Before we move on to the next son up in Jacob’s line of blessings, I want to talk about one of DAN’s most famous descendants.
A person who has been immortalized in Scripture and given much attention in Shabbat and Sunday school classes around the world.
I’m talking about the muscle man Samson.
He appears in the Book of Judges (named SHOFET in Hebrew by the way) as one of the 12 judges that God raised up during a 250 year period that I think could aptly be described as the dark years of Israel before it became a formal kingdom.
In terms of territorial allotment, the tribe of DAN was assigned a piece of land that shared a border with one of Israel’s most fierce arch enemies, the Philistines.
DAN being in such close proximity to this nation was one of the reasons they constantly succumbed to idolatrous influences.
There’s a lesson here.
Be careful who you keep company with because it could seriously hinder your walk with God.
The tribe of Dan became so worn out from fighting the Philistines that they gave up their land inheritance and moved up North near where Lebanon exists today.
When they got there, they took over a city named Laish and renamed it Dan.
Now do you know what they did to commemorate this event?
They set up a carved idol and the city ended up becoming a center of pagan cult worship for the next several hundred years.
The remains of this city are still standing and can be seen today.
Even Samson had a hard time staying away from the enticing pagan influences of the Philistines.
He had a thing for Philistine prostitutes and just loved to party with these heathens.
He even married a Philistine girl, which from a spiritual perspective is a big no-no in God’s eyes.
However, the point that shouldn’t be forgotten is the reason God sent Samson in the first place was to deliver Dan from the oppression of the Philistines.
He wasn’t supposed to heartily mix with these people.
Having said that, in the final analysis, we all know he did end up delivering Israel from the Philistines.
In fact, I think God made the right decision in choosing this quirky muscle-bound guy whose off the cuff, spontaneous and fleshly actions were a serious monkey wrench to the Philistines’ military operations.
Now just a reminder here: Palestine is just the Greek work for Philistine.
Keep that in mind whenever you hear news about the establishment of a Palestinian State or a Palestinian uprising in the West Bank.
What they’re really saying is the “establishment of a Philistine State” or a “Philistine uprising”.
It’s the same old ancient battle that Israel has been fighting since time immemorial.
As I’ve said before, events in Scripture repeat themselves.
So the Middle Eastern conflict we’re witnessing today is according to the Bible the exact thing that is supposed to happen in the last days.
Now I wonder, if the Biblical pattern is correct, will we also in the near future see a deliverer from the Tribe of Dan rise up to help Israel in this conflict?
I know I mentioned that Dan was stricken from the tribal listing in Revelations 7.
But actually not for all time.
Ezekiel 48 lists all the tribes re- gathered to the land during the Millennium and it appears that Dan will receive an inheritance.
So the tribe of Dan will become active again.
But in what way, I can’t say for sure.
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