“Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
Near death, Jacob speaks a word over each of his sons, and Dan's word is a single line of promise before darker words follow. Dan's name means "judge" — yet how could a tribe with Dan's record ever hold that place?
The name is the prophecy
The verse turns on Dan's name. One writer sets him beside Judah:
Samuel RidoutJudah stands for the truth, the basis of all government among the people of God. Dan stands for carrying that government out. Dan means judge, and that is what he stands for in Jacob's prophecy. Most significantly, Jacob also foretells the apostasy.
A place kept — and nothing more
The closing words, "as one of the tribes of Israel," set a limit. Dan's name is missing from the sealed tribes of Revelation 7, so this old promise reads like an answer given in advance:
Frederick William GrantHas God let this tribe drop out of His chosen earthly family, so that it has no part in the final blessing? The voice from long ago answers the question decisively: "Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel." No! the Lord's grace prevails over all failure: Dan does not lose his place. It cannot be that a tribe should perish out of the chosen people... The staff of authority to judge has not fully gone. But he keeps only what his place as a tribe requires — "as one of the tribes of Israel," nothing more.
The promise outlives the failure
Dan's later history is dark. Even so, the promise given here was never taken back:
An Outline of Sound WordsNo matter how low the people of God sink in failure, nothing sets His purposes aside. As the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." So the words "Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel" make his place in final blessing sure. Jacob is about to tell of Dan's terrible future as an instrument of Satan. Yet he can take comfort: blessing will come for Dan in the end.
Named first where mercy is the subject
Dan gets more than bare survival. When the list is about service, Dan drops out. When it is about mercy, he comes first:
The Bible TreasuryYet such is the grace of God that Dan comes first in Ezekiel's prophecy of the restoration of the tribes. There the question is not service but mercy. Dan, the worst sinner of all, is the first named and provided for — though very fittingly he is the least near to the sanctuary. Then at last Jacob's assurance comes true, the assurance even their wickedness could not cancel... And Dan, with all his faults, receives the honour of a deliverer called from his sons, when from that tribe strode out the heroic and powerful figure of Samson.
The timing — and the antichrist
Timing is the next question, and one writer answers it while naming who may come out of Dan:
L. M. GrantProphetically this brings us to the time when Israel takes up self-government again. To some degree this has been true since 1948... Comparing this verse with Revelation 7, it seems likely the antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan, for there Dan is left out of the 144,000. Yet even though Dan is missing from that sealed company, he will have his place in the blessing of the millennium.
Rule that begins with self-rule
The promise also carries a lesson that reaches past Israel. To judge others, a man must first judge himself — and that is what Dan's story lacks:
Numerical Bible NotesHis name means "judge," or "judging," and he stands for the spirit of rule. That spirit can only be reached through the lesson of self-rule, self-judgment and self-government, and this means the truth applied to the whole man. Dan's history shows little of this. It is the opposite of what his character should be... Self-judgment and self-government become possible in only one way: by submitting to another will and power, that of God revealed in Christ.
Summary
- Judge — Dan's name means "judge." The promise makes him stand for government carried out among God's people.
- Failure — his history runs the other way: apostasy at the start, and his name left out of the sealed tribes in Revelation 7.
- Grace — his wickedness could not cancel the word Jacob spoke over him. In Ezekiel's vision of restoration, where mercy is the subject, Dan comes first.
- Place — "as one of the tribes of Israel" gives him his tribal standing and no more. He keeps his staff, nothing beyond it.
- Self-rule — the tribe called to judge never learned the lesson. Judging others starts with judging yourself, and that comes only by submitting to God as revealed in Christ.