The seventh lot came forth for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families.
The seventh and last lot fell to Dan, the tribe whose name means "judge." Two questions sit behind the short announcement. Who decided where each tribe would live? And why does Dan's later history fit so badly with the land God gave him?
Casting lots divided the land west of the Jordan. One writer explains what the lot settled and what it left open:
The first division gives the inheritance of the tribes by lot. Casting the lot is how the land was shared out on the west side of the Jordan... Clearly the lot showed the mind of God more plainly than any other way could: "its every decision is from the LORD," says the voice of inspiration itself (Proverbs 16:33). But the lot seems to have fixed only the position of these possessions, not their size. It left room to revise the boundary lines, since each tribe might grow or shrink according to its faithfulness or unfaithfulness. Had they all been faithful, their larger territories would have made such a revision necessary.
Dan's recorded portion and Dan's actual history do not match. One commentator traces both:
The inheritance of Dan was near to the sea-coast, west of Ephraim and Benjamin, and north of Judah. But later, in Judges 18:1, we learn that Dan had not taken what he was entitled to. So he sent spies to the north of the land. Then six hundred men from Dan travelled there, attacked the people, killed them and burned their city Laish. They rebuilt the city for themselves and called it Dan. From then on the tribe of Dan is spoken of as living at the far north of the land... Though the area described in verses 41-46 was Dan's proper inheritance, it seems they kept little of it.
The name itself was a calling. One writer ties it to what Jacob longed for when he spoke of Dan:
His name means "judge," or "judging." He stands for the spirit of rule, and that spirit can only be reached through the lesson of self-rule, self-judgment, self-government. This means the truth applied to the whole man. Dan's history shows little of it. His history is the complete opposite of what his character should be. This is what makes the thing Jacob longs for when he speaks of Dan so necessary — Jehovah's salvation. Only that can meet the state man is in, unable to rule himself.
Dan's place in the order also carries meaning. One writer links the seventh place with what rule demands of the ruler:
Dan comes in the seventh place, which suggests spiritual perfection. If you are to serve by ruling, you must govern yourself. James says of the man who does not stumble in what he says, "he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body" (James 3:2). Self-government means the truth applied to the whole man... No wonder, then, that Dan's history rises so little to the ideal, and that the failure here is so great even by comparison. There is no excuse in this: the power man does not have is found with God.
Dan's move north was a choice. One writer weighs it against the fight Dan turned down:
Dan had a battle to fight inside his own borders, a victory to win over the Amorites of the valley. But that fight would have cost him too much. He preferred a conquest with no danger, won at the far edge of the land. It lay far from the eyes of those who witnessed for Jehovah, and far from the place where his real enemy was. That enemy was left, without a word said, holding Dan's true inheritance.
One writer reads the sharing out of Canaan as a picture of what believers already own:
Israel's inheritance in Canaan is a picture of our inheritance in Christ in the heavenly places. The letter to the Ephesians tells us that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in the heavenly places. In the same way, Joshua tells us that everything is ours. Everything belongs to the people. God has given it to them. Now it is for them to take possession of their inheritance in the energy of faith.
- Placed — the lot showed God's own mind. It fixed where each tribe lived, though the size of the portion could grow or shrink with their faithfulness.
- Named — Dan means "judge." The name stands for rule, and rule has to begin with ruling yourself.
- Ranked — Dan comes seventh, which suggests spiritual perfection. To serve by ruling, you must govern yourself, like the man who can bridle his whole body.
- Forfeited — Dan kept little of the coast that was his. He chose an easy win far away over the hard fight at home.
- Offered — the same pattern meets us. Everything is already given in Christ. Faith has to take possession of it.
And the territory of their inheritance was Zoreah, and Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh,
Joshua 19 ends the long land survey, and verse 41 opens the list of towns that fell to Dan, the last of the tribes to receive a portion. Zorah, Eshtaol and Ir-shemesh sit on the western edge of the land, near Philistine country, and Dan's later story raises a question: what happens when God gives a people a good portion and they never take hold of it?
Dan's land came by lot. That method said something about who was deciding, and about what the lot did not settle.
The first section gives the inheritance of the tribes by lot. Casting the lot was the mark of how the land was shared out on the west side of the Jordan... The lot expressed the mind of God more plainly than any other way could: "its every decision is from the LORD," says the voice of inspiration itself. (Prov. 16:33.) But the lot seems to have fixed only the position of these possessions, not their size. Room was left to revise the boundary lines, since individual tribes might grow or shrink as a result of their faithfulness or unfaithfulness.
Unlike the other tribes, Dan gets no boundary line drawn for him here. One writer notices that omission and what it leaves us with.
Dan's original portion is in the south part of the land, on the sea coast, between Ephraim and Judah. Some of their cities come into his possession, and he is spiritually connected with both of them... The boundary is not given again, only the cities. So we are not given a definition of what he stands for, but the contents — the range of the "judgment" he speaks of.
A reference work fills in where Zorah sat and who came from there:
A city in the west of Judah, but counted to Dan, on the Philistine border. It was the birthplace of Samson, and he was buried nearby.
These town names carry meaning in Hebrew. The first one sounds almost like the word for a skin disease, and one writer takes that likeness as the point.
First comes Zoreah (also spelled Zorah and Zareah in the common version). It is the Hebrew word for "hornet," named from its fierce "sting," and it is almost the same as the word for leprosy. That says plainly enough where all self-knowledge must begin: with that plague which is "deeper than the skin," more stubborn and far-reaching than poison in the blood — the sin that is bred in us, as leprosy often is.
The same writer turns to Ir-shemesh, "city of the sun," and sees the world in it.
According to Parkhurst, Ir gets its name from the stir and bustle of the city. The sun brings that bustle on, and it dies with the sun too. So the world keeps itself going on natural things, the goods of the Father's house. It does not care that it is far from Him, or it is even glad to be far off, and it tries to shut out the thought of the night that must come. Poor "city of the sun"! The name fits it well, in its brightness and its shortness.
The tribe's name sets a standard, and that standard begins at home.
Dan's name means "judge." This reminds us that "the saints will judge the world" and will judge even "angels" (1 Cor. 6:2-3)... Yet also, if we are to ever judge others, we must first learn to judge ourselves, as the Lord Jesus insists in Matthew 7:5: "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." ... Only in having rightly judged ourselves will we be in any proper condition to judge the world.
Dan's own history ran the other way.
He stands for the spirit of rule — of judgment in this sense — which has to begin with self-rule, self-judgment. His history, even as he appears in Samson in the next book, only shows the complete lack of it. But the history is not what we are dealing with here. Here we have God's ideal; the turning away from it will be told in its own place.
The towns listed here were really Dan's. What the tribe did with them is another matter.
But later, in Judges 18:1, we learn that Dan had not taken hold of what he was entitled to. So he sent spies to the north of the land... and six hundred men from Dan travelled there and attacked the people living in it... Though the area described in verses 41-46 was Dan's proper inheritance, it seems they kept little of it.
- Given — The lot placed Dan's portion. That choice expressed God's mind, not human preference.
- Measured — The lot fixed position, not size; territory could grow or shrink with a tribe's faithfulness.
- Named — Zorah points to the sin bred in us, where self-knowledge has to start. Ir-shemesh, "city of the sun," pictures a bright but short-lived world.
- Called — Dan means "judge," and judging rightly must begin with judging oneself.
- Lost — Dan's history showed the opposite of self-rule, and the tribe kept little of the very land God had handed him.
and Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and Jithlah,
This verse belongs to the seventh and last lot of land — the portion given to the tribe of Dan. Three towns are named. Two of them appear again later as places Dan never cleared. So why does God record towns His people never fully held?
Unlike the earlier tribes, Dan's section gives no boundary line — only a run of town names, of which this verse supplies three. One writer reads that difference as deliberate:
Dan's original portion is in the south part of the land, on the sea-coast, between Ephraim and Judah, and some of their cities come into his possession... This time the boundary is not given, only the cities. So we are not told what he stands for, but the contents, the range of the "judgment" he speaks of... Dan was not able to take possession of much of his original allotment, so he laid hold of Leshem, or Laish, in the north, and the tribe's name was given to it.
The same writer links Dan's seventh place with self-government:
Dan comes in the seventh place, which implies spiritual perfection. For the work of ruling there must be self-government. Of the man who does not stumble in what he says, James writes, "he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body as well." (James 3:2.)
Older versions spell the first two names Shaalbim and Ajalon. The writer takes each meaning as a picture of what men are really like. Shaalabbin points to pretence:
Shaalabbin, or Shaalbim... gives us, under the number of testimony, the truth about it — "hollow-hearted." How readily men play the hypocrite here, though they deceive no one, and themselves least of all!
Aijalon takes its name from the hart, or deer. Here the writer gives that figure a negative turn:
Ajalon, in the fifth place, speaks of relationship to God, responsibility and reward. Here the "hart" can only be the figure of timidity and fear. Scripture uses it in a good sense elsewhere, but that does not rule out a different sense in a series like this one.
The third name (Jethlah in older versions) closes the group. Its meaning turns pain into victory:
Jethlah, "he hangs," ends this first series as with a cry of pain. For faith it is the spiritual conclusion: it marks the character of the world and seals man's condemnation. "A hanged man is cursed by God"; and in the cross of Christ faith sees the curse taken and removed, while that same cross shows in full what man is under... Yet it is faith's victory over the world, and it may well hold the place it does: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Galatians 6:14.)
Aijalon has the longest later history of the three. It belonged to the Levites, and its valley saw one of Israel's most famous days:
A city of the Levites belonging to the Kohathites. It was in the lot of Dan (Joshua 21:24), but as a border city it is also linked with Benjamin... The Philistines took it in the reign of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:18). THE VALLEY OF AJALON is the place where Joshua, while chasing the Amorites, told the sun and the moon to stand still (Joshua 10:12). The city is identified with the modern Yalo.
Two of the three towns reappear in Judges — not as Dan's, but as places the enemy held:
Dan closes the tale of ruin with worse sorrow. He drops from seventh place in the Joshua list to sixth in this one... The Amorites force the Danites out of the valley, the low ground so necessary for true spiritual judgment. They also lived in Mount Heres, the "mountain of the sun," in Ajalon and in Shaalbim... and it is striking that he loses them to the Amorite (the "talker"?).
Another writer sums up what Dan actually held:
In practice they had not inherited a place. Here is a people without a portion. The tribe of Dan had not taken their inheritance. The Philistines held a large part of it on one side, and Dan was not able... to drive out the Amorites. So the Amorites pushed them up into the mountains and hemmed them in so tightly that they had no enjoyment of their inheritance.
- Given — Dan's lot names cities, not borders: the range of the "judgment" he stands for.
- Named — The three names carry meanings: a hollow heart, fear, and a man hanging under condemnation.
- Crowned — Ithlah, "he hangs," ends the list at the cross, where faith sees the curse removed and boasts in nothing else.
- Honoured — Aijalon became a city of the Levites, and in its valley the sun and moon stood still at Joshua's word.
- Forfeited — Judges shows Aijalon and Shaalbim still in Amorite hands. Dan held the title but lived in the hills, enjoying nothing of what was already his.
and Elon, and Timnathah, and Ekron,
Elon, Timnah and Ekron sit in the middle of the list of towns given to Dan. Dan is the last of the tribes to receive a share of the land. Each name carries a meaning. Together they trace what Dan was meant to stand for: strength that is not his own, a portion measured by God, and evil rooted out.
Dan comes last among the tribes. Commentators say the judgment he stands for has to start at home.
Dan comes seventh and last of these tribes (Levi is set apart, and is not counted with them). His own history is almost entirely the opposite of what he stands for here. He stands for the spirit of rule — of judgment in this sense — which must begin with self-rule, self-judgment. His history, even as he appears in Samson in the next book, only shows how completely he lacked it. But it is not the history we have to do with now. We have now God's ideal; the departure from it will be told out in its own place.
The first name is a tree name. The question it raises is where strength comes from.
Elon, a name of the oak, or one of the oaks, of Palestine, means "strong." The oak is everywhere a familiar picture of strength. It is also so close to one of the names of God (El) that it points clearly to the only place where strength is found... All power belongs to Him, and the secret of having it is simply the faith that lays hold of Him for it.
Older translations spell this name Timnathah. It means a share that someone else measures out.
Timnathah means "her measured portion." This does not imply any scant measure, but the reverse. The One who measures knows our need absolutely, and He has full resources as well as love to meet it. So this is complete assurance that there shall be no lack. For our appointed path there can be none. Faith finds its portion along with all needful discipline, and not without difficulties. Those difficulties cast us again and again on Him, and make Him ever more known, ever dearer. How different from the independence of the world!
Ekron's name means rooting out, and its position in Dan's list is not accidental.
Ekron means "eradication," and eradication becomes a possibility. Sin is judged, not allowed, and does not overpower us. This is self-judgment and self-government actually reached. The name stands at the centre of Dan's cities: it is the heart of what they speak of.
Ekron sits in two tribal lists at once. So whose city is it?
Ekron seems to mean "rooting out," and we met it earlier as a Philistine city. The word means the same, but its application would naturally differ once Ekron became Israelite. Ekron falls within Judah's boundary line, and is named afterward as a city of Judah; yet it is given to Dan. If we apply it spiritually as the eradication of sin, it falls naturally to Dan as a necessary part of self-judgment. Yet if Judah's "praise" is the "confession of Christ's name," then His having suffered for sins is part of that confession. Peter links that confession with "ceasing from" sins (1 Peter 3:18; 4:1). We must keep this link with Judah, while we give Dan the city.
Timnah appears again later as a Philistine town. There the same name carries a warning about how we measure things.
Timnath speaks of "apportionment." If the town were Israelite, the portion would be divine — a lot measured out to us from God. But it is Philistine, where Dagon, "increase," has taken God's place. When we measure things by results, those results have to be visible ones. The results God appoints are often too far off, too slow to develop, and too spiritual, for us to see them now and value them rightly. ...Duty is ours, and results are to be left with God, where they may be safely left.
Dan's story did not end with this list.
These are the cities of Dan's original portion. Beyond these, however, they had another territory. In fact they had to go looking for it, because they could not lay hold of what God had given them. Judges tells that failure, not this book. Here we have only the conquest of Leshem (called Laish in Judges) in the north of the land. They call it Dan, as if the character of the tribe was expressed in it more than anywhere else.
- Ideal, not record. The list gives God's ideal for Dan. Judges tells later how he failed to live up to it.
- Elon — strength. The oak's name stands next to God's own name: power belongs to Him, and faith simply lays hold of Him for it.
- Timnah — measure. God measures the portion. He knows the need exactly, and He has the resources and love to match it, so nothing will be lacking.
- Ekron — eradication. At the heart of Dan's cities stands sin judged and not allowed. That is self-government actually reached.
- Held or lost. Dan could not take hold of what God gave, so he went looking for land elsewhere. A measured portion still has to be taken.
and El-tekeh, and Gibbethon, and Baalath,
This verse belongs to the list of towns given to the tribe of Dan. Three bare place-names raise two questions. Why did God record them? And what did Dan do with the land He gave?
Lists like this one are often skipped as dry geography. One writer challenges that:
The record of how the land was divided, as we have it in these chapters, is often treated as mere history with no spiritual meaning in it… But we must look for a deeper meaning here. These chapters hide many rich lessons in spiritual truth and in God's ways through the ages. Why would the Holy Spirit record all these things if they mean nothing at all?
Another writer points to the names themselves, and adds a caution:
The only clue to understanding these is the meaning of the names of the cities… Some of them we may enjoy for ourselves, yet hold back from explaining to others, in case we get them wrong. Others are simpler to interpret. We should be encouraged — not to speak as if we are certain, but to look for what really helps us spiritually.
Before a man can rule others, he must rule himself. One writer draws that out of Dan's place in the list:
Dan comes seventh, which implies spiritual perfection. If a man is to rule, he must first govern himself. James says of the one who does not stumble in what he says, "he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body" (James 3:2). Self-government means applying the truth to the whole man… No wonder, then, that the history rises so little to that ideal, and that even by comparison the failure here is so great. That is no excuse: the power man does not have is found with God.
The first name means "God the object of fear." Does knowing God's grace remove that fear?
Eltekeh, "God the object of fear," stands fourth, the number of the creature. It shows the right attitude of the creature toward the Creator. Knowing His grace confirms that fear; it does not set it aside. "But with You there is forgiveness," says the psalmist, "that You may be feared" (Psalm 130:4). This fear always goes with nearness to God. Anyone who does not know it has never been near Him.
Gibbethon means "height." One writer links that height to our place in Christ, and to the walk that comes from it:
Next comes Gibbethon, "height," which we have already found to apply to our relation to God in Christ. It stands as a second answer to the moralist's objection. Our place in Christ gives us both the basis of our walk and the power for it. To walk in Him is to walk as He walked, but it is also to walk depending on Him and drawing from Him. It is the branch abiding in the vine that makes it fruitful. Being occupied with Christ Himself is deliverance from the power of the world and sin.
What is a redeemed person now able to do?
Here Baalath, "mistress," is very near to "mastery." The subject of this series of names is the ability for self-government that redemption gives.
Gibbethon did not stay in Israel's hands. Later a king of Israel died trying to win it back:
Gibbethon was a town in Dan, given to the Levites of Korah's family (Joshua 19:44; 21:23). It bordered the land of the Philistines, and they probably seized it when the Levites moved to Judah. Its name means "lofty place." Nadab was killed by treachery while trying to win it back for the crown.
Dan's wider record shows how that loss happened, and what it produced:
No tribe fails so plainly to take hold of its inheritance. That is the only way we can understand the statement that their lot had not come to them. They let the Philistines take back the cities on the sea-coast, and the Amorites drove them into the mountains. Losing what is ours, and what we should make our own, is often the reason for much restless activity among the people of God, and for much that looks like success in other directions.
- Recorded. God wrote down three ordinary town names. Ask why the Holy Spirit kept them, instead of skipping them.
- Read. The meaning of the names is the clue. Look for it, but do not force it.
- Received. Eltekeh gives the fear of God, which grace confirms. Gibbethon gives the height of our place in Christ. Baalath speaks of mastery: self-rule that redemption makes possible.
- Relinquished. Gibbethon, the "lofty place," later fell to the Philistines. A king of Israel then died trying to win back land God had already given His people.
- Restless. Losing what is yours breeds busy activity elsewhere. It can even look like success. That is Dan's warning to anyone who never takes up what God has given.
and Jehud, and Beneberak, and Gath-Rimmon,
These three names belong to the list of towns marked out for the tribe of Dan. Why does Scripture record such places at all, and what became of them?
The second half of Joshua slows down to name springs, valleys and towns, one after another. One writer sees purpose in that slowness:
But there is another part of Joshua, which is the actual inheritance, after the conflict is over. How wonderful it is that the last half of the book lingers over every city, every valley, every spring, everything, in such small detail. Without doubt this is to tell us of the varied spiritual blessings that are ours.
The same care marked out each tribe's borders. One writer sets that beside what the tribes actually did:
Their borders were marked out, for the Spirit of God takes notice of everything as He hands out the spiritual inheritance. He gives to each according to the mind of God. There is nothing uncertain in God's arrangements. But we find that not one tribe drove out all the enemies of God from His inheritance. Not one took full possession of all that God had given him.
One writer reads Dan's eighteen towns as a picture of self-rule. He counts them in three groups of six:
The cities of Dan's original allotment illustrate "self-government." The text gives no sign of how they are divided, but there are eighteen of them. Eighteen splits into three equal sets of six, so the number of "mastery" is stamped on the whole set. That fits the spiritual meaning. For self-government, self-knowledge is a first necessity. To know ourselves is also to know man everywhere, and to know the world we naturally belong to.
The same writer then takes our three names one at a time.
The first of the three names means praise, and the writer ties power to it:
Jehud, "praise." There is no possibility of power without this. And it is well to remember that in this word, praise takes the form of confession. To confess what He is is praise enough for Him. With praise in the heart comes activity.
The second name puts a storm into the middle of a list of towns, and the writer will not tone the image down:
Bene-berak, "sons of lightning," speaks for itself: not half-hearted or hesitating service, but service that is prompt, energetic and decisive. No dull moderation of speech is enough to express the wholehearted devotedness that suits the servants of the Most High God. They are followers of Him who was the perfect Servant. Men may think such speech extravagant, but it is not. "A son of lightning" means, in the language of a Hebrew, one taught by lightning to do the will of God as the elements of nature do it. Those elements humble the pride of man, showing him what is far above him.
The third name joins a press to a fruit. The writer reads it of the Word at work in the soul:
Gath-rimmon, "the winepress of the pomegranate," is a figure not hard to understand. If the pomegranate speaks of the gospel of God, the wine of the pomegranate is the reviving power of the Word. It has a sweet, refreshing, stirring influence, and yet there is no excess in it. Is the soul of the believer not the very thing that becomes the winepress of His Word, through meditation and communion with God? And Dan in his "rule," whether of himself or others, needs this Word always to be in him in its strength. Without it he cannot serve as he should, with the promptness and decision that the name before it expressed.
Dan's towns lay in a good stretch of country near the coast:
The inheritance of Dan was near the sea coast, west of Ephraim and Benjamin, and north of Judah. But later, in Judges 18:1, we learn that Dan had not taken what he was entitled to. Verses 41-46 describe Dan's proper inheritance, yet it seems they kept little of it.
Instead Dan looked for an easier conquest far away. Another writer weighs that choice:
Dan had a battle to fight, a victory to gain inside his own borders, over the Amorites of the valley. But this fight would have cost him too much. He preferred a conquest without danger, won at the far end of the land. It was far from the eyes of those who bore witness for Jehovah, and far from the place where his real enemy was. No one said a word to that enemy, and he kept hold of Dan's true inheritance.
- Named — Scripture names every city, valley and spring on purpose: to tell us of the varied spiritual blessings that are ours.
- Given — the Spirit of God marked out every border and gave each tribe its share. Nothing in God's arrangements is uncertain.
- Praise — Jehud stands first: confession of what He is, and out of praise in the heart comes activity.
- Power — Bene-berak, "sons of lightning," is prompt, decisive service. Gath-rimmon feeds it: the Word pressed out in the soul by meditation and communion with God.
- Possess — Dan kept little of this ground. He chose a conquest without danger far away, and left his real enemy holding his true inheritance.
and Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border over against Japho.
Joshua 19 closes the long survey of the land with Dan's towns, and verse 46 names the last three. Two are little-known places; the third is a coast facing Joppa — a portion Dan would soon fail to hold.
The whole list belongs to Dan, and his name shapes how writers read it. One commentator draws out what that name asks of anyone who bears it:
Dan's name means "judge." This reminds us that "the saints will judge the world" and will judge even "angels" (1 Cor. 6:2-3). We shall do this as identified with Christ when He takes His great authority… But if we are ever to judge others, we must first learn to judge ourselves. The Lord Jesus insists on this in Matthew 7:5: "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." Consider seriously that before we share with the Lord Jesus in judging the world, we shall first be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). Only by having rightly judged ourselves will we be fit to judge the world.
One writer explains the first name from its Hebrew meaning. His point is the effect of the water, not its colour:
Me-jarkon, or Mei-hajarkon, means "waters of greenness, of green growth." They are not waters that are themselves green, as most commentators suppose, but waters that keep things green… The connection is much like that between the Lord's words to the woman of Sychar and His words to the people at the Feast of Tabernacles. To the one He speaks of "living water springing up" within the believer; to the others, of "rivers of living water" flowing out of the inward parts (John 4:14; John 7:38). The last is blessing for others, which naturally follows blessing for oneself.
One writer reads the next two names as a pair. Joined, they describe the inner state of the soul:
Putting these names together now, we shall find in them a contrast that is in perfect harmony. Rakkon means "leanness." So the sentence would read: "leanness, along with that which is before (or has respect to) what is fair to Him." That is, the soul, while conscious of its nothingness, seeks what is pleasing in the sight of God.
The Japho of the older translations is not an unknown site. A reference work identifies it plainly:
Boundary of the tribe of Dan. Joshua 19:46. It is the ancient name of JOPPA: now called Yafa.
The closing phrase raises a question of translation. One writer lays out the options:
Grove (in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible) has supposed that the next word, "Rakkon," or more exactly Ha-Rakkon, is a mere error that loosely repeats the earlier Ha-jarkon. The Septuagint omits it, but is itself so inexact in all this part that it carries no real authority on its own. Then the change of language, "with the border opposite Japho": does this stand as a sixth division, or as part of the fifth? Does it mean that Dan's border ends opposite Japho (Joppa), or does "border" stand, as it sometimes does, for "region" or "territory"?
The writer leaves both questions open. Commentators differ on whether Rakkon is a separate name at all.
This verse completes Dan's original grant. What happened to that grant afterwards is told in another book:
These are the cities of Dan's original portion. Beyond these, they had another territory. Their own inability to lay hold of what God had given them is what forced them to seek it. The failure is not related here, but in the book of Judges.
The same writer explains the loss elsewhere, and warns that the same thing happens among God's people:
No tribe fails so strikingly to lay hold of its inheritance. They had allowed the Philistines to regain the cities on the sea-coast, and the Amorites had forced them into the mountains. This loss of what is ours, and what we ought to make our own, often lies behind much restless activity among the people of God. It lies behind much that looks like success in other directions too. Their own laziness or fear forced them to seek an inheritance elsewhere, and they were then as violent and greedy as they had once been idle. Fallen human nature often shows itself in extremes like this.
- Judge yourself first. Dan means "judge," and the saints who will one day judge the world must start by taking the log out of their own eye.
- Be watered. Me-jarkon speaks of water that keeps things green. First the spring within, then the rivers flowing out to others.
- Stay lean. Rakkon means "leanness," set next to "what is fair to Him." The soul knows its own nothingness and seeks what pleases God.
- Read carefully. Does the closing phrase mark a boundary line or a whole region? Commentators leave the question open, and one of them reads Rakkon itself as a copying slip.
- Hold what you're given. This coast facing Joppa was Dan's by God's gift. Dan lost it, and losing what God gives drives restless work elsewhere that only looks like success.