That a remnant was left is made probable by the story of Samson, who l)elonged to this tribe. That it was small seems clear from the subsequent history. It plays no part in the later history of Israel. It is omitted from the tribes in the genealogies of Chronicles and in the list of the Apocalypse.
The character of the tribe is sketched in the bles.sing8 of Jacob and Moses. In the former we read —
' Dan Hhall jiidi;'' tiis people, As nne of th<* lnlt<?n t'l Nnir'I. Dan Hhall be n Herix'nt in tlio way. An adtlur in lliu palh, That hitcth the home's heels, Bo that liiH ri<ler falleth t)ar:)<wA1^. I have waited for thy aalvalion, O Lord ' (On 491*'»).
The first sentence has l>een variously umlcrstood, bnt probably the meaning is that Dan shall take
his part with the other tribes in defending Israel. The ^vrite^ probably has Samson in mind. The comparison in v." is to the stealthy tactics adopted by Dan in war or on marauding expeditions, by which, weak tribe though it was, it secured a victory over foes of superior strength. The attack on Laish is a good example. In the Blessing of Moses we read —
' Dan is a lion's whelp. That leapetb forth from Basfaan ' (Dt 33>^
Here, too, the point of the metaphor is the suddenness with which the tribe would attack. The reference is not so much to war, probably, as to attacks on caravans, for which it would lie in wait. Although the second line refers to the ' lion's whelp,' yet the mention of Rashan makes it probable that the northern portion of the tribe is in the author's mind. From 2 S 20'", where we should probably read 'in Abel and in Dan,' it seems that Dan was regarded as a tribe that held fast to the good old Israelite customs.
The gentilic name Danites (T?) occurs Jg l.S' 18'- ", 1 Ch 12». A. S. Peake.
DAN ([^, Ady). — A city which marked the most N. point of Pal., and naturally became linked with Beersheba, the boundary town in the south. The phrase ' from Dan to Beersheba ' was at once pictur- esque and suggestive of dimension, and in times of national crisis emphasized the fact that amid all tribal distinctions there was a common inheritance —the whole land of Israel (Jg 20', 1 S S™, 2 S 3'"). The chief independent notice is the account of the Danite invasion given in Jg 18, where the change of namt! from Laish or Leshem is accounted for. In all likelihood it is the same place that is referred to in the census-journey of Joab as Danjaan, 2 S 24". If the reading ja'ar instead of ja'an be accepted, it would indicate the first point of contact with the rocky ground and oak scrub of Lebanon, which the Arabs call wn'ar.