These are the sons of Dan, after their families of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan after their families.
On the edge of Canaan, God counts Israel a second time, family by family. When Dan's turn comes, the register is short: one clan, the Shuhamites. Why does one of the largest tribes trace itself through a single family?
This census is not leftover desert paperwork. The wandering is over, and God is about to share out the land.
The journey is now over. God numbers His people again and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything, and brought them as far as Canaan; their clothing did not even wear out. He settles the details of the inheritance. He appoints a leader in place of Moses to bring them into the land of promise.
Naming clans like the Shuhamites is the point. God does not just count a nation. He takes account of each person.
They were now on the borders of the holy land. The same grace of God had taken account of every one of His people when they entered the wilderness. That same grace shows His love had not lessened, and His own interest in them was the same to the end. There was all that could have turned Him aside, had it been possible. Without this, He would simply have taken the people in as a whole. Instead He bears witness here to what each one of them was to Him. He loves to convince His people of His unwavering love, despite their failure.
Dan is a large tribe with a single clan. Commentators link Shuham with Hushim, the one son named for Dan when Jacob's family went down to Egypt. They find meaning even in the rearranged letters.
The first duty of government is self-government; and the ruler's school is therefore that of discipline.
If the two names are one name reordered, the new order traces a change in the man. That change goes down before it goes up.
So the one name here may have a meaning. Its change from the old form shows how Dan grows out of the hasty spirit of self into his proper shape and into a multitude. Being brought low is God's way of lifting up, and there is no other way. The heart is exercised, the eye is cleared, the mists roll off. The testing has done its work, turning Hushim into Shuham. Dan becomes a prince indeed, and fulfils his name.
One clan did not mean a small tribe. Dan came out of the desert stronger than he went in.
Dan was the fifth son of Jacob, and the first son of Bilhah, Rachel's servant. Scripture records little about Dan himself: Genesis 46:23 names only one son. The tribe of Dan, however, was large. At the exodus it had 62,700 fighting men, more than any tribe except Judah. By the second numbering they had grown to 64,400.
The count here gives Dan an honourable place. His later history went the other way, but the promise outlasts the loss.
This tribe was guilty of setting up idolatry in the land very early, and that idolatry continued until the people were carried into captivity… Dan's name is absent from 1 Chronicles 2 – 8, the book that records much of grace and blessing. His name is left out too from the list of tribes that will each have twelve thousand sealed in a future day. Still, God's promises to the twelve tribes will be kept, and the tribe of Dan will have its portion in the land as prophesied in Ezekiel 48:1-2, 32.
- Counted — The journey is over, so God counts His people again "as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance."
- Named — Clan names like the Shuhamites show He counts every person, not just the nation. His love had not lessened, despite their failure.
- Lowered — Dan's one family carries one name, and its letters shift from "hastening" to "humiliation." The ruler's school is discipline.
- Raised — "Being brought low is God's way of lifting up." The testing turns Hushim into Shuham, and the one family becomes 64,400 strong.
- Kept — Dan later sank into idolatry, and two lists of blessing leave his name out. Yet God keeps His promise: Ezekiel 48 still gives the tribe its portion in the land.
All the families of the Shuhamites, according to those that were numbered of them, were sixty-four thousand four hundred.
Numbers 26:43 closes the account of Dan with one figure: a single family, 64,400 men. Why does God count His people again at the end of the desert years? And why does Dan, the second largest tribe, run through just one family line?
This count comes at the end of the journey, and the people named in it are about to receive land.
The journey is now over. God numbers His people again, and counts them by name, as heirs ready to take possession of the inheritance. He has kept them through everything, and brought them as far as Canaan; their clothing did not even wear out. He settles the details of the inheritance. He appoints a leader in the place of Moses to bring them into the promised land.
Dan's entry is short. Other tribes branch into several clans; Dan has just Shuham. The name has also changed since Genesis 46.
We come now to the fourth camp, that of Dan. Dan is only second in number among the tribes of Israel, yet he has just one family, that of Shuham. In the same way, Genesis 46 gives Dan only one son, Hushim. The natural conclusion is that Shuham and Hushim are the same name, with the letters turned around. But the change itself must have a meaning. The earlier name means "hastening," while the later one means "depression, humiliation."
The writer takes that change of letters as a picture of what the testing did.
So the single name here may carry a meaning. Its change from the old form shows how Dan grows out of the hasty spirit of self into his proper shape and into a great number. Being brought low is God's way of lifting up, and there is no other way. The heart is tested, the eye is cleared, the mists roll off. The testing has done its work, turning Hushim into Shuham. Dan becomes a prince indeed, and fulfils his name.
Dan's name means judgment. His birth to a servant mother shapes what that authority is for.
The children of the two wives have now been counted, and we come to the children of the servant women. The first of these is Dan, "judgment," the spirit of rule — and as Dan's origin shows, that rule is really service. Yet how easily man turns it away from that! "Man in his pomp will not remain." He should use his place to bless those entrusted to his care. Instead he uses it for himself. He feeds his ambition or his greed with it in some form, and becomes a rebel against the One who gave him his authority.
God trains His rulers through what they go through.
The first duty of government is self-government, and so the ruler's school is the school of discipline. So it was with God's kings. The far side of the desert was Moses' school, where the man who had once been hasty in judgment became the meekest of all men. David had not only his shepherd training, but also his suffering at the hand of Saul. And the same rule holds good for us: if we endure, we will also reign with Him.
Dan was strong on paper. In the land that strength was not matched by faith.
Fifth son of Jacob, and first of Bilhah, Rachel's maid. The record tells us little about him personally. Genesis 46:23 mentions only one son. The tribe of Dan, however, was large. At the exodus there were 62,700 fighting men, more than any tribe except Judah, and at the second counting they had grown to 64,400. Yet in the land the Amorites forced the people of Dan into the mountains. They would not let them come down to the valley (Judges 1:34). This showed a great lack of faith in the people of Dan.
Set next to the first census, these totals rise for some tribes and fall for others.
Benjamin showed a lovely increase, from 35,000 to 45,600. Dan, already large, showed some increase, from 62,700 to 64,400. Asher grew greatly, from 41,500 to 53,400. Naphtali, in contrast, fell sharply, from 53,400 to 45,400. Whatever the reasons for all of this, at least it tells us something about glory. Some will receive praise for their increase in spiritual fruit. Others will have to bow to the sad fact that they did not produce as they might have (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
- Counted — God kept His people through everything. Now He numbers them by name as heirs, ready to take possession of the inheritance.
- Named — Dan's one family carries a changed name. "Hastening" has become "humiliation," because being brought low is God's way of lifting up.
- Called — Dan means judgment, the spirit of rule. Born to a servant mother, that rule is really service. Man easily turns it to himself, so God's school for a ruler is discipline.
- Grown — 62,700 became 64,400. Some tribes grew and others shrank, pointing to a day when some are praised for spiritual fruit and others are not.
- Tested — Numbers are not faith. The second largest tribe was still driven into the hills, because it would not go down into the valley.